Stronghold

Join us as we share about strongholds as well as personal experiences that we’ve had and how the lord helped us overcome . 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Hey girl. Hey. Alice Kidd. Hey, welcome to Girl Talk. I realized I don't think that we've been saying that in the last couple of videos.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

No, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

I don't and um I'm Serena. I'm Haley. Yeah. And this is episode I think five. Is it five? I think five. Of season two. Um, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Good.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

You know, the Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because you're super friendly, even if your face doesn't say don't do that. You know, you just be yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

And then they're gonna be like, Haley, you look a little crazy, you know?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

That's not her. Something's wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Something's wrong. No, I'm sorry. I was just joking, but I know.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

I was just joking back. Okay, good job.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Good job. Um today we're gonna talk about a topic that is it's like it's sensitive and it's it's it's delicate in a way that you just like how do you how how can we help in the way that we approach this? Um and I think that we've we've wrestled with that. We've actually wrestled with that for like a month, yeah. And um, a lot of our topic of discussion lately has been this, because even in like personal in my personal life, yeah, I'm trying to work through things, and um, which is good, which is good stuff. So it's it's very positive. But um, today we're gonna be talking about strongholds. Yeah. So we won't talk about strongholds, but uh I an issue that we we really find when we talk about these things is that things are either super over-spiritualized or they're under spiritualized. And I don't think if we super over-spiritualize that we're helpful, but I also don't think that the other way is helpful either. So that's why it's hard to tackle this.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Um what do you mean when you say over-spiritualized?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Like when I say over-spiritualized, so Christianity, we have an issue with what we call spiritual bypassing, where we will tell someone um that has like a like a real issue, we'll just tell them, oh, it must just be because your faith is low. Instead of like giving them practical ways to actually go about working out an issue within themselves. Or um, so we'll actually live in condemnation because we think, even though a lot of it could be from trauma, which is not our fault, we will think that, oh, I think this way, or I have this thought, or I go through this spiral sometimes because of my faith. And I actually just don't think that that's the answer. Yeah, I don't. I think that um we have some confusion in the church where we are not supposed to dwell in any kind of emotion. And and not that we're not supposed to give it to God because ultimately that's what we do. And everything we do as Christians, we give it to God. But sometimes giving it to God is also giving it to a counselor as well. Nothing wrong with that. Like we if we have real genuine issues, um, just saying, oh, just pray about it. Of course, we're supposed to pray about everything, but we're we're bypassing the fact that there is actual real issues.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Um and um, you know, just you know, just be courageous, you know, be strong. But the issue is if I knew how to be strong, you'd already been doing that. Yeah, yeah. And it's not that that's not always bad advice because there have been times where I've just been afraid, and it's just like, hey, the word says the Lord's got you. Yeah, we're doing that.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

We kind of just we don't deal with the actual root of the issues.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

There we go. So we are just bypassing the real issue, and we're just and there's no victory in that, right? And the issue is with that too, is like we're also like we're skipping over points in the Bible where it says, Cast all your cares on me.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Yeah.

unknown 4:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

The Lord, like, he's like, I have you under the shadow of my wings. Like we're we're we're skipping parts where it's it also says like he's with those who grieve. Like he, you know, blessed are the the whatever, because I can't even think about it right now because I didn't read that verse before now. So my brain is not, but you know, he's like, Blessed those who mourn, like all these things. Like in these ways, we tell people how they're not allowed to grieve, like, because we should just have faith and we should just know. But no, but that's not that's not practical. So we we have actually in the church, we've caused more issue. We've caused more issue. Um, I think sometimes this is how we cause church hurt.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Because we tell people that they can't have issues or we're not um understanding through their issues, and especially if it's trauma, if it's trauma-based, which is a lot of it, like coming with compassion and actually doing work on your part and not just like throwing it on a person and saying they don't have faith to to deal with something is just not just not fair. I'm saying, yeah, yeah. So I feel like I feel like and we also don't want to over-spiritualize and say that everything's a demon. No, because that's what we do too.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

So today we're talking about strongholds, and actually in strongholds, I from from what I studied and I'm still learning, I've actually didn't see where strongholds are caused by demonic influences, but rather taken advantage of by them. So that says to me that they're already there, and then they're just taking advantage of by demonic influences. So what is a stronghold?

