Freedom From Mental Strongholds

 

Message: Freedom From Mental Strongholds by Apostle Dr. Emmanuel C. Innocent

Text: 2 Cor. 10:3-6

The Greek word for "stronghold" means "anything on which one relies"; of arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavors to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent. It also means "the idea of holding safely".

To understand the text above, we need to see the keywords there. They are:

1. War: This indicates that we are at war, and it is not against humans but against spirit beings.

2. Weapons: Our weapons are not AK 47. They are spiritual. It also shows we have weapons.

3. Mighty: These our weapons are mighty. The Greek word used for "mighty" is "dunatos" from which you get dunamis, which is the miraculous working power of God.

4. Strongholds: These are safety nets of darkness.

5. Imagination: The Greek word used there is "logismos" meaning computations, reasoning, judgment, decision such as conscience passes on us.

6. Knowledge: Greek is "Gnosis" meaning the intelligence of God and His kingdom.

7. Captivity: Greek is "aichmalotizo" meaning "lead away captive". So we are not only to cast them down, we lead them as captive.

8. Thought: Meaning mental perception; evil purposes.

9. Obedience: Greek is "hupakoe", compliance, submission.

10. Revenge: Greek "Eldikeo" meaning to vindicate one's right to do justice; retaliate.

The Tripartite Nature of Strongholds:

 John 10:10. All attacks of devils are primarily spiritual, then take up the soul, then show up in the body. To deal completely with them, you need to address the spirit, soul, and body. This will lead us to the stages of getting freedom from strongholds. 

Stages of Breaking Free from Strongholds:

1. Deliverance: This deals with the spirit of the strongholds.

2. Healing: This deals with the soul of the strongholds.

3. Freedom: This deals with the body of the strongholds.

Dealing with the spirit of strongholds through deliverance: 

Deliverance is the process of casting down the principalities and powers responsible for the affliction, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Most problems get solved from this stage. Matthew 10:1 shows the three stages of freedom from strongholds. 

Mat 10:1 KJV And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

For deliverance, read Mark 9:25-26; Mt. 8:16.

Two ways to administer deliverance:

a. Through Preaching God's Word - Isa. 61:1-2

b. Through Prayers/Command - Mk. 9:25-26, 1 Tim. 4:5

Steps on How the enemy attacks anyone: 

John 10:10; From here, we can deduce seven steps of attack of the enemy:

1. Regression: to go backward; reverse, backslide.

2. Repression: he moves you to silence, making you inexpressive.

3. Suppression: to abnormally squeeze down; to conceal; hide feelings and emotions.

4. Depression: he breaks your spirit; crushed; feeling suicidal.

5. Oppression: to weigh you down with something so heavy you can't carry it; sickness.

6. Obsession: when you cannot think of anything else; addiction. At this point, you need outside help to get free.

7. Possession: the devil controls you completely; a take over; total insanity steps in.

These seven steps can be divided into the threefold agenda of the enemy in John 10:10. To steal involves regression, repression, suppression. To kill involves depression, oppression, and obsession. To destroy involves possession.

It is important to note that Christians cannot be possessed by the devil. This is because possession includes ownership of the spirit, soul, and body. While the soul and body of a Christian can be attacked, his spirit cannot be completely overtaken by demons. The spirit of a Christian is immune because we are born of the Spirit. Col. 1:13, John 3:5, 1 John 5:4.

7 Types of Strongholds:

1. Spiritual Strongholds: these holds the spiritual life of people in darkness. E.g their relationship with God. 

2. Mental Strongholds: these manipulate the minds of the people, making them unfruitful. In this book, this is our focus. 

3. Economic/Financial Strongholds: these holds down people's wealth and material resources from being useful in their lives or through them. 

4. Ministerial Strongholds: these re forces that fights against believers fulfilling God's assignments in their lives. 

5. Relational Strongholds: these forces frustrate friendship, marriages, relationship of all kinds from yielding Profitably. 

6. Bodily Strongholds: these re forces of darkness that sponsors sicknesses, and diseases. 

7. Governmental Strongholds:

These re powers in government that resist nations, cities from breaking free from affliction. E.g poverty, hurricanes, earthquakes etc. 

