Destroying The Unchangable

“Destroying the UNCHANGEABLE”

Intro: Have you ever had Satan come to you to make you believe that the thing you are encountering is unchangeable and there is no hope of even seeing God work in our life. You see one of the hardest thing that people faces is that they have a hard time seeing that there can be a change in their life and so instead of doing something, they tend not to do anything. The Bible says if we will CONFESS, HE will forgive. Our problem so often is even admitting that there is something in our life that is pulling us down and there is nothing we can do about it. Oh YES THERE IS!! My God is able to bring down those strongholds in our life that seem to be unchangeable.

Text: II Corinthians 10:3-5 II Timothy 2:1-4

Spiritual strongholds are Satan’s secret weapon. It is through the shy and cunning use of strongholds that Satan controls the behavior of the Church. They must be identified and destroyed in order to regain control of our spiritual climate and attitude of our walk with God.

Luke 22:31 “And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” KJV

Illustration: There was a man that went around opening and shutting his hands in an obvious attempt to catch something that remained elusive. When someone asked what he was doing, he said, “I am trying to catch chiripitiflautico.” His questioner was perplexed. He had never heard of a chiritpitiflautico before. So he asked, “What does it look like?” To this the prospective catcher replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t caught one yet!”

There has been a lot of talk about strongholds but many people don’t really understand what they are. If we can discover what they are, then it is easier for us to determine how to get rid of them. A spiritual stronghold is a mind set that there is no hope and for us to accept as unchangeable, things we know contrary to will of God. When it seems we cannot change it, it is a stronghold.

I. RECOGNIZE THE STRONGHOLD

A. The typical stronghold is spelled out in the reality of different stories These things blatantly contradict the will of God and often we find ourselves powerless to change reality as we perceive it. This in turn leads to hopelessness. Take one of the greatest problems in the world today is divorce. We say we don’t love one another or trouble arises and automatically we feel we should have never got married.

Proverbs 18:22 “He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord.”

B. So what happens is, people let these things settle in their mind and Satan begins his crafty and cunning work on the mind of that person to cause them to settle for hopelessness. Satan wants to block the knowledge of God to cause you and I to spectulate.

- - - - - - - - II Corinthians 10:5 - - - - - - - -

C. Strongholds are located in the mind and are often made up of good thoughts. When Jesus predicted that He would suffer and die, Peter said, Not so Lord, this shall never happen to you. To which Jesus replied, Get thee behind me Satan. Why did he call him Satan, because he was setting his mind on man’s interests rather than God’s.

Matthew 16:23 “But He turned and said to Peter,”Get behind me Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man.”

II. REJECT THE STRONGHOLD

A. The most dangerous piece of equipment a Christian carries is the mind, because it has the ability to produce thoughts. The evil thoughs our minds produce are more easily spotted and identified. It is good thoughts that our minds are capable of leading to disaster.

Philippians 2:5 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

B. As we begin to deal with these strongholds in our life, we have to be willing to do as James tells us in the scripture. First of all we must submit to God and then RESIST the devil, through this it will be drawing us nearer to God. You a lot that is binding the hearts of people is simple a poor testimony and witness of their lives to the life of their children.

ILLUSTRATION: A distressed mother came forward for prayer at a seminar. She told the story about her rebellious daughter who had turned her back on her family, the Church and God. She was involved in all kinds of sin. She requested that they pray for daughter. Less than a week later, the woman reported that her daughter had returned but through an unexpected avenue. As the mother began to submit to God, she was instantly convicted of sin in her own life. The Lord showed here that she had provided an entrance for the devil. She repented and submitted to God an apologized to her daughter for the inconsistent Christian example. Through this example the daughter also began walking with the Lord.