Transcription
Hey friends, it's great to have you with me today on victorious prophetic warfare. And so we are going to begin doing a little bit of a series about identifying demonic strongholds and how do we identify them? What do we do to see that broken in our lives?
So, what I want to do today while everybody is jumping on as we begin this teaching and this training is I believe I'm going to give a little bit of a foundational teaching just brief um about um how are strongholds established? How do how do we see that happen? How are strongholds established? So, it's my prayer that as we do this that this empowers each of you and that it will equip you, but that it'll also give you eyes to see and ears to hear and great understanding of, hey, is there a stronghold that has gripped my life or that has gripped my thoughts that has gripped my emotions? Is there something that I need to be set free from? Or it will empower each of you who are praying for others, which we all should be doing, praying for others to see captives set free, right?
So, I'm going to pray and then I'm going to dive into a scripture we're all going to be very familiar with and just give today a brief overview, brief teaching of how are strongholds established. So, Lord, I thank you for each person that is on right now watching, those that will watch in the days ahead. Holy Spirit, I thank you that you will Lord cause there to be uh wisdom and revelation that will be released and imparted as I am sharing these teachings about how strongholds are established and literally going through and teaching and identifying uh different demonic spirits that could have a demonic grip or that could has become a demonic stronghold. Lord, what what how do we know what we need to be set free from? So Lord, I thank you that even as I am teaching that you will begin to speak to all who are listening and that there will be an impartation to those who are listening to say, "Man, I I that is great truth. I need to hold on to that. that really helped me when I'm ministering to others in Jesus name. Amen.
All right. So, like I said, this is just a brief overview of a teaching. You know, I have books out on deliverance, defeating strongholds of the mind, a believer's guide to breaking free. This is going to identify if you have a stronghold uh in your mind meaning if there's a stronghold in your thought life in your thought patterns. You know I believe that the last place that we get victory in is usually our thought processes and the thoughts in our mind. And why do I think that way? Because those are the things that remain hidden. Those are things that the battle people might not be seeing the the battle or seeing that those lies that are being whispered into our thoughts from the enemy and from spirits of darkness. Others might not be seeing that. It might be an inward an in a battle that people are facing. And so defeating strongholds of the mind. And then I have woo let our children go. I was just with uh uh some ministries over the past uh month and so many people are saying they are still using this book to help them in their church in their ministry with their family with their children. Let our children go. Steps to free your child from evil influences and demonic harassments. Let me see here guys. I have also got my first book on deliverance. Let me lean in to get it over here. uh breaking the bonds of evil, how to set people free from demonic oppression. So, that's my first book. And I'm also going to be teaching you from uh the easy reference guide uh to breaking strongholds. Easy reference guide to breaking strongholds. I don't know why I do not have that little book here, but maybe we can put put a picture of it or a link to it in the comments to my staff who is listening, but I don't see it up here. And so those are books that we have written that that will help empower you uh to pray for others, minister to others, how you can walk a life of freedom and victory, identifying strongholds and seeing their schemes uh broken, seeing their schemes literally broken and cast out of your lives. And that that freedom and victory and the love of our heavenly father that he has called you to walk in, you are walking in the fullness of what he has called you to walk in glorifying him. Amen. Amen.
All right. So, here we go. I'm going to start by reading a scripture and it's Mark 16 and I am going to begin reading in verse 14 just for fun because this is the commissioning of the the disciples before Jesus ascended. It said afterward he appeared to the 11 as they said at supper and he reprimanded them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen him after he had risen. So Lord, we just thank you that as we are going through this teaching time, that any place in our lives where our hearts might be hardened, where there might be uh unbelief, Holy Spirit, I thank you that you come, that you touch our hearts, that we will come out of any and all hardness of heart and unbelief in Jesus name. Let's keep going. Verse 15, he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Then verse 16, he who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. Verse 17, these signs will accompany those who believe. So if we believe this is a part of what I'm about to read is this is a part of our kingdom of heaven inheritance that we walk in as believers as sons and daughters of the kingdom of heaven of our heavenly father. Amen. So let me start in verse 17 again. These signs will accompany those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons. They will speak in new tongues. They will take up serpents. If they drink anything deadly or if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.