SPEAKER_01 6:22

So the scripture that we go by that we're referencing is um is 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5. And um before I actually learned what this was, I thought it was all demonic because that's how I felt like people always presented it. Like something's like genuinely wrong with you. You have like a demonic spirit or something, but that that's not the case. So 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. This is the NSAB, so the King James says stronghold. So we're gonna go off that word. And it says the next verse says, We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. And the King James Version it says, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. So we have two things that we're talking about here. We're talking about um the speculations or the imaginations, and then we're also talking, let's see, according to the flesh weapons. Lofty things raised them against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive. Oh, you know what? I'm actually thinking about the the other verse that you wrote in um that you read in Ephesians. So we're we're we're warring against speculations, which is imaginations, but then we're also warring against principalities in the air. So, like you said, that there are, I'm gonna define what imaginations means, but there are times when strongholds are demonic. Yeah. Um, like we'll, for example, and I'm not certainly not any kind of theologian when it comes to demonic whatever. I can point you to people that know I don't expect that from me. Um, but um, I think you know, like when we go to certain regions and you see just a lot of poverty, or you go to certain places and you see a lot of like just drug abuse. I feel like those places are that's that's the the the principalities in the air. That's that's those are places that are under strongholds. Like I told you, like my mom used to go to um to do um she goes used to go to Kentucky to do missions work, and she said there were some places that you would drive into and you would immediately feel it in the air. You would feel like perversion, or you would feel um, you could actually even feel um what's it called when you when you have relations with like your cousin? Like when you incest incest, you could actually feel immorality, yeah. You could feel incest, you could feel prop like you could feel it in the air. And I and I understand, so those things seem demonic, those seem like strongholds. Okay. But what we're talking about is more personal, and we're talking about speculations, which when we dive into the word speculations, so we we understand that speculations and lofty things is what we're talking about right now. So speculations or imaginations is it's reasoning, it's a mental process of using logic, analysis, and thought to consider information to form a conclusion, to draw a judgment. So what we're talking about is the problem here is that we have these thought processes that need to be destroyed. And because even if they were caused by flesh, the only way to destroy a falsehood is by the truth, and that is God.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

So we we're not overly like spiritualizing that something may have happened physically, it may have happened, it may be a mindset that's come from trauma, but it will ultimately be God that heals this. Yeah, it's gotta be. So it's a it's not a war against flesh, but it will be a battle that you introduce the Lord with in this battle with you, yeah. So it's a it's a thought pattern that is not healthy, it's a thought pot pattern. It's a pattern. That's that's how I normally say it, you know. Yeah, that's okay. Um, it's like um, so I don't want to put my shoes just if you have anything to say, just interrupt me because I feel like I'm talking a lot. But um no, you're okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

I'm just thinking um right now. Okay. I'm just getting my thoughts together. Putting them thoughts together.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Okay. Yeah. When you have them, just glare at me or just.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

I'll get it together here in the moment. I promise.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Well, I'm just uh you're good. You're good. I just don't want to talk the whole time. I just don't want to be.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

You're not, I promise. Okay, you're good.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

So um, okay, so what is a literal stronghold? So what are we talking about here? So what he's doing, so in the old testament, a stronghold was a term for like a military term. So what Paul's doing is he's using the same analogy, and he is trying to say that now the the battle, the battlefield is our mind.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

So the battlefield then, like a stronghold, it was a heavily fortified, defensible physical location, um, like a fortress or a castle or a walled city. Um, it was designed to protect the people or valuables inside from attacks and to establish military control over a surrounding region. It was often built in naturally secure locations like a high on high hills or steep cliffs, making them difficult to access or siege. So it is so that was used for military then. So if we think about that now, so say if I have a wrong thought process and I have a stronghold that's built on top of like a high hill. So go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

I think that we make okay, so when you're talking about someone who you're we're talking about a deep-seated thought process, it's a it's a pattern, right? And so that almost becomes a safety net for somebody because that's that's what they know, that's what's kept them safe. You know, and so you're you're talking about a military safety spot. So, like, how do you we're talking about how you tear it down and you pull it down right by the truth, but to them that is their truth. And we know we we know that the truth is what the Lord says, right? So it's just and that's what I'm just kind of thinking on, just so you know. And so it's like almost like you know, David, he built cities in the stronghold, but it's like almost a double-sided coin there. When you're when you have bad strongholds, you build cities there too. Cities of rejection, um, and that becomes its own little thought pattern. I'm not good enough. Oh my god, they're never gonna accept me. Um, and then you have just abandonment, they're always gonna leave me. Um, or I'm gonna leave them before they can leave me, you know, and so and then it just becomes its own little city within the thought, within the rims of your mind. So it's like, okay, sure, I can tell someone here's just this truth, but ultimately you have to realize that we're changing an entire thought process. Yeah, no, we're actually changing a person that like people don't even realize is a deception. And so I think we also in that way we kind of we just expect, you know what I mean, people to understand that. But when you're in a deep deception, you have to understand that sometimes if we're talking about that, you can go ahead and say that. Sorry. What well I was just thinking, like, if if it's brick by brick going up, it's sometimes it may come and down, you know? And so can the Lord do that like that? Absolutely, but what if sometimes he I think more often than not, he's not going to because he healed in different ways within the Bible, and so when we're talking about a whole thought process and renewing your mind, sometimes that's a daily thing, you know. It is, yeah, and so yeah, that's just kind of what I'm stewing on right now, just so you know. Yeah, just so you know. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make you talk this entire time, but I'm just like, as you talk, I just and this is not even in my notes, so I I get kind of nervous, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:16

