Sons Break Strongholds - Apostle Mike Connell | Ascend Global Church

morning family i just wanted to call up our beautiful ashes out to come forward and just wait out the front um just for our offering an offering is given from the heart and um leviticus 2 verse 19 and just at the end it says it's an offering made by fire a sweet aroma to the lord and i just wanted to focus on that last part just that sweet aroma to the lord you see this here this is my palm and this is all god used to see out of me he says give me give me give me god i need this god i'm i'm hungry i need money and then when the pastor comes up and says it's offering time my hands go in my pocket it goes like there's my chin it's my turn now this is not a charity i used to treat it like a charity and i hope some of you are not but i used to treat it like a charity now this is my decision this is me saying god you have been said good to me you have carried me through the fire everything i have is because you gave it to me i honor you god i honor you with the best part of my finances and when you give today and only god's gonna see that only you and god can see what you give is it going to have the sweet aroma or your hands going to be hidden just like mine see all week all week we put our best foot forward and i know the boys put their best foot full when they get to the gym we put our peaceful food when we go to work and relationships try to be the best friend you can be but what about this part proverbs 3 verse 6 and all your ways acknowledge god hey and all your ways acknowledge god not just some but all of them okay when you establish the heart of giving man i promise you man and your sports and your finances and your work every single thing will have the sweet aroma of god i'm just going to bless i'm going to bless our offering and then i'm just going to call my lovely collect him we've got something special for you lord we thank you we ask you to bless our our tithes our offerings this morning father god we pray that your hands on and receive receive it with fire father god we pray that you bless every hand that gives in jesus name [Applause] woah [Applause] [Music] ah [Applause] oh [Applause] come just put it together for these guys [Music] [Music] wade what was it that you told me during the week because you were saying the same thing you know with the offering yes okay oh it was the craziest praise report so normally you know just being honest when it comes to the titles and offerings i'm one of those guys that just kind of hides and i go oh no not this again you know i was one of those guys and then come last sunday um noelle got up and she said hey you know when i first gave uh i only had you know 18 or something like that and uh you know i've just coming from wellington coming from traveling i didn't save a lot i partied way too hard spent too much money it was wrong um and i came back and i haven't been doing for the last month because i've kind of been pushing off things and going actually i'll just i'll kind of go with what god says so last time i felt god saying hey just uh give 10 of what you've got currently right now and i was like mate i don't have a lot of money here like i haven't worked for a month you've seen this but i thought okay no i was heavily convicted got to my car and i just you know bank transferred through and i was like sweet okay god i trusted you um so there was a job that carter's that i could have gone you know it's quite comfortable good pay uh most people would have taken it um but i thought no i still don't want this god this is not meant to be so god kind of just said trust in me wait you've trusted me you've tied you've given 10 percent of what you've got um so i went okay cool and then uh i feel i did this job interview on tuesday for this actual top-notch elite job that i really wanted but i didn't quite have it yet you know i just yeah yeah just you know it comes with a good perks company car good pay really good things um and you know i did the interview in the morning and i felt god saying okay wait trust in me now okay i know you don't want the carter's job i want you to call the manager who i'm really good friends with call that manager and tell them that you don't want that carter's job god who's going to do this he's going to turn down a guaranteed job for something they might have you know i've trusted my ties but i don't know if i could trust him this year everybody said no just do it so i text the manager and i said hey richard uh i'm telling him i can give you a call and he called me immediately and i think no no i was hiding the phone call but i picked up manned up win and walked outside you know when you're on the phone awkwardly and you're walking around just that's what i was doing and i said richard i just feel in my heart i can't take this job here um it just doesn't feel right you know okay cool hung up i thought okay god i fully trusted you now trust with that 10 of my finance um and i've trusted you with my heart here did that and then about two o'clock i get the job and they're like hey wait i'm pleased to offer you this job you've got the pay you've asked for you've got the company car and even better we've got a trip to queensland next week all expenses paid for you boom bamboo yeah come on thank you jesus why don't you stand to our feet come on you haven't come here to hear information come here today to to encounter the lord to counter the holy spirit [Music] you're hungry this morning let's just left their hands come on let's talk to the holy spirit you've got heaps of information you don't need much more of that [Music] in the touch of the holy spirit upon your life if you're watching online just lift your hands just open up your heart to the holy spirit today [Music] we welcome you spirit of the lord we welcome you spirit of the lord come on let hunger rise in your heart this morning hunger for you today holy spirit we welcome your presence we welcome your words here to speak and to minister life into people we have come here today to meet with you welcome your presence here come on you hungry for him this morning come on are you hungry for him come and just talk to him this morning