All right, guys. So, we're going to talk about this part of the scripture where it says, "In my name, they will cast out demons." All right, we're going to land on that part. Although I do have to give a praise report because uh in the past two days, Greg and I were having a meal a meal with friends of ours on Saturday, last Saturday, and we were telling stories about Peter Wagner and about how he had this anointing in his in his ministry for healing and especially he had this anointing to see uh backs healed And I don't know how many of you watching will have ever seen him, you know, would have seen him do this, but literally if people had a back issue, lots of times he'd have them sit in the back of the chair like I just scooted back in this chair, right? And they would sit in the back of the chair and they'd put their legs out straight and if one was shorter than the other, then he'd command it to grow out and then he'd have them stand up, pray for their back, and the back pain was gone. So Greg and I were telling our friends about this and I said, 'You know what's so amazing is several of us that ran really cro close with Peter that were in relationship with him, alignment with him. It's like that that impartation for that same healing anointing for backs and to see legs grow. It's like we received that impartation. And so we were just talking innocently and I said, "You know, I've seen it over and over and over again the same way that Peter did." And the couple we were having dinner with, he instantly threw his shoes off and threw his legs out and his right leg was shorter than his left leg. And so I was like, "Yes, let's just do it now." So, I walked over and I literally I literally knelt down beside him and I put my hands underneath uh his feet and I commanded that leg to grow and for it to come into um alignment and it instantly did and both of his legs were even and the pain in his back left. Well, he got up and he started walking and he was so overjoyed. Now, I knew he had had an accident a year ago. When I was praying for him, I said, "Any trauma in your back from the accident, I break that trauma. I unhook it now." And we speak complete healing to this back. Well, I didn't know that when he was 17 years old and he was on a mission trip, he was hit by a car and he was thrown 40 feet through the air and he landed on his back. And since that time, He's had back issues, meaning his back was sore. He's had this limp. I'm just saying, come on, guys. Right? And so, when I prayed for that right leg to come out and to be even with his left leg, it instantly came out. All the pain left his back. He's had a limp since then. He is no longer limping. And the pain left him. Woohoo. This is part of our Kingdom of Heaven inheritance, right?
So then on Easter Sunday, my husband Greg and I, our daughter Kendall, my father-in-law Jack, we were sitting at the kitchen table. We were eating and we were sharing the testimony of what happened. And Kendall said, "Mom, my back has been really sore. It's been bothering me." Now, I had heard her say that a couple of times, but I didn't realize like it was really bothering her to the point to where she wasn't able to work out. So she heard us just telling this testimony of the night before and she turned in her the chair at the table and she put her legs out and sure enough and I thinking back I believe it was her right leg as well was shorter. Yeah, it was I have to think of the way she was facing and we prayed and it instantly grew out and then I she stood up. I prayed for her back all pain be gone and literally the pain was gone totally gone. she hadn't been able to work out. Had an appointment with a physical therapist this week. Instantly went downstairs after we were done eating and did a workout that she hadn't been able to do for quite some time. Came upstairs. It was totally fine. Wasn't bothering her. The pain is gone in her back. She was healed. Woo. Come on, guys. Right. And so, Lord, I even thank you for those that are watching. Lord, let this stir their faith. Lord, that they too, Lord, if they are dealing with back pain, Lord, if one leg is shorter than the other, Lord, right now, I speak to those legs to grow and to come into alignment with each other and all back pain to be gone now in Jesus name. Woo.
