Category: Breaking Down Strongholds

³² So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. ³³ They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. ~ 2 Kings 17:32-33

The people maintained a form of godliness, but their hearts remained divided. They feared the LORD yet continued to serve their own gods according to the rituals of the nations. Jesus stated it plainly: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will love the one and hate the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24).

In his book, “The Great Divorce,” C.S. Lewis describes a Ghost—a visiting soul from the gray town of Hell—who carried a red lizard on his shoulder. The lizard symbolized lust (or any persistent sinful desire) that he could not control. It would twitch its tail and would whisper temptations in his ear, keeping him from fully embracing Heaven. Unable to quiet it, no matter how hard he tried, he planned to leave Heaven and return to Hell, knowing such behavior would not be tolerated there.

A bright, burning angel approached and repeatedly asked, “May I kill it?” The Ghost hesitated, making excuses and feeling sorry for the whimpering lizard; he refused. The creature even promised dramatically to behave if spared. Eventually, in desperation, the Ghost consented. The angel seized the lizard and killed it, causing the Ghost intense agony. But then a transformation occurred: the Ghost became a solid, magnificent, joyful man, and the dead lizard was resurrected as a beautiful, powerful white stallion with a golden mane, on which the man joyfully rode deeper into the mountains of Heaven.

Like those ancient Israelites, we often want Heaven and God—yet we refuse to kill the lizard on their shoulders. We have our little pet sins that purr and coo on our shoulders as we stroke them and pet their heads. They whisper temptations in our ears and slowly lead us off the path of righteousness. But our pet lizards must die if we intend to ride deeper in the mountain of Heaven.

In John 15, Jesus says that our Heavenly Father is the Vinedresser who cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit and prunes the fruitful ones so they bear even more fruit. Pruning is often traumatic and painful, yet it is very necessary if we want to spend eternity with Jesus. As the old song says, “Let the LORD have His way…” We must let Him prune and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Heavenly Father, search me and know my heart. Try me and see if there is any wicked way in me. Purge me, cleanse me, and make me whole so I may follow You with an undivided heart. Prepare me to hear, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. ~ Luke 6:38

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ ⁴¹ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” ~ Matthew 25:31-46

I watched a short of a guy who dumpster-dives behind large companies like GameStop, Goodwill, Lowe’s, Burlington Coat Factory, etc. In the video, he showed the dumpster outside of Bath and Body Works. There were two large garbage bags full of unsold soaps, lotions, candles, etc., but when he opened the bags, he found that every single soap and lotion had been emptied out into the bags, and the candles were all destroyed. Instead of Bath and Body Works donating the unsold items or even just leaving them in the bags and not destroying them, they made sure no one could use them. There are homeless shelters, women’s shelters, and other non-profits that could have put those items to good use.

Bath and Body Works is a multi-billion-dollar company. If you go on their website and look at their “Values” page, the first thing you see is the statement “Because doing the right thing is our thing,” yet they destroy perfectly good products that didn’t sell instead of donating them to those in need. If you keep reading, you’ll see the statements “Be Generous” and “Be Accountable,” yet they don’t care about those in need in their own communities.

It’s easy to make all of these statements online, but it’s much harder to put them into practice when Mammon is your god. See, Mammon is just money-hungry, obsessed greed. The kind of greed that would rather throw away than let someone else benefit from it. The kind of greed that doesn’t care about those in need. We, as Christians, are called to not overlook those in need in our communities. We’re to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and help the needy.

We don’t have to go without in order to give, because the LORD promised to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory. So, when you see someone in need, don’t be like these big corporations that only talk the talk but don’t actually walk the walk. Give a dollar to the beggar on the street, or better yet, offer to buy them a hot meal. Donate something you no longer use to a non-profit that helps your community, or a few spare dollars. Be Christ to the world, and maybe with these small little actions we can see an extreme change just like Christ saw. Just like the early Church saw.

I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.

Mother Theresa

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cast The First Stone.

Numbers 11:4-6 ESV

[4] Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! [5] We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. [6] But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”

Whenever we read about the Israelites leaving Egypt and going into the wilderness, we often judge them. We look at them without sympathy, not realizing that we, the Church, are very similar to them, almost no different at all. Today, we aren’t being delivered from physical slavery, but spiritual slavery, and yet even after freedom, we willingly return to slavery because it’s easier.

Here’s what I mean. This life is hard. There are obstacles, hills, valleys, enemies, and once you follow Christ, you have your flesh against you as well. No longer do you have the meats, spices, fish, herbs, and other cravings you did while in slavery. Instead, now you have to fight those cravings. You have to go through a time of detox as the desires try to overtake you. It’s difficult. The length of the detox from these things you previously indulged in is uncertain. It feels like it’ll never end. Like you will never have peace or satisfaction again.

So, many of us return to slavery. We return to a life that leads to death as long as our flesh is satisfied. We, the Church today, are no different than the Israelites after leaving Egypt. Only 2 from that generation made it into the Promised Land, and our generation of the Church is prophesied to be spit out of the mouth of Christ. Those are discouraging odds, unless we decide to make a change today. Unless we decide to give up our cravings for the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. It isn’t easy, but the cravings of the world will die and no longer have its grip on you like it once did. How? By crucifying your flesh daily. By building your Spirit-Man through prayer, fasting, worship, and reading your Bible. And when the Good LORD returns for His people, you will enter a Promised Land like never before.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fight The Cravings.

²³ One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. ~ Proverbs 29:23

The more you post online, the more trolls you will attract. Why? Because whenever you begin to succeed in something (regardless of what it is), the enemy tries to attack you and tear you down. The enemy doesn’t want you to succeed in anything. He came to steal, kill, and destroy. That is his nature. So, he uses people around you or even complete strangers in order to try to stop you from moving forward and growing. Today, I was hit with two insulting and rude comments. I usually ignore them and go about my day, but recently I decided that ignoring is just enabling, so I started calling out bad behavior.

One responded out of anger and was so full of hatred that it was actually blatant that he didn’t just hate me, but hated God as well. The other responded as if they were trying to help, be encouraging, and support us, while throwing in more and more subtle insults as they shifted the blame. The more they commented, the more I recognized the real issue: they’re a narcissist who hates to be corrected. These are the kind that are the most dangerous.

They will insult you and then pretend it’s all jokes. If you correct them, they will not only lash out but also blame you all while playing the victim. So, what are we to do? Correct and place them before, but always be careful to correct in love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray For Their Deliverance.