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STRONGHOLDS—What Are They and How Do They Affect You

I knew I had a stronghold issue by the negative behavior patterns that would control my reactions to situations. Mental strongholds are unknown to our conscious mind until we seek God to reveal them. In addition, mental strongholds often come in pairs to ensure we remain in bondage to our unhealthy beliefs and wrong thinking. Also, I learned that mental strongholds protect seats of authority, much like castle walls protect a ruler’s throne. The authority seat holds beliefs that rule our lives by controlling what we think, and thoughts dictate what we say, and do. Now imagine having many double-walled castles in your heart, and each one protects a seat of authority that rules your thoughts. Go to my website to learn more about each of the following stronghold combinations and how to destroy them.

–Authority seat of anxiety is protected by the strongholds of worry and fear.
–Authority seat of insecurity is protected by the strongholds of control and betrayal.
–Authority seat of disappointment is protected by the strongholds of apathy and rejection.
–Authority seat of insignificance is protected by the strongholds of rejection and misplaced approval.
–Authority seat of humiliation is protected by the strongholds of shame and sadness.
–Authority seat of impatience is protected by the strongholds of injustice and unfairness.
–Authority seat of anger is protected by the strongholds of pride and judgment.
–Authority seat of doubt is protected by the strongholds of rebellion and independence.
–Authority seat of deception (lying) is protected by the strongholds of protection and manipulation.
–Authority seat of oppression is protected by the strongholds of irresponsibility and infirmity.
–Authority seat of escapism is protected by the strongholds of loneliness and discontentment.
–Authority seat of desire is protected by the strongholds of pleasure and addictions.

Tearing down strongholds, especially addiction strongholds, requires that we can hear from God. To hear from God, we need to be in a right relationship with God. Please visit my website to learn more about how you can be right with God and to be free from the bondage of the above stronghold combinations.

If you find my posts and website helpful, then please share the links with your friends and family, hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected and no part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom.

If you find this website helpful, you will benefit from the latest book. You can order Breaking Mental Strongholds on Amazon. Also, check out my book called Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. I would love to hear what you think. To learn more about my book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. Please leave your name so I know you are a real person making the request.

UNHEALTHY BELIEFS: What are they and where do they come from?

A false or unhealthy belief is a lie about the true nature of reality about ourselves, life, and God. For example, if you believe you are not worthy of love, you believe a lie. These lies come from words spoken over us and from memories of offenses done against us. For example, I grew up in a very dysfunctional angry “Christian” home, and I developed a lot of unhealthy beliefs about myself, other people, life, and God. I share my story in more detail in the following post: My Story.

The following nine categories of unhealthy, destructive beliefs distort the way we view everything in life.

1. I am unlovable. I am insignificant. I am flawed.

2. I am hopeless. I am worthless. Life is hopeless.

3. Something bad will happen. The future will be like the past. I’m not OK.

4. Something must change right now for me to be OK.

5. People will take advantage of me. People are too sensitive.

6. I am bad. I am not good enough. I am unforgivable.

7. People are out to get me. I must be in control. It’s not fair.

8. People must think well of me for me to be OK.

9. I can’t do it. I am not capable. Others should do it for me. It’s not fair.

The Healing Codes Manual by Loyd and Johnson, p. 55

We internalize these unhealthy, false beliefs at a subconscious level. And, they cause us to live in self-destructive ways. There are many self-destructive behaviors, such as, cutting, alcohol and drug abuse, uncontrollable anger, self-debasing comments, anxiety, etc. The above mentioned beliefs may result in addictions to cover over the painful feelings. Learn more about addiction, read my post called Addiction Strongholds. Unhealthy beliefs also create stress in our bodies that lead to illness and disease.

Do the following to uncover your unhealthy beliefs. First, pay attention to your thoughts and reactions and write down strong emotional reactions. Second, ask God to show you the unhealthy belief(s) that is generating your wrong thinking. Third, trace backward from negative fruit in your life, and prayerfully ask God to show you the answer to the following question, “what is the root of this fruit?”

