God has done everything possible to set us free from the bondage of sin and it’s effects. He has had mercy on us, forgiving us to uttermost, and has even chosen to forget our sins (Psalm 103:12). In many places in the scriptures Jesus commands us to forgive, to bless and and not to curse, to give and not expect anything in return, to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to not let the sun go down on our anger, to serve God and not money, etc. These commandments are given as gifts for our freedom, they aren’t given to bind us up. 
See God has mercy and is forgiving, and even forgetting; our adversary is not. Even though God has control over all creation, He has given us many choices. Choices that will affect our level of freedom. Not because God is not in control, but because He has made a way for us to stave off the bondage that attacks us by our simple obedience to Him. It’s an act of love and trust in our communion with Him.
We have a tendency to forget the greatness of the supernatural forgiveness that was given to us when we asked for God to forgive us by the blood of Jesus (Eph 2:8-10). It was like night and day for me and many of you who are reading this.
Have we forgotten that we received a gift when we received Christ? Did any of us earn our right standing with God? Nope, we didn’t. We had a choice to receive Him and and to follow Him. And we have a daily choice of whether or not we will follow Him. There is a trend that has always existed since the faith began, folks love the idea of a savior, but hate the idea of a ruler.
This, as you already know, is problematic. Not because God is hurt by this, although He is, especially since He isn’t getting what He paid for with His own blood. It’s problematic because people who once “got saved” (whatever that means) put themselves back in the bondage that they were once saved from. “Christians” like to debate about some of the technicalities of biblical salvation, which can be interesting, but I feel like the better use of time is recognizing that salvation is gift and a choice that if don’t participate in an active relationship with Jesus Christ and His teachings we’ll find ourselves as “Christians” in bondages that Christ died to free us from.
I’ve been thinking lately, kind of in the back of my mind, about the term we Americans use when referring to our problem areas, “We all have our demons.” Or something of the same sentiment. Some of you know that I do deliverance ministry, (don’t gasped and leave). I didn’t believe it either till I was removing demons from influencing my life. Truth is truth, whether you stick your head in a hole or not. We, as Americans, seem to have a faint acceptance of demons as they relate to our issues, at least when it comes to describing our difficulties (just don’t try and remove them from influencing us, that’s too weird). But after having experienced enough deliverances and helping many saved Christians though the process, I’ve realized that demonic strongholds have most to do with the above issue of not being obedient to New Testament commandments of Christ.
Let me explain. From what I can tell, regardless of what type of family background we’ve had or what schools we went to or what ever other variable we’ve had, evil uses whatever landscape it is given to try and develop a stronghold. If you were raised in the church, you might have self righteous/judgmental issues at the core of your stronghold. If you were neglected by your parents you might have acceptance issues. If you were abused you might have sexual issues. Trust me, any set of circumstances you were raised in the adversary knows just how to attack us so that we live less that victorious lives. The stronghold works to keep us sinning so that we are perpetually kept from the presence of God.
The trick is to figure out which area is your weak area and pay special attention to is like tending to a wound. You probably already know what it is, as it’s most always rooted in childhood or adolescence experiences. In most cases, at the core of that experience, your fault or someone else’s, a sin is there that you are upholding. This is the core of the stronghold. Many things may have come as a result of this stronghold and lies may try to make it unclear, but with God’s guidance you can get free. For example, if your mother abused you, you are probably holding unforgiveness toward her and choosing to be angry, both of which are sins. If you were neglected you might have trust issues. If you were raised religious you might have self righteous/judgmental issues. We have to own up to what happened, quit blaming people for the issues and start removing the adversary which is the only reason these issues are still issues. Our adversary is to blame, not your family or the person who harmed you. I’m not saying forgiving that person or that people is easy! I’m just calling a spade a spade. Remember the adversary does not play nice, he uses whatever he can get of to hold us down. With God’s help we have to take every measure possible using His strength to be obedient to God’s commands concerning these issues. You might figure out what you’re suppose to do in your situation and come to the realization that you just can’t make yourself do it. That’s okay, but with God whatever effort you can muster will be enough to start a deep work. Then it will be of utter importance that you go back to this area and do more work. Work that one weak area until it’s your strength.
Here’s my point, since our freedom is already given to us in full by Christ’s work on the cross, it’s our job in unity with the Holy Spirit to obey Christ and work with Him to walk out the full freedom He desires for us. Don’t over look your weak area, work on it. Get free. You’re not alone, everyone I’ve ever met had a weak area. It’s just most choose not to address it to over look it. They pretend. But not you, there is work for you to do. Remove that weak Achilles heel.
Collision of Kingdoms 