All right. I wasn't even going to teach on that, but I just wanted to give a praise report before I kept going through this teaching of how are strongholds established. Now, we landed on Mark uh 16:17. These signs will accompany those who believe in my name. They will cast out demons. So, let's talk about this, right? And so, we're going to talk about um how do strongholds, how do they get established, friends? Like I said, this is a very brief teaching over this. I've written three books. Uh we do deliverance trainings that can can take three full days to go through. And so, you know, um when I'm talking about a stronghold, I am meaning where there is a demonic influence. There is a demonic spirit that has caused a demonic influence, a demonization. someone becomes demonized or they there's a a lie that has gripped their life uh in their mind and it's become this demonic stronghold that is keeping you bound. Let me give you a definition of stronghold. Hold on real quickly. Let me get that up. So maybe that will be able to uh help us just a little bit. Now, now a stronghold can be a fortified place. It can be a place of security. It also can be a place dominated by a particular group are marked by a particular characteristic. So, I want you to get this picture when we're talking about a demonic stronghold, right? This is where this demonic spirit that we're going to begin to identify strongholds through this teaching series that we're going to do over the next few weeks. It can become a a an evil fortified place. It can become a place where there is domination where someone is held captive, right? someone that's held captive by this demonic spirit, a demonic stronghold where it's gotten a foothold in your life and become a belief system or a stronghold.
All right, so let's just start going through this ba basic teaching. How are strongholds established? And I'm going to say this, those of you that have heard me teach on deliverance ministry over the years, you're you will have heard me make this comment. The enemy has never nor will he ever play fair ever. Right? He has come to kill, steal, and destroy. But Jesus has come that we can have life and have life abundantly. Right? And so what happens is the enemy wants to establish traps in our lives or set up traps across along the way in our lives in order to be able to establish a stronghold in our lives to establish a demonic grip uh in our lives. And so what what is a just a few examples of what these traps can be? It can be um you know, bondage like we're talking about to a stronghold where we're held captive. It can be in our minds. What does that mean? It means that there have been lies that have been spoken in our mind by the enemy, by spirits of darkness, by other people that we begin to believe. It's a lie that has been spoken, but we begin to um believe that it is truth. All right? And so then it becomes a stronghold in our minds and in our thoughts. For instance, you might not speak this out. You might not act this out. But you might believe that, oh, in your thoughts or in your mind, everybody else, the Lord loves everybody else but me. That person is always so successful. They have the favor of the Lord, but I never will. You know, I am always abandoned and always rejected. Now you might not even ever speak that out but it's a thought in your mind that you have believed that is a lie that others have spoken or that the enemy has spoken and the lie begins to become believed as the truth. So this would be like a stronghold in our mind or in our thoughts that we might need to be set free from. It can be established by a spirit of fear, rejection. We're going to get through all of that. We're going to identify those throughout this teaching series. It can also be where there's a stronghold uh in our emotions, right? And so our body is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions. And the Lord wants us to walk in freedom and victory. He wants us to be set free in our minds, in our bodies, in our spirits, our our and so we so we in our soloulish realm, it is made up of our mind, our will and our emotions. And so when a stronghold gets established, the enemy will come through these different ways that we're talking about just briefly, and it will begin to affect our mind. it will begin to affect our will. It will begin to affect our emotions. Okay? And even our physical bodies. And therefore, when this stronghold gets established, it can then also begin to affect even how we walk out our spiritual lives. All right? So when I'm going to say this again, these traps can cause there to be bondage or to be a stronghold in our minds, thoughts, emotions affecting our spiritual lives. Uh these traps that the enemy will set can lead us into bondage. What are they? What are these traps that can lead us into this bondage? It can be a trauma. And oh my goodness, I've written whole chapters on trauma in uh all of the books that I have written. And we'll talk about that here in just a little bit. I'll give some definitions. It can be betrayal. It can be abuse. It can be rejection. It can be