Because we we've genuinely been stewing over this for like a month, and that's no, what you were saying was right, because what I'm saying is like, yeah, so it's something that's fortified that was built brick by brick. Yeah, so this stronghold was a real thing, it was built brick by brick. And if like what I was saying is so um gosh, let me so when we when so like what you were talking about, a lot of times when we have to change a stronghold on this, we might actually be having to we rewire. Wow, okay, you're kidding. Rewire our like entire personality or person of who we are. So that's one thing I've had to do personally. Um, because from from childhood, I'd actually experienced rejection before I was even five years old. I'd had to experience rejection. So if it's a lens you've always seen, that's why I can't just say, oh, just rebuke it. If it's a lens we've always seen, then there is something that the the Lord has to work through us and it has to be a process, and it's not a one-day process, and it's not your fault. I'm not gonna sit here and say that trauma is your fault and you have a uh a bad processor because it because it's your fault, it's not, but the Lord can help us with this. We have to just combat those lies, and and not that that wasn't the truth. It wasn't that I wasn't actually physically rejected because I was. But does the Lord reject me?

SPEAKER_00 17:00

No, yeah, even if they reject you, there's still a place in the Lord for you. And um, but I was looking at the different the Hebrew, the how do you say Aramic? Aramic. Is that how Aramic? Aramic. There we go. See, there we go.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

I like Aramic better than that.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

I don't know, it's just a little razzle-dazzle in there, you know. So Hebrew, I'm not even gonna try to say it, but it's fortress, castle, defensive place, refuge, and the that one is fortified city, fortress, strong place, a protected, defended location. A diff it's so it's defended. Like, I'm so when we're talking about someone's strongholds, you have to understand they also defend this.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Because it's their truth.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

So like you're you're really come, but like we try to go straight to principalities, and I think sometimes it's because we we don't want to have to if it says we're pulling down strongholds, that means that we have to speak truth to people. But I think when he said that, it wasn't that you don't confront the person, it's that you know when you confront the person what you were confronting. So when I come to you, I know I'm not coming to you as a like you're a bad person. I'm coming to you and be like, hey, we're gonna pull this down, you know, or I'm gonna I'm gonna see, discern the issue, and I'm going to be able to wield the sword precisely. I'm gonna be able to use his truth precisely in what I'm pulling down. But I think today we have kind of made that verse to where I don't even have to address you as a person. And I don't think that's what he was saying. I think he was saying, like, when you do, know that you're not going to them as flesh and blood, but you are addressing a fortified issue. You're addressing principalities, you are addressing this. So go correctly and go with the precise thing and strike true when you do. You know what I mean? And I think we kind of made that to where I don't even address you.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

So we don't have to deal with people.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

So we don't have to well, we don't want to deal with anything. And I think that's why a lot of things go left unchecked. And unfortunately, people are dying spiritually because we didn't just take the time to be like, hey, I love you. And you don't have to, you know, and some people take that way too far, they'll be mean and ugly, and that's not what the word says either. You know, um, he was able to give truth and love and with grace with mercy. He doesn't deny any part of his self when he goes. If you go with just truth and you deny mercy and goodness and grace, yeah, then you're all the way off. It he goes altogether. And so it's just coming to realization of how do we confront things precisely within people and we bring them the truth in the right way and the way that they can understand and grasp a hold of truth. Don't only give them truth, but bring it to them in a way that they can grasp a hold of it and then begin the process of renewing their minds.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Right. Like give them practicality.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't tell them to rebuke a feeling like okay, church, you're allowed to process your emotions.

SPEAKER_02 20:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Okay. Can can we just say that? Can we throw that out there? If you feel exhausted, process it. And then when you process it, you'll be able to actually figure out what rest is. Like there's not like there's this is it's good to feel. Like Jesus felt. I just spit on you.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

It's okay. But it was just, it's just like also when you're like when something like when something doesn't go in the right way and you don't know how to process that. So say you have like the stronghold of rejection, and something happens, and the person across from you, they wasn't rejecting you, but it comes up, you know, and so you can either act in that pattern, and but like a lot of people don't know how to sit and process. And me, I am a processor, you know, because if I don't process it, then I don't, you know, but I sometimes it is good to sit and process and sit with the Lord. Um, but also prayer is I think also we think that prayer is just being in a prayer closet, but prayer is invite a thought life with the Lord. Right. You invite him into your very thoughts and everything like, you know, and so sit with the Lord on and be like, okay, this thought is not of the Lord. This thought is not, I'm not giving a foothold to the enemy to I realize I'm feeling this, I'm realizing the root of this, and I'm not giving. The enemy a foothold to use this to condemn me. And I think that's when it goes into the enemy taking advantage of a situation. When you realize when the redemptive work of the Lord is being taken out of it and reconciliation is no longer in the process, like I'm I'm just condemned. I'm not gonna be able to please the Lord. I'm not gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

I'll never be fixed.

