John Bevere - Break the Stronghold of Sexual Sin

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Come to lesson six on being porn-free again. I want to say how proud I am of every single one of you and how much I love you. I have empathy because of the Deliverance that I went through, and I don’t want to see it take nearly as long for you as it did for me. I believe that if you walk through this course and stay committed all the way to the finish, it will greatly reduce the time it takes for you to be completely and totally free and changed. I’ll tell you this right now: this is where I am today. I have been in Europe preaching, and I was looking for a sports channel to catch up on the sports news. They have a lot of pornography in Europe, and if I see pornography now, I’m literally repulsed by it. Yes, I’m talking about a guy who was absolutely consumed by lust while watching pornography. This is where you’re going, and I’m so proud of you.

In the last lesson, we asked the question: if all of this is true of me, then why do I still struggle? From this point on, for the next several lessons, we will deal with this question. To open up, I want to read the words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Church. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 3 through 5: «For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.» I want you to listen to the word «war.» This is not a playground we live in; this is a battleground, and you need to have the mentality of a soldier. «We do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly.» So it’s not a physical war we’re in; we’re in a spiritual and mental war here. «For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but they are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds.» I want you to remember that word «strongholds.» «Casting down arguments"—these are the strongholds—"casting down arguments,» another word is «reasonings,» «and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.»

In the next couple of lessons, I want to address these strongholds. First of all, that word is the Greek word defined as: to fortify, to hold fast, a stronghold, a fortification, a fortress. The Greek-English lexicon describes it as a strong military fortification. You are seeing right now that this is actually a fortress in which the enemy gets in and takes hold of our lives. I’m not talking about our spirits; our spirits are one with Christ. I’m talking about our minds and bodies. These are areas that are not necessarily off-limits to him. Our spirit is united with Christ, but let’s go back to my testimony, and I’m going to share things in my testimony that I’ve never even shared with my own sons or my wife or anyone before.

I made up my mind to help get you free, so I was going to be as open and transparent as possible. Remember I told you I went on a four-day fast; it started May 6, 1985, and it was over on, excuse me, May 2nd to May 6th of 1985. What I didn’t tell you—and I’ve never told anyone else, not even my sons—is that the condominium that was lent to me was right on a beach in Jacksonville, Florida. It was the fourth day of the fast, and I remember I had gone out to get something, like some water or something like that, and the condo was right by a pool. Well, I was coming back to my room and there was a girl walking right in front of me, walking beside me because she was going the same place. She had on one of the skimpiest bathing suits, but also you’ve got to realize there was a spirit in my mind, a spirit that had been driving me. I was consumed in my mind with this, and I believe she had a very similar spirit. You will always find that pornography is like a magnet; if it’s around, it attracts. I remember when that girl got near me, I went wild with lust. I remember getting on that elevator going up to the room and the anger that just rose up in me realizing how contrary this was to the heart of God and how wrong it was. I literally went after the devil.

Now, I don’t want to scare you off by talking about this, but there are real demonic spirits, and there are a lot of demonic spirits behind pornography. If we don’t address and directly confront these spirits, they don’t necessarily have to leave. It’s a lot harder to get rid of them by trying to just put the Word of God in us so strongly that they eventually say they have to leave. That is one way to receive Deliverance. However, I was in a situation where this thing was so embedded in my mind and my flesh that I had to address it. So I spoke to that spirit and said, «I have had it,» and I began to speak the Word of God. In that condominium, I literally went through a Deliverance. I knew something had left my physical body because there’s no other way to describe it. The anger of the Lord rose up in me, and I didn’t speak gently; I forcefully commanded that spirit to leave. Now let me give you some scripture to back up what I’m talking about. As a Christian, I can’t be demon-possessed; I want to emphasize that because my spirit has been made one with Christ. But I can surely give a demonic spirit or demons free access to my mind and emotions by the strongholds that I’ve created through my repeated disobedience.

That’s what a stronghold is. Remember, Paul talked about casting down thoughts. I’m going to read a scripture to you from Proverbs 25:28: «A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.» Now think about it: in the days of Solomon, who wrote this, cities had walls around them, and those walls were for protection. They kept the enemy out. If the cities had broken-down walls, that means the enemy could come in and out whenever he wanted, and not only that, he could come in and build a fortress. I had a fortress here. Understand, I don’t want you freaked out by this; this is scriptural, this is biblical. This spirit could come and go whenever it wanted to, and it may have even been lodged in there; I don’t even know. But I’m not going there. I’m just saying I was like a city with broken-down walls because I had no self-control when it came to pornography and assisted masturbation. This is why Peter writes to us in the New Testament. In 1 Peter 5:8-9, he said, «Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.»