we welcome you holy spirit just in your own way just talk to him this morning harm holy spirit come and touch my life today holy spirit i need you today i need you to intervene into my life i need you to intervene in my situation i need you to intervene in my spirit i need you to intervene in my heart come holy spirit come on let your voice rise somehow this morning if you are hungry in some way talk to him this morning hunger for him this morning we welcome you today spirit of the lord come and minister into every home every heart even those that are watching online holy spirit come and speaking to them today we welcome you we welcome you today [Music] welcome you today you know when the holy spirit comes upon a person i was reading this morning when the holy spirit in the spirit of the lord came upon this person the life was transformed there's a bunch of behalf of dozens situations in the old testament the bible says and the spirit of lord came upon this man the spirit of the lord came transformed him the bible says we've talked about saul talked about samson talked about um about jeff there and david and gediyon the spirit of the lord some of these people were just insignificant people but the holy spirit came over their life and transformed them in the new testament the holy spirit came upon the whole church and the whole church was transformed [Music] today we've had heaps of information we need an encounter with the holy spirit right now come holy spirit we welcome your presence here today where's lungi lung are you here this morning lange where are you come on don't don't just stand there just hunger for him this is live trans mommy last transforming time where's lungi where are you come forth come come come on [Music] come on just lift your hands up to the lord come just got a brother just stand that way just come holy spirit come on come on just stretch your hands out to this young man come holy spirit calm the holy spirit the holy spirit comes upon a man when the holy spirit comes upon a person holy spirit is going to come upon you today sir miracle miracle it's in your name miracle your life is a miracle but the miracle is still yet to unfold in your life the miracle is still unfolding in your life you've seen miracles you are a miracle but there are more to come there are more to come in your life when i was praying for you before this is what i felt the lord saying he talked about what i just talked about jeff the jeff there in the book of uh in the book of judges i think chapter nine the book of jephthah said he talked about this man that he was rejected by his family he was spoken ill of by his family and he had to run away and i just seen something there has been a a harsh word spoken against you especially around your family it's like that the tongues of family member has has criticized you whether it was one or whether it was the whole lot i don't know but i just feel like the tons of family have criticized you basically saying you're not one of us there's no place for you here there's no future for you here eventually jeff they had to run away and the bible says they went away and fled to the land of tope but in that place god did a transforming uh a transformation work in his life and there came a day when uh when his family got into trouble and they looked and found who can we help and somebody said oh no jeff that jeff that would come the point of the story is this there is a transformation work happening inside of your life right now even though the very same people that rejected jephthah eventually called him back to be able to be a leader and a source of hope for their lives and i just sense for you today the miracle is yet to come even right now where you experience the pain of words you experience the rejection of of home the rejection of people that's supposed to have loved you there is a transformation work happening inside of your life right now like there is going to come a day there will come a day where hearts will be turned back to you people will see the transformation that the word a taupe means this it means a pile of testimony and so there's going to be a pile of testimonies not just one but more than one there's going to be a stack of testimonies testimonies of healing financial testimonies you're going to own your own home one day i can see uh there's going to be a pile of testimonies stake over your life people are going to see and the word miracle is going to be manifest on your life to the family god loves you sir other people have rejected you but the lord loves you he believes in you you are mine says the lord you are my son and the holy spirit is going to come upon your life in great power the holy spirit is going to come upon your life and bring healing and restoration he's going to build a strength inside of your life you are going to rise up as a leader people are going to look to you the people that people once rejected will one day turn to you for answers for help and you're going to be in a position to be able to bring help to them father i thank you for this amazing young man i thank you for this miracle i thank you father for your son i thank you for this is a man that you love dearly lord that i know that people have rejected him but you are the one that have come you have gathered them you have loved them you have gathered them up and i pray that today in the name of jesus lord the power of the sting of those words would be broken today in jesus name i pray that even right now this would be a day there will be a turning point in his life this will be a turning this today is going to be a turning point in your life lungi a turning point you're going to look back in this day and say today my life was transformed i thought i was rejected but i know i know i am loved by god the whole reason [Music] i felt the lord's pulled you out today so that you would know the truth that you are loved by him that you are not a mistake that you are not a failure that you are loved by him you make something beautiful out of your life today i pray blessing of your life today in jesus name i call you to arise the man of god that god has called you to be in jesus name bless you come and look