Andreas Slot-Henriksen explains how demonic strongholds are built up in people’s thoughts and lives, and how they can be torn down through God’s truth, holiness, humility, and deliberate choices in walking with Jesus. The teaching opens with a humorous example about a new T-shirt and a yogurt stain, illustrating how focused people often are on outward appearance and how much others notice small details, while something far more important and deeper is actually going on beneath the surface. This transition is used to introduce the evening’s topic, “Break down demonic strongholds,” which is described as absolutely central to the Christian life, because such strongholds can cut a person off from freedom, calling, and intimacy with God. Before such strongholds can be broken, there must first be a definition of what a stronghold is: a fortified structure with walls, trenches, and ramparts, built to withstand and answer attacks, protect strategic points, and give an army the advantage.
This physical picture is then transferred to the spiritual reality: instead of buying a mini excavator or a front loader to tear down walls, it has to be understood that the weapons of war in God’s kingdom are completely different, and so a passage is read from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 3–6, which says that although we live like other people, we do not fight like worldly people; our weapons are not of this world but are mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, we demolish arguments and every proud thing that rises up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. This verse is used as a key to understand that strongholds are primarily mental constructions, lies, and patterns that rise up against knowing God and prevent the mind from bowing to Jesus. By going back to the Greek text, the wording is unpacked: it speaks of a military conflict, weapons as instruments of war, “mighty” as powerful, and “tear down” as to destroy completely, like a bulldozer smashing a wall. The devil’s strategy is described as “inflation” or “being puffed up”: the lies are blown up like a balloon that fills the whole field of vision, but at the core they are only hot air that can be punctured as soon as truth is pressed in.
The teaching shows that Satan has a very clear mission: to destroy people, especially those whom God wants to use in a powerful way. Testimonies from deliverance ministry are shared, where demons repeatedly answer that their assignment is “to destroy this person,” because that person becomes dangerous to the kingdom of darkness when God’s will is given room. It is emphasized that the enemy uses almost the same methods everywhere: the same thoughts, patterns, and lies reappear in many lives, yet each individual often believes, “it’s only me,” which makes it hard to seek help and to find fellowship in the battle. In this way, people are isolated in shame, silence, and a sense of being abnormal, while the devil “enjoys himself” and pulls them further down because they do not dare to admit their need for help.
Inferiority is highlighted as one of the most common strongholds. The devil does not primarily attack what a person can do, but who the person is: thoughts like “you are not good enough,” “everyone can see you’re a loser,” and “nobody wants you” are fed and reinforced, especially when critical comments or misunderstood words from others are distorted and turned into “proof.” When such thoughts are allowed to repeat without being challenged, a stronghold is built in the mind, where everything, even innocent remarks, is interpreted as confirmation of that sense of inferiority. This makes it very difficult to receive God’s word about identity, because the lie stands like a wall in front of the truth; what is read simply bounces off, since the heart has already attached itself to a different “truth.”
Sickness is mentioned as another area where strongholds easily form. At first there may be a fight in faith and prayer, but after prolonged pain or a lack of breakthrough, thoughts begin to turn inward: “It’s probably because God wants to teach me something,” “I deserve this,” “I’ll probably have to stay in this school for the rest of my life.” Little by little, the sickness starts to become part of a person’s identity and theology, and a wall of religious explanations is built up to justify why one should not really expect healing or freedom. At the same time, a wall of pride can grow up to protect the wounded heart: outwardly a person looks strong, knowledgeable, and “on top of things,” but on the inside there is brokenness, doubt, and pain. In this way the devil can construct several layers of walls—inferiority, pride, religiosity, and control—that together create an inner prison.
Control is described as yet another typical stronghold: the need to have everything under control, to plan every detail, and to secure oneself against any uncertainty, because, at the deepest level, there is no real trust that God is leading. It is emphasized that planning in itself is not wrong, but when the need for control becomes so strong that a person can no longer say, “Father, you set the direction today,” it has become a wall that blocks faith and discipleship. When people around you begin to experience freedom and breakthrough while your own strongholds remain, jealousy and frustration can creep in and build yet another wall; doubt soon follows: “Why doesn’t this happen for me?” “Does God even want me at all?” Taken together, this paints a picture of how layer upon layer of bricks—inferiority, sickness theology, pride, control, jealousy, doubt, and self-pity—can close in around the heart so that God feels distant, even though He is in fact standing ready on the other side of the wall.
It is pointed out that the devil does not only work through present thoughts, but also through words and experiences from the past. A single word from a parent, a comment from a sibling or a teacher that was overheard—perhaps even “by accident”—can drive in deep and become the foundation for a lifelong stronghold. Many people have carried wounds for years while a polished facade has been built up on the outside, and in the meantime the devil has eagerly blown on those old words: “You heard what they said,” “you were unwanted,” “it would have been better if you weren’t here.” So even when someone tries to dismiss it—“they probably didn’t mean it that badly”—the accuser comes and exaggerates it even more, so the wound is reinforced instead of healed.
The teaching makes it clear that, although the devil bears a great deal of guilt, human beings themselves also carry responsibility. There is talk of free will: once God’s word is known, there is a choice between believing the lie or believing the truth about who you are in Jesus and what plans God has for you. A widespread stronghold that people choose themselves is summed up in the attitude, “I can manage on my own, I don’t need help”; it feels embarrassing to admit need, and so the facade is maintained even when the heart is crying out for deliverance. Personal experiences are shared of a nice, theological facade in the childhood home, where everything looked good on the outside, while the relationships on the inside were marked by conflict, wounds, and unspoken pain—used as an example of how pride can keep truth and healing out.