Wrong thinking creates negative feelings, which directs unloving, destructive behavior so ask God to show you the link. Also, look for a link to a trauma memory, offense, and word curses because they also create unhealthy belief(s). Some examples of word curses are: “I will probably fail. I will most likely end up in divorce. Nobody likes me. All politicians are evil. A godly person can’t succeed in business.” Have you thought these? He will show you so you can then remove it through prayer and repentance, which I explain how on my website, 1–Healing Begins by Transforming Painful Memories

Reading self-help books will also reveal unhealthy beliefs and wrong thinking. I especially like the book called “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey. I encourage you to read my adapted summary of the right beliefs and thoughts we should have according to Mr. Covey. Healthy Thinking and Behaving from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Read each of the Issues Worksheets to learn about other subconscious unhealthy beliefs we can have and the truth to replace these unhealthy beliefs. LOVE Issues, JOY Issues, PEACE Issues, PATIENCE Issues, KINDNESS Issues, GOODNESS Issues, TRUST AND FAITHFULNESS Issues, MEEKNESS, HUMILITY, AND GENTLENESS Issues, and SELF-CONTROL Issues.

Read, who God is and what you can be thankful for to replace the lies you believe about God and yourself.

All verses are from the English Standard Bible. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family; hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

If you find this website helpful, you will benefit from the latest book. You can order Breaking Mental Strongholds on Amazon.

Also, check out my book called Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. I would love to hear what you think. To learn more about my book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.

WHY MUST YOU FORGIVE

1. Forgiveness frees you to experience love and joy.

Do you have love and joy in your life? If not, you have a hurtful memory controlling your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions. Forgiving is hard to do but with God’s help, you can do it. When you don’t forgive, the negative feelings of the hurt keep you in bondage to the offense. So, what does it mean to forgive? Dictionary.com says, forgiving is to cease to feel resentment against, and to grant a pardon to the person who hurt you. Resentment is the feeling of displeasure or indignation at some act, remark, person, etc., regarded as causing injury or insult. You know you need to forgive when you feel resentment. Resentment keeps you from loving others and feeling joy.

Each time you are tempted to take up an offense immediately forgive so that the offense does not get a hold of your mind and cause you to sin with your words and actions. When I don’t forgive an offense and begin to think about it, then I become angry, resentful, and then I sinned by being unkind and impatient. So, it is best to forgive right away. This does not replace setting up boundaries if someone is being destructive or bringing the offense to the other person’s attention. Most times the person who is being offensive does not realize it, because they may have subconscious offenses controlling their minds and choices.

2. Forgiveness protects you from the devil’s devices.

Another reason we need to forgive is to not give the devil an advantage in our life. In 2Corinthians 2:10, Paul tells Christians to forgive, then in verse 11 he explains why. 2Corinthians 2:11 states in the King James, “that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” What are some of the devil’s devices? The devices of the devil are many, some are to

Keep you in bondage to your painful memories
Make accusations that are lies to amplify your pain
Cause you to hate instead of love
Tempt you to escape your pain through drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, shopping, gaming, etc.
Isolate you away from the church and other Christian believers

In Shattering Your Strongholds, Liberty Savard advised: “not to replay your inner tapes of anger and guilt over painful memories, failures, humiliations, and the sins of others against you.” In prayer, forgive those who have hurt you in what they said, did not say, did, or did not do that caused you to become offended and resentful. I had to forgive myself and seek God’s forgiveness for my sinful reactions and the stupid decisions I made, that I now regret. So, you may need to forgive yourself and seek God’s forgiveness too. Next, verbally “put off” resentment and the power those painful memories have on your mind, feelings, beliefs, and actions. Then ask God to show you the false/unhealthy beliefs related to the painful memory, so you can put them off from your mind and heart. Be thankful for something, rejoice in the Lord, and give the rest to God in prayer (1Theselonians 5:16-18).

3. Forgiveness heals your mind, emotions, and body.

Forgiveness is essential for healing because it releases us from the power of a wrongful action or offense. You could not control what happened to you, but you can stop it from continuing to control your thoughts and reactions. Forgiving someone does not excuse their wrong actions but sets us free to heal and love others as Jesus does.