let's give jesus honor this morning [Music] what are you i just had you on my heart since yesterday you hear the sporting body come thank you father come on just talk to the lord just to hunger for him today when his presence comes and touches a person it can never be the same his grace finds us just as we are thank you lord father which presence come and touch your daughter today in jesus name calm holy spirit come holy spirit come holy spirit let your love come and touch your daughter today bonnie this is what i felt the lord i the father lord placed you in my heart yesterday and um it's like you've been carrying a just a heavy weight on your shoulders you carry the heavy weight and discouragement and disappointment over your life but today holy spirit's going to come and just awaken of something of fresh inside of your life this is what i saw this is what i saw and just take it as you or leave it as you like but this is what i felt was this yesterday when i was i was looking at my avocado plants and uh there's a couple of avocado plants there and they look to be dead the reason why they look to be dead is because the goats ate them silly things the goats ate them i was ready to put i was ready to pull them out [Music] carry the goat whatever i was thinking i need these things are dead i need i need new ones and um i just went up and just started to have a look at them again just to make sure they were dead we were still alive and as i pulled back the weeds there's weeds growing around them i pulled back the weeds i saw a new life and started to start to start to spring up and i felt you come into my heart it's like these little trees that had started to grow had been eaten by goats and looked like they were dead and it looked like they've been overcome with weeds it looked like they were dead but i as i pulled back those weeds today and i saw the new growth i see for you there's been a time in your life where it's kind of like goats have come and you've started to grow you've started to emerge but it's like things have started to nibble you and it's nibbled you to the point eating you back to the point where you thought you were dead and it looked like you were dead in fact even on the inside you've you felt like you did you it's almost like lost hopes and lost dreams but the the mouths of people the mouths of um like goats in this particular sense but the mounds of people eventually shut you down it's like almost like that a weight came onto your shoulder and it's just looked like you've been crushed crushed in your heart crushing your dreams and uh and just like these plants it's almost like the weeds come around and it's kind of like for you it's like other things have come around your life and started to untangle but i can sense the holy spirit right now starting to pull away some of those weeds and the lord wants to encourage you today you are not dead your dreams are not dead your hopes are not dead you're gifting the call of god upon your life is not dead it may look like it may have been even attempted to kill but it's not dead you are still alive i can see right now that in the midst of what you've been wrestling with in the midst of the weeds that have kind of come and hidden and and got around your life there is new growth started to form new growth started to form and i want to encourage you today sister there is new growth there is new dreams you are not dead there is a call of god upon your life today holy spirit i pray right now i pray holy spirit that you would stir inside of your heart afresh today in jesus name i pray even right now lord that the words of the enemy would be silenced today in jesus name i thank you even right now that the mouths of lions the mouths and goats would be closed today in the name of jesus they're no longer will they nibble away no longer would they eat away at the growth of the new dreams of the ideas and the call of god upon your life they are gone they're not there anymore they're tied up i tied them up for you yesterday they're not going to come back to get you again but there is new growth appearing in your life i want to encourage you right now so the holy spirit pulls back the weeds and starts to make room for the new growth there is new growth arising inside of your life today you are alive bonnie you are a liar the spirit of god inside of you is not dead the holy the resurrection power is coming inside of your life and i want to tell you today it is not just a little plant you're going to grow into you will come into a group go into a big plant you will grow and produce a lot of fruit a lot of people are going to be touched by what the lord has placed inside of your life lord has given you a voice god has given you a sharp eyes to be able to see to to decide to to to um to discern between this and that the lord has given you a great powerful voice in a kind heart lord i pray right now your prayers will just come and touch your life today in jesus name lord i thank you that even this day father you have closed those mounds i thank you today that those mouths are now tied up and defeated thank you that even today right now you are clearing away the distractions you are clearing away the the weeds that have got around your heart today now i call you to call a caller forth today as the woman of god that you've quoted to be in jesus name i bless your bonnie i bless your family i bless the dreams that are inside of your house up inside of your heart i bless the works of your hand i bless the meditations of your heart today in jesus name may you arise as a great and powerful woman of god in this nation and beyond in jesus name touch your holy spirit touch your holy spirit touch your holy spirit touch the holy spirit right now in jesus name amen just lift your hands just worship and miss mine we give you honor today we give you honor today we give you honor today there's somebody else i i'm not sure even if you're here but your name is rob rob robbie rob [Music] you're in business i had you on my heart before and this is what i felt this is what i felt i felt the lord wants to reward you for your work the law wants to uh he has seen you he has seen your compassion he has seen