abandonment. It can be accidents. It can be bullying. Ungodly control. Angry family members. uh a a a spouse having an extrammarital affair. All of these types of things can be traps that the enemy has set or things that have happened in our lives where the enemy comes and establishes a stronghold in our lives. For instance, I used to be bound by fear and I used to have fear of heights, fear of dark, fear of authority fe fig figures. Um I used to um you know have nightmares, night terrors. Um and I used to battle with fear. I used to be terrified of flying. And so but I was raised in a home that um was a loving Christian home. But what happened? How did this fear begin to come into my life? Now, the Lord radically set me free when I was 23 years old. And I'm now 58. I've been set free for many years. But I fell. It was a trauma. I fell from from a high place. To me, it would have been a high place. I was a toddler. I was three. From the high place, the monkey bars. Remember when we used to have those on playgrounds? And I broke my elbow. And when that happened, the person that was taking care of my sister and I, she was upset that I wouldn't stop crying. My older sister was very concerned. She took me inside, stuck me in a a crib in a dark room, and was yelling at me to stop crying, yelling at my sister who wanted to come in and comfort me, to leave me alone. And so, uh, needless to say, when my parents arrived, we were just with this person for about four and a half, five hours. When my parents arrived, they were not happy. I ended up breaking my elbow. But in that moment, the enemy did not play fair. That was a moment of trauma. And in that moment of trauma, a spirit of fear came in, right? Fear of heights. Fear of dark. Why? Because I fell from a high place and experienced pain. Fear of dark because I was in that dark room and this woman was yelling at me to stop crying. Yelling that my sister couldn't come comfort me. Then you know fear of authority figures. She was an authority figure in that moment. So the spirit of fear took advantage of that moment in trauma in my life and establish begin to come into my life and establish a stronghold. And so I used to have horrible nightmares, horrible night terrors uh growing up. And it was greatly uh a afraid of the dark. And so, and as we keep going through this, I'll share more of my testimony about how the Lord set me free.
All right. So, there we go. There's just a little bit of an overview um of how there can be these traps that are set or the enemy will come into a moment and set it as a trap to establish a stronghold. Second, it can be uh by generational iniquity or curse as some will refer to it. I'm going to read to you from Exodus 20:es 4-6. We should and and this is from the Ten Commandments and it says, "No carved gods of any size, shape or form of anything whatever whether of things that fly or walk or swim. Don't bow down to to them and don't serve them because I am your God and I and I'm a most jealous God punishing the children for any sins their parents pass on to them to the third and yes even to the fourth generation of those who hate me. But I'm unswervingly loyal to the thousands who love me and keep my commandments. Isn't that powerful? I was reading it from the message. Very powerful. when we read it from the message. So I want to give you some definitions here. The actual Hebrew word used in the scripture for sin is a vo and it is translated iniquity guilt a judicial state of being liable for a wrong done. So when past generations in our family line, they've worshiped idols, they've turned their backs on God, they've hated God, they they have sinned repeatedly or been bound in addictions, been involved in the occult, they or witchcraft, you know, all kinds of demonic activity that they have been involved in. What happens is that will begin to be passed down to like the third and fourth generation down a family bloodline. The enemy hates to lose his hold on a family bloodline. Remember, he has never nor will he ever play fair. All right? And so as we're talking about this, you know, it will the enemy will try an attempt to come keep coming down that family bloodline. How many of us have heard of people that will say that their grandmother was um an alcoholic, their mother was an alcoholic, now they're an alcoholic, right? That there is that tendency, there is that open door, there is that foothold. And I'm going to give you some more definitions here. there is that a vone there meaning there's been an iniquity and there's been uh a guilt um or being liable for a wrong done meaning like not even just a wrong like sinful you know where we're sinning if you want to know what sin is that matter of fact when I was uh writing my book defeating strongholds of the mind uh chapter 2 uh literally begins to Identify. Hold on. Let me get to the right chapter. Maybe it is um chapter three. Sorry. Chapter two is really good because it teaches us and talks about how we're supposed to live by the spirit, right? Anyway, but in chapter three of defeating strongholds um of the mind, I list what is considered