Uprooting Stubborn Spirits

Demonic spirits can be stubborn and resistant, there's no doubt about it. Sometimes when people struggle under oppressive spirits or unbroken curses they grow tired and weary of the battle. It feels like you're never going to win. It feels like things are never going to change. The voices of hopelessness and unbelief grow louder, and a sense of injustice and bitterness over your situation seems overwhelming.It's bad enough for those that don't have a relationship with Christ, but when the struggles in life are so discouraging they can even turn a Christian away from trusting and believing God, that's a hard day indeed.

Some of you reading this have struggled and wrestled with God for what seems like your entire life, and you're tired. You're tired of trying to make your faith work and seen little results for your effort. You're fed up with feeling angry and frustrated with God and your circumstances. You want to believe God for His promises, but you've just seen so little progress that it can feel like you and God are at a standoff. If you feel like you're caught in this never ending tug-of-war between God and the devil, well, you ARE. I understand those stubborn-as-a-mule type of spirits that just won't give you any rest. But, here's the good news. I may not have the exact same experiences as you, but there are spiritual principles that WILL release breakthrough.

Demons have a way of revealing our weaknesses and character flaws to ourselves.If you think of someone you don't much care for or you're offended with, and something rises up within you and says, "I am not going to forgive so-and-so," you've got spirits of Defiance, Stubbornness and Rebellion at work. If you tend to justify certain behaviors, social activities or attitudes that are less than becoming, you are dealing with a stubborn demon. If you feel stubborn and defiant towards God, repentance or parting with certain sins in your life, then that is a clue you have a very stubborn spirit at work in your life. It can come in through generational sin that runs in families, or it can be doors you've opened yourself, but the reality is some demons are stronger that others and thus become more difficult to remove from one's life. God calls this idolatry, because it elevates self-will over submission and humility to God. No one can worship God in spirit and in truth when they are resisting submission to Him. It's called rebellion, and God does not put a blessing on that which is aligned with Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

Addictions, lust, rebellion, bitterness, anger, witchcraft (which is control and manipulation), and self pity are all very strong, defiant and stubborn spirits that resist deliverance. Those are just a few. Poverty, especially generational poverty, is another one. When a person or a family has struggled under demonic oppression for what seems like their entire life, it affects their entire belief system. It's difficult to believe God, much less trust Him. A person can tend to waiver between faith and unbelief, and the indecision invites a spirit of double-mindedness. The problem is, according to scripture, a double minded man receives nothing from the Lord. 

The Amplified Bibles says it like this: [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. (James 1:8)

The CEB version says this: If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all.

And, the EXB version: [L For] Such doubters are ·thinking two different things at the same time [L double-minded], and they ·cannot decide about anything they do [L are unstable in all they do]. They should not ·think [expect] they will receive anything from the Lord.

If we want to receive answers to prayer, we must resolve the double-mindedness issue, for God rewards FAITH and OBEDIENCE. See, a person can pray and pray and pray, yet if they have a spirit of double-mindedness operating in their life, and they can't seem to establish their faith and trust in God, they won't receive the answer they need because God can't bless sin, and double-mindedness is sin. Whatever we do, if it is not done in faith, is considered sin, according to Romans 14:23. In Mark 11:22-24 Jesus advised His disciples that if they were going to pray, to have faith in God and pray without doubting, then they would have what they asked for in prayer. 

The second thing God cannot bless is disobedience and sin When an unbroken curse exists in a person's life, it means the enemy has found legal grounds to steal, kill, or destroy in that person's life, or in his/her family. He can rob finances, health, act as a destroyer in relationships, business, or marriage. He can bring mental torment, illness, disease, instability in a variety of ways. He can send accidents, untimely death, and plunder where ever he chooses until the individual makes a deliberate choice to partner with God in healing and deliverance. This comes by prayers of renouncement, genuine repentance - which means forsaking and turning away from the things God calls sin, and asking for the blood of Jesus to seal the doors shut so that the enemy no longer has access to a person's life. Renounce the soul ties to people that have negative impact on your life. Separate yourself from those that encourage you by being willing accomplices in sin and error. These things are biblical and scriptural.

