Tearing Down Personal Strongholds, Part 2

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Dr. Tony Evans is experiencing real intimacy with the Lord, requires an investment. If the only worship God gets out of you is on Sunday morning, you're not near to God.

You just visit Him occasionally. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. Satan knows exactly where to find weak spots that can trip us up or tear us down. So today, Dr. Evans outlines three specific steps we need to take to break free from the habits in history that turn us into spiritual prisoners of war.

Let's join him. A stronghold is a mindset that accepts a situation as unchangeable, even though we know it's against the will of God as a stronghold. It is unfortunate that Christians have been duped in the believing that if you have a stronghold, you're supposed to have it. And so my task is to try as simply as I know how, for my benefit and for yours, for us, to address the question, how do I overcome in light of all that I've learned about spiritual warfare, the personal stronghold in my life, or if you don't have one, how you can help another brother or sister or family member who knows Jesus Christ to overcome a personal stronghold in their life, a mindset that sees as unchangeable that which is against the will of God. Number one, the first thing you must do if you're going to get out of the vice grip of the mind that is holding you hostage, no matter what it is, is to remember your position in Christ.

Let me review your position. Ephesians 2 says this, he has raised us up with Christ, seated us with him in heavenly places in Christ. You have been elevated to a position with Christ who is now enthroned over the heavenly realm, and that's where you are. He says in light of that in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1, if then you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things which are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth. If your mind is set on an earthly solution, then you won't be able to get a heavenly response. So then what does it mean to remember your position in Christ?

Here it is. Your position as a child of God, if you're truly saved, in Jesus Christ—get this now—gives you legal authority over Satan. Jesus Christ has granted you—listen to me—legal authority, so that you can simply tell the angelic realm that attacks you, you no longer have any rights over my life. Secondly, while you remember your position, you must rely on God's provision. Turn with me to James 4. Let me read verse 6. He gives greater grace. Greater than what?

Greater than the mess you in. How do I get this grace? If he's given this goodness that is greater than my mess, how do I get it?

He lines it out for us. He says in verse 7, submit to God. What does it mean to submit to God? I am submitted to God.

No, you're not. Stop lying. Because if you were submitted to God, you wouldn't do what they were doing in chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. What are the sources of your quarrels and conflicts among you and the source of your pleasures that wage war on your members you lust and do not have? You commit murder, and you're envious and cannot obtain, so you fight in quarrel. You're not submitting to God if you're still fighting for yourself. Commitment can't work unless it's preceded by surrender. You say, well, what is the definition of surrender? Surrender says to God, I can't. Because once you surrender, then God can take over. Most people don't surrender, they commit.

And what they do is try to gear up their minds to say what they're going to do in the flesh, and they treat the flesh like a lion tamer trying to whip it into conformity, not understanding that it means that you surrender. Having surrendered, now you can commit. Having told God, I can't. And therefore, say to God, you can. I am going to go out and not do what I used to do, not because I have the ability because I surrender, but because I commit myself to you to supply in me that which I need to fulfill your expectations of me. You have not invited God to do for you what you can't do for yourself. Philippians 2 puts it this way, work out your own salvation in fear and trembling, but don't forget the next verse. It says, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.

We want to do it ourselves and ask God to bless it when what God wants us to say is, I can't. I messed up. I've tried. I've failed. Give me some grace and I will. My ability to pull it off is tied to God's ability.

We are too self-sufficient, and that's why we haven't been able to break out of the strongholds. Now, I tested this. I tested it with two or three people in our body who had had various addictions for years, and I sat with them in my office or some other place, and I said, would you try this? These are addictions that they had for years. We reviewed their position in Christ. Then we reviewed submission to Christ, and in these three illustrations, within less than one month, they overcame, at least to this point, what they hadn't been able to overcome in years of addiction.

Why? Because God came in and did for them what they could never do for themselves by granting them more grace because they said, I can't. You can. I will, because of what you do, not because of what I can do.

Their surrender followed by their commitment led to their transformation. But some of us are too self-sufficient, and we think more of ourselves than we ought, which I don't know why we think that, because we wouldn't be in the mess we were in if we didn't think it. And so we make one mess after another mess. No, we don't intend to do it. I'm not saying we intend to do it. We say on New Year's Eve, I'm going to stop doing this. We really mean it.

We just don't have the power to back up the word. And so we jump to conclusions like a little boy was on a plane. There was the pilot, there was a minister, there was a boy scout, and there was a computer whiz, and there was trouble on the plane. The plane was beginning to die. The only problem is there were three parachutes, and there was no one in the plane. The only problem is there were three parachutes, there were four people.

The pilot came and said, well, look, I got a wife and four kids. I need a parachute. So he took a parachute and he jumped. The computer whiz says, well, I've got all of this knowledge that the world desperately needs for the 21st century, and I can't have it die with me, so I need a parachute. So the computer whiz, he took a parachute, he jumped. The minister looked at the little boy and said, well, look, I've lived a long, full life, and you're just a young man. You take the last parachute, and I'll go down with the plane.