uh sin in the word of God. We do a study on it. So like adultery, sexual immorality, covetousness is a sin, debauchery, discord, dishonoring our mother and father, uh dishonoring the Sabbath, doublemindedness, dissensions, oh my goodness. drunkenness or addictions, factions, um fits of rage, giving false testimony, greed, hatred, jealousy or envy, lying, making idols and bowing down to them, misusing the name of the Lord, murder, pride or rebellion. I'm I'm just saying, woo, guys, selfish ambition, um, stealing, unbelief, right? It's an extensive chapter. Unforgiveness, witchcraft, worshiping other gods, right? This, so you can read through, and I just, you know, some of them I skipped over. I was just reading, but you can get this book and you can read through what does the word of God call sin, right? And so this word aone is that's what it's talking about. You know when sins have been committed. And so what happens is it will begin to come down the family bloodline. But listen to the good news. The good report is that through Jesus we have forgiveness, grace, and mercy. It says in Luke 150, his mercy extend to those who fear him from generation to generation. Thank you, Jesus. Therefore, we can repent of the sin in the generational family bloodline. We can be set free from the demonic grip and provide a righteous inheritance for ourselves in the generations to come, right? And so, why do we have to repent for something we didn't even do? Well, think about when Nehemiah went in to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He repented. You can go back to Nehemiah 1 and you can read that he repented on behalf of himself and his forefathers for what they had done for the sin of turning their back on the Lord. He had repented for himself and his forefathers. Right? So when we repent, it washes it under the blood of Jesus. Therefore, he doesn't even think about it anymore. It's removed from his mind as far in his his thoughts. The Lord Jesus as far as the north is from the south, the east is from the west. It is washed clean and pure under the blood of Jesus. So when we repent, it is washed clean, right? And repentance breaks the back of the enemy. Repentance breaks the back of demonic strongholds because we've brought it into the presence of Jesus and we have said, "Lord, forgive me and my family bloodline where we have done this sin where it's repeated itself through the generations. Lord, I repent on behalf of myself and my family bloodline. I confess this as sin." In Jesus I thank you now that as I have confessed it that it is washed clean under your blood. Amen. Woohoo.
Right friends. So what is a third way strongholds can become established in our lives and it is willful sin. This is when we actively choose to engage in sin. Like I said defeating strongholds of the mind, right? You can get that book, read chapter three, begin to identify what is considered sin. Okay? And so when we sin and continually fall prey to repeated sin patterns, we give the enemy access to our personal lives. So it can happen in our personal lives and our thought lives, our emotions, our mind, and it can begin to affect our spiritual lives and our in our physical bodies. Right? We already talked about that earlier. And so Ephesians 4:27, you know, actually even the testimonies I just started off with at the beginning of this teaching, I heard Holy Spirit say, "Wait, go back to that." You know, our friend that I prayed for right on last Saturday evening and he was healed. He had a trauma. He was walking down the street hit by a car, flung 40 feet through the air and landed on his back. had his back has hurt since that time. He's now 40 and it affected his leg where his right leg was shorter than his left leg and he limped. He had a slight limp, right? And the Lord completely healed that. That was the trauma. The enemy did not play fair. In the midst of that trauma, there was this injury that came in and yes, he needed physical healing and he got that healing. But I also broke the trauma, remember that? From the accident that had attached itself to his lower back. And that trauma was unhooked and that all pain and infirmity was gone. So I prayed commanded his leg to grow out. It instantly did it. It popped out. And then I when he stood up, I prayed that over his back. So he was healed. But then we dealt with the trauma from the accident that was hooked into his back. Guys, it was just so amazing, right? So, even in that situation, the enemy did not play fair. He has not ever nor will he ever play fair. So, now we're talking about willful sin, right? And so, when we repeat repeatedly sin, so let me give you an example. Let's go back to chapter three. And um here we go. Let me just talk a little bit about pride. I'll do a deeper teaching on this. Uh but we are all familiar with the phrase pride comes before a fall. Right? Not only does pride cause us to stumble and fall. It also causes us to try to maintain ungodly sinful control over our lives that removes the Lord from guiding and directing us. It says in 1st Samuel f um 15 sorry 1st Samuel 15:23 rebellion is