Tag: Breaking Down Strongholds

¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained. ~ Philippians 3:13–16

Paul said, this one thing I do: I am forgetting everything that has happened to me. All my missed opportunities. All my failures. All my broken dreams. All my hurts. All my pain. All the bad things that have happened to me. Every disappointment. And every teardrop that fell. I’m forgetting all those things, and I’m pressing on to the good things that God has ahead for me. I’m looking forward, not backward.

Is there anything in your past that is worth holding on to? What I mean is this. Is there anything in your past that is worth more than what God has in front of you? What He has in store for us in eternity? I understand that there are some hurts that seem hard to let go of. Maybe a nagging pain when the face of that someone who has done you wrong came into your mind. Or maybe you endured a painful divorce. Or maybe someone willfully slandered you. Maybe someone you cared for betrayed your trust. Or your promotion went to someone way less deserving.

But I want you to know it is not worth holding on to. Now what I want you to do is to symbolically take those thoughts out of your head and crush them. Roll them up in a wad and toss them to one side. Do not look at where it lands because where it lands is where it will stay, and the Holy Spirit will clean up the rest.

You are now forgetting that which is behind you, and you are now looking forward to what is ahead of you. Good things. Bright things. God-centered things.

I want you to make a commitment now that your past will no longer define who you are in Christ. No longer will your past keep you from achieving. No longer will past failures keep you from trying. No longer will the taunts of your past depress you. No longer will whisperings behind your back sidetrack you. No longer will someone else’s carelessly thrown words knock you down. No longer will fear and doubt paralyze you. No longer will popular culture hold you back. No longer will criticisms trip you up. No longer will someone else’s image of you define who you are.

Because no longer will you put the power over your joy, your peace, your life in someone else’s hands. No longer will you let someone else have that kind of power over you to determine these for you. You are a child of God, and it is God who defines who you are. You are blessed and highly favored. God is for you, and He worketh all things to your good. This will be your best year yet. Believe it. Live it.

LORD God, my past is holding me back, so I give it to You. I understand that I can’t receive the good future. You have in store for me if I’m holding on to my past. Help me to not just say I give You my past, but show me how to actually lay it at Your feet. Show me how to move forward, LORD God. I don’t want to live in the past anymore. I want to live in Your perfect and holy will for my life. Help me to do so. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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³³ When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. ~ Exodus 21:33-34

From the days of the Law of Moses, the LORD never allowed any wiggle room for the enemy to take away from His people without a way for restoration for His people. This wasn’t something as significant as a house, or land, or family member; this was just an animal. During a time that grace and mercy didn’t abound, God still made sure to put insurance, if you will, on His people and all that His people own. Why? Because God knows that the enemy is the most crafty of all, the Beast of the Field, and he will find a way to corrupt the children of God and/or take away their blessings from God. He’ll find any loophole he can, just as he did with Eve in the Garden of Eden.

If God believed it was important for His people to have restoration for an animal that fell into a pit, how much more will He make restoration for His people that fall into pits? The Devil sets out traps for us to fall into. And when we don’t stumble into those traps, he uses pits that our fellow neighbor dug that weren’t intended for us to fall into. He uses whatever he can get his hands on, but even if we have fallen into a pit or our children have fallen into a pit, it’s not too late. There is restoration for what we have lost. And what we have lost will no longer be counted as ours, but it will be counted as the enemy’s.

Take a moment and write down all that the enemy has stolen from you by trapping you in a pit.

Missed God-given dreams? Why? What was the pit? Was it fear? Was it laziness? Was it distractions?

Estranged Family? Why? What was the pit? Pride? Harsh words? Unforgiveness? Anger?

Whatever the enemy has taken from you and is seemingly killed in that pit, write it down, along with the pit, and bring it to the LORD in prayer. No one could get restoration unless they brought the claim to the judge. We have the chief Judge abiding in us. Don’t just assume that because it’s a promise, the LORD will fulfill it. Write the claim, bring it before the LORD, then claim the promise of restoration.

Don’t allow the pits to keep your dead animal; present that dead animal to the LORD along with the pit so that He might take the dead animal, give it to the enemy and give you restoration. When you receive restoration, take note of that pit so that you may never fall into it again.

LORD God, please open my eyes to the pits that have taken my dreams, goals, call, jobs, promotions, relationships, and blessings. Show me all that I’ve lost to these pits, not so that I can be caught up in the past, but so that I might present them to You for restoration. Teach me how to bring my claim before Your Holy Throne in the Courts of Heaven so that I might receive my promise of restoration. Help me to never accept the pits I fall into, but instead, help me get out of those pits and become aware of each pit that tries to entrap me so that I never fall into them again. Thank you for all that You’ve done and all that you are going to do in my life. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ~ Philippians 2:3–4

Looking out for others’ interests over our own interests is easier said than done. We see people as selfish and self-pleasing, trampling on us to get what they want with no remorse or apologies. So, it’s difficult to value those types of people above our own selves. After all, they don’t value us at all. It’s not fair.

