Category: Breaking Down Strongholds

⁴³ When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation. ~ Matthew 12:43-45

Each one of us is a house. We are each a soul with many rooms. Each room must be filled with the Spirit of God or something else with fill it. See, we have the power through the name of Jesus to cast out unclean spirits, but unless we fill that empty room with the LORD God, the room won’t remain empty. Why? Because we are only made alive through Him. We are only freed from our record of debt, as well as the legal demands that come along with it.

Each unclean spirit taking up residence in our lives has legal right to be there. Whether through doors we have opened or doors our ancestors have. They have the legal right to be there. That is why it is only at the name of Christ that they must leave. And it is only at His presence that they must not return. Look at how Paul puts it in his letter to the Colossians.

¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.

Colossians 2:13-15

He disarmed the rulers and authorities that had legal demands over different parts of our lives. The only way to overcome, therefore, is through His name. The only way to stay free is to invite Christ into every aspect of our lives. That is the only way to break their legal demands. That is the only way to revoke their right to enter. We must fill ourselves with the one who is above all.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fill With Him. 

²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. ~ Proverbs 18:21

This is a really weird verse to me. Not the words exactly, but how we react to them. We quote it. We throw it at others. We even throw it at ourselves, but we rarely take it seriously. See, we really only think this verse applies to certain things that are blatant, but not to the majority of what we say. For instance, something I have personally experienced 10/10 times is if I’m having a good time dancing, playing around, etc. and there are older people around, they will tell me something along the lines of enjoy it now because when you get my age or when you get older, you won’t be able do this or you won’t be able to do that. Or if my weight gets brought up, they’ll tell me how I won’t be skinny forever and how much weight I’m gonna gain when I hit a certain age. It happens each and every time.

The way the older generation speaks to the younger generation has drastically changed from the time of the ancient Israelites to us today. The older generation made sure to bless their children before they passed on. The blessing from the father and, later on, the mother was an essential part of their culture. Today, instead of placing blessings on the next generation, we speak curses on them without even thinking about it. From generation to generation, growing old becomes less of a blessing and more of a painful, dare I say, punishment.

I want you to notice how the proverb goes, because I’ve only recently realized I’ve been misquoting it this whole time. The Proverb is that “death and life,” not “life and death,” are in the power of the tongue. That means death is chosen above life by those who eat of its fruit. Just as Adam and Eve could have chosen to eat from the Tree of Life at any point in time, but still chose to eat from the forbidden tree that led to death, so can we choose words of life every day, but often times, most times, we choose words of death instead.

James gives us this warning in his letter:

⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰ From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹ Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹² Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James 3:6-12

The LORD said that we will be judged by the words of our mouths. Why? Because He has placed before us life and death. Therefore, choose life. And when someone tries to speak death on you, try what I do. I smile, chuckle, and then rebuke their words in the name of Jesus and speak life over myself. Then I thank the LORD for hearing me and begin praising His name. No one has ever taken offense to it. In fact, they usually think I’m joking, but I mean each and every word.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bridle And Block.

²⁵ When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” ²⁶ Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.²⁸ And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”²⁹ So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” ~ Mark 9:25-29^NKJV

I have really bad allergies. I suffer all year round with no break. From Spring to Winter, allergies. So, I always have allergy tablets with me. In fact, usually, three different kinds at all times. Why? Because one size does not fit all. It all depends on the root of my issues in that moment, whether it’s pollen, some type of grass or plant, trees, or even food. Different root issue, different tablet. It doesn’t matter how many tablets I take; if it’s not the right kind, it will not work. The symptoms might all be very similar or even the same, but the source or root is the key.

See, my symptoms often present as a cold or flu, but again, no matter how many cold and flu tablets I take, my symptoms are not going away because they are never addressing the root or source of the problem. The spiritual realm is exactly the same way. No matter how many times you pray, if you do not fast, that mountain is not going to move. No matter how many times you pray, if you never worship, that harassing spirit is not going to loose you. No matter how many times you go to church, if you never spend time with God, you are not saved. There is no one-size-fits-all. No, one verse for every situation. You need to first identify the issue and then the source or root.

Too often, the Church just blindly says let’s pray about it and nothing else. Or come to church, and Jesus will fix it all. Yes, the Church is intended to be a hospital, but just like a physical hospital, you cannot cure each sickness, each illness, with the same prescription. You have to first identify the issue and then attack its root or its source. You can’t just say a prayer and expect everything to be fixed. Some things take fasting, some worship, others Scripture, others communion, others confession, and all overcoming is rooted in faith, prayer, and a relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Identify To Root.

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

There’s currently a bit of an imbalance in the ecosystem of Florida. Burmese Pythons, Anacondas, Lion Fish, and even Green Iguanas have negatively impacted Florida’s ecosystem. Why? Because they have no natural predators, so they breed and eat freely without restraint. That means that they are multiplying faster than other species in the area and they are consuming more than other species in the area. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.

How’d this begin? A few exotic pet owners let their exotic pets go in the wild, fully believing it would have no impact on anyone else. When we introduce a foreign organism to an ecosystem that cannot sustain, that foreign organism begins to take over. The spiritual realm is no different.