the way that you have blessed people in secret but there's been an attack against you personally there's been an attack against you to crush you down and to bring you down your name is robert you're not you're probably called robert but you know him by rob you're a businessman you're about 40 years of age and the lord wants to come and touch you the lord wants to resurrect you there's going to be a shift in direction in your life there's going to be a shift in direction in your business today in jesus name [Music] somebody else is what you're watching online this is your home you should have been here the enemy tried to take you out you're watching online you need to come home you've been watching at a distance but the lord says to come home your day is not done yet your day is not done yet there's a great call of god upon your life you're a woman you're about 60 years of age you need to come back you need to come back come holy spirit come and just lift your hands one more time come holy spirit let your presence come but your presence come and minister to every heart and every life here today in jesus name come and minister to rod come and minister to your people right now holy spirit move upon every business person right now in jesus name holy spirit [Music] open to the lord we hunger for you lord we hunger for you we hunger for your presence we just worship you we love you we reach out to draw from you we need more we can't live with what we've had well we must have more so we hunger we thank you for this house thank you for the growing realm of worship but lord we need more we hunger for more so lord we cry out to you that lord you continue what you're doing continue building lord we want to see an increase in miracles increase of your presence increase of your life increase of your love increase of salt increase in miracles we cry out lord we hunger for you we open our hearts to you thank you lord amen what a great presence here great presence great presence what if god wanted to touch you and you were just switching off what if you were right at a point where god was wanting to speak into your heart about change and you just switched off this one the dilemmas we have is we get so used to the time that we just turn off rather than hungering for him lingering with him [Music] saying jesus i love you i deeply love you i long to encounter your love [Music] i want to be rooted and grounded deeply in your love i want to reflect your love to the people around me i want to break through the limitations to being a loving person come holy spirit speaking to our hearts [Music] we just honor you thank you for the family family of god thank you for all the people that you've added to us precious people unique people sometimes quirky sometimes struggling but wonderful people lord we thank you for each one here we love you and honor you lord it's a great presence here isn't there great presence of god i can feel his love just starting to come and touch hearts right now just come lord come deeper we want to encounter you [Music] just keep in that place of worship a lot of people right now are in this agitated state [Music] agitated because election results in new zealand agitated because of what's happening in america but you need to get your eyes fixed on what counts [Music] jesus said my kingdom is not of this world otherwise my servants would fight so we've got to watch we don't get caught up in fighting against people when our battle is against hidden spiritual powers we're called to love people and hate the devil jesus said this concerning his kingdom it begins like a little rock and then becomes a mountain that'll fill the whole earth so he must always stay centered on him and his kingdom our role is to be aligned with him in his kingdom whatever happens in elections god's instruction is the same pray for those who are in authority that we may have peace we're not to hate them to judge them to speak against them we are to dwell in peace and pray for those in authority our primary call is the kingdom of god to become ambassadors for heaven so how can you become an ambassador for heaven while you tolerate hatred and bitterness and anger and deep feeling of injustice well you need to be clean of all of those things say father lit your will be done this is what got disciples agitated they wanted jesus to lead a kingdom that would rise up and overthrow the romans he said you don't understand my kingdom is a spiritual kingdom and it operates in the spirit realm through people whose hearts are surrendered so why don't you right now just lift your heart to the lord lift your hands i surrender i surrender lord cleanse my heart from being entangled with the affairs of life of this world to such a degree that i've lost sight of just loving people and loving you lord return my focus to what i'm called to be and do to be a son of the almighty an ambassador for the kingdom well we honor you we thank you amen what a great presence of god here how wonderful to be in a church where the presence of god is where god is celebrated and honored love the testimonies this morning our giving is a matter of honor it's an honor of our father who's our provider lord we honor you today we bless you and we thank you and well we just pray you come upon your word and bring freedom to people today we thank you freedom is our legacy freedom is our inheritance may we never take it for granted the way we contend to take hold of what you've given us amen hey man i want you to take a seat well thank you thank you worship team and thank you pastor kate and dave for building such a great house it's just an honor to be in this house and great joy i love it so much wow i want to just share with you i'll try to just condense it down so that you just get the core of it that i want to just continue one thought just related to the seminar i did i want to share this thought here it is it's called suns break strongholds sons break strongholds and uh so the bible's very clear if we're a son or daughter of the living god we're called to be a builder and so there's nothing in life that doesn't require building you want to build a marriage has to be built has to be sustained