The Alternative

Dr. Tony Evans: Part of the problem for most Christians is that I read my Bible, I pray, I go to church and nothing's better. What is unfinished?

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans says the answer could be we're serving something other than the Savior.

Dr. Tony Evans: It's something unfinished whenever you're hostage. Your obedience must be complete.

Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Whether it's drugs or alcohol or just too much food or TV, many of us are caught up in behaviors that we can't seem to stop, even though we've tried. Today, Dr. Evans explains why our efforts at self-improvement so often fail and how we can break the cycle that keeps us trapped. Let's listen.

Dr. Tony Evans: A POW is a prisoner of war. It is a person who has been captured by the enemy, who is held hostage in the context of a conflict. It is where the opposition or the enemy now controls the movements, the actions, the reactions of the person who has been captured.

Many Christians are POWs, prisoners of spiritual warfare. They have been captured by the enemy and there appears to be no way of escape. They feel trapped by situations and circumstances that the world calls addictions. I want to talk about reversing the addiction curse.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse three, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."

What then is a fortress? An addiction or to use the spiritual terminology, a stronghold. It is a negative pattern of thought which has been burned into our minds, creating as a mindset, a situation as unchangeable even though it is against the will of God.

A fortress, addiction, a stronghold, is a pattern of thinking that has been burned into our minds that accepts a situation as unchangeable and unfixable even though our conclusion about it goes against the will of God. It is the feeling of hopelessness that you have regarding the stronghold that you or someone you know happens to be trapped in.

You can hear a person describe their stronghold because they will always say something like, "I can't help it. I can't stop it. I can't change it. I can't fix it." What they're saying is, "It's got me, I don't have it." And when that stronghold really becomes prolific in the life of the individual, when I'm talking about Christians here specifically, then what happens is that they begin to identify their personhood by the stronghold.

They will say, "Well, I am a alcoholic. I am a compulsive gambler." That thing has become so strong that now they don't know how to talk about themselves without describing themselves as that thing. They begin to believe what they say they are. In the Bible, a stronghold is more than gambling, it is the spirit of gambling. It is more than pornography, it is the spirit of immorality.

It is a spiritual reality that is infusing this burning process upon you and that is why if you are not able to address the spiritual cause, you're not really fully addressing its manifestation in the life. So a stronghold is a pattern that has been burned into your thinking so that you view as unchangeable a situation. And you know you're in it because there is hopelessness about it.

Now, if we're going to cure it, whatever it is for you or me or us or others, then we need to understand the cause of it. If we're going to cure it, then we've got to understand the cause of it. And perhaps what I share with you today about reversing the addiction or stronghold curse you will be able to utilize with someone in your family or some friend who has been trapped. They've gone to 12-step everything and have found no relief from their situation.

Well, let's look at the cause. He tells us in verse five, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." At the end of verse four, he says we must destroy fortresses or strongholds. Beginning of verse five, he says destroy again.

But then he says what you must destroy is not the thing itself. He says what you must destroy are speculations, knowledge, and thoughts. In other words, the problem is not in the habit, the problem is in the mind. The habit is the expression of the thinking. To fix the habit, you've got to fix the thought.

So simply telling a person you should not do that is not enough because unless they've changed their thinking about the "it" that is controlling them, the "it" will keep controlling them. He says what you must destroy if you want to get rid of the fortress are the speculations, knowledge, and thought patterns that are the spiritual impetus behind the fortress being built in the first place.

And all of those things, speculation, knowledge, and thoughts, arrive in the mind or the thinking. How did it get there? He tells you here in a very picturesque word that can change our lives. He says in verse five, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing." There it is. The cause of fortresses or strongholds is a lofty thing.

Now the question is, what is a lofty thing? Well, let me give you a synonym for the word lofty thing. A synonym for the biblical word lofty thing is the word partition. Partition. A lofty thing was a partition that had been lifted up. He says if you're going to overcome the fortress, stronghold, or to use the popular word addiction, you must get rid of the partition.

When a person is controlled by an addiction, stronghold, or fortress, it is because a partition has been raised up in their thinking. But when the partition is dismantled, the fortress loses its authority. So rather than getting rid of the habit, we got to get rid of the partition. It wants to block out the free flow of spiritual truth crossing over into the thinking of the person in the fortress. That's why there is no victory to be had.

So now that we know the cause, what's the cure for this curse of addiction, strongholds? What begins to change it? Please notice at the end of verse four he says, "For the weapons of our warfare, the tools we use, are not of the flesh, that is humanly oriented or conceived, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."

