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October 18, 2003

Question

Dear Pastor Malone:

Answer
I will start out by saying if you’ve had men of God pray over you as many times as you say then you’ve been delivered.  God is eager to release you from all strongholds if you will surrender yourself to Him.  That goes for alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sex or any other stronghold that has you trapped.  Your problem isn’t that you didn’t get delivered, your problem is that you didn’t follow God’s plan for staying delivered. 

Let me give you an example.  I have had those caught up in homosexual sin to write me many times asking me for advice on how to be delivered.  Again, they like yourself, have prayed and been prayed over many many times but just can’t seem to break the bond that gets them right back into the sin.  As they continue to tell me about their problem it becomes apparent what the real problem is.  He/she will tell me that they are still hanging out at the same old places with the same old friends.  Before long they are back in full force in the same sinful lifestyle.  That’s like saying you can’t figure out why God hasn’t delivered you from alcohol even though you’re still hanging out with your old alcoholic buddies.  Most people would shake their heads in disbelief and claim that it’s commonsense that you have to distance yourself from everything that would trap you back in that sin.

Well that is good advice for every stronghold including anger. What they’re really trying to tell you is what the Bible has said all along…flee from those things and situations that will drag you right back into the lifestyle that has kept you captive for so long.  Take a look at what the Bible has to say about how to stay delivered. “Flee fornication (and adultery) (I Corinthians 6:18), flee from idolatry (I Corinthians 10:14), and flee also youthful lusts (II Timothy 2:22).” 

Also, look at I Timothy 6:3-5.  It touches on the subject of strife and anger and how to stay delivered: 

“If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.” 

The advice is the same no matter what the situation or stronghold maybe.  God will deliver you from all sin, but you have to follow His rules for staying delivered.  It’s as much commonsense for a man with a drinking problem to stay away from alcoholic friends as it is for you with an anger problem to stay away from those who would insight you to argue or strife.  But you may say, “Most of those who make me the angriest are apart of my family.  They live with me!  How do I get away from them?”  Avoid topics of dissention and when you feel like lashing back DON’T!  The vast majority of the time we know when a conversation or topic has the likely potential of getting out of hand or making one angry.  The best thing to do is politely excuse yourself from the conversation and stay positive.  They may not want to drop it, but you must or face a potential explosion.  It’s true!  It does take two to argue.  Don’t play any part in it. 

“Okay, sometimes I just snap and jump to conclusions.  What about that?”  I have a remedy for that also.  Every time you snap…apologize!  It’s that simple.  If you’re stubborn you’ll probably be apologizing a lot.  I heard a Spiritual friend of mine once say, “As a Christian, it’s more important to have peace than to be right”.  What did he mean when he said that?  We can’t have fellowship with God as long as we are at enmity with our brother/sister.  In fact, the Bible goes so far to say, “let not the sun go down upon your wrath (Ephesians 4:26)”.  That means to clear it up before you go to bed that night.  The longer you wait the harder your heart grows toward getting it right.  It also gives satan more time to convince you that you weren’t in the wrong.  He would love nothing more than to break your family a part and possibly make them bitter against God. 

Remember to commit your life daily to the Lord and ask Him to work in you.  Also, ask Him to lead you to someone to witness to and to be a blessing to someone on a daily basis.  You can’t be angry and out of the will of God if you are genuinely seeking to do His will. 

If you follow this advice it will not only work for anger but any sin that you are struggling with. 

I hope this has helped you in overcoming strongholds.