relationships we build them we sustain them a church has to be built there's nothing happens by accident everything must be built our relationships like a garden they can have weeds in them and they become overgrown our our garden of our heart and our relationships need to be nurtured and you need to to protect them so adam when he was given a mandate was given a mandate as the son of god put in a territory put in a place in a garden and his mandate was cultivate it in other words nurture it and develop that garden and the second thing he was told to do was to protect it so in other words there's a warfare around being fruitful there's a warfare around your marriage there's a warfare around family there's a warfare around finances there's a warfare around your relationship with god and you must become then a breakthrough person so i want to just look just briefly just this area of strongholds strongholds and uh so we read in 2 corinthians 10 and verse 4 and 5 he says for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they're mighty in god to pull down strongholds mighty through god mighty through god casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ so what he's saying here is very simply this is that we are involved in a conflict but it's not a conflict with people when you start to get angry and reactionary and start to name call people you've lost the plot you've lost the battle you're already defeated our battle is not against people our battle is against something that's unseen it's in a spiritual realm unseen but very real hostile spirit beings that's where the warfare always is and they operate and they work through people and so we end up reacting to people instead of loving people we stand up reacting to them and then perpetuating or reflecting back the lack of love that's in their own life so jesus has equipped us the bible says the weapons of our warfare we have a warfare and we are we have weapons god says you can use but if you don't use them you'll be defeated in the warfare so we have to realize there's a warfare and the warfare he noticed he talks about pulling down strongholds so that a stronghold is something you've got to pull it down it requires an intentional effort the word pull down is to demolish something so everyone that's sitting here today there is some area that you have to demolish and it's when they went into the land that god promised me he said see that good and fruitful land say i give it all to you and i've given it into your hands and i've i've overcome the enemy but you have to go in and possess it you have to do something you want to develop in your relationship with god there is a conflict over that you want to see more miracles in your life there's a conflict around that you want to see greater breakthroughs of finances there's a conflict around that everything god has promised us we have to take hold off by the exercise of faith it doesn't just come to us so we have a spiritual battle every believer is called to be a warrior every believer is called to be a builder every one of us so a stronghold okay so freedom is a legacy given to sons part of your inheritance as a believer is you are called to freedom i just loved it up here today around that offering time just watching everyone being free i just think it was just great i love it yeah i just love it when people just laugh and dance and enjoy god and then just enjoy the freedom we're called to that we're called to liberty galatians 5 13 you are called unto liberty you're called to it we're called to freedom man i love that we're called to it you call the freedom and freedom you can see it you can feel it because it shows through people's emotions the joy the freedom i mean i watched up on the stage there i thought look at that freedom in the bottom there's something inside there there's a freedom in all of that stuff yeah yeah see yeah exactly there's more there's more there's free there's all all this freedom but you see you actually have to take hold it has to be taken hold of and then expressed and valued in our life you're called to freedom but you don't use freedom as occasionally flesh but by love serve one another so the real freedom we have is when we learn to love people and serve them and anything that stops you loving people is the stronghold anything that stops you being free to serve people is a stronghold it's resisting you reflecting god's love to people so what is the stronghold i'll give you i'll tell you that's strong let me get a few things on stronghold i'll name a few then just i won't believe people today need a breakthrough i want you to get a breakthrough today so so if you just look up and say what was the stronghold look it up it's a fortified place a heavily defended place behind which is an enemy how about that it's a heavily defended place it's a place of survival or refuge it's a place which serves as a center for a hostile group or a group that are all got a common mindset see so that's what that's what the the definition in the uh in the in the dictionary is but if i was to say what is a spiritual stronghold a spiritual stronghold then is this it is an ungodly mindset it is a way of thinking it is a way of behaving that hinders you coming into the knowledge and experience of god how about that let me say it again an ungodly mindset a way of thinking and behaving and it's got several characteristics number one it's probably been established over a period of time and you got used to living with it yeah number two it strongly resists change you can come up all you like and say oh god i i have a new resolution i got a new resolution this year that's why they never work because they rely on the flesh they rely on your willpower and sometimes underneath it there's something else the third thing about a stronghold is it it's empowered by unseen spiritual beings so there's something energized something is giving it power if you don't dismantle what's giving its power then you struggle to change and a lot of people come and they love the atmosphere they love to experience here and that's wonderful but god wants you to change and become a worshiper and become a free person knows how to love people and