So the first thing we want you to know is fortresses must be destroyed, not remodeled. They must be dismantled. In other words, the partition in the room must be removed. Because if you keep the partition in the room, you're going to be tempted to use it. You're going to be tempted to pull that thing out again.

He says no, the partition must be destroyed. And in the process of destroying the partition, we must destroy, verse five, speculations, every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of Christ, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience to Christ.

Now let me tell you a secret. If you're told you have skin cancer, skin lotion is not your solution. Now it may seem like a solution because it got skin on it. But skin lotion is not your solution to skin cancer because it doesn't have the potency to address the problem. If you have a brain tumor, taking two aspirin and lying down is not your solution because it does not have the power to address the problem.

It's obvious whatever solution you've been trying is not the solution because it hasn't solved anything. So maybe the problem is a partition. And let me tell you how the devil has to work this. This will help us to understand why this has got to be the destroying of fortresses. The devil has a kingdom. It's called the kingdom of darkness because that is the only place where he can function.

In other words, he cannot function in this kingdom called light. He cannot because that is foreign to his nature. So for him to control you and to control me, guess what he's got to do? He's got to drag us to his kingdom. See, he can't come over on this side and make it work. So he's got to get us on his side.

And how does he do that? Well, the Bible says he's a liar and the father of lies. He's got to instill a non-truth within you but make you think it's the truth. So he functions, the Bible says, as an angel of light. But he functions as an angel of light, making him look like the real thing, only to get you to operate in the realm of darkness. And so that is how he tries to control us.

Guest (Male): Dr. Evans will return in a moment with advice on countering the lies of the enemy as he continues this lesson from his series, Overcoming Emotional Strongholds. It's an in-depth look at how to keep the things we feel from drowning out the things we know about God, ourselves, and the world around us.

Right now, we'd like to send you the complete five-message audio collection as our thank-you gift when you make a contribution to support Tony's ministry here on the air and around the world. And as part of this special resource package, we'll also include Tony's practical companion booklets, "30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds" and "30 Days to Overcoming Addictive Behaviors."

Together, they provide a month of biblical encouragement and practical help for overcoming unhealthy patterns and growing stronger in your walk with Christ. Visit tonyevans.org today for details on this special resource package. Or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Team members are there right now ready to assist you. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. Dr. Evans will return with part two of today's message right after this.

Guest (Female): What if your next week felt restored? A chance to slow down, breathe deeply, and reconnect through worship and community? Join Dr. Tony Evans with special guest Priscilla Shirer for a powerful journey of faith at sea. Experience the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the Dominican Republic aboard the new Statendam. February 28th through March 7th, 2027. Reserve your spot at tonyevans.org.

Dr. Tony Evans: There is only one thing that can beat a lie, and that's the truth. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Now what that means is if you're not free and I'm not free, either we don't know the truth or are not utilizing the truth that we know, or God is a liar.

So if God is not a liar, because by two immutable things it is impossible for God to lie, that means that a fortress or stronghold for which is holding us hostage, which means we are not free, is either we don't know the truth or we're not utilizing the truth that we know. Let's try to illustrate it this way. A great biblical illustration.

In Joshua chapter six, the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. It's a fortress. It's a walled city. It's a stronghold. It is a stronghold that Israel is too weak to capture. They can't capture it because everybody's protected in the walls. The question is, how do we take down this stronghold, this fortress called Jericho?

God comes up with an incredible idea that sounds on the face of it dumb. He tells them, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to walk around the city once a day for six days. Then I want you on the seventh day to walk around it seven times, the number of completion. Put the Ark of the Covenant out front, put the priests out front, and that's all I want you to do."

Say what? What kind of military strategy is that? That sounds like somebody who doesn't know how to fight coming up with an idea like that. That doesn't make sense. Joshua, who's the military leader, now has a choice. Since what God just said doesn't make sense, let us lean to our own understanding of how to fight. Because what God just said is crazy.

Nobody fights by walking around a wall exposed to the enemy like that. They all know we're here, there's no surprise attack. Nobody fights like that. So since God obviously doesn't know what he's doing, let's lean to our own understanding. Or as Joshua said, God is God, it doesn't make sense, but let's do it God's way and let's see what happens.

Now you got all the soldiers walking around Jericho, okay? Can you imagine if you are a citizen in Jericho or part of the government of Jericho or part of the military of Jericho looking out at these fools? Because that's what they had to be thinking. These folk are crazy.

