The air was crisp and still this morning as I stepped out for my daily prayer walk. I’ve come to cherish these moments where the only sounds are the rustle of the pines and the occasional bird call. Usually, I’ve got my headphones on—listening to the Word, a solid podcast, or maybe an audiobook—but today, the Holy Spirit nudged me to just listen. There is a profound difference between hearing about God and hearing from God. As I walked, my mind drifted back to a concept I’ve discussed many times on my podcast, Coffee with Conrad, but one that bears repeating until it is etched into our very spirits: identifying and binding the strongman.
You see, so many of us are walking through life feeling like we’re constantly under the heel of the enemy. We struggle with the same sins, the same anxieties, and the same "bad habits" for years, wondering why our prayers for deliverance seem to hit a brass ceiling. We want to be free, but we’re exhausted. We’re tired of the cycle. We’ve tried the self-help books, the New Year’s resolutions, and the carnal "grit your teeth" methods of change, only to find ourselves right back where we started. This is the pain of a believer who is fighting a spiritual war with carnal weapons.
The frustration is real. It’s that feeling of being a "product" of the world, conformed to its image rather than transformed into the image of Christ. We see others walking in power, seeing signs and wonders, while we feel stuck in a rut of spiritual mediocrity. But here is the good news: Jesus didn’t leave us defenseless. He gave us the "Keys of the Kingdom." He told us exactly how to deal with the forces that occupy our "house."
The solution isn't just "trying harder." The solution is learning the spiritual mechanics of victory. We must learn to identify the root of our struggles—the strongman—and then we must learn how to bind him so we can spoil his goods. It’s time to move from being a victim of circumstance to being a vessel of honor. In this post, I want to share with you how the Lord taught me these principles through some of my darkest hours and how you can apply them to walk in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.
To understand how to win this fight, we have to look at the manual. In Matthew 12, Jesus lays out a spiritual law that many Christians overlook. He says: But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house (Matthew 12:28-29 KJV).
Think about that for a moment. If there is a "house"—your life, your mind, your household—and it’s being occupied by an unwanted guest who is causing destruction, you can’t just go in and start moving furniture. You have to deal with the occupant first. If you try to clean up the "goods" while the strongman is still roaming free, he’s just going to beat you up and put things back the way he wants them.
The Midnight Terror
I remember vividly when this lesson became a life-or-death reality for me. It was 1999. I had moved back home to take care of my father, who had been diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor. If you’ve ever cared for a loved one in that state, you know the atmosphere of a house can become heavy with grief and anticipation of loss.
One night, at about 2:00 in the morning, I was jolted awake. It wasn't a sound or a physical touch; it was an overwhelming, suffocating presence of dread. My heart began to race—thump-thump, thump-thump—feeling like it was going to burst right out of my chest. I couldn't catch my breath. I felt like I was literally dying. I stumbled out of my bed and ran outside into the cool night air, gasping for oxygen, looking up at the stars and wondering where this terror had come from.
I was having a full-blown panic attack. At the time, I didn't have the "knowledge" I have now. I just knew I was terrified. But the Word tells us: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7 KJV). If God didn't give it to me, who did? It was a spirit. Fear is a spirit, and it had become a strongman in my life during that season of trial.
Identifying the Root
The mistake many of us make is that we try to treat the symptom instead of the source. We say, "I have panic attacks," or "I smoke too much," or "I have a temper." Those are the "goods" in the house. The strongman is the spirit behind them.
Identifying the strongman requires us to look past the surface. For me, that spirit of fear was tied to a faulty thought process. I used to have this internal mantra: "I can always go home." It was my safety net while I was out in Los Angeles trying to make it as an actor or a musician. But with my father dying and my family dispersing, I realized my "home" was disappearing. My carnal security was being stripped away, and because I wasn't fully "worded up" and grounded in Christ as my only security, the spirit of fear found an open door.
It’s like living on a farm. If you’re raised around manure, you stop smelling it. It becomes your "normal." It’s only when you move to the city and then drive back past a farm fourteen miles away that you suddenly go, "Whoa, I smell that!" Many of us are living with the "stink" of the enemy’s influence and we’ve called it "normal." We say, "That’s just my personality," or "That’s just how my family is." No! That is the strongman, and you need to identify him before you can bind him.
The Warfare Journal
Once you identify the lie, you have to counteract it with the Truth. During my journey of overcoming these attacks—I started what I call a "Warfare Journal."
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5 KJV).
In my journal, I would write down the lies the enemy was whispering in my ear—thoughts like "You're going to die," or "You're all alone." Then, I would ask the Holy Spirit for a specific verse to counteract that lie. I wouldn't just pick a verse at random; I wanted the "Sword of the Spirit," which is the rhema—the spoken, living word of God for that specific moment.
When the devil says, "You’re worthless," you write down: I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14 KJV). When he says, "You’ll never change," you stand on: Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6 KJV).
This is how you bind the strongman. You stop agreeing with him. Every time you accept a lie as truth, you’re giving him permission to stay. But when you submit to God and resist the devil with the Word, he has no choice but to flee.
