Binding the strong man

I sat with Matthew 12:28-29 today. Jesus says, "But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will thoroughly plunder his house."
This "house" Jesus talks about in verse 29—it's Satan's kingdom. And the "strong man"? That's Satan himself. What really struck me is that the word for "goods" in Greek also means vessels or instruments. So when I think about it, all of us who were lost—we were like his property, his tools that he used for his own purposes. We were kept in his house, in his kingdom.
It's sobering to realize that Satan actually has a kingdom of darkness right here on earth. The whole world sits under his control. And honestly, it's not easy to pull someone out of his grip. Every person who hasn't been saved is like a vessel sitting in Satan's house—his kingdom is full of these vessels, all these people he's holding.
But here's what I'm learning: if I want to see someone set free from Satan's house, I need to bind that strong man first. And how do I do that? Through prayer and fasting. This is the real spiritual battle—this is what fighting for God's kingdom actually looks like.
Matthew 12 is showing me that Satan has his own kingdom, that he's this powerful force who has taken over all the people God created, and that if I want to rescue anyone from his control, I have to bind him first.
There are literally two kingdoms operating on earth right now—Satan's dark kingdom and God's kingdom of light. They're facing off against each other. That's why there's a battle to fight. I need to be praying and fasting to bind the enemy. That's how his house gets plundered. That's how people get free.