Then Peter said, «Resist him steadfast in the faith.» Now let’s break this down. First of all, «be sober, be vigilant.» The Greek word for sober means serious, sensible; it means solemn. It is the word in Greek that is the antithesis of being drunk. Now, I was a fraternity guy, and we had 80 guys living in our fraternity house. A lot of us were getting drunk, and after I got saved, I started watching the stupid behavior of what happened when we got drunk. I was like, «I can’t believe I ever did that.» Things we would do included going into a guy’s room and stealing things if he got inebriated; he was not aware of what was going on. So we would steal just to play a joke on him, like we’d take a lab that he’d been working on for three months—one-third of his entire semester grade—and just steal it and hide it away. The next day we’d watch him run around the house screaming, moaning, groaning, «Oh my gosh, I’m going to flunk this course,» and we’re all just laughing. After a few hours, we’d decide we’d give it back to him. You see, when you’re drunk, you don’t realize when the enemy comes in and goes out, and that’s why Peter commands us, by the Spirit of God, to be sober. Then he says, «Be vigilant.»

Now, vigilant means to keep careful watch for possible danger or difficulties. You can’t be vigilant if you’re not sober. Like those guys getting their labs stolen from them, they were not vigilant, right? You can’t be vigilant without being sober, but you can be sober and not be vigilant. You can have a sound mind but not be vigilant. There are just too many Christians running around today who say, «Well, if I just ignore the devil, he’ll go away;» as if to say, «maybe he won’t exist.» He’s very real; this is what Peter is saying. He walks around seeking to devour. There’s a vigilance we must have. If you remember, Peter said, «I will never deny you, Jesus,» and Jesus said, «Oh, yeah, Satan desires to sift you as wheat.» And that night, Peter did what he didn’t want to do. Why? Because he slept.

I’ve noticed before that the Holy Spirit tries to warn me of an attack from the enemy that is coming. I’ve seen this frequently in my life; how does He warn you? There’s a gnawing, penetrating, driving irritation in my spirit man. When that begins to happen, I drop everything if I’m smart, and I start praying, saying, «Okay, Holy Spirit, show me how to pray. There’s obviously an attack the enemy is forging right now.» That was what was happening with Peter, James, and John. When this attack happens, you know what happens? You want to take a nap. They didn’t have social media and Facebook, Instagram, all that kind of stuff; that’s what they would have been doing—taking a nap. It’s like trying to avoid the gnawing feeling that warns them of danger coming. Guys, let me tell you something: when the Holy Spirit warns you, take heed. Drop everything; it’s not important that you didn’t respond on social media in a timely manner. What’s important is that you are vigilant, that you know something is coming, and He’ll warn you. He tried warning Peter, and he slept through it.

Jesus prays, Peter sleeps. Jesus prays, Peter sleeps. It happened three times. For three hours, Jesus prays; for three hours, Peter sleeps. Jesus fulfills the mission; Peter denies Christ. So «be sober, be vigilant.»

Let’s keep reading: «Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary—he is an adversary—the devil walks about like a roaring lion.» Let me make this really clear: he is not a lion; Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. But he walks around like a lion. In other words, the imagery here is that he tries to sneak up on you. You ever watch those programs where the lion comes up on that zebra? They’re in the tall grass, creeping up—that’s how he comes at you. That’s what Peter’s trying to say. But now, listen to what Peter says: «Resist him.» You resist him! You will never find one place in all the New Testament where it says to pray to God that He will get the devil off your back. It isn’t in there. Why is that true? Because God gave authority to man on the earth. That’s why Jesus had to come as the Son of Man. He was 100% God, but He had to operate as the Son of Man. Jesus had to command demons to leave people and situations. The apostles had to say, «I command you to leave in the name of Jesus.»

So the way you resist the devil is not by saying, «Oh God, please, please, please, please, please take the devil away.» You have to resist him. And how do you resist him? The way Jesus did—using the Word of God. «It is written.» That’s how you say it. I have literally gone out before and said, «If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’re going to get. I got a sword, and Jesus disarmed you, so I’m going to take this sword and cut you into pieces. If you don’t run from me and start terror, I will cut you into pieces.» You may say, «Are you serious about this, John?» I am really passionate because I’m fed up with seeing people get beat up by the devil: people I love, people I care about—they are getting beat up by the devil, and I am fed up with it.

Let me tell you a little story. There was this pastor when I was pastoring my church. When I was a youth pastor, we had about 11 associate pastors on staff. There was this guy who cried every worship service. I watched tears pour down his face. This guy was heavily into drugs, but God saved him, and he matured. He became the singles pastor of our church. We had a big church; we were probably the best-known church in the United States, and I was the youth pastor. I had a reputation for being the guy that always dealt with demons. I wasn’t looking for that, and I want to make this clear. The Bible says to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. This is the way I like to say it: «Keep your eyes on Jesus, and if the devil gets in the way, blast him, get rid of him, and keep looking at Jesus.» People who get so focused on demons get weird and stray from the truth, so keep your eyes on Jesus. But if the devil gets in the way, you have to blast him.