Demons and their Nomenclature:

During deliverance, there are cases you have to address the demons by name. An adage once said, "if you want to kill a thing, you first name it", and that's true. All through the Gospels, we see that Christ called out demons by their names.

Why do we need to call them by name?

1. Names are given for identification. Anything you can't name, you can't control it. For example, after God created animals, he brought them to Adam to name them, exercising dominion over the animals. It is like saying, if I can name you, I can nail you. The same thing God did to Eve, Adam named her twice, first 'woman' and then 'Eve', one before the fall and the other after. 

2. Names also show the characteristics of that entity. In the Old Testament, names were given based on the behavior of that entity. For example, Nabal was a foolish rich man; the meaning of Nabal is 'fool', which also described his behavior (1 Sam. 25:25). 

3. Names also show the history of that entity; you can identify one's history through names. Demons' history can be found out by their names. For example, 'Succubi and Incubi' are demons from the marine kingdom, from fallen angels that took charge of the water regions of the earth; their generic name is 'seducing spirits'.

Let's see some biblical names of demons: 

1. Spirit of Infirmity - Luke 13:11. This demon is responsible for age-long sicknesses and diseases. 

2. Deaf and Dumb spirit - Mk. 9:25. This demon is responsible for physical and spiritual deafness and dumbness.

3. Unclean spirit - Mt. 12:43, Mk. 1:23, Luke 9:42. This demon is responsible for madness, schizophrenia, and all kinds of mental problems, as well as spiritual blindness and wayward lifestyles. 

4. Familiar spirit - Lev. 20:27, 2 Kings 23:24, Isa. 8:19. This demon is responsible for mimicking the dead and their characteristics, transferring virtues, good or bad, from ancestry to those it possesses.

5. Deceiving spirit - 2 Cor. 11:14. All demons deceives, nevertheless, there are those sent on that assignment as core areas. They re there to thwart what God says to be seen as lies. They re religious spirit. 

6. Lying spirit - 1 Kings 22:22-23 , 2 Chron. 18:21-22.

7. Seducing spirits : 1 Tim. 4:1. These are spirits responsible for homosexuality incest, bestiality, lust etc. 

8. foul spirit: Mk. 9:25, Rev. 18:2. This demon is responsible for anger hatred depressions jealousy and all kinds of negative vices. All moral and mental absurdity are sponsored by foul spirits. 

9. spirit of fear - 2 Tim. 1:7. Demon that makes people fear or feel anxiety or to behave cowardly. 

10. spirit of divination or witchcraft - Acts 16:16, Num. 23:23.

What are our weapons in Christ - Eph. 6:10-18?

1. Breastplate of righteousness: understanding your rights in Christ, how He has made you righteous, holy in His sight.

2. Loins girded with truth: you must always speak the truth, living an honest life.

3. Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: this means you are ready to share your faith with others. You are a peacemaker. (Matt. 5:9)

4. Helmet of salvation: you must be born again. This weapon is what keeps you from being destroyed by the enemy. The only way to remove this is a deliberate rejection of your faith in Christ.

5. Shield of faith: living by faith is how you withstand all fiery darts of the enemies against you.

6. Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word (rhema) of God. You attack the enemy with rhema, the revealed word of God to you. Just as Jesus used it, saying 'it is written' to counter-attack, that's how we do. It is not just what is written, but what you know of what's written that makes the difference.

If you notice, the first five weapons are defensive, while the last one, the Sword of the spirit, is the only offensive weapon that we have. This shows that God wants us to be secure in Him more than we are useful for Him. Finishing your race standing is more important than fighting. That's why the scripture says, 'having done all, STAND.'

How to use our weapons in Christ:

1. Know the word - Ps. 119:1, Ps. 1:2-3, Josh. 1:8.

2. Speak the Word - Luke 21:15, Ps. 119:43.

3. Resist the enemy - James 4:7. To resist the enemy, you do that through a consistent and persistent prayer life.

~ Apostle Dr. Emmanuel C. Innocent, 

President, THERISTES MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL INC. & GLOBAL INTERCESSORS FOR CHRIST (GIFOC) MINISTRY. 

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