serve people see that's that's being free of it here's the second thing the next thing about a stronghold it undermines your relationships and success in life if you have a financial stronghold stronghold of poverty it will affect you getting wealth and growing successful and prospering no matter how hard you work it's something resists change it's empowered by demons another thing about a stronghold is it'll increase loneliness in your life because it's the secret part it's the part you got hidden it's the part you covered up it's the part you don't want anyone to find out about it's a little secret you're wrestling with constantly that's your stronghold and so in that place that you're wrestling in that place the stronghold there's no revelation of love and you're isolated and alone and in pain and so the trouble is when we have those strongholds we try to look good come to church especially try to look good where in fact many of us are struggling with something and then finally here's the thing that's the key one which it says very clearly in that passage it actively it obstructs you experiencing and knowing god let me say that again one of the key characteristics of a stronghold a spiritual stronghold it actively obstructs you experiencing and knowing god that's why you need to deal with it that's why you need to find what your strongholds are and overcome them because they are standing between you and a greater dimension of god's love and blessing if you have a stronghold say for example of rejection there will be a wound in your heart that came some point in your life there'll be a lie or a belief i'm not accepted i'm not good enough and that's been there so long the demons now have gained access to your life and they continue the torment so every time you look at life you look through the filter of rejection they don't want me they don't like me i don't fit in here i don't belong here it's talking all the time it's a stronghold with spiritual beings that torment they keep you fixed there so when you have a stronghold of rejection usually then unbelief gets with it and it stops you believing i could experience from god it hinders you it obstructs you so god can be moving and yet you're gripped in rejection and unbelief and you can't receive from him [Music] that's why we need to overcome them because they exalt self they put you at the front they put your thoughts and your ways at the front and they stop you experiencing and knowing god so we want to deal with them now so let's talk a little bit about them examples of some strongholds some of these strongholds and i know ones that i've wrestled with have been in our family for generations and maybe the wrestlers that you've got and the struggles you've got have been in your family for generations god you'll cause you to be the generation that arises in faith and brings an end to that pattern he calls you to be the generation that brings a breakthrough and builds a different future but you can't build a great future if you don't address the things that obstruct you experiencing god and his provision for your life so so with strongholds they're hidden often frequently they're hidden frequently they're secret so sometimes they're secret they're hidden away because we don't want anyone to know about them sometimes they're obvious they're so obvious that people react to you because they see the way you are unloving and reactionary and angry and and a bully or critical or negative or passive or whatever it is so there's many strongholds the bible talks about it's the stronghold of bitterness that's the most common one stronghold of bitterness is rooted in hurts and offenses we never resolve you don't always feel better but you react you complain you're negative you react hostilely when you're mistreated because you're interpreting it wrong stronghold of bitterness the bible says it's a root that defiles can you imagine having an enemy occupied part of your heart where no matter what you do there are hidden spiritual forces trying to work through your mouth work through your mind work through your attitudes to corrupt every relationship you've got you understand you want to build you have to overcome your strongholds it's not either or build or fight build a battle i gotta actually fight and overcome things that resist me building that are in the way of knowing god 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 is another big one often it's been there for years sometimes it's been within a family the mind tormented with defiling pictures unclean thoughts sometimes we've done things that have opened the door to that and now it's become something that's going to hold you and grips you and now 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 see bitterness lust and sexual sin these things defile us these are strongholds we can have many different kinds of stronghold there can be a stronghold of rejection we talked about that it affects the way you see yourself affects the way you see people around you that's why men with rejection can't build great marriages because they want someone to love them and care for them and mummy them or whatever they can't know how to love people and god says here husbands love your wife so these strongholds have to be dealt with we've got to address strongholds that stop us being the people god called us to be we're called to freedom we're called to freedom we're called to freedom for some people the stronghold is one of shame shame is a message that says something's wrong with me i'm not good enough shame causes people to hide when we feel something's broken in our life we've been put down by people shamed by people sometimes it's in some family sometimes it's in some cultures they use shame as the weapon to hold you and control you and when you've got that shame around you can never enter intimate relationships all strongholds resist love all strongholds resist experiencing god all strongholds leave you alone so shame is a major one it's a mindset something's wrong with me we hide addictions are another stronghold when people lack the experience of love when we're where love has been violated or love has been withheld from us that's