Spiritual warfare is an inescapable reality for every believer seeking to advance God’s Kingdom. The enemy will employ various tactics to try to hinder, discourage, and entrap us. However, we have been given authority in Christ to overcome every scheme of the devil. Today, we’re diving into the topic of spiritual warfare – how to recognize spiritual attacks and break free from ungodly soul ties. Apostle Ryan LeStrange joins me and we’re going to share profound wisdom from our years of experience in deliverance ministry.
Recognizing Spiritual Attacks
Apostle Ryan LeStrange
The first sign of a spiritual attack, according to Apostle LeStrange, is being drawn back into things God has already delivered you from. “If you were once bound by alcoholism, but now find yourself justifying ‘just two drinks,’ that could indicate an enemy attack trying to re-entrap you,” he explains. Other telltale signs include losing your desire for intimacy with God, feeling overwhelmed by lethargy or oppressive heaviness, and having cloudiness where things that were once crystal clear are now uncertain.
Some spiritual attacks manifest as extreme physical fatigue, even when you’re not physiologically depleted. This draining force can be the enemy’s attempt to hinder you from stepping into your next level of assignment and destiny. The more you’re advancing God’s Kingdom, the more resistance you’ll face.
Apostle LeStrange adds, “Attacks can be confirmation of effectiveness, that we are being effective in our momentum, in our movement for God.” So if you’re facing surprising opposition, it could signify you’re making spiritual strides that threaten the enemy’s territory.
The Danger of Soul Ties
One major doorway for spiritual attack is the forming of ungodly soul ties. Soul ties are spiritual connections, often formed through sexual intimacy or other deep bonds of intimacy where “two become one.” Even non-physical sexual ties, like pornography, can create soul ties that need to be severed.
“Intimacy forms a soul tie,” Apostle LeStrange explains. “Sex is covenant language, covenant activity. If you’ve got one guy that’s had 10 sexual partners and each of them has had 5 sexual partners, you’ve got 50 people involved that potentially there’s all these soul ties with.”
These ties can enable demonic access and influence in someone’s life, like “a lock that is allowing that demon to stay there, or a door that’s allowing it and other demons to pass in and out,” as he describes. Soul ties don’t just form from sex either – they can result from any intimate relationship where we entrust part of our soul and emotions to another person.
Breaking Soul Ties
So how do you break an ungodly soul tie? Apostle LeStrange’s advice: “Pray something like ‘Lord, I break any ungodly soul ties with (name the person), in Jesus’ name. I disconnect from them and apply the blood of Jesus over my soul, mind, will and emotions.'” He stresses it may take persistence – keep renouncing the ties until you’re completely free.
For some people, breaking soul ties is an ongoing process of rewiring thought patterns and neural pathways. Sometimes you even need to go to the extent of rewiring your physical brain, which would be the equivalency of getting six-pack abs. It takes time. It’s not an instantaneous thing.
My own testimony highlights this process. I took myself through a process and I think it kind of makes you more effective. I don’t know who this is for right now, but sometimes you speak with more authority in the realm that you have brought yourself through because you’re basically looking at somebody and taking them on a journey you took yourself on.
The Journey to Freedom
A key encouragement: Don’t be discouraged by the process! Even we face opposition and moments of vulnerability at times. There will still be times the enemy tries to pop up and attack.
What matters is that you persist and stay the course. The greater your effectiveness for God’s Kingdom, the more confirming attacks may come. Some of my most miraculous meetings happened during periods of tremendous weariness and vulnerability. When I’ve had nothing left to give, God has reminded me that it’s Him doing the ministering, not me.
Apostle LeStrange reiterated this perspective: “When we are going through that process and be really yielding to God and saying, ‘Lord, I love you and I give you my yes no matter what I feel, no matter what the warfare is like I give you my yes,’ God can breathe on that and use that in a significant way.”
The path to freedom starts with you, then impacts many through you. Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. Jesus says in John 15, “You have not chosen me. I chose you that you would bear fruit that remains.”
Persevering Through the Process
So how do you persevere through the process of overcoming spiritual attacks and breaking soul ties? Here are some key principles:
1) Renew your mind consistently with the Word of God. Apostle LeStrange emphasizes, “Meditate on scriptures, speak them, ponder them, pray over them until they get down in your heart and you begin to think differently.”
2) Align yourself with counselors and ministers who can provide supportive prayer and spiritual covering. Sometimes you may need somebody else to pray for you because your own faith level is buried under heaviness.
3) Persistently break soul ties and cast out demons in Jesus’ name. Don’t be discouraged if freedoms comes gradually. The devil is really persistent. Trauma is really persistent. But we need to get to the place saying, “I’m in God’s process and my growth comes in stages, my freedom is coming in stages,” and realize God is walking with me through the process.”
4) Invite the Holy Spirit’s help. I love to pray in the Spirit because it releases the help of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will begin to speak to me and show me how to occupy my freedom.
5) Focus on serving and loving others, not just introspection. I’m trying to OutServe my spouse. We tell hardcore warfare mamas, take all that energy and invest it into their hubby. Care about what they care about.
The victories in your life will often manifest in the midst of spiritual warfare. God hears your ‘yes’ and God’s going to breathe on you. So keep pressing through the process – greater fruitfulness and miracles await!
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