Definition

In the old testament, strong holds were towers, fortresses, fortified caves or mountains that protected the occupants from attack.  King David both lived in strong holds and captured strong holds:

1 Sam 23:14
And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

2 Sam 5:7
Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.

In the spirit realm, strong holds are belief systems, thought processes, or opinions.  Your actions reflect these strong holds.  These could be godly strong holds, or ungodly.   Strong holds are built up by receiving and/or meditating on thoughts.  These thoughts build thought patterns or processes, cause imaginations, and become beliefs that you act upon. 

Prov 23:7
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:

For example, a man may believe that God does not heal today, that his grandfather had cancer, his father had cancer, and he will get cancer.  (It is a fact that over 90% of cancer patients received the thought earlier in their lives that they would have cancer in their lifetime.)  He will start having visions of himself in the hospital, and seeing himself with the same symptoms as his father.  The devil will start giving him pains like his father, and the man will start saying "see, see" and calling it "my pain".  He will literally speak it into existence and/or give access to the spirit of cancer to come upon him.  "Well, brother, I don't believe that", and that's your problem, your unbelief system, an ungodly strong hold. 

You try and tell a person who believes in healing (and particularly one who has been healed by God) that he will have cancer.  "Well, you might, brother, you never now...".  "I will not, you lying demon, Jesus took my infirmities, and bore my sickness, and with stripes I am healed, not going to be healed, am healed, in Jesus' name.  I am redeemed from the curse of the law, and I will never, ever, have cancer, in Jesus' name."  Now that is a godly strong hold, based upon a belief system found in the Word of God.   

A thought is a powerful thing, because it can become a belief.  Our thoughts must be examined in the light of God's Word, the Bible.  If our thoughts don't line up with the Word, we need to change our thoughts.  Begin to meditate on the Word of God, the covenant promise of God, of what He said about you, and has said He has provided for you.  Believe Him, who cannot lie, and let it manifest thru you in your life.  That is, why the Word says:

Rom 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

You have to prove, you have to produce proof, thru your beliefs and actions, what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.  For example, it is God's good will for all to be healed (you got to believe that you are going to get healed, and not die) even if you are believing in the doctors and medicine; but without faith, it is impossible to please God (acceptable, that God is going to heal you); but the greatest is to walk as Jesus walked, in the perfect will of God, in perfect continual divine health (i.e., heal-eth).  Take the Word and produce the proof in your life.


Development

Strong holds come into existence from thoughts that we receive or plant (meditate upon). 

2 Cor 10:3-6
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Stong holds develop in this order:

1. Thoughts
2. Imaginations
3. Strong holds

Thoughts
The Word says bring into captivity every thought.  That means to you must examine the thoughts that enter your mind.  And you must know the Word to have something to examine it against. 

Many people think that all the thoughts that come inside of them, or that they "hear" or think inside them are just thoughts of their brain or mind.  That is not so.  Some people say, "well, I thought it, I might as well say it".  Oh, NO, you don't.  That is why the bible says hold up the shield of faith against all the fiery darts of the devil. 

Eph 6:16
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Because most of those thoughts are fiery darts from the devil.  You have to examine them and bring them into captivity.  You have life and death in the power of your tongue (Prov 18:21).  You cannot just be speaking death out every time a demon gives you an evil thought.  You would be just like a talking doll.  All the demon has to do is pull your string (give you a thought) and out it comes.  People who live like that have their lives and the lives of those around them constantly torn up.  

Luke 6:45
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

You see, the thoughts are in your heart (spirit), not mind (soul).  I heard of someone who once taught that the devil cannot hear you in your mind,  which may be so, but he can hear you in the spirit realm.  If you speak in the natural realm, natural creatures hear you. If you speak in the spirit realm, even silently within yourself (so you think), it is heard in the spirit realm. 

Gen 17:17
Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

Gen 17:19
And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

God called the child "Isaac", meaning laughter.  Because God hear Abraham Spirit to spirit when Abraham spoke in his heart.  And again with Sarah.

Gen 18:12-13
Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?

You are a spirit creature that lives in a body.  You are a spirit, which has a soul, not a soul that has a spirit.  According to the original Hebrew of Gen 2:7, God spirited (breathed) into man and man became a spirit(-ual) soul.  The soul came into existence because of the spirit entering the body.  The soul is the connection between spirit and body.  As you hear someone in the natural, and it goes thru your soul to your spirit.  How can someone say something, and you be grieved in the spirit, if the spirit does not hear it?  You can bring to remembrance (from the memory is in the mind) what was said, but it is now playing over and over in your heart (spirit), not in the natural ear that you originally heard it with. 

Your spirit communes and exists in contact with the spirit realm / world all the times, just as your flesh / skin is in contact with the natural world all the time, feeling and sensing the atmosphere and activities (sound (thoughts), sight (imaginations), smell, feel of the air or touch, etc...) of the things around you. Your flesh (or body, it is the same word in the Greek) communicates this information to your soul (mind, will, and emotions), which communicates them to your spirit.  Your spirit man touches and receives information from the spirit realm and communicates that to your soul also.  

