Category: Breaking Down Strongholds

Exodus 3:18-20 NIV

[18] The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ [19] But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. [20] So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

Ten plagues were shown as ten signs, and after each sign the Pharaoh said he’d let the people of Israel go, if the plague was just removed. Ten times he promised and ten times Pharaoh broke his promise. This is significant.

Ten is the number of covenant. Ten promises to let the LORD’s people go only to refuse after each one. Pharaoh, without realizing it, had set himself up against the LORD as an enemy. Pharaoh kept the Covenant people of God in slavery away from Him. So, what did God do? He brought down ten plagues on Egypt, its Pharaoh, and its gods. Pharaoh kept the Covenant people of God away from God, so God punished Pharaoh.

Pharaoh still refused to let the people of God go, even go as to change his mind each time he agreed to let them go. Pharaoh eventually drowned with his men in the Red Sea.

When we refuse to bow our knee to God, we set ourselves up against Him as His enemy. And when we set ourselves up against God, then we stand no chance of winning, for who can defeat the creator of the universe and all within it?

Dear LORD, please forgive me for each time I have hardened my heart against You and refused to let go of my flesh. Soften my heart. Give me a new heart and renew a right spirit in me. Hear me from Heaven, LORD. Forgive my sin and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Help me to follow You with all that is within me. Help me to love You with all that is within me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

³⁸ You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  ⁴³ You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ~ Matthew 5:38-48^NIV

The quote

“There’s no such thing as safe love. Real love means giving someone the power to hurt you.”

has been living rent free in my head for a few weeks now. It’s been just replaying through my head over and over and over again. Such a difficult concept to grasp. Such a difficult pill to swallow. True love is giving someone the power to hurt you. That’s not an easy standard to live by.

This isn’t just a good sounding quote either, Christ confirms this belief. Paul told us:

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; ⁷ rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5-8^NIV

Let that sink. Christ gave up His Godly form, set it aside and took on the form of man. Then, died for the sins of the whole world, knowing fully well that the majority of humanity would refuse to believe. He loved even though He knew that He would be hated. His love was, is, and always will be unconditional. This is the kind of love we are to walk in.

The kind of love that allows others to hurt us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should get involved or remain in abusive relationships. What I’m saying is when we love, we shouldn’t love with the expectancy of that love being returned or reciprocated. We should love, even when someone hurts us. We should love, even when we are the victim. We should love, even when they are deemed undeserving.

If your enemy is hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. If they are naked, clothe them. Our actions should never be to return hate with hate. It should always be to return hate with love. It should always be turn the other cheek.

Dear LORD, thank You for loving me, even when I was a sinner. Thank You for never taking away the opportunity to love You. Please forgive me for all of the times I have not loved others as You have loved me. Please uproot any root of bitterness that has been planted and is growing inside of me. Create in me a new heart and renew a right spirit within me. Help me to be Christ to others and share Your Light with all I come across. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

¹³ Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ~ Numbers 11:13^NIV

Moses had just delivered the people out of Egypt. They had been slaves for 400 years. When the burden of slavery became too hard for them, they cried out to the LORD, and the LORD answered them. He sent a deliverer and delivered them.

Now, they are free. No longer enslaved. No longer with a heavy burden that weighs them down. They thankful hearts didn’t last long. They soon began to grumble and complain. First it was hunger. Then it was that they were tired of the food they were given to eat and wanted meat. They commissioned and complained to the point where Moses had had enough, and could no longer take it.

Imagine being enslaved to the point where your baby boys are murdered in front of you. You and your family are worked tirelessly. Beaten and whipped. So you pray for intervention and when God intervenes, you’re only thankful for a short while because you don’t have the same foods as you did in slavery.

So many times God intervenes on our behalf, and we are thankful in the moment but we forget too quickly. We willingly return to slavery in order to have a snack. We trade freedom from our stomachs. Let that sink in. We trade our freedom to return to slavery.

¹ It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1^NIV

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”

2 Peter 2:19 ^NIV

Sometimes, we trade freedom for tradition and legalism. We trade God’s freedom for manmade doctrines. Other times we trade freedom for desires. The Israelites of Moses’ day knowingly said they would rather be slaves in Egypt than follow God in the wilderness, today we do the same. We say we would rather be bound by tradition, legalism, and manmade doctrine than to be free in Christ Jesus.

Dear LORD, thank You for saving my soul. Thank You for redeeming me from my sins and giving me freedom in You. Please forgive me for each and every time I chose slavery over freedom. Please forgive each and every time I have fallen back into sin and given into my fleshly desires instead of remaining in Your perfect and holy will. I ask that You would please strengthen me and teach me. That You would uphold me when I fall, so that I might not remain down, but that I might get up and keep going. Please guide me and lead me in the path You have for my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

¹⁰ A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance. ~ John 10:10^CSB

I can honestly say, I’m not really sure what to say. The last couple days I’ve felt extremely defeated, discouraged, and alone, but this morning I woke up and all of the burdens were just gone. The craziest part is, as I was embracing this pure joy and peace of mind, I could feel something tugging at me wanting me to pick the burden back up and carry it longer because after all, the feelings were justified.