The little boy looked at the minister and said, Mr. Minister, Reverend, don't worry about it. The brilliant computer whiz just took my knapsack and jumped out of the plane. See, a lot of us are too smart for our britches. We think more of ourselves than we are too.

We think we are life whiz. And every time we jump out to do right, we fall flat on our face. God is saying that he has what we need to jump with, and that'll hold us on the way down. So submit to God. Involved in this submission to God is drawing near to him. Notice verse 8, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. There's no way to draw near to God without giving him time. Jesus said in Matthew 17 21, some things only come by fasting and prayer. When you come into God's presence with praise and prayer, you're drawing near to God. If the only worship God gets out of you is on Sunday morning, you're not near to God.

You just visit him occasionally. Let me tell you something about the devil. He's got an allergy. Anybody in here have allergies? That means certain times a year when the pollen is high, it irritates you. Your eyes run, your nose run. You're just irritated.

Why? Because the pollen has infiltrated the air so much that it is choking you with the pollen. It's choking you up.

It's making you uncomfortable. It's allergy season, and you feel it. Satan is allergic to praise. He's allergic to prayer, and when it starts filling the air, he can't hang around in the environment because he's allergic to us making contact with God as a way of life. He can't handle you drawing near to God. He can't handle you turning worship to life.

He's got to vacate the premises because he gets allergic. Some of us never have to worry about that because the pollen of praise and prayer never fills the air. We never fill the environment, so he's quiet at home.

He never is allergic around us. Satan ought to sneeze every time he's in our presence because he knows we're going to bombard the environment with the praise of God, and God habits the praises of his people. So when we bombard the environment, we hear him go, he can't handle it because it's too much unlike what he is, drawn near to God. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with more on why trying to stop a spiritual enemy with human effort is simply a waste of time.

Stay with us. The biblical roles of husbands and wives, the source of our authority as believers, understanding the concept of grace, winning spiritual battles, they're all important subjects but seem as different as night and day. Would it surprise you to know there's a common thread running through all four? You can discover what it is by taking the course on Ephesians in the Tony Evans Training Center. One by one, you'll dig into the powerful themes of this book and make new discoveries about what Jesus' death accomplished, how to maintain unity at home and at church, what spiritual armor is all about. The course includes custom content from Tony not available anywhere else. Work through it at your own pace.

Collaborate with other students. Get your specific questions answered through our online forum. Connect with the Tony Evans Training Center at tonyevans.org. It's like having a seminary on your smartphone or other device. Start today, tonyevans.org. Before we get back to Dr. Evans' teaching, I want to let you know that his lesson today is part of a 12-message audio series on spiritual warfare. In it, he looks at the nature of the unseen battle and helps us realize that many of our physical troubles essentially spring from spiritual roots. These messages will not only help you learn how to recognize the spiritual origins of the problems that plague you, but will teach you how to tackle those issues using God's methods and power. We want you to have this collection of biblical teachings on spiritual warfare as our gift. Just visit tonyevans.org, make a contribution, and we'll say thanks by providing you all 12 messages in this two-volume collection on your choice of either CDs or instantly downloadable MP3s. And as an added bonus, we'll include a copy of Tony's popular and powerful book called Victory in Spiritual Warfare. Or if you'd prefer, you can choose to receive Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare. Both of these books will help you stand against the enemy's attacks on your spiritual life, family relationships, and more. Again, just visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222, where resource team members are standing by 24-7 to assist with your request. I'll have that information for you again after part two of today's lesson.

Let's join Dr. Evans now as he takes us back to James chapter 4. Human effort cannot stop a spiritual foe. Repent of your sin is the next one.

Remember your position. Rely on God's provision. Repent of your sin. He says in verse 8, cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. That simply says, humble yourself enough to God to call a sin a sin. And we live in a day when people are not willing to own up to their personal responsibility. We live in a blame society where everybody else is to blame. And if this didn't happen years ago, I wouldn't be doing this today.

And if that didn't happen years ago, I wouldn't be affected today. Well, that may have happened years ago, but that does not exonerate you from what you did today. And unless you come to God and cleanse your hands, you sinners. Unless you come to God and purify your heart, God then considers you proud. That's why he says in verse 16, he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. He opposes the proud. Why?

Because every time he sees you're too proud to come to him and confess to him where you messed up, you remind him of another person he doesn't like. Satan says, I don't want to submit to you. I don't want to humble myself before you.

I want to do this thing myself. Don't be too proud to come before his presence and say, I have sinned. It's my fault. And I just humble myself.

Why? Because when you need mercy, you don't have anything to brag about. God wants to talk about your sin and you want to talk about what you did good. You know, cleanse your hands, you sinners.

Because God hates pride, and you are proud when you don't come to him and call it what it is. You must repent of sin. Finally, you must resist the devil. It's back up to verse seven. Submit, therefore, to God. That's one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is resist the devil. And look at the promise associated with verse seven.