Verse six: "And we are ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is complete." What do you think the word is I want to zero in on? Complete. You see, the reason why the fortress still stands is because we're doing some of what God said. The destruction does not occur, the victory is not achieved until the obedience has been completed.

You must complete the instruction before the supernatural is engaged. When they walked around once on the first day, nothing happened to those walls. When they walked around on the second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, walls still standing, they still look like fools.

They walk around once on the seventh day, twice on the seventh day, three times on the seventh day, four times on the seventh day, five times on the seventh day, six times on the seventh day. Nothing's happening because they weren't finished.

When they walked around the seventh time, and when the people began to shout in praise, cracks were walking all through the walls and the bricks began to shake and all of a sudden the fortress that had been there for years, that was strong and vibrant and looked like it was never going to change, came crumbling down because God's spirit intervened when obedience was finished. Your obedience must be complete.

Whenever there's somebody on drugs that I know and I can get them there, I send them up to a group in New Jersey. This is a most unique place. You come in with your drug problem and they start off just the opposite. You are not a drug addict. If they are a Christian, you are not a drug addict. You are a blood-bought child of the living God who already has been given victory over drugs. That's who you are.

Now you know what they have to do now? Every time they run into somebody that day who's in this drug rehabilitation program, that's how they have to identify themselves. Not as a drug addict, but as a blood-bought child of God who already has victory over drugs. All of a sudden after a week or two they begin to believe that.

You know why? Because they have thought it, the Bible calls it meditation. They have a 75% success rate for drug addicts within six months of the time that they come there, no matter how long they've been on drugs, and all they use is the Bible. That's all they use. Because they understand that the action is not the problem, it's the mind that's the problem. The action is simply the expression of the problem.

Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans with important insights on reversing the addiction curse. And he'll return with a final story to wrap up today's lesson in just a moment. First though, I want to encourage you to visit tonyevans.org where you can get more details on that special limited-time offer we mentioned earlier, the complete five-part teaching series containing today's lesson, including material we didn't have time to share on the air, along with Tony's companion booklets, "30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds" and "30 Days to Overcoming Addictive Behaviors."

Together, these practical resources will help you identify unhealthy emotional and behavioral patterns and replace them with biblical truth that leads to lasting freedom. For only a few more days now, you can get this complete Overcoming Emotional Strongholds resource package as our thank-you gift for your contribution toward Tony's ministry. Visit tonyevans.org today to get all the details. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center is open 24/7. That's 1-800-800-3222.

Sometimes our problems at work or at home don't really have anything to do with what's going on at work or at home. Dr. Evans says they may be caused instead by what's going on in the spiritual realm. On Monday, he'll explain how to know if that's true and what to do about it. Right now though, he's back with a final story that illustrates how our connection with Christ is the key to finding freedom.

Dr. Tony Evans: I was trapped in an elevator. That's an uncomfortable feeling in a high-rise when you're trapped in an elevator. The immediate reaction when this thing stopped between two floors was panic, because we were trapped, stuck, couldn't get out. We were panicking.

There were a couple reactions. Some people were crying, "Help! Help! Help! Help!" Nobody heard nothing. Nobody hearing a thing. Now were they sincerely crying out? Yes. Were they begging for help? Yes. Other folk were banging on the door—bam, bam, bam, bam, bam—nobody heard that. But desperate people are going to do desperate things and they were crying out.

There was one calm man on the elevator. I simply walked to the other side, pulled out a latch, picked up the telephone, waited. A voice said, "Is there a problem?" I said, "We're trapped on the elevator between this floor and this floor, can we get some help?" "We'll be right there."

You see, everybody forgot about the phone. Everybody forgot about the phone. And we were so into being trapped that we forgot there's a phone linked to the fire station or the security department. And merely by picking up the phone, we were released from our hostage.

All the human effort we put forth—bam, bam, bam—wouldn't work. The screaming—ah!—wouldn't work. But picking up the phone... You know why picking up the phone worked? Because there was a connection. See, it was linked to somebody who could come to the rescue.

When you remove the partition and allow the knowledge of God to flow, there's a connection. And God will say, "Oh, you want my help, do you?" And you know the beauty of it? Once you get him on the line, you don't have to bang anymore. You don't have to scream anymore. In fact, a whisper will do because you've connected with the power that has the resource to deliver you from your trap situation.