SPEAKER_00 22:25

I think, yeah, I think that's when you step into that, okay. This is getting this is the demonic influence at this point. You know, I'm just done, I'm walking away from the Lord, and you know what I mean? And then you start acting in a way that's not of the Lord, and I think that's when demonic forces come in and they take root.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah, no, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

Um and I'm still processing this too, just just to say that.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Literally just processing it in my own life. Um, but one thing that I did notice, like, so we're talking about the strongholds and like what the physical stronghold was. Like, yeah, in the old testament, it says the Lord was our stronghold. So look at Satan's counterfeit here. Like, yeah, the Lord is a stronghold because he's an inaccellable place of security and protection and refuge. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:21

So it's just like what you were saying, like where we should be able to run into the truth and be like we run into the rejection instead.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

So we run into, we should be able to run into the truth where the Lord is and be protected and surrounded, and nothing to be able to get to us. And um what we've what we've what here is now is that we've had some kind of trauma, or we've had some kind of something that has created a falsehood inside of our mind. Yeah, even if it feels like it's true to us. So obviously that's the case. It feels like it's true to us. So now we have created walls, false stronghold where we we're we're like we're it's brick by brick, it's like rejection, um, unforgiveness, malice, anger, hate, and it's all these things that are building this up. And then if you don't know how to be any different, and then it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

I think it comes out as it comes out as bitterness and it comes out as hate, and it comes out as anger, but it's really just the walls, and it's the defense of is how you act because of the stronghold of rejection, because of the stronghold of abandonment, because of the stronghold of this or that. And so you kind of put your defense of instead of building a bridge of reconciliation, you build a bridge of a wall instead of a bridge. And I think that's okay. So, how how do we kind of rewire this? So when I looked up strongholds, it says toxic mental fortresses, arguments, false beliefs, or fleshly patterns that resist God and lead to chronic sin, mental deception. And so James 1.8 says a double-minded person is unstable. Double-minded there is um it reflects the soul. And so you have a divided loyalty. What is what does a stronghold affect? It affects your mind, it affects your will. Um what's the other one? Your mind, will, and emotions, and so it affects all of those. So then your soul become you become double-minded because you're loyal, like you want to be loyal to God, right, but you're loyal to this fortress in your mind, and it's kind of make it's making it's not kinda, it is making you reject the truth of the Lord and hold fast to this rather than the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Right. Because one feels more real than the other.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

Like I was thinking, so if you think about, and this is what I was gonna say earlier. So think about if we're this is like a military space, like yeah, say that you are trying to cross a ravine or something, and there's a stronghold on top of the the hill. Say that I'm I'm a good thought, I'm the truth. The stronghold has the the advantage to shoot down and shoot me away.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

So whatever we lean more into, and and not even on purpose. And this is this is what makes this difficult.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Because I I am not saying a stronghold is your fault. I'm not. And I'm not I'm saying that because I personally, I personally know that I have dealt with the stronghold of rejection.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

And I know how it has made me treat people, and I know how it has, and as a defense mechanism, like you were saying, like it has made like I'll make I not now, I would make someone an enemy so that I didn't have to deal with them possibly rejecting me. So it's it is things that we have created that make us feel more comfortable, but in the and and the outcome, it's just so miserable. It's genuinely so miserable. But so if you are leaning more on that thought, then whatever that thought is is just gonna shoot down what the other thing is because it has the advantage.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

So if we have uh if we have the word and we we we start to learn how to lean on the truth of the word, um, the Lord doesn't reject, the Lord loves, the Lord chased you before you were saved, the Lord created you with purpose, like the Lord, there's you can't run from his love. Like if we start leaning on these truths and really just trying to and processing this with the Lord, like then the right stronghold will have the advantage.

unknown 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

Because then I'll be able to say, Oh no, I should not have thought that. Yeah, I'm sorry, you're true, so sorry. Let me sit here for a second, let me think about what I'm doing. Because at some point in this process, the Lord is gonna show you how to be like, okay, step back from that thought. Yeah, step back from it. Yeah, see what you're doing. These people are not your enemy. You are in a safe space and you're safe with me. So that's why I can't say that it's someone's a trauma is not someone's fault, and their response to trauma is not their fault, but we can fix this, we can work this out with the Lord, we can process this.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Yeah, and and you know, that's what David did. That's what how the Lord was David's stronghold, is because he went to him. And in Psalms 139, 23 to 24, he says, Search me, O Lord, and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way and lead me into the way of everlasting. Well, in Hebrew, wicked means pain, sorrow, grief, offensive, grievous thing, or even an idol.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

Idolatry.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

And so it's like I'm just thinking here, you know, go go to him in your prayer and be honest with him. But we have this thing where at some point though, even though it's not your fault, if if the Lord puts his hand on it and you refuse to deal with it, then you've made that an idol.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Yeah, there is actually emotional idology.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

You know, yeah. And so, like, and I think we see a lot of that now where people they always have to have something wrong. And so it's become like an idol when, okay, so David, his strong, the Lord was a stronghold because he could work through it with the Lord, he brought it honestly before him. And I think we also have this thing where just as humans, you know, we're not bad people. We're it's none of this is say you're a bad person or that you're all jacked up and you're unfixable. That's not what we're saying. We're saying that how you deal with it matters, you know, and the Lord need has to be your stronghold here. But David, he went to the Lord and he brung it honestly before him. And but sometimes we give ourselves partly to the Lord, and so we become double-minded because we give him bits and pieces of ourselves, yeah, and then we tuck away and we hide these things that we think the Lord's just gonna reject me because we also bring those strongholds into our relationship with the Lord as if the Lord doesn't already know, you know, and but will you just give it to him and help him and well let him help you, not you help him? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Help help the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

But you know, and so it's like what what is grieving the Lord? What have I withheld from him? Why, why, what makes me only give part of myself to the Lord instead of just letting him have it all, you know?

