Some advice for those wishing to destroy their strongholds

Here are some suggestions for those wishing to destroy their strongholds.

First – remember that YOU know to whom you belong - and it's NOT haSatan!  Halleluyah! YHWH chose YOU to be His. The enemy has no grip on those who belong to YHWH - unless we allow it. (And, as you know, it's EASY to slip back into our "old" habits.) YHWH allows us all the freedom to choose,...

Remember, we have the free will to to obey HIS commands – or not.  But if we refuse, WHOM are we serving? (See Deuteronomy 30:19, 20)  Instead of forcing us to do what He says, He warmly appeals to us:

Isaiah 48:17 Thus says Adonai, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Isra’el: “I am Adonai, your God, who teaches you for your own good, who guides you on the path you should take. 18 If only you would heed my mitzvot! Then your peace would flow on like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (CJB)

Yeshua identified the problem of some unbelievers when He told them, “You refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). Clearly, they could have come if they wanted to; their problem was they chose not to. “A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7), and those who are outside of salvation are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20-21).

So, here's my personal advice, a few things you can do in your quest for freedom from the pain: ... freedom from any past or present strongholds or "family curses".. (I do it every time I feel myself falling into the pit of despair for whatever reason):

ONE:

Even as Believers, we tend to sin once in a while. This is why there is a constant need to repent and turn to YHWH for forgiveness. Once you've truly - body, mind and soul - turned yourself over to ADONAI, try a mikvah:

A "mikvah" is an immersion in water that can drain away (shower, bath, river, creek, ocean) which symbolically allows your "baggage" to wash away. It is consciously and intentionally "doing something" with your hands that will help your mind to recognize and remember your goal of getting rid of past hurts.

During your mikvah, repent for any and all sins you've committed, and tell YHWH you are His now, and you want to do whatever His will is. Yeshua's death covered all your past sins, but as humans, we are prone to continue to sin at some point, and so we have the option of going to our gracious and merciful God and asking for forgiveness and help in overcoming our frailties.

YHWH knows we're prone to sinning and being stupid and carnal, and yet He STILL loves us. All He asks is that we love Him back - to obey His commands so that we can be truly "set apart" for Him. He will take care of the rest.

TWO:

If you have some really deep down "stuff" bothering you that you might not even be aware of, try writing about parts of your life with your non-dominant hand (not necesarily all at once, but over the course of a few days or weeks, or longer). For instance, use your non-dominant hand to write about the day you discovered your parents hated you and write about how you felt about it. Next time, write about something that hurt you in your childhood (i.e., perhaps your father always beat you and made you feel as though you weren't good enough). Pick different times in your life and just write.

Although it sounds weird, it often works! It works, partially, because you are concentrating so hard on making the letters (it also hurts the hand after awhile!) that it somehow allows your subconscious to remove the self-defense mechanisms that keep you from remembering the core issue which started all the pain in the first place. Try it; it will either work for you, or not. It can't hurt....

THREE:

Go somewhere where you can be totally alone for at least 15 minutes and write on a sheet of paper the name(s) of the person(s) who hurt you. Holding the paper over an ash tray or sink, take a match and set it on fire. While watching it burn, think to yourself: "I hereby let you go. You no longer have ANY hold over me!"

And then sit quietly for awhile and pray to YHWH and thank Him for bringing you to this point, and ask Him to help you keep this person in the PAST where they belong - because satan WILL attempt to bring that person up again and again. It is up to you to learn to become strong enough to put a stop to it. With YHWH's help, you have been released and you have the power to let go of the past and get on with your new life!

FOUR:

Make a list of your "tormentors" and identify them as specific spiritual forces that are/were trying to abuse you, or make you feel lonely or insecure, or to hurt yourself. This is simply a list of those that made you feel betrayed in some way, or who attempted to "steal your joy" somehow, thus thwarting an abundant life. Once you've made the list, you can do whatever you want with it - including setting it on fire to represent the fact that "old things are passed away" and this is a new beginning for you.

These things are only suggestions of some of the things you can "do with your hands" to "show your mind". (For instance, this is why we are to clean our homes of all leavened products during Passover, as "leaven" represents "sin". It's YHWH's way of having us DO something with our hands so that our minds get the message of how adamant He is concerning His people BEING holy/set apart. We can ONLY be holy IF we're willing to rid ourselves of ALL sin.)

So, DOING something physically to help us "drop the baggage" tells our minds we are serious; no more kidding around! The enemy does NOT get to control you or your daily moods! Halleluyah!