Praying to Break Strongholds
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During this block of classes, you have learned a lot about strongholds. These are the things that are negatively impacting your life the most, but are the most difficult for us to be able to release. These are strongholds.
Can you identify strongholds you have in your life right now?
You have already talked about some of the strongholds impacting your life during the lesson, but we want to go a little further, discussing how your prayer life can help you to defeat these strongholds.
They Take Many Forms
Strongholds can be difficult to defeat for many reasons. The primary one is that they are things that our flesh really desires. We crave it, so it is hard to tear it down. It is important to understand that you may crave it, but you may not like it. Most addicts, for example, wish they could free themselves from the craving for drugs and alcohol, but it is hard to let these things go.
Strongholds are often related to patterns in our lives. You may use drugs when you feel anxious. Having sex with random women may occur when you are sad. You may watch pornography when you feel lonely. We do these things because of the patterns in our lives.
Tearing Them Down in Prayer
Strongholds can deeply destroy your life. They will harm you, even if you convince yourself that they are not dangerous.
To defeat them, you must begin in your prayer life. Two weeks ago, you learned to pray against your enemy – the devil. You learned the essentials of putting on the armor of God, and we will quickly review that:
“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 always praying in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints…”
Your place with God is essential to tearing down the strongholds. Satan is trying to convince you that you need these things or that you are too weak to defeat them. He is also trying to persuade you that you are too far gone. There is no way that you can be freed from them. All those things are lies.
Are you convinced that your strongholds cannot be defeated?
Even if you think they are very hard to defeat, you can still crush them. It starts by confessing that these things have no place in your life. Your lust, cravings, sin, bitterness, and unforgiveness have no place in your life. You need to start speaking those things, especially in your prayer life.
You see, the way Satan defeats you is to continually lie to you about who you are and what you have done. He does not want you to believe the truth, and so he will continually help you to strengthen those strongholds with lies. When you start speaking the truth, the strongholds begin to crumble.
Praying for Freedom
Your prayer life is where you want to crush Satan and tear down these strongholds. You can pray about this yourself, or ask others to do it for you, or both. You need to get before your Heavenly Father and seek His help to defeat these places in your heart.
Where you must now begin is by being honest about where your strongholds are at. This may be uncomfortable, but we have learned that the prayers of your brothers can be instrumental in defeating these strongholds. The bible tells us to confess our sins to one another and to pray for one another (James 5:16). There is no more important verse related to what we are talking about here in this lesson. You need to confess and pray so that your sins can be cleansed.
You see, sin thrives in darkness. When we reveal the truth and confess it in front of others, sin no longer has the same kind of power. In fact, it often loses its power all together.
Are there strongholds you would like to confess right now?
What Would Jesus Do?
In Matthew 4:1-11, the story is told of when Jesus fasted in the dessert and Satan came to tempt Him. The account reads:
“1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Jesus defeated Satan by quoting Scripture. He got Satan to leave by pointing out the truths in the Bible. This is what you need to do as well. Take some time and study over what God says about you. Then, include those things in your prayer life. Tell Satan that God has taken all those things away, removed the debt, and freed you from any guilt and shame. Crush those strongholds and never let them have a place with you again.
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© 2024 Dr. Robert Pannier, Hope CDA, All Rights Reserved
