Tag: Breaking Down Strongholds

¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life. ~ 1 Timothy 1:16

Often times when we look at people, we measure their worth based on our flawed beliefs and feelings. We see certain sinners as undeserving of forgiveness because we don’t fully understand the love of God. God’s love shows no partiality. We’re all sinners. We’ve been shown grace that we might be able to lead others to that same grace.

There’s no such thing as too dirty or too much sin for God to redeem. For where sin is, there is even more grace that we might be saved. God’s love doesn’t work the same way ours does. His love is overwhelming, never-ending, and reckless. He doesn’t care whether He has to risk His own life to save us. His only goal is to save us. That’s why there is no sin too great for Him to forgive. He already gave Himself so that we could be saved, regardless of how far we’ve strayed or what we’ve done. His desire is that we might have eternal life.

So, no matter how lowly we think of someone, God sees worth beyond compare. He didn’t die for the righteous; He died for sinners. That includes all sinners, even those we don’t see as worth saving. They’re worth it to God. So, no matter the sin, always share the love of God wherever you go in the hope that all might come to the acceptance of Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Share The Love of God.

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²⁸ Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ ²⁹ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. ³⁰ The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ ³² Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, ³³ who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go. ~ Deuteronomy 1:28-33

Within each territory, there are Territorial Spirits; there are strongholds that keep its victims in generational curses. The people of Israel were no different. They were a chosen people that God Himself spoke to and led, yet the strongholds of the land still called to them. It’s easy to follow God when He’s present and active, but the moment we feel God is taking too long or that He’s too quiet, we revert to our old selves. We return to the strongholds of our ancestors. We turn to the gods of the land that seem to be present and mighty. That seem to be giving their worshippers their hearts desires. But when we turn from God to another, we miss out on the blessings God has for us.

The Israelites missed out on blessing after blessing because they gave into the strongholds of the land. They never overcame the places above each and every stronghold because of Christ Jesus. And because the Holy Spirit dwells in us and the blood of Jesus covers us, we can tear down any stronghold in the name of Jesus. Nothing can stop the people of God unless we allow it to.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Break Faith.

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⁵ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! ⁶ I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. ~ 2 Corinthians 13:5-6

Paul encouraged the Corinthian believers to examine themselves. We don’t often do this in our society today. We push sayings like, ‘accept me for me,’ ‘don’t change for anyone,’ ‘this is just the way I am,’ and in doing so, we never grow. I’m not saying that we should become a completely different person so someone will like us, but we must become completely different from our sinful nature so that we may become one with Christ.

Every New Year, we set goals and resolutions that we want to reach in the New Year, so why not take the time this New Year to spiritually evaluate yourselves as Paul encouraged the Corinthian believers to do so long ago.

Take some time to evaluate and reevaluate your life and who you have become. Do some soul searching to see if who you are matches who God originally created you to be. Evaluate your reaction to things and situations. Do an honest self-examination every other day or at least once a week to see if you are growing. Compare your life and your decisions to the Biblical standard God has raised for each and every one of us.

Ask yourself honest questions:

How do you deal with stressful situations?
How are you handling tense situations?
Have you let go of the past?
Are you holding any grudges?
Do you return an eye for an eye?
Did you react with a Christ-like attitude?

You won’t magically change overnight, but by the grace of God, you will change by the constant renewal of your mind. Make a conscious effort to not allow the things that angered you last year to anger you this year. Believe that the things that flustered you last year, you have now overcome and conquered this year. For the God that has all things under His feet resides in you.

LORD God, help me to strengthen my weak points. Help me to guard my thoughts and words so that my actions may be pleasing and acceptable to You. Help me to always remember that I have become the Temple of the Living God the day that I accepted You, LORD Jesus, as LORD of my life. Help me to move forward in this New Year and to grow spiritually, emotionally, and physically in You. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Amen.

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¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

This is the time many people are making their New Year’s Resolution and making New Year’s plans and promises. Well, we have a New Year promise from Jesus.

The old has passed away and behold, the new has come.

I would encourage you to put that on your New Year’s resolution list. I will put off the old and put on the new. I will not let those things that tripped me up last year, to trip me up this year.

I will not stumble over the same things that I’ve been stumbling over in the past. I will not let anger, grief, lust, etc., get the best of me, for the old has passed away, and the new has come.

Thank you, Father, for giving me a new start. Help me to walk the path of righteousness this year. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in Your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.” ~ Mark 9:38-41^NIV

Sometimes we see people doing things that we believe are only for us or that we believe are only for a certain person, so we try to stop them. We try to box them in. We try to keep them from accessing power that we don’t believe they deserve. It’s not even necessarily because we think that what they’re doing is wrong, but because we don’t think it’s right for them to do it.