It’s crazy how the flesh and the enemy work together in order to defeat you. Satan doesn’t want you free and neither does your flesh. Your flesh has been corrupted. It’s filled with wickedness, bitterness, lust, anger, unforgiveness, etc. This is the importance of crucifying the flesh daily. We must put our flesh in check, or we’ll be defeated inside and out.

The enemy’s desire is for our destruction, whether spiritually or physically, he desires to destroy us. So, when we come to Christ and He picks up our burdens and takes them from us, the enemy tries to lie to us and use our flesh to tell us we need to carry those burdens. That we need to be broken and hurt, angry and bitter, because of what has been done. Christ says, give that to me and I’ll carry it for you. Give it to me and I’ll give you love, joy, and peace. I’ll give you everlasting life.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Christ comes to bring life and life more abundantly.

Did I do everything right? Absolutely not. I never do. Nor does any other human. Did I pass the test? I believe this love, joy, and peace I feel right now is proof that I did. You don’t have to get every single thing right. That’s impossible. You do, however, have to pass the test. You have to not give the Devil room to accuse and destroy. You have to learn to kneel down at the feet of Jesus and allow Him to take your burdens from you. Give them to Him, and He will give you peace.

LORD, I’m sorry for all of the times I refused to come to You and lay my burdens down at Your feet. Thank You for never giving up on me. For never leaving me. For never forsaking me. Thank You for loving me. For giving me peace. For giving me hope and a future. Search me, oh LORD, and show me the unforgiveness in my heart. Help me to let it go, LORD. Here is my hurt, shame, and pain. I lay it at Your feet. Help me to lay it at Your feet and to never pick it up again. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

⁹ To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: ¹⁰ “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ ¹³  But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” ~ Luke 18:9-14^NIV

When we’re raised in the church, it’s very easy for us to get Pharisee Disorder Syndrome. Here’s what I mean. It’s easy for us to think ourselves better than other people. We may not like the way they carry themselves or their past. We may feel they shouldn’t even be allowed in any church because of who they are and their sin. Church isn’t meant to be a place where self-righteous people go in order to make themselves feel good or superior to others. Church is meant to be a hospital. A place of learning. A place of growth. A place to meet with and meet God.

If you go to church every Sunday and feel you’re good where you’re at and have nothing that needs to be worked on or fixed in your life, then you need a new church. When we gather together, we should see growth. We should learn something new. We should see change. Church should be like a current helping the water flow through you, the stream. If you’re remaining stagnant and you go to church every Sunday, you and your church are spiritually asleep, maybe even spiritually dead.

When Jesus comes back, He’s not looking for self-righteous, churchgoing people. He’s looking for branches that have borne good fruit. He’s looking for faith, even as small as a mustard seed. He’s looking for evangelists who went into their areas (at the very least) and shared His Gospel. He’s looking for prayer warriors who spent time on their knees, not just seeking the kingdom for themselves but praying for the underground church. He’s looking for more than just a churchgoer. He’s looking for more than just a Pharisaical believer.

Belief alone will never get you into heaven. Faith will save your soul, but once you’re saved you have to begin to run the race set before you. Faith without action is dead.

So, I ask you, “What are you doing with your faith?”

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I thought more of myself than I ought. Please forgive me for being an unjust judge and believing some aren’t worthy of even hearing about You. Please help me to love the world as You love the world. Help me to no longer hide my light under a basket. Instead, help me to shine it brightly so that all who come in contact with me see Your Light shining through me. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it. ~ Genesis 4:7

One of my favorite characters in The Lord of the Rings series (that’s including The Hobbit) is Gollum. Now, to many people, including my mother, that’s insane. She sees him as a horrible, creepy character, but honestly, I see him as a character that represents the majority of humanity. Gollum, for those of you who don’t know who he is, is the original owner of the ring; well, he’s the owner that Bilbo got the ring from. Anyways, Gollum is deformed and crazy, all because of this ring. So, this ring has created a dual personality within him. One of almost innocence, like a child, and one of pure evil and wickedness.

This ring gives anyone who wears it the ability to turn invisible to all. Now, the ring also causes the owner to be driven mad; the more you use it, the more you lose yourself to the ring. This is much like the world today. The more we give into sin, the more we lose ourselves to sin. The more we are deformed and driven farther and farther away from the person God created us to be. When we just look at the outside, it’s easy to dislike and want judgment for the wicked. It’s easy to look at Gollum and hate him, but if we take a moment to actually look at Gollum, we’d see he’s nothing more than a lost soul who has been corrupted by the thing he loves most. And because it corrupts him, he also hates it.

That is the same with us and sin. We love and hate it all at the same time. We struggle back and forth with it, yet ultimately give in the majority of the time. It becomes a never-ending struggle that we will be unable to overcome on our own. I think J.R.R. Tolkien (the author of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) said it best:

He [Gollum] will never be rid of his need for it. He hates and loves the Ring, as he hates and loves himself. Sméagol’s [Gollum’s original name before he found the ring] life is a sad story. Yes, Sméagol he was once called. Before the Ring found him. Before it drove him mad.

Gollum was never intended to be a character to be despised but a character to be pitied, for he represents the dangers of giving into sin’s desires and not ruling over it. This will be a never-ending battle for the rest of our lives unless we submit to a new master. Unless we fully submit to Christ, we will all lose ourselves, just as Sméagol did.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remain Sméagol.