So, this pastor, I mean, man, he’s weeping in worship. One day he comes into my office and says, «John, I’ve got to talk to you.» He didn’t say «Pastor John,» he said «John» because we were good friends. He said, «I’ve never shared this with anybody but my wife: I fight the fear of dying so bad that it just paralyzes me.» I said, «Really? Dying?» He said, «Yeah, my dad died of a heart attack; I think another relative died of a heart attack. I just fight constantly that I’m going to have a heart attack.» He said, «Literally, this wave of fear hits me. I sweat; I sweat underneath my clothes. I tremble.» I told him he had to deal with the devil on this. I shared with him how there are times when I go out, and during my prayer time, the devil is really messing with Lisa or me or the family, or some situation with my friends. I told him, «If you want to fight, you’re going to get a fight.» I said, «I use the Word of God and speak directly to him.» He said, «No, no, I’ve been praying to God.» I said, «Whoa, whoa, whoa.»

Jesus, when He was in the wilderness, didn’t say, «God, get this devil out of here.» He spoke to him. I said, «You have to speak to him.» So Kent left, and I could tell he wasn’t really getting it. But six months later he came into my office and said, «Man, it’s worse. It’s worse than it was six months ago, John. I’m just paralyzed for hours sometimes with this fear.» I said, «Well, Kent, did you do what I told you to six months ago? Did you go out and say, 'You want a fight? You’re going to get a fight, ' and use the Word of God and speak the Word of God to him?» He said, «No, I’ve been crying out to God to take this fear away from me.» I said, «Kent, that is not what you’re supposed to do.»

Then God gave me this idea. I said, «Kent, the President of the United States is the commander-in-chief of all the Armed Forces, right?» He said, «Yeah.» I asked him, «Can you imagine one of our soldiers in Iraq being fired upon, and he gets on the radio and calls the White House and says, 'President, please come and save me. Get rid of those guys? '» I asked him, «What would the president say to him?» The president would say, «I trained you with the best military training in the world. I gave you the best weapons in the world.» That’s what the president would say, and then he’d go back to sleep. I said, «Jesus is the commander-in-chief of the armies of the church. What you were doing was crying out and saying, 'Jesus, get rid of this demon, ' and He’s saying, 'Kent, will you please speak to this demon what my word says? Because it’s a sword. Use it.»

So, I could see the light going on for him. Three days later, he comes into my office, grinning from ear to ear. I ask him, «What happened?» because I knew I was about to get good news. He said, «John, I was driving to church on Sunday, and you know we had like a half-hour drive. All of a sudden, it hit me; I started fearing about dying of a heart attack. Then all of a sudden, this anger rose up in me, and I slammed my fist on the dashboard of the car.» He said, «My wife about went through the roof beside me. I said, 'Devil, I’ve had it! ' And I started speaking the Word of God.» He said, «John, when I did, I had a vision.» I asked, «You did? What was the vision?» He said, «I saw Jesus on the throne. When I slammed my fist down and said, 'Devil, I’ve had it, ' I saw Jesus do this.» He acted out a gesture of victory, as if to say, «I’ve been waiting for you to do this all along.» Do you know my friend Kent never fought the fear of dying from a heart attack again?

You have to resist the devil. In that condominium, I got so angry—I was so fed up—and I started speaking the Word of God, and literally, I knew that day on May 6th that something had left my mind, left my body. I don’t care what anyone wants to say; it left. I remember being in the Jacksonville Airport, going down the escalator, and the devil said, «Oh, you’re still bound; you’re still bound.» I said, «You just watch. I’m free! Jesus has set me free, and I’m done with you.» A couple of years later, he knew I was free.

It’s so important that you understand this principle. Remember, Peter said, «Resist him steadfast in the faith.» You know what «steadfast» means? It means that you do it every time he comes around, because nowhere in the New Testament does it say that once you resist the devil, he can’t come back and try again. The devil’s like a little chihuahua. He has no power over you, but he keeps yapping, and you’ve got to say, «Get out of here.» He’ll come back and you’ll say again, «Get out of here.» Finally, one day you will have had enough and will say, «Get out of here.» That’s what he does.

So, when the devil knows he’s going to get hit with the sword every time he comes around, every time that desire arises to go look at pornography, you say, «It is written in the Word of God: I have power over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt me» (Luke 10:19). Go think about it, go meditate on it. He’s got no sword; he’s got no weapons. Jesus took them away. He’s taking a big risk, and every time you speak the Word, you jab him with a sword—literally a sword. When he knows that you won’t give up, he’ll eventually stop trying to bother you.

It’s so important that we understand this, so important that men and women become warriors in the Spirit. Now that we understand this aspect of strongholds, there’s another aspect of strongholds we have to understand that actually relates to our past generations, and we will talk about that in the very next lesson. This is so key and critical to understanding and becoming totally free. I can’t wait to see you then.