And he will flee from you. From you. Let's talk about this. Resisting the devil stuff. Because some people got devil-resisting boot camps. You can actually pay money to go sign up for a seminar on how to resist the devil.

Well, let me help you save some money. Turn to Peter. Turn to Peter chapter five. Verse six, same statement. Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you, that is, exalt you above your trial, above your suffering, above whatever you're going through, casting all your worry on him, because he cares for you.

Be sober of spirit. Be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking somebody to eat up. And he's eating up your life, eating up your mind, eating up your circumstances, eating up your joy, eating up your happiness, eating up your dignity, eating up your responsibility, eating up your family, eating up your kids, eating up your meat.

He's just having a good old chicken-eating time. He says, seeking someone to devour, what should you do? Verse nine says, resist him. Firm in your faith. Verse 10, after you have suffered for a while, the God of all grace, who called you into his eternal glory, will himself, he'll do it himself, perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Resist him.

You say, now wait a minute, okay, I know that, but how? There is only one way to resist Satan. One day he came to Jesus and said, you're hungry, you gotta eat.

Jesus said, but it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He took him up to the temple. God let Satan take Jesus, and God will let Satan take you, just to see what you're going to do with what you heard on Sunday. He took Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple and said, now you gotta jump. Jesus said, but it is written, thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God or put him to the test. Then he took him to a high mountain where you can see the whole Roman empire, and he says, now you gotta bow. But Jesus says, but it is written, you shall worship the Lord thy God and serve him only. And then the Bible says, and Satan left him.

Why did he leave? Because Satan can't handle the one thing that always will resist him, and that is the spoken word of God. When Satan comes up and tells you, you are addicted. You tell him back, I have been raised with Christ, Ephesians 2 six.

I've been seated with him in heavenly places. I'm going to set my mind on things above, not on things below, but you can't quote what you don't know. You can't quote what you don't know. You can't use what you don't have. Look, when Satan comes and messes with you tomorrow, or some of you in about 10 minutes, when it comes and messes with you, don't go out of this building saying, Pastor Evans said, because I can't help you. Don't go out of this building saying, but my mama said, she can't help you. But when you walk out, don't even go out walking out waving this Bible, because that ain't going to help you.

You know, you just waving it and don't know none of it. You got to be able to say it is written. You got to be able to say, but God said, you told me, I got to have that, but you're a liar. And the way I know you're a liar is because God says, he who hath the son is free. God said, thy word is truth and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. So I just want to tell you Satan, you a liar, because the word of God is true. And Satan will leave you or else God is a liar. Satan either has to leave or God is a liar.

Now, why don't somebody put him to the test and stop believing what you've been told? David put him to the test one day. David had an enemy that was much bigger than him.

Nine foot nine Goliath. Saul was scared. The Israeli army was scared. But David said, who is this Philistine dog who would taunt the armies of Israel? Saul says, well, here's the armor.

David said, I don't know how to use this stuff. All I know is one day a lion came after my sheep. I killed him with my bare hands. One day a bear came after my lambs. And I know that God took care of that bear because I've seen God work yesterday. I am not going to be afraid of what I confront today.

Some of you have never seen God yesterday, so you don't think he can do anything for you today. So David went out and met Goliath. He looked at David and said, boy, I am going to feed you to the birds.

You're going to be bird's food. David says, well, let me tell you something before you start feeding me. I don't come in my name. I don't come in the name of Israel. I come in the name of the Lord God almighty. Now, I know how to throw a slingshot, but God's got to direct this stone because I know what God's got to direct this stone because I know I only got one shot at you, boy.

And I'm going to trust God. He went around and around and around and let it go. It hit Goliath in the head. He fell down.

Then I like this. David walked over and took out Goliath's sword that he never had a chance to get out himself. Walked over to Goliath's head, lifted up the sword, disconnected his head from his body and let him know, don't mess with God. Don't mess with God. You come in the name of God. So let's get rid of the strongholds.

How do you start? We'll close with this. Hebrews 4. You need more grace. Verse 14 says, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness.

You know you're struggling. But one who has been tempted in all things as we, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace and find grace to help in the time of need. Dr. Tony Evans, sharing how you can break free from the habits and thought patterns that hold you captive. And if you'd like to get a full length copy of today's message, check with us for details on the lesson called tearing down personal strongholds. Better yet, take advantage of our current special offer and receive it as a part of Tony's complete audio series on spiritual warfare. We'll send you all 12 messages in this two volume collection along with your choice of one of two of Tony's companion books on the topic. They're our gift to you when you make a donation to help make this broadcast possible each day. Just visit tonyevans.org or if you'd prefer, give our resource request line a call at 1-800-800-3222 and let one of our friendly team members help with your request. Again, that's tonyevans.org or by phone at 1-800-800-3222. Have you ever wondered what makes temptation so tempting? We'll find out tomorrow as Dr. Evans shares how the people we love can weaken our defenses without even knowing it. I hope you'll join us. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.