SPEAKER_01 31:04

And so, yeah, when and um I think it and it obviously would behoove us to start tackling these things because I you know I've heard people say, Well, this is because my childhood, this is because this is what my parents did. Okay, fair, same, my god, same. Okay, but at at what point do I say, Okay, Lord, you want me to be a minister, and my fruit is supposed to show you. And the way that I feel right now, and the way that I view people is not fruitful. I will tell you 100% when you have a um a stronghold of rejection and you make people your enemy, that's not loving people. And I'm again speaking from my truth. Like this is what I've gone through. So I understand it.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

And sometimes you may not know until the Lord puts his hand on it, because the Lord knows when it's time when you're able to handle that one, you know. But like with me, I did the prayer team or whatever. But this is the thing that a lot of people don't know about me. I struggle with praying one-on-one for people. Like at the altar, I struggle with that because of rejection. And so the Lord's whole me, like through the Holy Spirit, the Lord said, Um, we have to deal with this because you're now not, we're not gonna be able to go any further until you deal with this, and it's affecting the anointing I want to put on your life. Yeah, because you're shutting down because you're afraid that someone's gonna reject you. And even if they reject you, does not mean I rejected you. Yeah, and you're safe with me. It just and sometimes it's not that I don't trust the Lord, it's that I don't trust myself. Yeah, I know. Because I feel like I've got it wrong so many times, you know. I'm just like, I don't trust me, and I think a lot of people be like, you just don't trust the Lord. No, I trust the Lord, it's me that I don't trust because I don't want to embarrass the Lord and I don't want to mishandle the Lord or because this isn't my gift, this is his gift, you know. I mean, this is his anointing, it's not, it's you know, it's I do, it's and I treat it as such. I don't want to embarrass him or make a mockery out of him in no kind of way, and so he he was just like, it's time to deal with that. Because even if they do, it doesn't mean I did. And so you're safe with me, and it's okay. And if they got 10 million things to say about it, okay, that's fine. I will deal with that, and you don't have to worry about that. So let's deal with that. And it made it made me like close off, and I'm not I'm already not a um big group person anyway. But before dealing with it, I um just was not friends, was not my you know, it was no but now I actually have friends. You know, so now I actually have friends, and so I'm super excited um for that. But I'm just saying, like sometimes before you could ever go further in the Lord, you do have to deal with you do you do because he when you do stuff for the Lord, he doesn't want your divided loyalty, he doesn't want you to do stuff for him out of hiding from this thing, he wants you to do it out of a whole wholesome self of you and going forth in spirit and in truth and in him and doing it fully because the Lord said so.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

But there's like two spaces in the Bible where where Jesus is like, Do you want to be made whole? Yeah, not do you want to be healed? Do you want to be made whole?

SPEAKER_00 34:49

A lot of people want to be healed, but not whole.

SPEAKER_01 34:51

Right. And I'm just like, Lord, please make me whole. Make me whole here, make me whole here. Um, I don't, you know, but the process has been healed piece by piece. Yeah, it is a process, it's not um was I was delivered from homosexuality in a day. Yeah, I wasn't delivered from rejection in a day. This has been a process where I've had to actually take initiative and work with the Lord to deal with this.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Um it's a it's a lot. And this is and please don't think that's just like you're this terrible person and struggle.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

You know, it's no because please, please help yourself, please.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

This is just a sign shine the turn the lie on. One of the things that we deal with is shame.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

And if we deal with shame that we did before we got saved, how unfair is that?

SPEAKER_00 35:46

But that doesn't make someone demonized. No, okay, like can we stop doing that? Can we stop demonizing people because they struggle with lust or they struggle with shame or they struggle with this or that? Sometimes it's a stronghold, it's a root of a stronghold, and or sometimes it's just they're coming out of their flesh, and we have to learn how to speak to those things and pull them down and actually help people be reconciled to Christ rather than just not saying anything ministry and reconciliation because we don't want to offend people, but sometimes the truth may offend them to the point where maybe they all actually start looking in the mirror of his word and saying, actually, I can do better. Don't be going and being rude to people and just you know, don't hear what I'm not saying. What I'm not hearing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Don't read between the lines of something that's not there.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Yeah, but so yeah. So how do we um start healing a stronghold?

