With strongholds, frequently they're hidden, they're secret. They're hidden away, because we don't want anyone to know about them. Sometimes they're obvious, so obvious that people react to you, because they see the way you are – unloving, reactionary, angry, and a bully; or critical, or negative, or passive… or whatever it is. There are many strongholds, that the Bible talks about.
There's a stronghold of bitterness - that's the most common one. A stronghold of bitterness is rooted in hurts and offences that we’ve never resolved. You don't always feel bitter, but you react; you complain; you're negative. You react hostilely, when you're mistreated, because you're interpreting it wrong. A stronghold of bitterness, the Bible says, is a “root that defiles”. Imagine having an enemy that has occupied part of your heart, so no matter what you do, there are hidden spiritual forces trying to work through your mouth, through your mind, and through your attitudes, to corrupt every relationship you've got. If you want to build, you must overcome your strongholds. It's not either/or; build or fight; build or battle. I've got to actually fight, to overcome things that resist me building; that are in the way of knowing God; that are in the way of my marriage experiencing more; in the way of my family; in the way of my relationships experiencing more.
Sexual sin, and lust, are another big one; and often it's been there for years. Sometimes it's been within a family - the mind tormented with defiling pictures, or unclean thoughts. Sometimes we've done things that have opened the door to that, and now it's become something that's got a hold of you, and grips you, and now it defiles everything. You can't see people right. Instead of looking on people and seeing them as a beautiful person in the image of God, you're corrupted by the stronghold.
Bitterness, lust and sexual sin - these things defile us. These are strongholds. We can have many different kinds of strongholds. There can be a stronghold of rejection - it affects the way you see yourself, and the way you see people around you. Men with rejection can't build great marriages, because they want someone to love them, and care for them, and mummy them, etc, but they don't know how to love people. God says: “husbands, love your wife”. So, these strongholds must be dealt with!
We've got to address any strongholds that stop us being the people God called us to be. We're called to freedom!
For some people, the stronghold is one of shame. Shame is a message that says: something is wrong with me; I'm not good enough. Shame causes people to hide, when we feel like something is broken in our life. We've been put down by people, shamed by people… sometimes it's in families. Sometimes it's in cultures, that use shame as the weapon to hold you, and control you; and when you've got that shame around you, you can never enter intimate relationships.
All strongholds resist love. All strongholds resist experiencing God. All strongholds leave you alone.
Shame is a major one. It's a mindset, that something is wrong with me; we hide.
Addictions are another stronghold. When people lack the experience of love, where love has been violated, or love has been withheld from us - that's what causes these strongholds. They're all a love deficit somewhere, and the thing that will deal with them is not our fighting, and trying, and performing. It's the encounter with the love of God, the love of a Father, who loves us. Addictions usually are rooted in shame and pain, the pain of being wounded, hurt, abused, abandoned, beaten, whatever it is; and it's unresolved in the heart, so we feel a deep shame. Shame causes people to go into addictions, and that not only increases the shame; it now gives them a secondary problem as well. We must resolve those things. These are strongholds to deal with.