like the sin of divination and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. So the root issue of pride is focusing too much on I making ourselves our opinions and our thoughts the idol or object of our worship. So pride has no regard for spiritual accountability, the truth of scripture or the heart of the father. So if there's pride that is in our lives, you know, someone's going to always think they're right, they're defensive, they're argumentative, they're very stubborn, everyone else is always wrong, and you always have the answer to every problem. I'd like to meet that person that actually has the answer to every problem. Right? It is difficult for people that have pride to admit their own faults. Um, are they genuinely able to listen to others, are they critical and judgmental, right? Okay. So, somebody that prides that is walking in pride. The first time they have a prideful thought, okay, and they repent, they don't have a stronghold or, you know, a demonic influence in their life, you know, or this demonic spirit in their life, this evil spirit. But you know, if they're continually walking in pride over and over and over again and there's no repentance and as they continue to establish that pattern after several times without any repentance and at some point that is an open door that is the that is a foothold. And I'm going to give you another definition here from a scripture in a minute. For that demonic spirit to establish its demonic grip or influence or stronghold in your mind, your thought, your will, your emotions affecting your your physical body and putting a wall up between you and the love of our heavenly father and that humility that we are all and holiness that we're all supposed to walk in. Okay. So there you go. There's a little bit of an example. So let's read Ephesians 4:27. Paul instructs us. It says, "Leave no such room or foothold for the devil. Give no opportunity to him." And now I'm reading from the amplified. So what does foothold mean? Right? And so the Greek word for foothold is topos. T O P O S and it is defined place, location, region, room or opportunity. Let me give you those definitions again. The Greek word for foothold is topos and it is to find place, location, region. That's meaning in a regional area, a room or an opportunity. So when we sin and we fall into repeated sin patterns, we give the devil an opportunity to invade our lives as well as our thoughts, emotions, physical bodies and affecting our spiritual lives. And there then we're carrying this demonic influence, this evil spirit uh in our lives. So to have victory, guys, here is where we're headed. We have to be very intentional, right? We have to be very intentional in choosing to let go of old sinful patterns. We want to rep repent and we and we want to embrace and walk in the new nature that is available to us through Jesus. So it is a must, right? where we set our minds, our will, our emotion, our actions on choosing the pursuit of holiness, seeking the Lord in his ways, and that we cultivate a spiritual lifestyle for awesome divine encounters with our heavenly father, with Jesus, with holy spirit that will bring transformation.
So when we begin to deal with demonic strongholds, uh we what do we do? We're going to repent first. We're going to identify what it is. And we're going to learn that in this series. I'm not going to start doing that today. But when we identify it, we're going to repent. After we repent, we're going to renounce it. After we renounce it, we're going to evict it. We're going to command it to go. We're going to cast it out. Now, we're also going to talk about in this process of, you know, that there's such a necessity of in this process of when we're repenting, we've got to identify, is there any place in my life that I'm walking in unforgiveness? Do I need to forgive someone? Who am I walking in unforgiveness towards? And it says in Matthew 6:14-15, it says Jesus says, "If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins." So when we confess our sins to God but we do not forgive others, we are asking our heavenly father to do something for us that we ourselves are not willing to do for others. Right? And so we, you know, and so when we're talking about forgiveness, um, there are two issues I want to quickly address because in this repentance part, we always have to say, Lord, is there a someone that I need to forgive, right? In this repentance part of dealing with strongholds. And so often when individuals suffer through difficult and traumatic situations, they become angry with our heavenly father. They begin to blame him for their pain. They begin to say, "It's his fault." And they begin to bring the goodness of our heavenly father into question. How could he allow this to happen? Why didn't he protect me? You know, the truth is we live in a fallen world and people sometimes uh make horrible decisions and treat others horribly and especially those who have not received salvation. But sometimes even those who have received salvation still make horrible sinful ungodly choices. And so our heavenly father