Breaking Strongholds: Aligning Thoughts with God's Truth

1. "Some sins are easy to unhook. You have just taken the bait. And you were hooked, just kind of hooked in the lip. So all you really have to do is repent, receive forgiveness, and avoid that temptation like the plague. It really is. It really is that simple. If you, you know, you really truly, sincerely do these things. Easy. Turn to your neighbor and say, easy peasy." [35:20] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "But sometimes sins have been there a while. You've swallowed the hook. And so it's harder to get the hook out. It's harder to find freedom. Now, not impossible. Of course, it's not impossible. But it is harder. And today I'm going to be talking to us about those kind of sins. Those kind of sins that are more difficult. That repentance alone won't resolve. Because they're stronger. They have a stronger hold on us. Because they've been there long enough for strongholds to be built." [36:08] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "The enemy is slyer than that. Listen, he doesn't like to show his hand. Overt examples of his involvement will show his hand. And that's the last thing that he wants on most cases. He doesn't want you to know. And I think that's why so many of us don't know how the enemy is operating in our lives. Because it's so sly. It's so underneath. The surface that you don't even realize is what's happening until you swallow the hook. And then you are trapped." [36:53] (38 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "God really intended that we would follow after his words so we would move into the direction of God. But unfortunately, our thoughts follow, are influenced by rather than God, it's influenced by our friends. Culture, media, social media, how we are raised, personal trauma, personal experience. And those thoughts are not, everybody say not, in alignment with God's thoughts. You know, these thoughts that come from social media and friends and all this other stuff, these thoughts are contrary to the word of God." [39:33] (54 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "A stronghold is a mindset that is contrary to the truth of God's word. So the enemy builds a fortress and lies out of, oh, you know, incongruous ideas or inaccurate thoughts about scripture, about God, about ourselves, about others, about the nature of sin. He builds that fortress with those lies. And in our heart of hearts, we know it's not true. We know it's not true. But we just can't stop thinking it." [43:36] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "A mindset, strongholds are like a mindset that's impregnated with hopelessness that causes a believer to just accept as unchangeable something that's contrary to the will of God. Oh, Bennett, such a good job. Let's give him a hand. Thank you. You can sit down. There, see? Love you, Bennett. You're going to be a teenager soon, though. Then I won't be able to call on you. Okay. So what I'm saying is that a mindset, that mindset is hopeless. You feel like you just are trapped, that you can't get out of it, you can't change it. But the problem is that the thoughts then leads to behaviors that gives the enemy judgment." [44:40] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "The enemy of your soul thrives on what is done in secret. And he will build a stronghold on any long-term behavior, unexposed sins that you have in your life. You need to bring what's in the darkness into the light. Because sin and unforgiveness gives the enemy legal right to torment you. See, here's my problem. This is why I want to talk about this so badly. It's because some people ask me to pray about this or to pray about that. And really, why bother? Because you're letting it happen. Yeah. Ouch. Because you can't pray this away if you've got sin or unforgiveness in your life. You are giving the enemy legal right to torment you. He has the right." [52:52] (68 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "You have to keep on declaring God's Word until the thought is no longer there, the desire is no longer there. You keep at it. You keep at it. You keep at it. I think that's why some of us have failed because we thought, oh, it should be gone by now. But listen, this didn't get built with one thought. was thought upon thought upon thought and upon thought declaring God's Word is going to be over and over and over again until it's defeated. Don't give up. Don't quit. Keep doing it until it's gone." [01:05:19] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Consistent times of prayer and fasting denies the flesh. It's not about twisting God's arm. It's about denying our flesh. And when we deny our flesh, our flesh diminishes so that God's spirit in us can increase. And when that happens, when sin is a whole lot less enticing, so praise, worship, pray and fast. But last one, don't fight alone. yes, overcoming strongholds require that you recognize and acknowledge a stronghold, that you repent and you forgive, that you make a commitment to bringing your thoughts into alignment with Christ, that you consistently worship, praise, pray and fast. But this is not a solo endeavor." [01:10:35] (69 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "You don't have to fight this alone because Jesus wants to fight this. With you. You didn't hear me. Jesus wants to fight this thing with you. Do what you can do. Absolutely, you do what you can do. But then ask God to do what only he can do through the power of his anointing. Isaiah 10, 27 says, and it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing." [01:14:30] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)