2. The longer a "stronghold" is allowed to remain, the more difficult it is to deal with.

1. First, we begin to make excuses for it.
2. Then, we begin to justify it.
3. Next, we begin to legalize it
4. Lastly, we begin to fight to protect it.

3. The enemy's plan is to establish a stronghold in an area of our life and then hold us in bondage to it as long as we allow him to do so.

1. Ignored or unchallenged strongholds will produce stunted spiritual growth.
2. The good news that "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" makes victory possible, but not probable until we resist the devil by using the spiritual weapons of our warfare and putting him to flight. (2 Cor. 10:3-5, James 4:7)
3. Strongholds are the devil's playground and we need to shut them down.

1. "Strongholds" are derived from three sources.

1. A stronghold may find root in experiences behind us.

1. What happened in our past is never the issue that brings bondage. It is how we relate what happened to us that will produce bondage or promote freedom.

2. A stonghold may be rooted in the environment around us.

1. What is considered normal and acceptable by the world around us may be in direct conflict with the Word of God.
2. Apart from Christ these beliefs can become entrenched in our minds so as to form strongholds the enemy uses to keep us in bondage.

3. A stronghold may be derived from a system of error within us.

1. False information imput produces false conclusions in our thinking.
2. When we come to Christ the Word of God's truth begins to deliver us from the belief system the world gave to us.

2. Let me suggest how to detect strongholds.

1. Many times we have accommodated a stronghold for so long that our personalities are identified with it.
2. We say things like, "I just can't help it, that's just the way I am."
3. Our problem is - we have acted in an abnormal way for so long that abnormal seems normal to us.

3. Some general categories and specific problems that could be classified as strongholds.

1. Categories: COMPULSIONS, OBSESSIONS, ADDICTIONS, FEARS, ANXIETIES
2. Specific Problems: GREED, ANGER, PRIDE, BITTERNESS, JEALOUSY, LUST, RESENTMENT, SPITE, NEGATIVISM, PESSIMISM, CONDEMNATION, GUILT, CONFUSION, DEVIOUSNESS, VENGEFULNESS.

The list is not exhaustive, but it should offer some direction into dealing with strongholds.

   3.  Here is an example of detecting in yourself or another a stronghold of pride (self asserting itself).

• You can recognize it as the inner desire to talk when someone else is talking.
• OR to tell of your experience when someone else is describing their experience.
• OR of your impatience to explain something when another is telling how they do it.

4. We all have the tendency to exalt self. Certain lip phrases give us away:

• "I can't see how anybody would want to..."
• "You ought to see how I do it."
• "I don't care what anyone says, this is the way I..."
• "You'd think they would know better than to..."
• "Let me tell you what I would do..."
• "You know what I think a person ought to do..."