Most thoughts that you hear inside you are actually spoken words in the spirit realm by either (1) the Holy Spirit (or angels), or (2) demons.  Think of a time when the Holy Spirit has been talking to you, and you see that it is as thoughts (we will get into distinguishing between other spirits, your spirit and your soul in School of the Spirit).  Think of when you hear the Holy Spirit starting to pray in tongues inside of you, it sounds like "thoughts".  The mind is a storehouse or databank of information, but your conscience (area of processing thoughts) is your spirit or heart (, but what is called your "sub-conscience" is the Holy Spirit).

Luke 2:19
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Matt 13:15
For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Ps 14:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.

Mark 11:23
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

The Word is the discerner, the examiner, of the thoughts of the heart (in the spirit). 

Heb 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

You must begin to study, memorize and know the Word of God concerning your situation and life, in order to have victory and overcome the strong holds of the devil. 


Imaginations
Like a castle wall is built up a brick at a time, stone upon stone, line upon line, thought processes or belief systems are built up a thought at a time.  These thoughts build upon and reinforce previous thoughts.  They lead to vain imaginations (visions) that give even greater strength to the strong hold.

Matt 15:19
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

A theft will begin to see himself stealing that thing he is thinking on.  A false witness will imagine the trouble he will cause those he is lying about.  Murder can be in vision or imagination form, as well as adulteries and fornications. 

Matt 5:28
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

These images that play over and over in a person's head (heart) become very strong imprints on them.  For example, you angry at someone, everybody was sure to come by and share what the other person said or did, to be sure to rehearse it, over and over again to you, it seems to play over and over before your eyes in your head... See the process happening. 

Or maybe its worries about finances, "how am I going to pay (the bills)".  (Note: The devil never talks to you in 3rd person, like "how is he ...", but in first person "how am I ...", so that you will think it is your own thought, and receive it.)  "You know, my parents were always poor, I have always been poor, and I am never going to get out of this, I am never going to be able to move from this area, I am never going to be able to..."  And you see  yourself in that poor job, in that poor car, in that poor house... Start looking up from where your help comes from, and see what God sees for you.  Ask the Holy Spirit to give you a vision of what He has for you, and wants you to start meditating on and believing for. 

We must guard intensely our imaginations.  Sometimes the devil will give you dreams to back up and strengthen the strong hold.  "I dreamed my car broke down".  Lying devil, I don't have breakdown's, in Jesus' name.  I remember I started having dreams about some monster chasing me.  About the 3rd night it happened, in my dream with me a sleep, my spirit man took over the dream, and I stopped running, turned around and shouted "in Jesus' name".  The monster stopped, the dream ended, and never came back. 

Start seeing yourself in that place that God wants for you, in that new job, in that new house, in that place of ministry.  Allow vision, hope, and faith to start rising up in you.  Dream big dreams, and begin to speak to them to come to pass, in Jesus' name. 


Strong Holds
Strong holds are the end result of uncontrolled thoughts and imaginations.  The resulting belief system will determine a person's future actions.  Strong holds are belief systems, that the enemy imparts into one, to cause that individual to begin to acquire his thoughts, to bring one to hopelessness and discouragement, and ultimately away from the intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ and how He walked here on earth. Once he gets into one's belief system, he stops that individual from patterning his or her walk after Christ.  He begins to speak into that mind and control it.

For example, a young girl's father leaves the family when she is young.  She misses him, she feels rejected, not cared for, the devil tells her "it was my fault", "I must have don't something", "nobody loves me", "nobody will ever love me"...  See grows up to be a beautiful woman, but cannot see herself beautiful because she sees herself as unworthy / unlovable.  When people start getting close to her, something always happens, because she is rejecting them "after all, they will never accept me".  It is a strong underlying belief that is destroying her live.  BUT GOD says you are worthy, because He chose  you to set His love upon you, and that you are accepted in the beloved.  Amen. 

So the thought process has to change.  Some times ungodly strong holds have to be torn down a thought at a time, as we build up godly strong holds in their place, a thought at a time, with supporting visions and dreams and imaginations, until I know that I know the will and Word of God for me in this area, and cannot be moved or shaken from it, in Jesus' name. 

Nah 1:7
The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

Some times strong holds are what we think about all the time.  It is what we value or count worthy. 

Matt 6:21
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

For example, one person loved baseball.  That is all they thought about, dreamed about, imagined about as they walked around.  They could not wait till the evening and weekends when they could go play baseball. 

It consumed them and controlled them.  It does not matter if it is baseball, or shopping, or being mad with someone, or TV /  Playstation / porn; if it is consuming you, your thoughts and imagination, it is controlling you... for the purpose of keeping you away from godly strong holds, and thereby defeated.   

Begin to use the name of Jesus to break its power.  Begin to curse that ungodly lust that is drawing you or driving you, evening in your thoughts toward that thing, and command it to wither and die out of your life, in Jesus' name. 

Begin to replace it with God's Word.  Begin to speak the Word over your self and situation, in the name of Jesus.  Begin to see your self in that place of victory.  And allow God to build you up into that man of God that He has destined you to be since before the foundation of the world, in Jesus' name!

Luke 8:15
But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.

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