Tag: Breaking Down Strongholds

⁶ Then these high officials and satraps came by agreement to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever! ⁷ All the high officials of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors are agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce an injunction, that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. ⁸ Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.” ⁹ Therefore King Darius signed the document and injunction. ~ Daniel 6:6–9

Envy is a terrible slave master. It will make you do some despicable things,
not excluding lying with the intent to cause murder, as these men did. It knows
no bounds, no limits, has no friends, has no loyalty. Envy is a cunning
emotion, and these men were caught in its vice grip.

The Scriptures say that it pleased King Darius to set 120 satraps over the
whole kingdom. A satrap was a governor of a province or a ruler. So, the
kingdom was probably divided into 120 provinces, and each province had a
governor or some high-ranking official called a satrap over each one.

Then the king was pleased to set three top officials over the 120 satraps
(Daniel 6:1–2). Everything was working out just fine until envy set in. You
see, Daniel began to distinguish himself from the others through his work ethic
and his honesty. So, the king was further pleased to set Daniel over them all.

That’s when the others had enough of Mr. Goody Two Shoes, and that
green-eyed giant of envy raised his nasty head. And they began to plot. They
tried to find some kind of dirt on Daniel, anything, anything at all. But try
as they may, they could not find anything because Daniel was an honest,
hardworking, squeaky-clean man, righteous in all of his ways. They came to the
conclusion that they would never find anything illegal against him. So, they
would have to invent something. But that is nothing new; it still happens
today.

The punishment for their setup of Daniel was death by the same
means they had intended for him. Envy will convince you that it will get you
whatever it is that you desire from someone without punishment. But there are
always consequences for every action we make, whether good or bad. Don’t allow
that green-eyed monster to convince you otherwise.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Believe The Lies.

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¹² And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. ~ Matthew 24:12

One of the last signs of the coming of Jesus is that lawlessness will increase. The word “lawlessness” implies a sense of judgment since it implies that there is a law, but the law is ignored and so gives a sense of wrongdoing. So, what law is ignored? The law of God.

There will be no regard for the law of God in the last days. And I’m pretty sure we are living in those days now. Look around with an unbiased eye at what’s really going on. And if you’re not convinced, I don’t know what else to say. The law of God is no longer acceptable in even the Church, where it should dwell powerfully and without fear of offense, but it’s the Church that’s offended more than anyone else by the law of God. Why? Because the love of many is growing cold. We are more focused on our own feelings than the Truth of who God is. We create new laws that go against the laws of God. Why? Our own flesh.

We are living in the last days. The LORD Jesus will soon return. The LORD Jesus will soon come back to get His people. Are you ready? Are your loved ones ready? Don’t allow your flesh or your own personal offenses to keep you out of Heaven. Don’t let them to keep your loved ones out of Heaven. Lay all things at the altar of the LORD God Almighty. Let Him carry your load. Don’t be offended by what’s right and what’s wrong. Let the only Truth set you and your loved ones free.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Deny Your Offense.

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¹ Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” ~ 2 Samuel 21:1

David and the Israelites were not possessed by Satan, but yet, Satan used a spiritually open door to cause a famine and stop their harvest from coming. And that’s what happens in our lives today. We are going through a famine, and the enemy is stealing our increase. Every time our harvest comes, the enemy swoops in and steals it. We are doing what we are supposed to be doing, yet our harvest is always stolen.

If this is happening to you, then there may be a legal, spiritual opening in your life. Seek God, and He will tell you what is wrong. Leave room for God to bring conviction or point out something in your past that has opened a legal door. Something either you or one of your ancestors might have done.

Could be witchcraft, alcoholism, or some type of riotous living.

In David’s case, it wasn’t even one of his ancestors; it was his predecessor. King Saul was guilty of breaking the covenant that Joshua made with the Gibeonites, which opened the door for the attack. Therefore, we must all seek the LORD to close spiritual doors in our lives that we ourselves may not have even opened.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Close All Spiritual Doors.

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¹⁴ And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? ¹⁶ Behold, these, on Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.” ~ Numbers 31:14–16

The soldiers brought the accursed things into their own territory and into the presence of God, knowing that it was this very thing. These were the very women who had caused Israel to sin against their God in the first place. This is the same thing we are doing when we bring the occult into our house, such as Tarot Cards, Ouija Boards, Horoscopes, and yes, even Halloween and its paraphernalia into our homes. We have essentially brought the accused things into our lives, which opens up spiritual doors, just like Moses told the soldiers.

If we want to dwell in the presence of God and enter into His promises, we have to remove all darkness from our lives. We have to give up the accursed things and lay them at the feet of Jesus. They were never intended for us. They don’t bring light into our lives; they only bring darkness. They don’t bring life; they only bring death. This is why God said that they are things devoted to destruction. Don’t keep them. Don’t hold on to them. Remove them from your lives so that it might go well with you and your family. So, that you might dwell in the will and favor of the LORD.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Devote Them To Destruction.

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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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