We see this a lot in the Church today. We see Christians tearing down other Christians because of the gifts and calls that God has given them. But as Jesus Himself said, no one working in the power of God can, in the next moment or next breath, speak against Him. Therefore, even if they aren’t your denomination or you differ on minute issues, if they aren’t against your Jesus and what He stands for, then they are with you. Don’t let the Spirit of Religion get in the way of what God is trying to do.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Stop Them.

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² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ~ James 4:2

So many of us expect to receive blessings, help, answered prayers, healing, etc., without asking first. Why do we expect without asking? Is it doubt? Pride? Or is it a false sense of humility? Sometimes we put ourselves in a situation where we don’t want to ask, but instead, we want someone to offer what we’re desiring.

I believe a lot of us are plagued by a spirit of religion telling us that it’s wrong to ask on behalf of ourselves. That’s it wrong to pray for healing, blessings, help for ourselves. But God promised in Matthew 7:7-8 that if we ask, we will receive. Why? Because our Heavenly Father is a good, good Father. He enjoys blessing and giving to His children. This isn’t pride. This isn’t selfishness or evil; this is asking our Father in Heaven for a little of our inheritance.

Healing is the Children’s Bread.

The Peace of God is given to His children.

A Spirit of Power, Love, and a Sound Mind is bestowed upon His followers.

We have not because we ask not. Don’t allow the lies of the enemy to hold you back from receiving a healing, a blessing, an answered prayer. You are worth more than silver or gold to the Creator of the entire Universe. He knows every hair on your head and every burden you carry. He’s waiting for you to take His yoke upon your back, for you will find rest.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Expect With Asking.

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³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob, and worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him. ~ Judges 11:3

The Scripture says that Jephthah was a mighty warrior. He could really make something of himself. He could be a general. He could even be head of the army, but…

You know there is always that, but… It has a way of coming around without you seeing it and nips you in the butt. The enemy will try to use your past or even your parents’ and grandparents’ past to dictate your future. To keep you from your call.

You will never amount to much, they said. You will always be just like your momma, a prostitute. You’re dirt, Jephthah. You’re nothing, and they drove him out. Chased him out of town.

But Jephthah didn’t let that hold him back. He didn’t let that stop him. Jephthah avoided the bullies. Then he pursued what he was good at. He didn’t let them take his self-worth away from him. Instead, he made a name for himself.

The same ones that ran Jephthah out of town were the same ones who brought him back into town and made him their head. Keep on doing what you do best, and do not let anyone tell you that you can’t or that you are stupid, or that you will never amount to much.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Leave the Past in the Past.

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²⁷ Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. ²⁸ Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” ³⁴ But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. ~ Exodus 9:27-28, 34

Whenever the plague became too unmanageable for Pharaoh, he relented and agreed to God’s request. But as soon as the LORD relented and removed the plague from him and his kingdom, Pharaoh fell into his old ways again. God did wonder after wonder in the land of Egypt, yet as soon as every wonder was complete, Pharaoh forgot the power he had just witnessed. His heart was stubborn. He had a heart of stone instead of a heart of flesh. Everything he said he would do he went back on as soon as the pain eased. As soon as the suffering ended.

This is the same with us today. We forget the power of God so quickly. We forget the goodness and grace of God so fast. During times of trial and tribulation, we seek God. When things go wrong, we are in church every Sunday, but as soon as we are rescued from our tribulation, we stop going to church. We stop praying. We stop seeking. Our hearts are stubborn as stone. We forget too quickly who God is and all that He has done for us.

LORD God, please replace our heart of stone with a heart of flesh. Please envelope us in Your everlasting love that we might not forget who You are and all that You have done for us. Help us not to just come to You in the bad but help us to seek You in every season of our lives. Teach us to pray and seek You daily that our hearts may never be hardened against You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ~ Mark 3:24-25

A Spirit of Division has engulfed the Church. We are divided on almost everything from politics to race. And now, we are becoming divided on core Christian beliefs that never used to be questioned, but have now been deemed offensive, intolerant, hateful, and harmful. Why do we think that is? Our enemy knows that if he can bind the Church, then he can freely plunder the nation.

So, if he can get the Church distracted from being one in Christ Jesus and praying for our nation, then he can easily bind us up. When we are divided, we are giving the enemy okay to come into our nation and bind us up. We have to see past the divisive tactics of the enemy so that we can pray for the soul of our country. Because if we aren’t careful, when we are tied up, we could fall spiritually asleep and never finish the race set before us. So much is at stake, we have to overcome this Spirit of Division and come together in one accord as they were in the Upper Room on Pentecost, because that’s the only way we will see mountains begin to move and the soul of the country begin to be restored.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Rebuke the Spirit of Division.

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