Session One: Overview of Strongholds

In this course, Overcoming Strongholds, I will be laying a foundation for those who

desire to minister freedom to others who have strongholds in their lives. It is not my aim

to equip you, in this one course, to launch out in a ministry in this area. Rather I hope

to inspire vision and impart faith that will lead you to further study and preparation.

In each session I will suggest books that are definitely worth reading and studying and

will expand your faith and your preparedness for ministry. If you feel that the Lord is

calling you to this area of ministry, there are many other resources that are open to you

as well. I make mention of some of them in the notes for each session.

As I lay a foundation concerning strongholds, it often happens that students become

aware for the first time of strongholds in their own lives. The methods I introduce will be

helpful in gaining freedom from these bondages, but please remember that you may

need help from another person to break through into complete freedom.

I. What is a stronghold and where do we get the term?

A. We get the term “strongholds” from the Bible, specifically from the New

Testament?

a. In verse 4, “fortresses” = Greek ochuroma = “a fortification,

fortress, stronghold; metaphorically used of any strong points or

c. Thus we can understand that a stronghold is a walled fortress or castle

or tower where guards are posted either to keep inside whoever has been

B. A stronghold can be good or bad depending upon who builds it and what the

builder’s purpose was in building it.

1. When God builds a stronghold, it is for our protection and security. God’s

stronghold keeps us safe and keeps our enemies away from us. Hence

we find scriptures like

a. Psalm 91:2. I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God,

in whom I trust!"

b. Psalm 144:2. My lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and

my deliverer; My shield and He in whom I take refuge; Who subdues my

c. Psalm 61:3. For Thou hast been a refuge for me, A tower of strength

against the enemy.

d. 2 Samuel 22:2, 33. And he said, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress

and my deliverer; "God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless

2. However, when the enemy, Satan, builds a stronghold it is for the

purpose of imprisoning us or putting us in bondage. His ultimate purpose

is to rob us of the inheritance Jesus purchased for us on the cross, to

render us ineffective for the work of the Kingdom of God, and to destroy

us.

3. The presence of enemy strongholds in our lives will be accompanied by

very unpleasant, painful, frustrating and disheartening symptoms. Some

of those symptoms, but certainly not all, can be uncontrollable anger,

rage, depression, insomnia, confusion and an inability to think rationally,

feelings of rejection and fear of rejection, paranoia, inability to break free

and stay free of sinful behavior, obsessions, compulsions, addictions of

various kinds, anxiety, various fears and phobias, a pervading sense of

shame, hopelessness and despair, self-pity, eating disorders, and many

others.

C. In order to understand how to tear down strongholds in your life (or how to avoid

getting one in the first place!) it is necessary to know a little bit about how God

made you.

1. God made you with a body, a soul and a spirit. See I Thessalonians 5:23.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and

a. Body = your natural, physical self; the part of you that you can see

and touch. Your body is not born again. God’s provision for its final

and eternal salvation is resurrection.

(1) God’s provision for coping with the desires that come out of

your body in the meantime is the fruit of the Spirit called

self-control. (Galatians 5:22)

(2) Galatians 5:16 gives us the key to appropriating self-control

and resisting the desires of our bodies. But I say, walk by

the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

b. Soul = emotions, intellect, will, experiences and memories (history),

personality; the part of your natural self that you can’t touch. Your

soul is not born again. God’s provision for its salvation is a process

that the Bible calls sanctification. It is the way God cleanses our

thoughts and selfish desires through revelation of Himself and His

love and acceptance of us (the “washing of water with the word”

mentioned in Ephesians 5:26-27). This process begins when we

are born again and will be completed when we see Jesus face to

(2) The more we cooperate with the process, the faster and

easier sanctification happens. We cooperate by consciously

submitting to God and His word, by reading the Bible, by

praying and fellowshipping with God, by worshiping with the

people of God and being taught by them, and, most of all,

by being obedient to whatever God tells us.

c. Spirit = the part of us that is born again, that is in direct

communication with God, that is already perfect and completely

cleansed of sin and of the desire to sin. It is the part of us that was

having 3 parts, body, soul and spirit --- or bipartite beings ---having 2

parts, body and soul/spirit which are the same. Resolving that conflict is

not an assignment I am qualified to take on. And you and I do not need to

figure that one out in order to learn how to break free of strongholds!)

What is important for us to know is:

a. It is important not to take verses of scripture out of their context. It

is usually obvious what a verse means when the whole passage is

read carefully.

b. A verse familiar to many of us, Hebrews 4:12 makes it clear that,

at best, there is not a clear separation between the soul and spirit.

(1) If you look at an x-ray, there is an area that is clearly marrow

and an area that is clearly bone, but it is impossible to draw

a line where one ends and the other begins.

(2) The same is true of our souls and spirits. There is an

overlapping between them and the condition of one affects

the condition of the other.

(3) The same overlapping happens when you add our bodies

into the consideration.

D. When Satan builds a stronghold, he builds it in the soul. If you are born-again,

he cannot touch your spirit because it is filled with the Holy Spirit and in

communion with God all the time.