SPEAKER_01 36:55

When we we do know that Satan is the father of lies, so he's the deception.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Okay. If something, if you read the word and something doesn't, if something seems so glaringly, glaringly? Is that a word? If it's just obviously and it's just like glares off the page, different than what you think about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

You it you've you've been deceived to think something that the Lord doesn't think of you. And again, it could come something from something that really genuinely happened. But we've gotta let it go.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

We've got to. I I would I the freedom that I've experienced in the last three years, and people who know me know that the process of dealing with emotions and things that aren't true is not easy. My friend over here called me the other day after therapy, and she she really, yes, I go to therapy. I go to therapy because the I I actually felt I had actually spoke to the Lord, and I feel like the Lord told me it was time to take that step to just get a because we're also telling people to process something they don't know how to process.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

But see, I don't do therapy, and that's okay. I process with the Lord, but I've done I've done that before, so I kind of know like some tools, you know. But therapist personally, I know you do. No doubt. No doubt she does that. But therapy scares me a little bit, you know, because I think that's not easy, you know. I don't know. I just I've done it so many times that I just, you know, I find what's helpful for me is to sit with the Lord and to be able to break things down and to hear him because I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

But there's nothing wrong with therapy.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

No, there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just saying, like the wrong way is to not start something.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Right, right, right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

You know what I mean? It's not wrong to sit with the Lord, it's not wrong to go to a therapist if you need it, it's not wrong to do both. What's not right is when you don't try to do anything, yeah. And then, but we but like the Israelites, their stronghold was disbelief, and they complained and they murmured and they did all these things, and that's what we do. You know, we don't deal with the issues, we just complain about them. And so it's like, okay, co-labor with the Lord. Yeah. If you're tired of the issue, co-labor with the Lord, you know what I mean? And I believe that in whatever way the Lord says to do that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 39:41

Yeah, and that's why I said in the beginning of the video, like, um, none of these facets are wrong. Just the Lord has to be in the process with you. And that's really the only way because the Lord has to be, it's gonna be his truth that combats the lie, and that's what it is. Um, I did, I've actually been working processing with the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 40:00

It's the truth that sets you free.

SPEAKER_01 40:02

Right. And I've been processing with the Lord for about three years now, and he actually told me in the beginning of this year, hey, now it's time to take another step and to start therapy. Because we're we've also we're telling people, um, which is not easy. And again, this is why we don't want to over-spiritualize, but we don't under want to under-spiritualize either. But if I'm telling you, oh, just be strong, and I have no idea how to be strong, sometimes to have someone actually talk you through the process and like pull out things that you don't even see about yourself, yeah, is very helpful. So it is anything that you need to do that is actually gonna help God. There's even some people who are taking medication to so they can have a clearer mind. And I don't I don't judge any of this at all. Yeah. Um because sometimes you even need that to even process and to see things correctly. So as long as we are working with the Lord and we see that the Lord does not reject us, the Lord loves us. Um yeah, we've been through some junk. We've been through some junk.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Because you know what you just did? You just rewired their brain in that moment and you let them know that this is the right way that you do this. Whereas their brain was probably trying to tell them you you mess it all up, you know, and so you in that moment you just took the opportunity to rewire them and not only that to give them a hope for next time.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Yeah, yeah. I was watching uh a video the other day.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

The lady sorry, I keep kicking the top.

SPEAKER_01 41:51

Oh, I I think I kicked it too. The lady said, um, so we so we're also we're not supposed to live in shame. So this is what I was talking about earlier, too. Like um, it says that Jesus despised the shame. And we spoke about that for a second in the last video. We're not supposed to live in shame. So a lot of times when we we have a thought we don't want to have because we know, oh no, no, no, the Lord wouldn't want us to have that. Oh, no, no, no, no. Well, what people think if they knew I had that thought, we put shame on that thought. We don't process it out or let it go. So we've actually dug a ditch to that thought. So we keep going back to that thought. And it is now our brain is wired to that thought that we can't let go when if we were just like, so sorry, Lord. Or no, I shouldn't think that. And then just let it go instead of assigning shame to it, then we would be able to just move on.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Um, I was I'm being very vulnerable to condemnation. I am so sorry. Like, I'm not actually I'm not sorry. Obviously, I'm just thirsty. Go ahead. That's just where the Lord has me right now. And so the other day I was praying to him, and I was just like, I don't know. I felt like I was sinning because I was praying for me, and I didn't understand that because you know, it's and and so I was like kind of down on myself a little bit because if you know better, you should do better, right? You know, and I was just like, oh my gosh. And the Lord was like, Haley, you're being vulnerable with me, and I was like, I don't know what this is, Lord, but I I don't want to give this up. Not fleshy things or anything like that, but like I feel free here and I don't want to give this up. But in my mind, I was telling myself it was a bad thing, and so we I had that moment of just being honest with him. Like, if I'm having thoughts and praying is a shared thought life with the Lord, it's not just being in your knees in a closet and stuff like you literally opening every part of your being to him throughout your day, and so Share the he already knows. Just share and just be honest. Just be honest. Because that opens up, that builds a bridge for reconcili reconciliation and redemptive power of the Lord. And for him to be able to come in and be like, okay. And it builds a bond with him.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:21

And then it builds a trust with him.