Materialism, perfectionism, and skepticism are mentioned as further layers in these strongholds. Some people seek security in possessions, achievements, or a flawless exterior; others respond to almost anything new with skepticism and struggle to receive it, because everything must first be “approved” by their reason. The problem arises when that same skepticism is projected onto God: “I will only believe when I understand,” “I have to see the logic in everything before I can act in faith,” which in practice ties faith hand and foot. It is pointed out that God cannot be fully understood, because He is not human; if He could be contained by human reasoning, He would no longer be God. The Bible’s story of Israel, who again and again experienced miracles yet still turned to idols, is used as an example of both God’s incomprehensible patience and the limits of human understanding.
An important point in the teaching is that strongholds can also be built out of religious traditions. When things are always done “the way we’ve always done it,” and new steps or different ways of following God are shot down with an appeal to tradition, that tradition becomes a wall against the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is shown how Jesus in the Gospels heals and meets people in many different ways—sometimes with a word, sometimes with a touch, sometimes with spit or mud—precisely to break open our boxes and prevent any method from becoming an idol. The phrase “traditions create religion, and religion removes relationship” is used to illustrate that when the form becomes more important than fellowship with God, the strongholds are strengthened instead of broken.
The question is then asked: How are strongholds actually broken down in practice? The image of the mini excavator and front loader is set aside, and the answer is gathered into three key words: sanctification, holiness, and humility. The first step is to get on your knees before God and honestly acknowledge, “I have strongholds in my life; I have built some of them myself, and the devil has blown others up, which I have chosen to believe.” This acknowledgement is not a religious exercise, but a deep, concrete surrender in which you put words to what you no longer want to live with and ask God to break it down and lead you into holiness.
There is encouragement to ask God directly: “What have I built myself? What has the devil built? Which experiences in my past have shaped me?” Often the Holy Spirit will bring specific situations, words, or choices to mind that marked the starting point of a stronghold. When these things surface, there is a call to enter a process of repentance: confessing stubbornness, the need always to be right, bitterness, control, or other patterns and asking God for forgiveness and transformation. To make this process effective, it is recommended to involve other believers: to say out loud what decision has been made and give them permission to “hold you to it,” so the devil cannot isolate you and whisper that nothing is really changing.
As a practical example, it is suggested to agree on a code word—“lemon mousse,” for instance—that friends can use when they see old patterns reappearing. In this way it becomes easier both to be reminded without long explanations and to receive correction without immediately going on the defensive. The teaching challenges the idea that inferiority is simply a feeling you are “doomed” to live with, and instead emphasizes that it begins with a choice: to say no to the lie and yes to God’s truth, even when the emotions only slowly begin to follow. God’s word is described here as ammunition and legal rights; without knowing the word, it is very difficult to distinguish between the devil’s accusations and the Holy Spirit’s conviction, but when the word is known, you can say, “this does not line up with what God has said about me.”
In this connection, the words are read about submitting to God, resisting the devil, drawing near to God, cleansing hands and hearts, and humbling oneself before the Lord so that He will lift you up. It is emphasized that “resisting the devil” does not mean fighting him directly, but turning your back on him, fixing your eyes on Jesus, and speaking God’s truth while resting in the fact that the devil has to flee. The exhortation “draw near to God” is described as a command, not a feeling: it is the human being’s responsibility to seek God, and then He will draw near, not the other way around. There is also a challenge to double-mindedness: you cannot truly desire full fellowship with God and at the same time constantly fill yourself with unbelief and things that undermine faith; you must make deliberate choices about what you allow into your mind and heart.
A crucial truth that is highlighted is that the Son of God was revealed in order to destroy the works of the devil, and if the devil’s works in a life include walls and strongholds, this means that Jesus wants to destroy them together with the one who takes His hand. This requires life-decisions, not just “New Year’s resolutions”: choices to believe that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, not only in theory but concretely about yourself, and choices to say no to false identities and masks. God is described as the One who delights in His creation; He does not want people to go through life apologizing for themselves, hidden behind facades, but to dare to be loved for who they really are. There is an exhortation to be able to stand up and say, “My Father created me wonderfully,” not out of pride, but as a confession of God’s work.
It is emphasized that the devil’s main strategy is to build walls on every side in order to isolate believers, shut their mouths, and hinder them from being the instruments in God’s hand that they are called to be. Another stronghold is exposed here: the idea that if you are a tool in God’s hand, you yourself must be a “perfect tool”—skilled enough, attractive enough, correct enough—instead of resting in the fact that it is God who uses the tool. The image of the carpenter and his tools is used to show that it is the Master who chooses which nail or pair of pliers to use, not the tool itself, and that the human task is to be available and “keep quiet,” so God can act. When God’s will is given first place over personal control, pride, and fear, the strongholds lose their power.
In conclusion, everything is gathered into a call to enter into a process with God in which strongholds are no longer explained away or defended, but brought into the light in order to be broken down. It is about putting off the old self, allowing thoughts and the mind to be renewed, and actively clothing yourself with God’s truth instead of the devil’s lies. Freedom is not described as a fleeting feeling in a single moment, but as a journey in which truth step by step takes over the space in mind and heart while the lie gradually loses its grip. In this way, the fight against demonic strongholds is no longer a hopeless overexertion, but a walk together with Jesus, who has already come to destroy the works of the devil and to lead people into the freedom He paid for with His own blood.
Quote from the teaching:
“It is not the devil’s strongholds that determine your future; it is the choices you make together with God when you say no to the lie and yes to the truth.”