Personal Reflections
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t always get this right. There were years where I was trying to lead worship in a prophetic church while still feeding my soul with the "junk food" of the world. I was listening to heavy metal music, filled with lyrics of rebellion and darkness, and then trying to step onto a stage to lead people into the presence of a Holy God.
I remember some brothers and sisters in the Lord, people who walked in the signs of a believer, pulling me aside and saying, "Conrad, you can’t have that in your heart. You aren’t sanctified. That spirit is tainting the worship." At first, I was defensive. I didn't see the problem. That's the danger—the "god of this world" blinds our minds so we can't even see the strongman sitting in our living room.
But I knew these people had something I didn't. They had "internal congruence." They were the same in the secret place as they were in the public square. I realized I was a "double-minded man," and the Bible says such a man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).
The Lord gave me a vision during that time. I saw a house with a wooden fence around it. But this wasn't just any fence. Each "beam" or "picket" of that fence had a scripture written on it. These were the things I had overcome—the "beams" I had cast out of my own eye (Matthew 7:5). As I stood on each word, the fence grew stronger. The enemy couldn't get through because I had a "Word-fortified" perimeter.
I had to learn that deliverance isn't always a "microwave" experience. Sometimes God delivers you instantly, like the demoniac of the Gadarenes. But other times, you have to "walk out" your deliverance. You have to actively purge yourself to become a vessel unto honor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work (2 Timothy 2:21 KJV).
Biblical References
The foundation of all spiritual victory is the Word of God. We see this most clearly in the life of Jesus. When He was led into the wilderness to be tempted, He didn't argue with the devil using human logic or philosophy. He used the Sword.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve (Matthew 4:10 KJV).
Every time the enemy twisted scripture or appealed to the lust of the flesh, Jesus responded with "It is written." This is the pattern for us. If we want to know the Truth that makes us free (John 8:32), we have to be "worded up."
We also have to be careful about what we allow into our hearts. In the Parable of the Sower, Jesus mentions the "fowls of the air." And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts (Mark 4:15 KJV).
What are those fowls? Often, they are the distractions and influences of the world—the media, the music, the "propaganda" news—that snatch away the seed of the Word before it can take root. If we are being conformed to this world, we are essentially inviting the fowls to dinner. But if we are transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2), we become a ground where the Word can grow mightily and prevail.
Key Takeaways
- Identify the Root: Stop fighting the symptoms (the "goods") and find the spirit (the "strongman") behind the struggle.
- Bind the Strongman: Use the "Keys of the Kingdom" by refusing to agree with the enemy's lies and speaking the Word of God instead.
- Keep a Warfare Journal: Write down the specific lies you believe and the specific KJV scriptures that refute them.
- Purge Your Environment: If there are "curious arts" or worldly influences in your home—books, music, or media that honor the enemy—get rid of them.
- Walk it Out: Understand that some deliverance is a process of walking in obedience and hiding the Word in your heart daily.
- Be a Vessel of Honor: Sanctification isn't just about what you stop doing; it's about being "meet for the Master's use."
Conclusion and Call to Action
One of the most powerful moments of my life happened outside of Houston, Texas, many years ago. I finally reached a point where I was done playing games. I took all those heavy metal CDs and secular books that I knew were holding me back, and I threw them into a fire.
As the plastic began to melt and the smoke rose, I saw something in the spirit. I saw what looked like black bats and crows—fowls of the air—spinning out of that fire in a counter-clockwise tornado. They were being released from the physical objects I had given them permission to attach to. When I walked away from that fire, I felt fifty pounds lighter. I was free.
I want that for you. I want you to experience the "Rocks of Revelation" that come from a true, spiritual relationship with the biblical Jesus. Don't settle for a carnal, powerless Christianity. If you’re struggling today, ask the Holy Spirit to show you the strongman. Identify him. Bind him. And then watch as the Lord restores your "house" to a place of peace and power.
If this message has touched you, I invite you to explore more at ConradRocks.net. You can find more teachings in my books, OPEN YOUR EYES: MY SUPERNATURAL JOURNEY and Overcoming Night Terror.
Please share this post with someone who needs to find their footing in this spiritual war. Leave a comment below—I’d love to hear how the Lord is helping you identify and bind the strongmen in your own life.
Until we meet again, dig deeper and go higher!
Action Items
- Audit Your Heart: Spend 15 minutes in silence today asking the Holy Spirit: "What lie am I believing that is giving a strongman permission to stay in my house?"
- Start Your Journal: Buy a simple legal pad or notebook. On the left side, write the lie. On the right side, write a KJV verse that speaks the truth.
- Physical Cleanse: Walk through your home. If there is anything that you know deep down doesn't honor God—whether it's media, an object, or a "curious art"—remove it today.
- Memorize the Sword: Choose one "Warfare Verse" this week and memorize it. Recite it out loud every time you feel a hint of the old struggle returning.
- Subscribe and Connect: Head over to ConradRocks.net and sign up for the newsletter so we can stay connected on this journey of transformation.
No comments:
Post a Comment