SPEAKER_01 44:23

That's what I was about to say. Then you know that you can you start to feel it. You can really trust.

SPEAKER_00 44:27

And then you see, like, oh, okay, you are compassionate. You're not just like angry up there because I had this emotion or I had this thought come across my mind. Actually, you are probably more glad that I brung it to you rather than act on it.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

You're like, so now I can do something about it.

SPEAKER_00 44:44

And so now you open up a whole new dynamic of your relationship with the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 44:49

And so I think And that's why we like David. Yeah. David was a man entered God's own heart because he gave in his heart consistently. Like there's not, there shouldn't be a part in our brain that is held, withheld from the Lord. Yeah. And I'm not even saying that that's an easy thing to do. It's not easy for all of us to just be like, okay, because that means I actually have to think a thing to give it to you. And sometimes we just be trying to absolutely ignore the things that we want to ignore and don't work on that yet because I'm not, I am not ready to unlock that, Lord or not. Like, you know, but we have to. Yeah. We have to. Yeah. Like if we if we genuinely want to be whole and we want to be healthy in mind and healthy in body, because some of these things really affect our bodies too.

SPEAKER_02 45:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

Anxiety. Um, what was it just like two to three months ago? My doctor told me I had um vertigo, and then I realized just like a couple weeks later, it was actually just super, super bad anxiety. Like I was dizzy consistently.

SPEAKER_02 45:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

And she thought it was vertigo, and it was actually anxiety.

SPEAKER_02 45:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:58

So we can't live in a state like that either. Like we have to just find a way, even if it's piece by piece, find a way to give it to God.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Just and when we say that, it's literally coming to him in prayer and talking to him about it, and he's gonna talk back to you. And I think that's why my prayer is like and like has been well, it's like comes to a song I'm not singing. Um, I think I said it and I don't mind waiting on you. It's because I don't I don't mind waiting on him because what I wait on him for, I know it's gonna be good, and I know that he's gonna do the thing he says he's gonna do. So if I just keep that as my heart posture, is like when when you're ready for that, I'm willing because I'm waiting on you. I'm waiting, like I'm sitting here, I'm waiting to give you all that I have, you know, and so and he's he's up there just like ready to ready to have it too, you know. And so it's just like you open up a whole nother thing of your relationship, and it's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 47:06

So ways that we defeat strongholds are one and the thing about these verses too, like it says, I have I know the plans I have for you to prosper you, to give you an expected end. Um, or or um what the Lord started, he will see to it, like he will see, or um the Lord, what you used for evil, the Lord will work out for good. Like there's scriptures throughout the Bible that say that that you might go through some junk, but the Lord has a plan for you. Yeah, you are not a lost cause, you're not too much, you're not um too far gone, you're not and you might feel crazy sometimes, but the Lord sees that and he he does have compassion on it. Um and he's he's good and he's faithful when he says he's faithful to forgive. So it's not you're not unforgivable either. Like that's the thing. Like we live in all these things, like they're lies, they're lies. So ultimately, that's what's going on. Yeah, so we just need to um we need to really process it through the Lord with the Lord. We need to pray, we need to be in our word, we need to, when we open our word, ask the Lord to show us how these verses can personally be connected to us because they are relevant to now too. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 48:33

So, ways to defeat is stand in his truth, Ephesians 6 14, stand firm, therefore, having gird your loins with truth. Renew your mind. Philippians 4 8. Think on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, of good repute. If there is any excellence and worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Submit to the Lord and resist the enemy.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

I thought you were gonna fill in so I was thinking, because because there's been times where I like where I have thoughts captive. Yeah, where I where I get on my knees in my living room, that verse is up on the that the cork board. And there have been times where I'm like, Lord, I don't have anything good to think about right now. Yeah, I'm gonna be really honest. So sometimes it is even hard to think on what is good. But if you can think on what is good, think on what is kind for you to be thinking about, yeah, what is lovely for you to be thinking about.

SPEAKER_00 49:41

You woke me up today.

SPEAKER_01 49:42

Yeah, there's breath in my lungs. If I can't think of something positive in my situation, I am able to pray to you right now.

SPEAKER_00 49:50

I got shampoo. You know, when I first got saved, okay, I I told Tina, my mother-in-law, when I first got saved, I said, you know, because we were talking about something, and I was like, you know, sometimes people are just really ungrateful. But sometimes I'm just so grateful that I have like body wash and like laundry soap and shampoo and conditioner. Because I used to put water in the bottles, you know, and just act like I had shampoo and conditioner. But now I actually have that, like I have toothpaste, and sometimes I have double, you know, and like so it's just you know, my kids are fed, I'm fed. It doesn't have to be we we have this thing where it has to be this grand gesture, this no, it can be the simplest thing.

SPEAKER_01 50:37

Like you have a roof over your head, you got a bed to sleep in, you know, and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

And I know when we but another way is um forgive yourself and forgive others.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

Yeah, that's a hard one.

SPEAKER_00 50:53

Yeah, but you gotta do it. Obedience, rest in him, praying all of it.

