I just want to share what God has recently done in my life to encourage anyone struggling with a stronghold of sin. It's no new secret that I'm about to share, but nonetheless it felt like the Holy Spirit had just unlocked a new understanding for me.
Let me begin by saying that I do NOT give credence to the whole "deliverence ministry" nonsense. Deliverence does happen, but you don't need any man to lay hands on you and you don't need to recite a certain prayer in order to be delivered. Jesus delivers you once you are born again, so if you did have devils (which I did) they are cast out glory to God!!
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17Although a born again Christian cannot be possessed as the Spirit of God now lives inside them, they can be opressed by wicked spirits.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12***
Throughout this testimony whenever you see "PC", just know that it stands for Professing Christian.
***
Once I was born again, I was delivered from the wicked spirits of witchcraft, drug and alcohol addiction, depression (and others) immediately. Soon after that, I was delivered from 30+ years of cigarette smoking (that's another story). Praise God!! Other things started to go, (root of bitterness, covetousness, etc.) but I was still very prideful.
While reading in Psalms, I came to Psalm 139:23-24
23.Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. This Psalm became part of my daily prayer and has remained to this day. I wanted to see growth in my life; Soon after I started praying this prayer, the Lord started to convict me of my pride.
One day I visited my PC parent's house and my PC brother mentioned that I was the same as I was before, "just more religious". That didn't sit well with me. The whole reason I'm even alive is to give glory to God and to be an ambassador for the Kingdom, so if my brother saw me as being the same as I was before (when I was an unsaved, professing Christian, drug addict???) then there was a major problem.
Looking back, I believe that the devil was trying to use my brother to provoke me because I'd been saved for over three years when he said that. There's no way that my life didn't look any different, but God used that comment for my good. It was the motivation that I needed to begin to pray for more growth.
It became glaringly evident that my disgusting pride is what my brother saw. It was what was blocking people from seeing Jesus in me. Actions speak much louder than words and I was being very preachy, but it was always blanketed with a thick cloud of pride. I could preach until I was blue in the face, but if I've got that same old prideful spirit, then nobody is going to hear a word I say.
While my mother and I were talking one day, I mentioned to her that God was convicting me of my pride. I was reading in the Bible about how much God HATES pride, and if God hates it, then I need to hate it just as much and it has to go. I needed to see the sin of pride like HE sees it (and that became part of my new prayer as well.)
I told her that I saw the need to repent of my pride, and she told me that was great, but I would alway have to repent of it (her definition: turn from it) because pride always plagues everyone. She told me that I could never be truly free of this sin, that it would always come back. (According to my mom, she's been saved since she was 25 years old, but her pride is stll HUGE...just like mine was)
Her answer was not good enough for me. Why couldn't I be delivered for good? God had already delivered me from so much; I KNEW that He could even deliver me from this stronghold. In my mind, I knew the pride had to go...but how?
I've lived the last 51 years of my life as a prideful person. How do you just stop being something that is so ingrained? It's just a part of who I was! I didn't like it, but I just saw it as a mountain that seemed insurmountable (another lie from the devil). We all grew up in this world were pride is celebrated and promoted. How can anybody come out of such a stronghold?
Well, I knew the answers to these questions thanks to God's perfect word/truth.
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.
Mark 11:23 4. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.John 15:4-5But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26And finally...
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Matthew 17:21It became clear that a fast was in order, so I began the days of fasting and prayer. I began to quote His word back to Him, that ALL things are possible and I believe with all my heart that I can be delivered of such a horrible spirit (Especially one that He says cannot enter Heaven.)
This was the sin of satan and if I choose to remain prideful, then essentially I'm serving satan. It's my desire to serve YOU LORD, in Spirit and in truth! The wicked spirit of pride has to go forever! Break my heart of it, Lord! I don't know how to stop!!
For three days I fasted and prayed and on the third day, something happened.
I'm going to just show a letter that I wrote to a brother in Christ (Nate @Sound the Battle Cry) since I wrote to him the next day after the miracle happened on December 28th 2022. It was still fresh when I wrote this.
Something just happened that I had to share.
Lately, I've been convicted about my pride, and I just wanted it gone. I was led to fast and pray for God's help with this sin. I'm on the third day of my fast and I'm reading 2 Kings 18 and I came to the broken reed verse, so I thought, maybe I should listen to Nate's Wartime Leaders: Broken Reed vs Strong Staff message.
I started listening to it and got to the part where you started to talk about pride. You think maybe God was leading me? LOL! I listened until 1:20:30 and then I thought, what are some more characteristics of a prideful person? I looked for biblically based articles, searched the scriptures and wrote everything down in my notes.
Then I was led to look up "what are the characteristics of a humble person", and did the same thing. Wrote down the characteristics and linked scripture with each characteristic.
Suddenly, I started to feel like I was going to puke, so I stopped what I was doing and started to pray. I repented for my sin and prayed fervently against the spirit of pride, that God would help me overcome this sin. I started to feel wiped out and then all of a sudden...peace! The nausea went away and I felt this overwhelming wave of God's love.
God really does resist the proud and He really does give grace to the humble! I just started to sob and praise Jesus! Thanking Him for His love and grace. It was so amazing!!! "Lord, you are so AWESOME!" What an amazing God we serve. He is beyond words. I'm just so thankful and wanted you to know that
your teaching was the catalyst for my deep dive on the sin of pride. And I'm just thankful for the brethren. I feel so blessed right now. I'm still in tears.
Thank you, Nate. God bless you!
Reading that letter brings tears to my eyes because it just reminds me of that HUGE blessing and miracle from God. I realize that the letter's not very well put together; it didn't really capture everything that I was feeling. Being in this state of shock and awe of everything that had just happened, I was not calm at the time.
To be more specific, my prayer (that I was telling Nate about) was asking God to take an axe to that root of pride. Dig it out of my life and replace it with a new spirit of humbleness, meekness and kindness and gentleness. Don't let it spring up and regrow! Cauterize the place that pride once came from, and deliver me from the thing that YOU HATE.
God not only answered my prayers, gave me a new understanding (of how He resists the proud/gives grace to the humble), but at the same time he poured His love out on me, and I was SO overjoyed and in awe that I could not help myself to sing His praise and give Him glory. (My cup was running over. Praise the Lord!)
The nausea that I was feeling was the spirit of pride. It did not want to go, but with God, (His word is true) ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!! Glory Alleluia!! Jesus delivered me from that wicked stronghold and I could actually FEEL the moment that it left me.
What a beautiful moment with my Heavenly Father. I will always be able to look back on that memory whenever doubt starts to creep in. I know the TRUTH that God is able to deliver me.
Reminds me of the hymn: He Is Able To Deliever Me
Since this miracle has happened, I have seen a HUGE difference. I believe that I was NOT ready to be a part of a church body with such pride, and God led me here at the right time. He is helping me to be humble and understand more of His word. (Before, I'd been studying with the wrong motivation. A prideful heart)
I see that I still must watch for the sin of pride and that the devil will try to tempt me, but now his temptation has less power over me and able to overcome, GLORY TO GOD!!
Thank you for reading.
PS. Forgive me if you see any misspellings.
