Category: Breaking Down Strongholds

¹⁸ Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon ¹⁹ is someone who lies to a friend and then says, “I was only joking.” ~ Proverbs 26:18-19

Joking is a big part of our society today. In fact, you can make a lot of money just by telling jokes. Making people laugh can be a lucrative business if you do it well. There are some, usually the older generation, who don’t believe in telling jokes because Proverbs warns about an idle tongue, but is that what the Proverb is saying? If joking were wrong, God would’ve instructed the author, King Solomon, to warn against joking entirely, but He doesn’t. The Scripture says that lying or deceiving a friend and then saying it was only a joke is just as dangerous or damaging as a crazy person firing a deadly weapon.

Our character is dependent on the words we say and our actions. In fact, one of the two silver bullets we have against the enemy, according to Revelation 12:11, is compiled of those two things. The word of our testimony only works if we have completed the action of accepting Christ and now have begun changing our lives as we follow Him, as well as proclaiming our testimony. Words and actions. If we deceive or lie and use ‘I was only joking’ as the excuse, then we have become like a madman firing a deadly weapon, for our lies and lack of repentance have destroyed the trust and friendship that we had. And in a sense, it has also destroyed our testimony, and without our testimony, then we have evidence of our salvation. Without the evidence of our salvation, we have no salvation. So, don’t try to cover deception and lies with fake jokes. Don’t believe the lie that you will be fine if others believe it was just a joke. Only the wicked deceive and lie. Lay this stronghold before God that He might wash you in the Blood of the Lamb that you might overcome, that you may receive a testimony to share.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Fake Joke.

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¹¹ The Ark of the Lord remained there in Obed-edom’s house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire household. ~ 2 Samuel 6:11^NLT

There’s always blessing and prosperity where the presence of the Lord dwells. So, why are we in poor health, poverty, depression, and hopelessness if the presence of the Lord (the Holy Spirit) is living in us? If the presence of the Lord is dwelling in us, then we should be displaying the fruit of the spirit. If we’re not displaying the fruit of the spirit, then we need to check ourselves because, more than likely, there’s a stronghold in our life keeping us from producing fruit.

According to Jesus, every tree that doesn’t bear good fruit is cut down. Therefore, we can understand that just because we accept Jesus’ salvation and have faith in Him doesn’t mean that we are saved. The kind of fruit that we are producing determines our salvation. Do we have love? Joy? Peace? Or are the cares of the world overcoming us daily? Don’t buy into the lie that all you have to do is believe, and God will bless you. If you want His blessing, you must friend have His Spirit. If you want His Spirit, you must first produce good fruit. If you want to produce good fruit, you have to act upon your faith. Remember that even James explains that faith without works, or action, is dead. It’s meaningless.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Work For Your Blessing.

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⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. ~ Genesis 4:7^NKJV

God said, if you do well, in other words, if you do what is right, if you do the correct thing, will you not be accepted? But you gotta do what is right. You just can’t do any old thing and expect God to accept it. You have to do well. In other words, God is saying that we must always act in a way that is proper and have the characteristics of properness to do what is expected of us.

So, does that mean that we have to be perfect? That we can no longer make mistakes or fall into temptation because God will strike us down? No. It means that we can no longer willingly just give into sin anymore. It means that we keep fighting to overcome evil with good. We have to keep trying to do what is right. We strive to overcome sin instead of playing with sin as if it is something that we can keep around as a pet. We can’t accept the presence of sin in our lives; instead, we have to expel all sin from within us, even if it’s only one step at a time.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Accept Its Presence.

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¹² Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ~ Exodus 20:12

My great-grandfather lived to be over 100 years old, and because of this, I often hear family members saying that he must’ve really respected his parents. It seems to me that when many of us hear or discuss the fifth commandment, we tend to focus on the idea that we must respect our parents in order to live a long life, but is that really what the verse is telling us?

If we take a closer look at what the commandment actually says, the promise isn’t about the lengthy number of days you will live if you follow the commandment. The promise is that you will live long in the land. What land? The Promised Land. For us Christians today, this isn’t a physical promise but a spiritual one.

The Gospels record an encounter between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees in Jerusalem one day. They came to Jesus and tried to condemn Him and His disciples for breaking the traditions of the elders because the disciples didn’t wash their hands before eating. Jesus then asked them why they broke the law for the sake of their traditions. Now, the reason I bring this up is because, first, the law that they broke was the fifth commandment, honoring their father and mother.

The second reason I brought this up is because these Pharisees are never recorded as repenting and accepting the Messiah. So, if they never repented and accepted Jesus, then they never entered the Promised Land. Could it be then that they couldn’t see that the Messiah, Jesus, had come because they couldn’t follow this command? Could the lack of respecting your parents cause you to be spiritually blind and incapable of seeing the Truth even when it staring you in the face?

Don’t let traditions, self-desires, rebellion, stubbornness, or any other stronghold keep you from seeing and recognizing the Truth. For without accepting and following the Truth, there is no salvation. No freedom. No Promised Land. If we can’t honor our parents, who are on earth and we see every day, how can we honor our Heavenly Father, who is in Heaven? It’s never too late to begin to honor your parents. It’s never too late to start fresh and new.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Honor Your Parents.

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¹³ The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure. ~ 1 Corinthians 10:13^NLT

All of us go through some temptation of some kind. We may not go through the same temptations as each other, but none of us are the only ones struggling with a certain kind of temptation or sin. No person struggles with a sin that isn’t common to man. No person struggles with a sin that is unique to them, and no one else can relate to.

