David Diga Hernandez - How to Break A Stronghold For Good

It’s time to break the cycle of sin. It’s time to break the cycle of shame. It’s time to break the cycle of heaviness. It’s time to break the cycle of confusion. Whatever is robbing you of that divine peace that is rightfully yours, whatever is robbing you of joy in the Holy Spirit, it’s time for that thing to be broken off of your life once and for all. I truly believe that the Word of God carries the power to destroy those strongholds in your life.

Number one: you have to receive the Word. Now, this may seem basic, but it is the way you break a stronghold and stay free. When you receive the Word in your life, you’re allowing light to shine. The more of the Word that you receive, the less powerful these strongholds will become.

Number two: meditate on the Word. Once a stronghold is exposed, it’s easier to monitor and control your thoughts. The Scripture commands us several times how and what to think. «Think on these things.» The Scripture would not command us to do something that we are not capable of doing. So when the Scripture says, «Think on these things,» it is telling you something that you’re able to do. You have the power to take your thoughts captive, to control them, and to tear them down. How do you do that? With the Word.

So when the enemy tells you that you are alone, the Scripture says, «I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.» When the Scripture contradicts the lie, that is when you begin to see freedom. So I meditate on the Word, and meditation isn’t just reading the Word; meditation is thinking about the Word. You know that when you think about the Word, it’s like water rushing through your mind, washing your mind.

How do you wash your mind with the Word? You run the Word through it, kind of like when you put your hands under the sink. If your hands are really dirty, or maybe when you’re cooking—some of you who cook, like with dough—you get the dough all over your hands. What do you have to do? You run them under water. The constant flow of water is what removes the dirt from your hands. In the same way, it’s the constant flow of the Word that removes these lies from your mind. You have to constantly be thinking on the Word.

So you may say, «Well, I already tried that.» Now wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Did you really? Because the Scripture says, «Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.» The Word of God works! Let God be true and every man a liar. God’s Word works—period.

So you have to wash your mind. The problem comes when we wash our minds with the Word and then go get them dirty again with our YouTube searches, Instagram scrolling, and Netflix viewings. We wash our minds with the Word and then listen to music that makes it all filthy again. We wash our minds with the Word and then obsess over thoughts that are not biblical. We wash our minds with the Word and then get sidetracked by weird myths and doctrines because they are fascinating, yet they cause more torment than freedom. Wash your mind with the Word and keep a steady flow of it.

Number three: obey the Word. The Word will only work for you when you start to obey it, and that takes discipline; that takes time. There is no Christian who is in the Word daily, who makes daily contact with God—not just praise, but who makes daily contact with God through prayer, who lives a lifestyle of worship, a lifestyle of repentance, and practices holiness. There is no Christian like that in bondage. Did you hear what I said? There is no Christian who makes a daily practice of the Word, who makes daily contact with the Lord through prayer, who practices a lifestyle of worship, a lifestyle of repentance, and who walks in holiness—such a Christian is not in bondage.

That Christian in bondage does not exist. Look in the New Testament; you didn’t see a whole lot of that among the apostles or the church leaders. You didn’t see a whole lot of talk about how to overcome these things. Why? Because the Christian life is a life of freedom. If you’re not walking in that freedom, you’re settling for less than what the Christian life offers.

Now, I know that may sound harsh, but I don’t mean it to be. I mean it to be encouraging. Because we tell ourselves, «I already tried that,» and there again is a stronghold. There’s the lie you believe: «I already tried that, and it doesn’t work for me.» Those are the lies that keep you bound right there. «Well, it worked for me for a little bit and then it stopped.» Did it stop working, or did you stop working it? Did it stop working, or did you stop obeying? Did it stop working, or did you fall back into your old habits?

You have to make the daily decisions to practice these spiritual disciplines; you have to do it. I can’t lay hands on you and impart discipline. See, we want to hear, «Oh, it’s a curse, so you pray for me, you break it.» Yeah, okay, I’ll pray for you. You may experience the power of God; you may be healed from the effects of the stronghold in that moment. But if you don’t address that mindset and that pattern of thinking, you’re just going to go back into it again.

Number four: prayer. Now, prayer can break…