Shattering Strongholds

Finding Freedom, part 3

Read part 1 here: Releasing Secrets

Read part 2 here: Reclaiming Hearts

Every time I come back to telling this story, I am freshly reminded that I have started somewhere in the middle. I begin to write something and then hesitate, remembering foundations I haven’t laid, connecting tissue that doesn’t connect. For a moment, I doubt myself and my message. Perhaps I should start over … But then I realize this is just part of the messy wildness of it all. Honestly, there aren’t “Five easy steps to finding freedom” or any “Take your life back in an hour and a half” guarantees. There are patterns and seasons and cycles, solid principles to hold on to, and an infallible Guide who stands ready to usher us through the trackless wilderness. But even if I did go back and lay things out in a more logical manner, it wouldn’t make this easy. The truth is, we are fighting for our lives; the sooner we adopt the warrior’s perspective, the better this battle will go.

Enough of this rambling preamble … let’s dive back in! Last time, we laid the groundwork for recognizing the battle for our hearts. We discovered that, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have a very real enemy who is not only taunting us from without, but raging from within. Now it’s time to find out how he got there, so we’ll know what it’s going to take to shake him loose.

As I mentioned before, there are three main ways the enemy gets access to a person’s heart: personal sin, trauma, and generational strongholds. We’re going to spend some time exploring each of these, but before we do that, let me share a friendly warning. My pastors — a wise, discerning couple who love Jesus and love seeing people set free — have a little saying they’ve come to through literally thousands of sessions of deliverance: there’s no need to drum up business. In other words, it’s counterproductive, even dangerous, to go digging into our own hearts and spirits, thinking we know enough to roust some demons out. We will no doubt find what we’re looking for — and more! — and it will not be pretty. Instead, we need to submit ourselves to the Spirit’s leading, and trust Him to map out the battle plan. He knows best what we’re ready for, what timing and strategy will most effectively accomplish the freedom we seek. In this, as in everything, we must train our hearts to wait upon the Lord, and He will lead us to victory.

Door #1: Personal Sin

The first entrance point the enemy uses to access our hearts is both obvious and straightforward: When we sin, we open the door to the enemy. Sin is not only disobedience and rebellion against God, it also disrupts our relationship with Him and introduces distance into our intimacy. God has put His laws into place for a reason. Anytime we circumvent His plan and choose our own way instead, we remove ourselves from the protection of His covering and leave ourselves wide open to attack. Sin is also agreement with the enemy. When we sin, we begin to agree with the devil that God is a liar, that He is not really good, that He does not truly love us and want our best.

Do you hear the hissing of the serpent in the Garden in those lies? I hope so, because that is precisely where we can trace the origins of the enemy’s strategy. When God housed the first couple in the Garden, He placed before them two trees: the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Essentially, He gave them the choice between life and death: God’s way, or their own. It’s easy to look back from our privileged vantage point in history and condemn Adam and Eve for the choice they made. After all, things would be so much better for all of us if they had just stood their ground and sent the serpent packing! But if we honestly examine our own hearts, we find ourselves making the same kind of self-centered choices, time and again. Every time we do, we yield to the enemy another piece of ground.

Consider, too, the curse God placed on the serpent for leading humankind astray: “‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life’” (Genesis 3:14). Have you ever wondered about this? After all, snakes don’t eat dust! In Scripture, “dust” is metaphor for human flesh, that “flesh” referring to the unrefined, unrighteous parts of us. In other words, our sin is food for the enemy. The greater our sin, the more the enemy thrives. “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). When we repent of our sin and turn back to God, the blood of Jesus cleanses us, and the enemy loses his hold.

This pattern of repentance and belief is one of the primary ways we overcome the enemy. When it comes to deliverance, this strategy is sometimes referred to as “starving out” the opposition. When we turn away from sin and toward God, when we remove from our lives and hearts all the thoughts and actions that dishonor Him, when we choose the way of life rather than death again and again, we deprive the enemy of his food. Praising God and choosing to live in holiness helps create an inner landscape so inhospitable to evil that the enemy will be weakened and far more readily removed.

We can hear echoes of God’s original ultimatum in Moses’s words to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to [you]” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).

This promise holds true for us as well, when we begin to take back the Promised Land of our own hearts. As we choose life — as we love God, listen to Him, and cling to Him, despite what our eyes see or our feelings tell us; as we repent of our sin and believe His words — we will reap the benefits of full and fruitful hearts. The enemy’s strongholds will begin to crumble, and we will build instead lasting strongholds of righteousness and truth.

Next time, we will continue our discussion of enemy strongholds by learning how trauma and generational sins work to keep us in bondage. In the meantime, I invite you to comment below with any questions that are stirring, or email me at lindsey@wovenofwonder.com. May our Lord begin opening your eyes to the full measure of freedom and wholeness He has for you!