Tag: Breaking Down Strongholds

“Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre,” ~ Genesis 25:9

Even though Ishmael and Hagar were sent away, Ishmael came and buried his father with his brother. Even though he was sent away by his father’s wife with his father’s permission, he didn’t allow that to stop him from burying his father. He didn’t allow that to stop him from multiplying and becoming great as his blessing promised. He didn’t allow anything to stop him. Imagine if we had that mindset. Imagine if we forgave and moved on. What would The Church be capable of?

We hold on to the past too much. We allow the past to keep us held up. We allow the past to keep us from our future. Ishmael was sent away by his own father, yet he came back, and he honored his father. He fulfilled his destiny. He did not let hurt and pain hold him back, but instead, he forgave. He let go. He moved forward. He overcame.

If we overcame as Ishmael did, we would see the glory of God in our day as in the day of Jesus. It was promised to us, but how long will it take us to attain this promise? We must break the strongholds of hurt, pain, suffering, anger, rejection, etc. if we ever want to move forward. We must break the strongholds of depression, pessimism, distrust, etc. if we ever want to attain the promise.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Like Ishmael.

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“²⁴ Lazy people take food in their hand but don’t even lift it to their mouth.” ~ Proverbs 19:24^NLT

We have been given Salvation, but it doesn’t end there. We don’t just accept Salvation and then stop. Our Salvation is like the ocean, and we are like the White Shark. The shark needs water to live, as we need Salvation to spiritually live. The ocean was given to the shark freely as Salvation was freely given to us, but if that shark stops swimming, it will die. We are the same way, if we stop moving in our faith, if we stop studying scripture, if we stop praying, if we stop having quiet time, if we stop worshiping, if we stop swimming, we will spiritually die.

Salvation was given to us freely, just as the ocean was given to the shark freely. Still, if we don’t swim, if we don’t keep moving in our faith, we won’t get anything out of our Salvation, and we will spiritually die. Many of us have become lazy Christians, God gave us His word as our food, yet we are too lazy to even lift it to our mouths. We’re too lazy to read our Bible. We’re too lazy to pray. We’ve become spiritual couch potatoes and don’t even realize it. We’re drowning in our own Salvation, and we don’t even see it.

God gave us everything we need to live; all we have to do is keep moving. We have to remember Paul’s words, ‘don’t grow tired of doing good.’ Why? Because it is our lifeline. That’s how we get oxygen from our Salvation. Faith without works is dead as works without faith is dead. We need both to live.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Just Keep Swimming.

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“¹ What sorrow awaits you who lounge in luxury in Jerusalem,and you who feel secure in Samaria! You are famous and popular in Israel, and people go to you for help. ² But go over to Calneh and see what happened there. Then go to the great city of Hamath and down to the Philistine city of Gath. You are no better than they were, and look at how they were destroyed. ³ You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer. ⁴ How terrible for you who sprawl on ivory beds and lounge on your couches, eating the meat of tender lambs from the flock and of choice calves fattened in the stall. ⁵ You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy yourselves to be great musicians like David. ⁶ You drink wine by the bowlful and perfume yourselves with fragrant lotions. You care nothing about the ruin of your nation. ⁷ Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your parties will end.” ~ Amos 6:1-7^NLT

The people of Jerusalem had become apathetic. Israel had fallen into sin, and the LORD warned them, but the people in Jerusalem continued living their lives as if nothing was happening. The rest of Israel looked at them as leaders, yet they didn’t lead by example. They continued living their lives however they wanted. They didn’t care about what was coming but instead only focused about the present. Today, we focus solely on the present. If it isn’t affecting us at that moment, then we don’t care. We aren’t bothered by it. We ignore it and continue living our lives. We allow people who have no reverence for God to run our countries, our states, our cities, and it is not until the day judgment comes that we care.

God told the people of Jerusalem because they didn’t care, they didn’t try to better the land, they didn’t try to lead by example, but continued in their  acts of vanity , they would be the first ones led away as captives. When we stop caring about the laws of the land, and we start placing being Politically Correct above being Biblically Correct, we are dooming ourselves and our nation. And as punishment, we will be the first to suffer. It’s the rights of Christians that will be and have been taken away first. Open your eyes and break from your spiritual chains of apathy, because it only leads to one place, captivity.

As the LORD gave Israel time to repent, God has given us time to repent. So, don’t continue your everyday life as if nothing is happening, instead get down on your knees and pray. Pray for your country. Pray for your president that he may follow the will of God. Pray for your senators, your leaders that they may make just laws. Pray for your governors that they may lead their state in the ways of the LORD. Pray for revival in your cities. Don’t just look blindly away from the warning from God. We have been given time to repent and cleanse our land. The question is, will we repeat history, or will we break the chains of The Spirit of Apathy and cleanse our land of sin.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Break The Chains of The Spirit of Apathy.

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“¹⁵ Esther 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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“¹⁴ But Amnon wouldn’t listen to her, and since he was stronger than she was, he raped her. ¹⁵ Then 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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