As I mentioned earlier, there are some spirits that are more stubborn and resistant than others. Matthew 17:18-21 is a warning about stubborn spirits that don't give up easily. Jesus advised fasting along with prayer to help move the demonic spirit out of a boy when the disciples could not cast it out. When they brought the issue to Jesus, He told them that it was because of their unbelief. They were dealing with a stubborn spirit that did not want to let go of the child, and they became frustrated at their lack of understanding.

Friend, every problem has an answer. Just hold on. Every test or trial has an expected end. For someone today, God just answered your question why you have not seen greater success, why you're still going around the same old mountain. He just gave you the answer to the trial you've been facing. FAST over the stubborn issues of your life and command those spirits to come up and be removed, in Jesus name! 

I struggled with a stubborn root of bitterness all my life. I could tell it was a generational spirit because it affected our whole family. I never even met my grandmother but I know she had to have had it too, simply by observing my own family members and hearing stories about the kind of person my grandmother was. She had bitterness. Poverty was generational. Addictions, lust, rebellion, mental illness were also quite strong in my family. All of these were the tell-tale signs of a demonic root system at work. Idolatry and witchcraft were strong and deeply rooted. It felt like I was never going to get truly free. When a person has struggled for a long time with the same recurring issues they get weary, discouraged and unbelief sets in. Hopelessness sets in. This can cause a person's faith to begin to fail, and they may become offended with God. They don't understand how to get free and may get angry all over again. The person may even feel like giving up on God, but unbelief must be challenged! 

FASTING is a chain breaker. It helps break up the entangled root system so that it can be removed from a person's life. Especially when you're dealing with a generational spirit that has seemingly been with a person all their life, FASTING is a necessary component to help drive the enemy out! Couple it with worship, prayer, declarations of faith, and decreeing God's word. It might not get completely taken care of the first time or two, but if you remain persistent and determined, you can and WILL get free. It's hard, I know. We all want the quick fix. But everything in our journey becomes teaching curriculum in the hand of the Lord. He won't waste our experiences, rather, He will use them to teach others how they can also get free, just as I am sharing with you now. He wants you to understand that there is light at the end of the tunnel. He's just given you the answers to the tests you've been going through. He's given you the strategy to see the enemy defeated in your life so that you can be free and healed!

I'm going to throw in a little side note. It's important that you are in correct spiritual alignment, too. Ask the Lord to direct you to a good local church, and if you can't find one, then connect online with an internet ministry where you know you are being fed the good word of God. Even if you don't always want to be accountable to the words that your reading or hearing, your spirit will witness truth. You've got to do everything you can to line up with truth. 

God also gives us a promise in Malachi 3:10-12. It's really the only time in scripture where God tells us it's ok to test him at his word. If you hold up your end, He will hold up his. Giving in the house of the Lord is for the furtherance of His kingdom. If you're aligned with good leadership, anointed leadership that prays for you and feeds you with God's word, you can expect a good return. Friend, don't let fear cause you to hold back financially. Giving is part of the way you break the back of the enemy and release the promises of God. You just can't cheat God and expect to get the full benefit of what His word promises.

Malachi 3:9-12New King James Version (NKJV)

9 You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it.

11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground,
Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,”
Says the Lord of hosts;
12 “And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

I did want to interject the part about tithing because God makes a promise that when you give generously, you can also stand on His promise to rebuke the devourer. You need to have all your ducks in a row so you can be assured of correct spiritual alignment. This is one of the keys to getting unstuck!