1. Satan usually begins either in the mind or in the emotions. He may plant

doubt, discontent or some temptation in the mind. Or he may sow seeds

of some little irritation or resentment in the emotions.

a. Unless this planting by the enemy is dealt with quickly, the will

becomes involved. An evaluation based on natural senses and

reasoning is made, just like Eve did with the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:6. When the

woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to

(1) All of her natural senses and her reasoning told her that the

tree was good and it would be good for her to eat it.

(2) The only thing that told her it would be harmful was the

word of God.

(3) If I evaluate my irritation and/or resentment with my natural

senses and reasoning, they will tell me that I am completely

justified in being angry. In fact, I can usually think of more

instances when they have done the same thing before to me

and to others as well!

b. Neither our natural senses nor our natural powers of reasoning are

protection for us against the schemes of the devil.

(1) Our natural evaluations will convince us to take action that

is in disobedience to God: Eve ate the fruit of the forbidden

tree; I lash out with my tongue at whoever I am mad at, etc.

(2) James 1:14-15 describes the process. But each one is

tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

b. Wherever there is one kind of stronghold, there is usually 2 or even

3. It is important to identify the type of stronghold because the

remedy for each is different.

(1) The remedy for sin is repentance

(2) The remedy for a demon is to cast it out

(3) The remedy for a lie is revelation of Truth

(4) But you cannot get rid of sin by casting it out any more than

you can get rid of a demon by repenting. In the same way,

repentance will also not eliminate a lie and neither will the

revelation of Truth cleanse you of sin. The specific remedy

must be applied to the root of the specific stronghold.

II. Sin-based Strongholds: how they get established in our lives.

A. When Christians do not submit to God, when they sin and refuse to repent,

when they fail to forgive others who hurt or offend them, when they persist in

known sin, when they dabble in the occult, then they surrender “ground” in their

soul to Satan and Satan begins to build a fortress on that surrendered ground. If

we persist in sin, a stronghold belonging to the enemy, erected in our soul, will

develop. A sin-based stronghold is built on ground in a person’s soul that has

been surrendered to the enemy through persistent sin, usually in at least one of

these two areas:

1. Involvement with cults, occult activities, witchcraft, tarot cards, ouija

boards, eight balls, fortune telling, horoscopes, séances, New Age

religion, crystals, transcendental meditation, yoga, hypnotism, eastern

mysticism or other false religions, either personally or by a member of

your family, especially a mother or father.

a. Ephesians 6: 11-17. 11. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be

able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is

b. But there is an old saying, “whatever you play with will play with

you” and that is definitely true of the devil and all his various

works. If you play with the things that belong to Satan they WILL

have an effect on you that is dangerous.

c. When God calls us to do battle with the forces of evil, we do so in

the full armor of God. However, when you go in to play with the

devil, you leave your godly armor outside and become vulnerable

to his schemes and tactics. He will take ground in your soul in

order to build his stronghold there and try to take control of you.

d. Dabbling with these things is sin and it will have a consequence in

your life.

2. Unforgiveness. Even when there has been involvement in cultic or occult

activity, there is usually an underlying groundwork of unforgiveness

wherever a stronghold appears. In fact, even when the stronghold is liebased,

there is often a groundwork of unforgiveness that must be dealt

with first. The defining scripture is Matthew 18: 21-35. 21. Then Peter

came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I

a. This servant was full of pride, arrogance and ingratitude as well as

greed. This caused him not to forgive the debt of another even

when his own debt had been forgiven.

b. This scripture tells us that because of his unforgiveness, his master

cast him into prison (a stronghold) and turned him over to

“torturers” who would torment him until he repaid his debt.

c. The words of Jesus in this scripture further tell us that God, “My

heavenly Father” will do the same to us if we do not forgive our

brother from our heart.

(2) God will turn us over to torturers.

(3) God’s purpose in this is that we should repent and forgive.

(4) God’s response is triggered by our arrogant refusal to

forgive those who wrong us when we ourselves have been

forgiven so much by God Himself.

d. God hates unforgiveness in the hearts of His people.

(1) Matthew 6: 14-15. "For if you forgive men for their

transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if

(2) In this passage of scripture, it means that Satan has built a

fortress on the ground of unforgiveness in someone’s soul

and Satan has invited his friends in to share in tormenting

them.

(a) The unforgiving person is tormented by these demonic

powers. The symptoms may or may not appear

symptomatic of the unforgiveness that allowed the

torment in the first place.

(b) These torments are usually the things that drive people

to seek relief through counseling, deliverance, or healing

ministry. But unless the root problem of unforgiveness is

dealt with the person will get no PERMANENT solution

to their problem.

(c) Some examples of torturers are irrational fear, nagging

doubt, insomnia, uncontrollable anger, habitual lust,

sexual addictions, pornography, anxiety attacks,

depression, persistent discouragement and fear,

pervading sense of shame, self-rejection, perversion,

rejection and insecurity, self-pity, paranoia, compulsive

behavior, eating disorders, sense of hopelessness and

despair, constant sense of condemnation, excessive

busyness, and the list goes on and on. . .

So how do we get free from a sin-based stronghold? Let’s look at one method.