is grieved when bad things happen to his children and when his children make tragic and harmful mistakes. Listen, he is loving our heavenly father. He is a loving father. And his love is more immense. It is greater friends than we can even comprehend. So it's important for us to realize that when bad things occur in our lives, it's not his fault. He is the one not to blame. We have to understand where our healing is and we have to understand where did this sinful evil come from. When bad things happen, it is from sinful evil choices that others have made and that have occurred that even if it releases harm. But our heavenly father, he wants to bring healing. Jesus wants to bring healing into every situation. Holy Spirit wants to come and touch those places and he wants to bring his healing into every area where there's been betrayal, abuse, hurts, and wounds. Like I said, I'm I'm giving a brief overview of foundational teaching of deliverance. I could literally land on teaching about forgiveness for quite a long while, right? And so the other issue when we're talking about forgiveness um that I want to talk about is our need to forgive others. So we don't want to blame our heavenly father, right? We want to say, "Lord, I choose to believe in your goodness." But the enemy lies. Unforgiveness lies. It'll it'll whisper these lies in your thoughts and the in your emotions. He doesn't love you. He doesn't protect you. Oh, that is so not true. And the other issue is we um is we want to learn to forgive others, right? And then we want to learn how to forgive ourselves. And so sometimes when we have made really bad choices and we're we're upset with ourselves like, how could you do this? I can't believe you chose to do this. Sometimes we literally have to say, Jesus, thank you that you have forgiven me as I have confessed my sins. And right now, I'm choosing to forgive myself. I am saying I release myself. The for the the forgiveness that you have given me, Jesus, I am accepting and I'm not going to beat myself up in guilt and shame and condemnation. And yes, that is a scheme of the enemy as well. So, we want to learn to forgive those who have harmed us. You know, I I think about Jesus as he hung on that cross, right? We've just come through uh Passover, right? We have just come where through this time where Jesus, he hung on that cross, right? And he died for our sins and he rose again, right, from the grave. resurrection day. We've just had come through resurrection Sunday and he rose again from the grave. Thank you, Jesus. Right? And so, but he hung on that cross and in the midst of all that he went through, he said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." Wow, man. Right? And we know he was Jesus and he was bringing redemption for all mankind. But he was also modeling for us the need of walking in that place of forgiveness, right? And and releasing others and receiving forgiveness uh that the Lord has extended and releasing others. And you know releasing someone or forgiving someone doesn't mean trust, right? And so, uh, we don't want people going back into a dangerous situation, an abusive situation, but forgiving them, it releases that situation for for the Lord to be able to bring full freedom and inner healing in your life. Sometimes we think we're punishing the other person. Sometimes we think by by by walking in that hardness of heart towards others and walking in that place of not fully forgiving or wanting them to pay for what they have done or punish them for what they have done. We think we think that um we are punishing that other person but in truth it's keeping us held in bondage. See, Jesus died in order that his forgiveness could be applied to our lives and to the lives of others and so we can release it at his feet. Do you know as long as we harbor that unforgiveness that when we walk in unforgiveness that um that we are the ones that are bound and if we harbor it too long it it can begin to affect us. It will mentally, emotionally, physically. Do you know many people many people who have infirmity in their physical body not all of them but many is because there's some sort of trauma or some sort of hurt or unforgiveness in their life that becomes an open door for infirmity. And so many times when we pray for people and and they thank the Lord for and they for the forgiveness that he's given them and they they choose to forgive and we tell people when you forgive you're not going to have goosebumps that you're being obedient to the example that Jesus gave us on the cross and how we are to forgive others as he has forgiven us. And so we're doing this. for saying, "Jesus, I choose to forgive, Lord, and I choose to release this person." And and we there's all, you know, things that we do in deliverance sessions that help people be able to do that. I'm not going to do that whole teaching. This is more foundational. I'm just going over some steps today. But um when that happens and that forgive that unforgiveness, that hurt of betrayal, that hurt of abandonment, that trauma, it is released out of your life and and we're doing