Who Is the Strong Man in the Bible? And How to Bind Him

You have probably heard someone say "bind the strong man" in a prayer meeting. Maybe you nodded along without knowing what it meant, or whether it was something you were allowed to do. The phrase comes straight from the words of Jesus, and once you understand it, it changes how you pray for the people you love.

Daniel Duval, the founder of Bride Ministries, teaches that binding the strong man is one of the first words in the language of spiritual warfare. It is not a mystery reserved for experts. It is a plain, biblical action ordinary believers can learn. This article walks through what the strong man is, who has the authority to bind him, and how to actually do it.

The phrase comes from a moment when Jesus was being accused of casting out demons by demonic power. He answered with a short picture.

Mark records the same teaching almost word for word (Mark 3:27, NKJV).

The point is simple. A thief cannot walk into a guarded house and carry off what is inside while the guard is free to stop him. First he has to tie up the guard. Then the house is open.

Jesus was talking about the unseen world. The "strong man" is a wicked spirit standing guard over something, holding a person, a family, or a place under its control. Daniel Duval teaches that these spirits act like guards in a doorway, keeping the good thing out and the trapped thing in.

"The strong man" is not the name of a single being. It is a job. Any spirit acting as a guard over something is a strong man in that situation. Satan is the ultimate one, but he does not work alone. Lower spirits operate as strong men at every scale. So the real question is less "who is the strong man" and more "what spirit is standing guard here, and can it be moved?" The Bible says yes, it can.

Here is where Bride Ministries teaches something many people have never been shown. A lot of Christians believe binding is only something Jesus did, not something they are allowed to do. The full biblical picture says otherwise.

Jesus handed His followers the keys.

That verse is the instruction. Matthew 12:29 explains the reason binding matters (you have to tie up the guard first), and Matthew 16:19 hands the believer the authority to do it. The two work together. One tells you why. The other tells you that you can.

This authority is not something a believer generates on their own. It is borrowed from Jesus.

Jesus then shared that authority with His followers: "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19, NKJV). Learning to bind the strong man is part of being equipped for that work (Ephesians 4:12), not a special calling for a select few.

One more thing matters. Jesus already purchased your freedom on the cross. "By whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24, NKJV). So binding is not begging God to do something He has not decided to do. It is enforcing what He already settled. The believer is not asking God to bind for them. The believer binds, standing in the authority Jesus handed over.

This is the distinction Daniel Duval is most careful to make, and missing it confuses many people.

Binding and casting out are two different actions.

Casting out is when a spirit is evicted from a person and sent away for good. Jesus said it plainly: "In My name they will cast out demons" (Mark 16:17, NKJV). It is real, and it is an important part of the ministry.

Binding does something simpler. It does not remove the spirit. It just stops the spirit from working. Picture turning off the power to a machine. The machine is still there, but it cannot run.

Often binding comes first. When you pray for someone who has not yet come to Jesus, you can bind the spirits keeping them blind so they can finally see Him clearly. Once they say yes to Him and want freedom, casting those spirits out becomes the next step. In Bride Ministries' method, binding is step four of a longer sequence: confess, repent, renounce, bind, then cast out. So binding and casting out are partners, not the same job. Binding stops the activity. Casting out removes the source.

Daniel Duval teaches that strong men do not all operate at the same size. They work on three levels.

First, there can be a strong man over a single person. This is the spirit anchored to one individual, steering them away from God again and again. Think of a friend who keeps meaning to change and keeps getting pulled back by "coincidences" that show up at the worst moment.

Second, there can be a strong man over a whole family or small community. Patterns that repeat across generations, the same addiction or the same kind of pain passing from parent to child, often have something like this behind them.

Third, there can be a strong man over a large area, like a city or a nation. These are big assignments. A single believer praying at the kitchen table is not going to tie up a spirit ruling over an entire country. Some ministers have reported real breakthrough at that level, but it takes called leaders and sustained prayer by many people together. If that larger fight is where your heart is, Freedom from Principalities: How to Get Free covers that ground in more depth.

But you do not have to take on a nation. You can stand in your own God-given authority and bind the strong man holding your friend or family member.

Binding is not complicated. There are a few plain steps.

Start by remembering who the real enemy is.

The person is not the enemy. The spirit standing guard behind the situation is. Aim your prayer there.

Daniel Duval adds a piece that makes binding far more effective. You have to be accurate about what you are binding. If you keep tying up the wrong thing, you will not see much change. Binding "alcoholism" does little if the actual issue is something else entirely.

You do not need to know a spirit's personal name. The Bible itself names spirits by what they do, not by a personal title.

So you address a spirit by its area of activity. A spirit of fear. A spirit of distraction. A spirit of addiction. When you name that realm and bind it, every spirit working in that area comes under the command.

Here is the kind of language Daniel Duval recommends, which you can pray in your own words:

Notice two things. First, the prayer is spoken directly to the spirit, not only to God. Daniel Duval compares it to a soldier: a soldier does not ask his weapon to help him, he points it and fires. In the same way, you speak to what you are binding and call it bound.

Second, every binding is done in the name of Jesus, because His name carries the highest authority there is. You are not making your own power. You are standing in His.

Binding is not a one-time magic phrase. When a situation stays active, bind it as often as it comes up. Some people bind spirits of distraction and confusion before a gathering so God's Spirit can move freely. Others bind over their workplace each morning, because the environment shifts day to day. The Bride Ministries prayer library has ready-to-pray warfare prayers to start from, and Daniel Duval lays out the believer's authority and this language of warfare in his book Pummel the Devil.

When the strong man is bound, his ability to engineer those "coincidences" is cut off. The excuses tend to dry up. The door that was held shut, for the gospel, for healing, for God's Spirit to move, begins to open.

That opening is where the plundering happens. Once the guard is tied up, the house can be recovered. Remember that the next time you carry someone in prayer and feel like nothing is moving. You may be facing a guard in the doorway. You are allowed to bind him.

If you are reading this because of your own story, because something keeps pulling you back no matter how hard you fight, know that there is more help than a single prayer. The patterns that feel impossible to break often have roots deeper than willpower, and they were never meant to be faced alone. Bride Movement built a short assessment that takes about two minutes, stays private, and points you toward the right next step. Two other places to grow from here: Spiritual Warfare Training: Where Beginners Start if you are new to this, and Praying Spiritual Warfare Prayers: The 3-Tier System if you want to structure your prayer life around it.

This article was recreated from an original teaching by Daniel Duval, founder of Bride Ministries.