Ok, back to the main point of this article which is dealing with stubborn spirits!You can't do it without incorporating fasting. As I mentioned earlier, there are some spirits that are much stronger than others. You are dealing with strongmen spirits that have other lessor demons under their authority. Think of it like taking out the general of an army. If you get the general, you also take out all those under his command. If you don't get the general, you'll continue to war without results because he just keeps calling in more troops faster than you can get them out. Fasting humbles our flesh and allows our Spirit man to rise up and take authority over the enemy. You are not a victim unless you choose to be. You do not need to feel helpless in your situation, you just need a different perspective of how you see it. You have to ask God to help you understand from a spiritual perspective and give you the strategies to outwit and overcome your adversary. God is trying to get the body of Christ to mature and understand that you must use the authority He has given you. He will not do for you what He expects you to do for yourself. It's time to grow up! As you cooperate in your own deliverance, you become stronger. Fasting, high praise, worship, declaring God's word and making decrees against the enemy is like taking a huge hammer against the enemy. You're pounding on his hands, his feet, his head, his back. You are hammering, pounding, weakening his grip and destroying the demonic network of that stubborn, resistant root system that has been entangled around your life. If you have to fast three days out of every week and repeat the process of praise, declarations, repentance and renouncing the sins of your ancestors, do it. Keep repeating the process. As you do, your spirit man gets stronger and the enemy gets weaker. Eventually your spirit man will overcome and force the enemy to let go and vacate!

Friends, listen to me. There is such a strong root of bitterness in our nation. We can see the evidence of it in the cries of injustice, the anger and the protests. Bitterness is unfulfilled vengeance, and it's a root cause of the outrage against police, the divisiveness and racial divide. The enemy has planted demonic root systems in our nation that are using bitterness,hatred,rebellion, lust and witchcraft to produce divisiveness and war. This is what the enemy wants. These are perverse spirits that twist truth and war against unity, forgiveness, repentance and reconciliation. They war against God himself, and they war against each one of us. The bigger picture is the enemy claiming souls for himself and taking as many people as possible into captivity, turning hearts against God and one another, shifting blame so that Satan's schemes goes unnoticed. As a nation, how can we expect to defeat our natural enemies like ISIS and other real threats unless we first defeat the spiritual enemies within? The very roots of bitterness, rebellion and witchcraft that motivates terrorist groups are the very same roots that exist within our nation; it just manifests somewhat differently. One cannot fight and expect to win against an enemy (whether externally or internally) if they are in agreement with the same spirit(s). The reality is, we cannot defeat any enemy unless we are in proper alignment with God and have taken care to annihilate the enemies in our own back yard. The only way we are going to get victory over stubborn, resistant enemies is to incorporate fasting along with prayer, high praise and worship, declaring God's word and evicting devils out of our lives, our of our homes, and out of our cities. It starts one life at a time. One household at a time. Transformation can only take place to the degree that each one of us is willing to own the sin of ourselves, our ancestors and generations of those that came before us. We must reverse the curse so that God can bless us the way He has always desired to!

I just want to end this article with a praise report. As I mentioned earlier, I struggled with bitterness for a long, long time. I could not seem to get the complete victory until I incorporated fasting along with the other components I mentioned above. As I did, I began to feel stronger in my spirit. I started to also heal internally from the toxic effects that long term spiritual issues had on my digestive system. The related health issues slowly began to reverse itself. My husband got a boatload of work (suddenly) and in one day, we paid off all our bills and credit card balances. That's a promise because it's a year of Jubilee! But that's a whole other message. Friends, God wants to bless us, but often the way he wants to bless us gets held back because the enemy has found legal loopholes to hold back the blessings in the pipeline. They're there, waiting, until we successfully complete whatever process God has us in. So don't think God isn't fair or He doesn't want to bless you. That's simply not true. I will end with this portion of scripture. I pray it's a motivator to you today and an encouragement. 

Ezekiel 36:29-36New King James Version (NKJV)

29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”

33 ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. 34 The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35 So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”

Did you see that? On the day you are delivered from the things God calls unclean, blessings await you! Restoration awaits you! A turnaround in your circumstances await you!