Breaking Down Strongholds Archives

March 22, 2020January 17, 2021

Open Your Gift

“Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the Lord commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous. Fear not; do not be dismayed.” ~ 1 Chronicles 22:13

How often do we pray for prosperity and nothing happens? How long do we pray for healing, and nothing happens? How long do we pray for a job promotion or even a job, and nothing happens? And so, we begin to doubt the sovereignty of God, but in reality, God has already given these things to us. He already gave us prosperity, that job, that promotion, that healing; all we have to do is unlock it. All we have to do is two things. Observe the statutes & the rules and ask. That’s it if we do that without any doubt, our world will change.

But what if I’m already obeying all the rules and asking, but it’s not happening? I guarantee there is a stronghold in your life causing you not to receive, whether it’s an idol you never acknowledged as so, whether it’s a grudge you never let go, whether it’s pouring faith in false teachings instead of God, false judgment, whether it’s an addiction (it doesn’t have to be drugs it could be something as simple as coffee, TV, video games, even music). When you have something in your life that takes precedence over God, it can cause you to lose out on the prosperity He has already given you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Open Your Gift of Prosperity.

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Take Advice

“¹⁵Esther was the daughter of Abihail, who was Mordecai’s uncle. (Mordecai had adopted his younger cousin Esther.) When it was Esther’s turn to go to the king, she accepted the advice of Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem. She asked for nothing except what he suggested, and she was admired by everyone who saw her.” ~ Esther 2:15

When it was Esther’s turn to present herself to the king, she could have easily ignored the eunuch, but she didn’t. She took Hegai’s advice, and everyone admired her. One thing Esther lacked was pride. She wasn’t a woman that was chained up by pride, but instead, she allowed humility to lead her in life.

In today’s world, how much does pride keep us from growing or succeeding because we refuse to take advice from experienced people? Pride will destroy any person, no matter how strong or skilled they are, because no person can do everything on their own. No person can succeed completely on their own. Don’t allow pride to destroy you; instead, cling to humility and never let it go.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Take Advice.

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Run To Your Safe Zone

“¹⁴And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. ¹⁵’Look,’ Naomi said to her, ‘your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.’ ¹⁶But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. ¹⁷Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!’ ¹⁸When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.” ~ Ruth 1:14-18

Ruth saw that if she returned to her people, she would worse off. She gave up false gods that she grew up with, the culture she was raised in, her false safe place and followed Naomi. Ruth got out of her comfort zone just so she could be close to her true safe place.

Our safe place is with God, yet we are afraid to walk out of our comfort zone to get to Him. We don’t wanna give up our traditions, our friends, our beliefs, our false gods and idols, our strongholds, our addictions, our comfort zone to be with God. All of these things will slowly kill us spiritually because we die where God isn’t, and God isn’t in any of those places.

Orpah couldn’t see past her comfort zone, she couldn’t see the life that would have come from sticking with Naomi. She missed it. But Ruth saw it. She clung to it. She obeyed it. She followed it. She served it. And she was blessed because of it. She will forever be known as one of Jesus’ ancestors. A foreigner with sin, who didn’t grow up with the law, she had foreign gods and idols, yet she saw life and chased after it, so God blessed her for it. And He saved her soul.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Run To Your Safe Zone.

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Resist Your Tamar

“¹⁴But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. ¹⁵Then suddenly Amnon’s love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. ‘Get out of here!’ he snarled at her.” ~ 2 Samuel 13:14-15

Amnon desired his sister, Tamar. She was all he could think about. It kept him from sleeping. Eating. Functioning as a regular person, so he and his cousin cultivated a lie to get alone time with his sister Tamar. Once he gave in to his desire, what he thought was love immediately turned to hate.

That’s exactly how sin works. We desire it. We seek it out. We devise a plan to get it. Then once it’s over, we hate it, and usually, we hate ourselves as well. We swear we’ll never do it again, that that was the only time. And then the desire builds up again and we go after it again. That’s how strongholds develop. It starts out as something we think we love, something we think we can’t do without, something we swear we’ll only try once, then once we give in, we feel disgusted with ourselves and our sin, and finally, the stronghold starts all over again.

It’s an endless loop that keeps you captive and a slave. Fight the desire. Jesus promises if you resist the Devil, he will flee. Jesus overcame and so can you. Call on His name and He will break any and all chains.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Resist Your Tamar.

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