When we open doors in ourselves through our actions, it affects more than just us. It affects those around us as well. And depending on the door we open, generations to come. So often we see generational curses plaguing families. Generation after generation. Alcoholism, abuse, addiction, greed, violence, anger, depression, anxiety, fear. We pass down spiritual doors that we don’t even realize. Things we turn a blind eye to because we don’t think it affects anyone but ourselves. But it does.

There is no such thing as an action that affects only you. Generational curses are real, so be careful the doors you open in your life and the lives of those around you. And those who will come from you in the future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To What You Do.

⁸ Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. ~ Exodus 1:8-11

The Israelites had to build two store cities: Raamses and Pithom. What do these two cities have in common other than being built by the Israelite slaves under their Egyptian slave masters? They are both named after an Egyptian god. Raamses means “Ra has begotten him,” and Pithom means “House of Atum.”

These two gods weren’t just two random gods; they were two of the most important gods in ancient Egypt. In fact, they even merged into Ra-Atum in later Egyptian beliefs. These two cities weren’t just regular cities; they were cities named for two of the most important gods of Egypt. This is how the oppression of the Israelites began: by building store cities for Pharaoh so that his power would continue to grow, and the cities were named after the gods of Egypt. Pharaoh started oppressing the people of Israel by enslaving them and forcing them to help build two cities to strengthen Egypt and, in a sense, strengthen Egypt’s gods and the Israelites’ connection to them.

How can we be sure? Raamses, located in the Nile Delta, became a major royal capital and center of Egyptian power. Pithom, in eastern Egypt, was a storage city for grain and supplies for the army and the treasury. Some believe Pithom became Heliopolis, a major center of worship that God later pronounced judgment on in Jeremiah 43. These cities were not just ordinary settlements—they were built to strengthen Egypt’s power, influence, and connection to its gods.

Now, fast-forward four hundred years: God has Aaron tell Pharaoh to let His people go so they might hold a feast and make a sacrifice to Him (Exodus 5:1). Their slavery started out with Pharaoh forcing a connection of the Israelites to the gods of Egypt, so when the LORD took them out of the land (and out of slavery), it was to break the connection they had formed with those gods and reconnect them with the God of their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

I think that’s kind of mind-blowing. God was undoing what the enemy had done. He wasn’t just physically freeing His people but spiritually freeing them as well. He brought punishment on those gods that had led his people astray and spiritually put a yoke around their necks (Exodus 12:12). Our God doesn’t play when it comes to us. He doesn’t just ignore our bondage. He doesn’t just ignore our pain and suffering. Nor does He ignore our oppressors, but vengeance is His. He will repay. He will right the wrong and deliver His people out of the hand of the enemy; we need only call on His name.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let God Undo.

[12]  Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. [13]  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. ~ Psalms 19:12-13

David prays for two kinds of sins to be delivered from. First, he asks God who can know or discern their own šegî•’ā(h). šegî•’ā(h) is a Hebrew word meaning unintentional sin, sin committed out of ignorance. David makes his case before God explaining that how can anyone know the sin that he sins in ignorance? Then he pleads, declare me innocent from nis•tā•rôt’. Hidden things. Things that are kept hidden even from the person who has done them. David pleads with God to not only find him innocent of hidden sins within him, but to declare him innocent so that none can go before the Throne of Grace to use those sins against him.

Then David prays for intentional sins. He refers to them as zē•dîm’. Arrogant, presumptuous sins. Sins that he commits knowingly, willingly in spite of God. He ends that thought with, let them not have dominion over me. See, before the Holy Spirit, before the death and resurrection, we had no fight against sin. Sin had dominion over us. It ruled us like a lord, like a god.

David cried out for mercy. For grace. For forgiveness. And for divine intervention. David was still dwelling in the days of “I do the things I do not want to do, and the things I want to do, I do not do them.” Sin was his master. Sin was his ring leader. Sin controlled him, so he prayed diligently seeking with all that was within him that the LORD would deliver him from the grip, the chains, the bondage of sin.

Even though sin has been defeated. We have died with Christ to sin. How can we pray any less of a prayer? For David had an excuse, we today, do not. We have no excuse. For Jesus has come, suffered, died, resurrected, returned to the Father, and sent His Spirit to dwell with us, in us, and through us. He is interceding on our behalf. How can we expect to pray any less than David?

Dear LORD, thank You that You are a loving God. Slow to anger. Quick to forgive. Merciful with grace that is for anyone willing to accept it. LORD, please forgive me for each and every sin I have committed. Forgive me for the sins I committed in ignorance. The sins I committed without knowledge or understanding. Open my eyes to those sins, LORD, that I might not commit them again. That they might not take hold of me. LORD, please forgive me for the sins I have committed knowingly, willingly, presumptuously, and arrogantly. Sins that I knew better yet I gave in anyway. Sins that I ran to and made a way to take place. Sins I pondered on and sought out. Sins that have a stronghold in my life. LORD, break those strongholds from off of me. Rescue me from my own flesh LORD. Deliver me from spiritual bondage and oppression. Let not any evil spirits find doorways into my life through my flesh. Help me LORD to crucify my flesh. Help me to break free from these sins that have a foothold in my life. Deliver me, oh God, like only you can. Deliver me, LORD Jesus. Save me from myself. Give me the strength, determination, wisdom, and self-control to overcome in Your name. Leave me not to my own devices, but deliver me, LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.