what causes these strongholds they're all love deficits 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 so addictions usually rooted in shame and pain the pain of being wounded hurt abused abandoned beaten whatever it is and it's unresolved in the heart and we feel the deep shame around ourselves shame causes people to go into addictions and that not only now it increases the shame it now gives them a secondary problem as well we have to resolve those things these are strongholds to deal with another major stronghold and you see it today all over the world it's fueled by media fear fear and anxiety fear is a spirit the bible says god has not given you a spirit of fear he's given you a spirit of power a spirit of love or putting it another way god has given you a spirit that reveals your love and overcomes the fear see a lot of people right now reacting in fear because they're what they see going on in the world we're not to be that kind of people we're called to be something different we're called to be passionately filled with the love of god and having an answer to the fears others have but how can you do that if you've got a stronghold of fear you'll be attracted to things that stir you fear what's going to happen what's going to happen next are so many people living that way fearful of what's going to happen next read the bible tell us what's going to happen next tells us that the big end of everything is jesus and his kingdom prevail over all things it tells us before that there's going to be a lot of troubles in the earth and yet the whole church or people get so full of fear when they see stuff happening you're yielding to the wrong spirit those things that are happening that engender fear that are stirred by others engendering fear are said to try and attack you and bring you into fear bring into agreement with it god wants you to be stirred to overcome it to break that stronghold so you live in no fear of what you're reading and seeing in fact you stop reading and seeing a lot of stuff because your focus is on an invisible kingdom you focus looking to jesus the author and finisher of our faith it's our faith that we'll overcome how can you overcome if you keep filling your mind with the wrong stuff we are not to be caught up with what everyone else is caught up with where to be caught up in praise and worship as sons and daughters of the living god building a house that honors him and having the boldness to come forth out of his presence with answers strongholds they don't go away you have to overcome them and that stronghold is set in front of you for your maturity if you won't defeat your stronghold you remain immature if you'll take the challenge and face and overcome the stronghold you have you will grow in maturity you will be able to build upon now that new piece of land like in the old testament there's a piece of land that's occupied by the enemy you want the land overcome the enemy when you've overcome the enemy now you plant and cultivate and use the land for your benefit that's how war works so we're to overcome the places in our mind and heart where there are strongholds and to cultivate the word of god to cultivate the love of god to cultivate faith that's how that's god's plan for us that's god's plan see so all of these strongholds there they're caused by violations of love or a withdrawing of love the remedy will be the love of god it's encountering what love is really like freedom will begin when we start to connect with the one who loves us and start to experience his love when the prodigal son returned home he was in a mess and his father ran to him embraced him and hugged him and loved him and restored him that's what love looks like how we're gonna break stronghold we're gonna make a decision i will do all i can to connect with the love of god through worship i'll begin to engage him then i need to address the stronghold just without going into any of the things i'll just give them to you just like this if you're going to overcome a stronghold you've got to recognize there's one there recognize the pattern everything begins when you recognize you've got a problem and call it by its name secondly it requires you take responsibility for the change don't wait for someone to pray for you that will help but you've got to own what you have to do to deal with that thing you're in agreement with something you've tolerated it living in your life it's your journey to overcome it so you can grow fathers give their sons challenges third thing we need to do to deal with the stronghold is resolve the hidden pain usually with a stronghold there's pain somewhere you're wounded you were hurt you were rejected someone did this or did that or withheld or betrayed whatever it is under the stronghold there's always pain to acknowledge and grieve over and bring to the cross is there someone i need to forgive i need to release forgiveness to someone do i need to repent that i've held this thing i've been in agreement with this thing do i need to repaint that this thing has become an idol i bowed down and served instead of encountering god i've let this thing dominate my see god is wanting to bring us and his end time church it's going to be full of worshipers full of people who love his presence full of people that are abandoned before him full of people that can flow with the holy spirit full of people that can stay in his presence enjoying him knowing how to bring heaven to earth that's the people god is building that's why i want you to be free of the strongholds do you have to break your agreement renounce your agreement with something then renounce it speak the words cancel your agreement with fear cancel your agreement with rejection cancel your agreement with unbelief cancel your agreement with those things cancel listening to criticism cancel it cancel it cancel it break your agreement with it and then make a stand and speak against it and resist it that is what sets you free but after you free you must build in that part of your life got no time to talk how to do that but every time you encounter god's love and that part of your life the revelation of his love helps build and establish us in truth god loves