And just as we aren’t the only ones struggling, we aren’t alone in the temptation either. God is with us. He is guiding us through the temptation so that we might not fall prey to it but instead overcome it. No temptation will overcome you if you put your trust in the LORD God Almighty and follow His lead. Write His word on your heart by memorizing Scripture. Quote it in times of need. Withstand that Devil, and he must flee.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Withstand.

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⁵ Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Interlude ~ Psalms 32:5^NLT

So many of us are walking in shame and guilt because of what we’ve done. We know that God can forgive all sins, but yet part of us feels as if He can’t forgive our sin because we maybe we can’t forgive ourselves. So shame and guilt creep into our hearts, and they take over, trying to keep us in our past. God, on the other hand, is calling us out of the dark pit of shame and guilt. He’s reaching out His hand for us to come to Him, and He might clothe us in righteousness. So how do we reach out and take His hand? We confess our sins to Him.

See, God already knows everything about us. He knows our thoughts, desires, and even the things we don’t know about ourselves. God knows all that we’ve done wrong and all that we’ve done right. So, to confess to God is to confide in Him and ask Him for help. Because when we confess, we are shining light in the darkness. And where there is light, shame and guilt cannot abound.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Confess Into The Light.

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⁶ Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? ⁸ Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. ~ Isaiah 58:6-8

So many of us desire to see the glory of the LORD but have no idea how to achieve this desire. According to Isaiah, one way is to break down the strongholds of not only us but also those around us. We are to be the light in a dark world because we have the light of the world living in us and through us. Therefore, our actions should match His actions and His heart. And His heart is to break every stronghold from the back of all people willing to allow Him to.

As we live in the world, it’s easy to get caught up in the world and the desires of the world. While the world seeks to only benefit itself, God seeks to benefit all; this is what we must desire as well. The moment we begin to work to build up the Kingdom of God, which includes breaking the strongholds of others so that they may see the goodness of God, then we will begin to see blessings pour in and our prayers answered. By breaking down the strongholds of others, we are breaking down the spiritual strongholds that hold us back. Every physical action we make has a spiritual consequence, whether bad or good.

So, if you are having a spiritual blockade in your prayer life or you’re not seeing the mighty hand of God move in your life, try moving the physical blockades of others. God always rewards those who do His good and perfect will.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Give To See.

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²⁴ One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. ~ Proverbs 11:24

Many of us walk past beggars on the street and don’t even consider giving them a dollar or two. When asked about rounding up our bill at check out and donating it to a children’s hospital or another nonprofit organization, we decline. A lot of us have become stingy with our money. Many of us say it’s because you can’t trust people, and the homeless will probably spend it on drugs or alcohol, and the organization probably doesn’t actually help anyone. But what is a few cents or a dollar?

It’s not up to you what they do with the dollar or cents you give them; that’s not your place. Your place is to give in faith that they will use the money you’ve given them to help themselves/others. You can even pray over the money before you give it or as you’re giving it that it might be used for good and not evil. For all you know, that dollar or couple cents might just be the exact amount they need to change their lives or another’s. Yes, a dollar can change a life. Yes, a couple of cents can make a difference. If it does nothing but give someone hope, then how can you put a price on that? Sometimes hope is the very thing needed to save another’s life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Hesitate To Give.

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⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. ~ 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul said that the LORD allowed a messenger of Satan to harass him. Paul never defines what the spirit that harassed him was, but many in the Church have made assumptions and theological guesses of what they could have been. The only problem is, we’ll never truly know what it was Paul was struggling with, so should we even debate over what it could have been? Could there be a bigger reason Paul kept what they were from us?

Paul is arguably the greatest apostle who ever lived; each letter he wrote was dictated to him by God Himself, so would there not be a reason to keep this hidden from us? Could it be that Paul left it to our imagination that we might insert our own struggle and have hope? Think about it: if Paul told us what the spirit tormenting him was, it would be more difficult for us to put ourselves in his shoes if we didn’t struggle with the spirit he did. Could it be that Paul was allowing us to have hope through the possibility that Paul not only struggled with the same spirit or sin that we do, but he was able to still be used by God? He was still able to be the greatest apostle who ever lived. He was still able to receive revelation after revelation.

Here’s what I’m getting at, it doesn’t matter what you struggle with. There is no sin that isn’t common to man. There is no sin that God cannot overcome and still use you. You are not your sin. Don’t allow what you struggle with to dictate your life and your self-worth. You are more precious than silver and gold. You have been bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. So, don’t allow other people’s opinions of who God can use to keep you from allowing God to use you. Keep fighting the good fight. If you fall down, get back up. Don’t stay in your sin; actively fight it. It may not be overcome overnight, but always remember His grace is sufficient for you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Cling To His Grace.

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¹⁶ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. ~ Romans 8:16–17

There is a really popular saying, “I’m just a sinner saved by grace.” My question is, is that what the Holy Spirit of God Himself bearing witness with your spirit, ‘that you’re just a sinner saved by grace?’ Or is He bearing witness that you have been, saved, changed, and set apart? Is He bearing witness that you are a new creation and the old is gone, dead, no more? If the old man is dead, how is it that you claim he is still alive in you? If you identify as “a sinner saved by grace,” will you not act like a sinner saved by grace?

The reality is, the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then we are also heirs of God. But not just that, we are joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with Him. Now, which sinner has Christ ever said, “Come, you are now a joint heir with me.” Let me tell you, none! He has never said that to a sinner, only a man or woman, or child of God.

Do not let someone else’s view of themselves be your view of you. You are a saint, a child of God, the blood-bought, the redeemed. You are no longer a sinner but a saint, and if you see yourself as a saint, you will act like a saint. Likewise, if you see yourself as a sinner, you will act like a sinner. Redefine who you are in Christ today.

Father, give us Your eyes to see. Give us Your ears to hear. Give us Your heart to love, that we might be rightly called children of the Most High God. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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