it as as an act of obedience, then sometimes emotions catch up following that that that releasing of forgiveness and that act of obedience, right? And so, um, so we want to learn to forgive others. We want to not blame God and not be angry with him. If we need to forgive ourselves, if we're beating ourselves up, if Jesus has forgiven us, we have to forgive ourselves as well. And so, I pray that this is helpful. Another thing that we will do and I'll just mention this briefly and when we start going through uh identifying the different strong men like fear, rejection, pride, these different types of things, I'll talk about even soul ties further. But if there's been any place in our lives where we've given emotional control to someone or we've been engaged in perversion, sexual sin outside of the marriage bed because that is a covenant act. And so the Lord when a husband and wife are married and if there has been activity outside of that covenant act outside the mar the marriage bed has been defiled then what happens is a covenant act. A covenant means that there it's a binding pack and it's an agreement. Therefore, it causes physical bodies and mind, will and emotions and desires to be attached uh to that person. Never um you know, not even talking about let me get the right phrase out. uh what happens physically uh within our physical bodies and that act of covenant that the Lord happens within that chemistry within our hormones with that one that we are in covenant with right to establish that covenant. You know the Lord designed our physical bodies to respond to that as well. And so so there would be this covenant that is formed not only physically but emotionally and mentally, right? And and so many times if we've given emotional control over to someone, we've been get engaged in sexual sin outside of the covenant of marriage before or after or during. We have to repent. We have to break what we call those soul ties where that that false covenant that that sinful covenant was made with someone and and break that. And so this is another part of how we are going to be uh praying uh and seeing strongholds broken in people's lives. Woo.
So guys, I pray that this has been helpful um for you. Wait, wait, wait. I got to do one more thing. I forgot. We talked about trauma a little bit. I want to give you a definition of trauma. Sorry, that was twice that I thought I was going to stop. But let me give you a definition of trauma as well because we've talked about trauma. Trauma um is a bodily injury, a wound or shock or a painful emotional experience or shock that often produces a lasting psychic or emotional you know me meaning emotional, mental, physical effect. So experiencing trauma can have a powerful formidable effect. I've already shared that with you right about myself about my friend that I prayed prayed for. So as we grow change and and we have wide ranging experiences uh throughout our lives and our beliefs um you know things begin to evolve how we think what we believe emotionally how we respond it evolves over time based on things that we have been through. So when we experience these traumas, those beliefs and perceptions, they they um help make up our sense of the world around us. And so um so it's it's it's common for people to experience um intrusive or disturbing thoughts, worry, difficult sleeping, trouble focusing, bouts of crying, blame, and self- judgment um and la lack of satisfaction. The effects of trauma can also result in emotional fluctuations, unhappiness, anxiety, loneliness, anger, irritability, demonic harassment. So, when there's been multiple traumas in someone's life and they haven't been healed, then what begins to happen is a stronghold of from these traumas can be established in their lives. And so what we are going to do now I'm there as we continue to go through this teaching, we're going to land on some of these things longer. We're going to identify demonic strongholds, fear, rejection, pride, jealousy, uh woo, some of the ones mentioned in here, uh uh occult, witchcraft, which would be a familiar spirit. Uh we're going to talk about uh you know if there is um if there is confusion in people when perversion um has gripped someone's life. We're going to talk through these. We're going to identify what are the activities if you to know that if you h someone has this strong man and what are the steps we go through to get freedom. Amen.
So, that was an overview, the things that we look at when we're praying for someone to see how is a demonic stronghold established in someone's life. And then we're going to pray, right? And we're going to repent and we're going to renounce and we're going to evict and we're going to fill back up with healing and freedom and life, right? So, I pray this has been helpful. Stay tuned guys as we go through this teaching series and let us hear from you. Let us know if this is helping you and we'll see you next week. Don't forget about International Freedom Group, the Fire and Freedom Summit here in Elbert, Colorado, July 18th and 19th. Go to our website to sign up. We'll see you soon. Bye.