his people he's committed to raising up a family of overcoming sons you're called to be one of them you're called to rebuild overtake and overcome the enemy in whatever party's robbed from you i believe some people today need a breakthrough i don't know what your breakthrough is in but people here today are needing a breakthrough perhaps it's fear and anxiety say god i've been listening to stop reading stuff watching stuff my fear is around my fear levels have gone high i really want to break my agreement with that repent of being in agreement with that today i want to refocus my life on the eternal kingdom and upon you perhaps there's something else perhaps it's bitterness you say oh man i get some anger and issues underneath in my heart i need to address those come on you deal with it today don't put it off name it and start depression to change it perhaps it's some area of uncleanness that keeps badgering you coming around you don't just con don't just agree with it or tolerate it stand up and push it back you are called to freedom you are called to liberty you are called to it jesus paid a price for it it's yours to take hold off if faith will rise in your heart you say i don't have to live with that stronghold anymore i can push through that stronghold i today determine you conquered that thing on my behalf i'm identifying with you breaking my agreement with it and breaking through it today what is it a stronghold of poverty stronghold of failure whatever it is you say god today i want to deal with that thing he was ready to deal with something today who was ready to deal with something say god i can see something in my life it's just there constantly it's hindering me i want to overcome it sons overcome strongholds sons are fighters sons are warriors sons learn how to stand up be man and woman of god that's you that's you that's who you are don't let the devil tell you you're not there that's who you are don't you live out of the old identity live out of who you are now you're a son you're a son of the living god you allow you are blessed you have an inheritance freedom is your inheritance reach out by faith and take over come on let's stand together let's stand together [Music] come on let's begin to worship [Applause] and if you're needing a breakthrough today [Music] jesus i am coming today to break my agreement with that stronghold rejection people struggling with rejection come people struggling with bitterness unforgiveness people struggling with unclean torments come make your way to the front lift your hands to the lord people struggling with fear struggling with disappointment come on make your way to the front begin to lift your hands in worship people struggling with intimidation make your way to the front people struggling with grief make your way to the altar lift your hands to jesus people struggling with shame the words spoken over you the treatment you've got the looks the words [Music] people struggling with addictions whatever it is it's a poor substitute for love it's a poor substitute for love it's a wizard substitute for love whatever addiction you've got you say god i'm using that as a substitute for love i want to break the power of that thing today come come who else needs to cast would you come would you come to die say god i know who i am i'm the child of god freedom is my legacy and inheritance i'm taking hold of that today [Music] pressure here today and you've never received jesus christ as your savior you've never given your life to christ this would be a great day to make your way to the front and receive jesus as your savior [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen just listen now we're going to go back into that song in a moment i want you to fix your eyes on jesus there'll be people come and pray with you they'll pray a prayer of agreement to break whatever it is you've decided to break your agreement with so they're not coming to save you they're coming to agree with you does that make sense they're agreeing with your decision i am a son of god i am a child of the living god i am a daughter of a king i'm part of a royal family say that's an agreement so right now before we pray would you right now just name before the lord in your heart or with your mouth quietly what it is you want to break out of name it call it what it is stop blaming people it's my thing i choose today to rise against it this is some pain you need to bring to the lord is this someone you need to forgive is there something you need to repent of do you need to break your agreement this is what we're going to do i'm going to lead you in a prayer to declare your identification with jesus christ and to break your agreement with that stronghold and command every spirit that's behind it to go from your life then we're going to worship god together and in that atmosphere of worship freedom comes in the bible sometimes they shouted and freedom came so when we come to praying you have to shout to the lord people are going to come and lay hands on you you'll be delivered are you ready now follow me in this prayer and church let's all pray the prayer together father i come to you in jesus name i declare jesus christ is my savior and lord i'm redeemed from every stronghold every evil spirit freedom is my inheritance today in jesus name i break agreement with my stronghold with the spirits behind it with the lies behind it i break my agreement now i command it to lose from me [Music] i declare now freedom freedom freedom come on and shout to the lord [Music] in jesus name i take authority now i come against every spirit stronghold witchcraft rejection bitterness unclean spirits shame fear addictions i command you now lose in jesus name loose and go in jesus name we decree breakthrough okay team come and lay hands on people power of god is here to minister [Music] thank you lord forever thank you lord your power is here [Music] your power is here to set people free thank you jesus [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Ascend Global Church

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Id: MTjwIlkC1lg

Length: 58min 14sec (3494 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 07 2020