Invasion of Demons | This Is Why You Should Never Open Certain Spiritual Doors

derek prince describes demons as persons without bodies he said that they have real and distinctive personalities and this makes sense because if you've ever read the book of luke in chapter 8 jesus encounters a demon-possessed man and in luke chapter 8 verse 30 and 31 the bible says jesus asked him what is your name legion he replied because many demons had gone into him and they begged jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss now a roman legion has six thousand men and so this man was saying he had six thousand demons in him this is evident because he was oppressed in the worst way because the bible states that he lived in the tombs meaning that the demons had isolated him he was far from society far from the living and far from his loved ones this is one thing i want you to notice about demonic oppression the devil loves to isolate people the devil loves to corner people and get them alone with no support because we're all more vulnerable alone we need people to pray with we need people bible-believing christians to fellowship with so that we can encourage one another in christ but demons hate this and so they separated this man from anyone who could stand with him or pray with him now this demon-possessed man was also in a state of filth and uncleanliness he was naked homeless and wandering the bible says in mark chapter 5 verse 3 to 5 he lived among the tombs and no one could bind him anymore not even with a chain for he had often been bound with shackles and chains but he wretched the chains apart and he broke the shackles and pieces no one had the strength to subdue him night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones so people tried to bind him with chains but even chains couldn't restrain him under such demonic influence but my friend let me tell you that one word from jesus christ and that man was released from that demonic state one encounter with jesus christ and this man was freed it only took a single meeting with the king of kings and the lord of lords for this man to be restored what i love about jesus christ is that regardless of the state you're in there is no person on this earth that is god forsaken this man had a legion of demons six thousand demons he was possessed in every meaning but yet jesus christ would not abandon him jesus didn't forsake him no matter how unclean or how oppressed he was jesus christ didn't leave him and this is what we should know today as believers you might be unpopular you might be unclean even regardless of your state should you be willing jesus christ will never leave you out you may be bound and tied up but jesus christ can speak a word into your life and set you free second corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 is another verse i want to give you in order to really illustrate why the mind is so crucial in this context it says in their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god again we see a reference to the mind so how does the devil blind the minds of people i believe it's through the formation of strongholds he uses deception to lure people into captivity and into a mindset where they are oppressed and bound however let me make it abundantly clear that as children of god we reject the enemy's schemes we rebuke every seed that the enemy attempts to plant in our minds we trust in the blood of jesus christ to break every chain and we look to jesus to continually help us to work out our salvation so if there is an area that you can identify in your life don't be condemned but be convicted to fight the good fight so how do you identify a stronghold well the best way to identify what the stronghold you face in your life is you you have to look at the area in your life where you face a constant battle the area that you struggle the most and the reason you need to identify this is because the devil is cunning and deceitful he will know what the giant or stronghold struggle with is and so we need to be alert because the devil will plant a seed in your mind a seed that he will attempt to entice you with and should you bite the bait not only will that seed lead you to fall into sin or oppression but it then opens the door to a potential stronghold or some kind of bondage as an enemy the devil will never present someone else's weakness or struggles to you he will not plant a thought about alcohol when he knows you struggle with lust no he will always find the area that you are the weakest in and he will use that against you that's why it's so important for us to be honest with ourselves and look introspectively at the areas we need deliverance from because the enemy will see that as a route to disrupt our walk with christ this point is supported by 2 corinthians 2 verse 11 where the bible says so that we would not be outwitted by satan for we are not ignorant of his designs the devil is witty and has evil designs so we must be diligent we must be vigilant we must be alert and always on guard against any potential breach by the enemy in our minds now i would like to point out the different types of strongholds that we can potentially face giants and strongholds come in different forms sizes and shapes here are some common strongholds that affect people's lives unforgiveness manipulation pride lying drunkenness sexual sin anger fear let me just highlight a couple of examples fear is a stronghold because we are told that god has not given us a spirit of fear that's something that we are not given but when someone becomes ruled by fear and governed by the spirit of fear then it becomes a stronghold this is not to say you cannot feel fear you can but children of god are not should not be ruled by fear and when it comes to unforgiveness we are told in the book of matthew to forgive 70 times seven which symbolizes boundless forgiveness so for anyone who keeps grudges who keeps a scorecard that becomes a stronghold apart from opening up the door to sin in your life it's also important to have awareness of all the other places where strongholds or giants can come from unrepented sin family bloodlines false or wrong patterns of thinking so how can unrepented sin become a stronghold well let's take this man as an example a christian man who lies consistently he is aware that he's lying and persists to lie he chooses not to repent because in his mind he feels the need to tell all of these lies otherwise how is he going to look at people and what will they think about him he doesn't want to give off the wrong impression he wants to fit in going back to our definition at the very beginning a stronghold is a mindset that hinders your growth so it's important to realize that his skewed way of thinking will hinder his growth as a christian as this man continues to practice the activity of sin and continues to lie without repenting and i mean without truly re