Step 3. Identify Areas That Have Dominion over Your Life

Step 3. Identify Areas with Dominion over Your Life

Identify the problem behaviors and character traits inconsistent with the Kingdom of God. Described below is a practical way to examine areas of unrest in a believer’s life. You can implement it in the privacy of your inner room (Matthew 6:6). Take time to do what  Apostle Paul suggests and examine yourself (1 Corinthians 11:28-30; 2 Corinthians 13:5).  

Read prayerfully through the list of behaviors, flaws, weaknesses, and character traits listed in the table 1, below. Rate them on a scale from one to ten according to the gravity of oppression over your life. The list is only suggestive. Add any other areas that are relevant to your life. 

Look through the list you have compiled. Read out loud each area you have identified. These are the strongholds of evil over your life. These are the hooks with which evil holds you captive to sin. They have enslaved you. You have come to accept them as part of your identity. Shake off the lies! You are not what the enslaving power of sin makes you look. You are a beloved child of God and an heir of the heavenly Kingdom. Do not allow anything else but royal blood to run through your veins and transform you into the King’s likeness.  

I tell you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. (John 8:34,35)

Arrange the problematic areas based on their severity over your life. Prioritize them according to your need to free yourself from their bondage. Bring them to God in prayer, one at a time. Be aware that by doing so, you are entering into a battlefield in the spiritual realm. It is a battle for your life. A broken and penitent heart that voices a prayer for repentance and forgiveness is the most potent weapon the Lord has given you to tear down strongholds of evil in your life.

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:3, 4)

Come, bow humbly before the Lord God, your Maker. Confess your sins and repent from your ways. Let the Holy Spirit minister to you as you open your heart for divine healing. Allow this to take as long as necessary for your confession to be wholehearted. Tears are okay. Jesus does not despise tears; He cries with and for us. 

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:3)  

NOTE: Remember to accept God’s forgiveness upon your confession if you pray alone. If you pray with a confidant, that person must pronounce forgiveness over you, and you must accept it. An earnest prayer of confession and repentance brings forgiveness immediately (John 20:23).

Prayer for Confession of Sin 

Lord God, I have sinned against You. Father, I come in the name of Jesus to ask forgiveness for my sin of ______. I have deliberately trespassed Your Law. It is a grievous sin I have committed against You, Father. I was foolish and ignorant. I confess that I have allowed my mind to be blinded by the darkness of this world and my heart hardened by its evil ways and inclinations. I repent from giving ear to these lies and believing in the deception. Forgive me, Jesus, for straying away from Your true teachings. Pardon me, Oh Lord! Bring me back into Your presence. Blot out the grievous sin I have committed. I can no longer carry this heavy load. Brokenhearted, I humbly come to Your cross and seek your pardon. Forgive me, Lord Jesus. Amen!