SPEAKER_01 51:00

Sometimes fasting, fasting, yeah. But just like in your vulnerability to the Lord and your processing when the Lord let him tell you. Like I said, like he told me to do therapy, like he's told me what the next step is. If he tells you to fast, be obedient to that. It's for a reason.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

Yeah, and there's sometimes that I think of Nehemiah sometimes where you're gonna be building and resisting. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, and you know, he was building that good brick by brick, sword in one hand, what was once destroyed. So, you know, and so like say that what was destroyed was your life, and you're trying to build it back, you're trying to replace it with the good, and the enemy is coming at you at all sides, you know. So, another thing is that Nehemiah, he put people at each point, protect your vulnerabilities, your vulnerable areas, the areas where you know you're weak, not from the Lord, from the enemy. Bring your vulnerabilities to the Lord and have accountability partners that you can be vulnerable with, but your weak spots. So I know I may have issues with rejection, you know, and so I'm going to gird those areas with the truth of the Lord, and I'm not gonna allow the enemy to use those. And when I recognize that's what's happening, I'm going to acknowledge that and use his word to tear to put out the darts, you know, and to put out the condemnation of the enemy.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:43

And so sometimes you are gonna be building and fighting at the same time, and just know I think a lot of the processes that you're gonna be building and fighting on the same time. And you know, I know that sometimes he leads us to his his pastors and rest and all the things, but sometimes you are building and fighting at the same time, and it's okay. And and so it's just knowing where the Lord has you, yeah, and discerning the moment and the season that he has you in.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

Give yourself some grace, please.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

And being graceful with you and letting the healing process and the being made whole process, the sanctification and all the things just let the Holy Spirit do his great work in you and let him bring it to full completeness. And it's gonna, it's gonna suck sometimes. You know? Yeah. It will but you know what? There's beauty in it, and there is there's so much more to gain than you're ever gonna lose. And you get freedom, you know, it's just it's beautiful because you have a God that loves you so much that he doesn't want to leave you the same, he doesn't want to leave you guarding yourself from the wrong things.

SPEAKER_01 53:53

He isolate, he'll bring friends.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

We were we were both isolators, yeah, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 54:01

Yeah, and and but not only friends, friends that I feel safe with. Yeah, and for the longest time I prayed that because um I always thought that, like, well, also I'm very um high alert. Like, I don't know. I I guess it's like the okay, we didn't touch on this, and we should.

SPEAKER_01 54:21

I'm listening.

SPEAKER_00 54:23

Some things that you went through did train you. The Lord is we'll use it for good. Okay. So from a young age, I for for example, I learned to like watch things, just be watchful, and that's not all bad, right? But it can be if I let the enemy take that and distort it, okay? Yeah, but if I let the Lord use that, then my discernment is good.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

But sometimes if you let the enemy use it and play off of it, you'll think everybody's against you and everybody hates you. And yeah. And so, but if the Lord uses it, you'll be able to see things and you'll be able to know things, and you'll be able to help grow someone. And so, not everything that you went through is bad. So be careful and really be grateful, graceful with yourself and don't tear everything about yourself down. But see, okay, how can the Lord, how can this operate in the Lord? You know, say if you you're hypersensitive to some things, okay, instead of condemning, instead of um thinking everybody hates you for, you know what I mean? Instead allow the Lord to show you things in people and be like, okay, how can I build them? You know, how can I, well, not how can I use my gift that you give me to build the gift that you gave them? Not that I come and play Lord to them at all. But you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 55:49

Just like we're supposed to be community.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Yeah. How do I help them? How do I be of benefit to them? How do I give them Jesus, you know? And so in a way that they will understand it. And so, like see what you have and see, you know, and just let the Lord let it be rooted in the Lord instead of letting the enemy overtake that, because it can really be used. And I think sometimes the Lord, a lot of times, actually, the Lord does and can use things that you've been through as a training ground for you. Yeah. And so just let him turn it for good and let him do the work in you, and you just surrender to it.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

Agreed.

SPEAKER_01 56:38

Yes, ma'am. Are you good?

SPEAKER_00 56:40

You're gonna pray us out this time because I prayed last time. And again, we are learning this too. And so if you have anything to add to this, you can message us and we would like to learn. We would like to learn too. I'll just read about it. Um, and I hope we did not mess this up. Um I mean, I I faith in the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

You give yourself grace and you give us grace too.

SPEAKER_00 57:03

Yeah. Um, and if you have any questions, we don't mind helping and giving tools where we can. Um, but we love you guys and we hope this blessed y'all in every way. Um, but thank you, Lord, for this. Thank you, Lord, for who you are, and thank you for this opportunity, Lord. I ask that this goes out and it penetrates hearts, Lord, and that strongholds are pulled down, Lord, and that they are replaced with your truth over lives, Lord, and that lives are transformed by the renewing of their mind, by the renewing of the spirit, Lord, and that your power just goes through this video, Lord, and it touches hearts and it draws hearts to you by the spirit, Lord, that you would just draw people nigh unto you, Lord, and that you would have your way in their lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. Bye. Bye.