Well, it was not fair that Jesus had to come and die such a horrific death in order to save us. It is not about being fair; as someone once said, “Life is not fair.” We do not do it to be fair. We do it because we are commanded to, and if we are obedient, we will gain a great reward. Why suffer for all eternity because we refuse to humble ourselves when if we humble now, we will be free for all eternity? The tradeoff is no comparison.

Is it easy? No, but if we make this a matter of priority and a matter of prayer, it will become easy and will become second nature. As Confucius once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Take it one step at a time. Take it one person at a time, but take the first step and not look back, but pray for strength.

Do not just read devotionals like these or listen to messages like this and think, “Ah, that was good,” but not put it into action. If you would only put things like this into action, you would grow in Christ.

So, this New Year, make it your resolution to grow in Christ. Grow in the things of God, and draw closer to Him every day, so that we will build up treasure in heaven.

Heavenly Father, strengthen us and give us the desire to draw close to You, even if it means we are humiliated because we value others higher than ourselves, even those who place no value on us at all. Help us to bear hardships and trials with the hope of spending eternity with You. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Scripture Reading

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. ⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: ⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; ⁷ rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:3–8

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²⁴ Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” ~ Matthew 16:24

The phrase “dying to self” may not actually be explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures, but it is without a doubt alluded to as a theme throughout the New Testament. It is splashed across the pages printed in both Red Ink and in Black Ink. It is this very thing Jesus was speaking of when He said to deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Him.

It is not a very popular theme because it does very little to generate shouts and amens and does even less to fill the church coffers. It is a hard teaching to implement when we live in a me, me, me generation. From ads to even the churches promote that sort of thinking. There was a time when the Church almost fell into error with the name it and claim it gospel. Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not against the prosperity teaching. I believe God wants us to prosper and be in good health, but it’s only as our souls prosper.

God is more concerned about our souls prospering than for us to be rolling in the dough. Jesus, Himself did not shrink from self-denial, for He Himself took up His cross and was obedient even unto death. If you are going to see great miracles, you must die to self. Meaning you no longer do what pleases you but what pleases God.

It is not that miracles have ended when the last Apostle died, but rather, self-denial ended when the last Apostle died. Christians no longer pray through the night. They no longer pray, period, because they have become way too busy. There is work. There is family life. And then there is, of course, football, basketball, and hockey. We can’t do without our sports. We are a sports family, and Jesus would never want me to miss the big game.

Jesus is, in fact, saying, “Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me. Because I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to Father except by Me.” Now, with that said, how can we not but implement this dying-to-self concept into our lives? We must stop doing what is self-pleasing because it is self-pleasing and be God pleasers because it pleases God, whom we must all stand before, and who will either pardon or condemn.

Father, please help us to be self-deniers and to pick up our cross and follow You. Give us the strength to do want pleasers You and shrink from what is self-pleasing. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.

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⁶ For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that He would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ~ Joshua 5:6

Each and every year, time seems to speed up. Days and nights are getting shorter and shorter. And tonight, at the stroke of midnight, the year will be over, and a new one will begin. If you were to look back at this year in great detail, would you be proud of your actions? Did you achieve your goals? Did you accomplish any of your New Year’s Resolutions? So many of us didn’t do all we had planned to do at the beginning of this year. This was the year so many of us, including myself, said things would be different, but the strongholds of the previous years still have a grip on us. Why?

I believe it’s because we never address the root of our strongholds that keep us from moving forward. So many of us try to put a band-aid over our deep wounds instead of tending to the wound directly. Some of us have spirits of rejection, fear, shame, rebellion, and guilt that keep us from our God-given call. The Israelites were in physical bondage for 400 years. When they were set free from this physical slavery, they walked into physical freedom, still spiritually enslaved. The Israelites were physically free, but they were still in spiritual bondage. Their bondage, their root stronghold, was fear, which was probably even more rooted in rejection.

They were the chosen people, yet they felt rejected by their God, whom they felt had rejected them. This spirit of rejection led to the spirit of fear. Fear caused the Israelites to not only fall back into the slavery of idolatry but also to physically miss out on their promised land. We can only go around the mountain so many times before we run out of time. What if this was your last chance to stop going around the mountain? What if this was your last year to have the opportunity to enter into your promised land? I challenge each and every one of you to look deep within yourself and ask, what’s your root stronghold? What caused it? Then I want you to give it to God. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s our promise from Almighty God that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Therefore, go to the LORD in prayer. Bring an offering of fasting at His feet so that when this new year comes to an end, you won’t look the same. Instead, you will be entering or have entered your promised land.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Out What’s Keeping You Around The Mountain.

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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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