Painful memories of offenses cause you to feel stress. Stress causes the cells of your body to degenerate. I can testify that many of my physical issues were healed when I forgave those who hurt me, both present and in the past. My book on my website explains this well. Read, 4-Physical Healing

I was healed of many painful memories that controlled my reaction to stressful situations. Read my transformation testimony and begin reading my book to learn how to heal your painful memories. 1-Healing Begins by Transforming Painful Memories

4. The Biblical reason why you must forgive.

Perhaps the greatest demonstration of supernatural forgiveness in all of history is when Jesus prayed to His Father as He hung on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of all of mankind, “Forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Ponder the following Scriptures on forgiveness, and if you need to repent of being unforgiving, then this is a very good time to do so. Matthew 6:14-15 states, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15) but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:25 states, “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus explains what happens when we do not forgive. Verse 35 sums up his teaching, “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Interestingly, Jeremiah also wrote under the inspiration of God the following in Jeremiah 31:34b; “For I [God] will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Also, Hebrews 8:12 states, “For I [God] will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25 and Hebrews 10:17 restate the same thing. If God can forget our sins when He forgives us, then we too can forget the sins of those who hurt us when we forgive. Furthermore, when we forgive the sins done against us, then those sins no longer can control our emotions and subsequently our behavior. If you struggle with forgiveness and you want to be free from the controlling power of the hurt in your heart and painful memories, then please read my short book called “Hope for Complete Healing” on my website: https://hopeforcompletehealing.com/

Quote from Colin Elmhurst

Remember that if you forgive with the waiting expectation that the other person will change or make reparative action – then you aren’t forgiving at all and you’re just using forgiveness as a pretense for control. When you really forgive, you have to be totally willing to let go of your right to keep a record of wrong – and that’s not easy to do.

Check out my latest book Breaking Mental Strongholds which you can order on Amazon. To learn more about it, read my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Addiction Strongholds

Do you know that everyone has an addiction? Do you know what your addiction is? We may not be aware of our addiction, but we all have them. I found that I was addicted to the adrenaline of anger and the depressant of sadness. I explain this in greater detail on my website: www.hopeforcompletehealing.com. Addiction is a self-protective mechanism that inhibits painful feelings and memories. My book on my website explains how we can become free from our addictions and the key to breaking those strongholds. This post is not an exhaustive examination of what addictions are but an inquiry into what addictions we may have and not even realize it.

Most people think an addiction has to do with smoking, drugs, or alcohol and it does. Webster’s dictionary says that an addiction is a habit or practice, especially a bad habit. For example, are you in the habit of watching hours of TV every night, playing video games for hours, eating ice cream before going to bed, spending hours on social media, etc. These things are not necessarily bad habits in and of themselves. But they are bad in the sense that they rob the person of the freedom to not do it. Try to fast a day or even a week, something you are in the habit of doing. I feel compelled to watch the news every day, all day if I could. If I miss a day, I become distracted about what I may be missing? Do you feel the same or have a similar habit you are compelled to do?

The bad habit or practice may rob the person of quality family time, being productive, good health, strong relationships, etc. For some of us, like myself, I craved approval and if I did not get it I became depressed and angry. Some of us are addicted to worry, in which we can’t help ourselves, we just can’t stop worrying. How about shopping, eating too much, sweets, anger, pornography, sex, tobacco use, etc.? Do you see where you may have an addiction? Is there something you can’t possibly give up or you cannot stop doing? Often a person has more than one addiction.

For example, I had a serious addiction to anger. I could not control it; it controlled me, and I was very embarrassed by it. I was angry about everything, and it was destroying my family. I had to find a way to break my anger addiction. Christian people would say that anger and rage are a sin and to repent, and I would agree. But when an issue controls your behavior then you have a mental stronghold. To learn more about strongholds read: STRONGHOLDS PART I—What are they and how do they affect us?

I do want to note that I began my research with my own experience and how I recovered from many negative heart issues that controlled my behavior. I was healed of many trauma memories from abuse that lead to various addictions. I have shared my experience of freedom with many women that come to my county jail Bible study, and I have seen incredible transformations in their lives. One of the women had an addiction to lying, which caused her to extort money from people, which then landed her in the state pen. I watched her work through her issues that influenced her addiction to lying. These women have the hope of being free from their addictions and living a healthy life for the sake of their children and grandchildren.

Furthermore, all addictions have a compulsion element, a pleasure element, and a regret element. Regret is the element that indicates a person has a destructive addiction. You might say, “I wish I would not do that.” Or, “I want to stop but I can’t help myself.” What are your regretful comments? There is hope.

Begin today to read my short book about how I found freedom from many negative heart issues that lead to my addictions: 1–Healing Begins by Transforming Painful Memories