Breaking Strongholds

Today we are going to talk about the negative strongholds that are in our lives. For some of you this might be an uncomfortable topic and for others you may be ready to hear this message, and hopefully you are all ready to tear down strongholds in your life that have been hindering you from growing closer to God.

There are two definitions of a stronghold.

1. (Military / Fortifications) a defensible place; fortress

2. a major center or area of predominance.

It is the second one that we are addressing today

There are two types of strongholds in our lives. There are the strongholds of God, the Biblical and moral strongholds that we hold on to and believe and allow to guide us in our daily walks and then there are the strongholds of sin that bind us and become areas of predominance in our lives.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned…” He goes on to tell is in Romans 6:23 that “The wages of sin is death.”

We all sin. You sin. I sin. And that sin holds us and drags us to the grave.

We never planned on sinning. When we were younger we never planned on being a gossip. Nobody plans to be a drug addict or a murderer or addicted to pornography. And yet, those things happen in many of our lives.

Sin is sin and we all sin.

We sin, we fall short of the glory of God; we make mistakes. And we are not alone; there are many examples in the Word of God of people falling into the temptation to sin.

David, a man after God’s own heart was guilty of murder and adultery. The Apostle Peter cursed and denied the Lord. Abraham lied. Moses disobeyed. And the man we are going to look at today, Samson, he was overpowered many times by his addiction to sex and power.

These strongholds are not the fleeting temptations that happen from time to time, today we are going to tackle the obsessions that we just can’t seem to escape but you want to and you need to.

Much of the time, strongholds such as we are discussing today did not just happen. Many times they are passed on from generation to generation. I call them generational curses.

Other times they are created by the individual after months and years of giving into sin, a lack of making good decisions and a lack of spiritual discipline in our lives.

Someone once said, “Our life is ultimately the product of thousands of small decisions.”

These strongholds are things like drug addiction, anger, gambling, gossiping, back biting, pride, pornography, drunkenness, thoughts of hurting others or hurting yourself, selfishness, not correctly handling your finances, and anything else that attaches itself to you and seems to hold you in its grip and keep you from living a life of victory.

By the end of this message today, my prayer is that we will be able to stand and say enough is enough and that we can break these strongholds through the power of God and put in its place a stronghold of peace and power through God’s Holy Spirit.

Pray

Father, Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.

Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.

Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.

And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive. AMEN

Samson’s life story is quite interesting. He was an Israelite from the tribe of Dan. He was born to a woman who originally had not been able to have children. Scripture says she was sterile and childless.

There have been some really important people in the Bible who were born to women who were not able to have children.

Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

Hannah who gave birth to the Prophet Samuel.

Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.

And then there was Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was not sterile, but she was a virgin and was childless.

Something else that all of these women share in common is that they had births that were foretold by angels.

2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”