Tag: Breaking Down Strongholds

⁶ But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. ~ James 4:6^CSB

Shame enters us when we dwell in sin and are conscious of it. To combat this shame ourselves, we become prideful. We try to justify our own sin and force others to accept and affirm it as well. If anyone protests or disagrees, that shame (fueled by pride) comes to the surface and gives birth to anger.

Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.

Uncle Iroh

Only when we humble ourselves before the LORD will our sins be washed clean and the power of shame broken within us. Pride gives shame its power, but humility uproots shame and destroys it. Shame cannot stand when we dwell in the perfect love of God that can only be accessed through humbling ourselves before our God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Combat With Humility.

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³ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful, ⁴ Joseph found favor with his master and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority. ~ Genesis 39:3-4^CSB

Joseph was sold as a slave by his own brothers to Ishmaelite traders. They went on to sell him to Potiphar, an Egyptian. Joseph could have easily been bitter and refused to work. We would have understood. His own flesh and blood, his big brothers who were supposed to protect him and love him, sold him into slavery. He could’ve mumbled and grumbled at God for allowing this to happen to him when all he did was share the dreams God had given him with his brothers. Joseph didn’t do that, though.

There’s no account of Joseph lashing out at his brothers for selling him or to God for allowing it to happen. There’s no account of Joseph being bitter and allowing it to stop him from achieving whatever he set out to do. Because of this, the LORD blessed all that Joseph did. God’s hand on Joseph was so noticeable that Potiphar promoted Joseph from lowly slave to his personal assistant, putting him in charge of everything he owned, including his home.

The Devil will try to use people closest to us to try to break us down. He’ll have older siblings that you look up to and just want approval from to discourage you and break you down with their words. He’ll use a parent’s busy schedule or misunderstanding of a situation to break you down. All of this with the hope that a root of bitterness will rise up in you and keep you from fulfilling your destiny.

But here’s the thing, only you can stop your destiny from coming to fruition. No one else. So, take a page out of Joseph’s book and keep your trust in the God who sees you. The God who is with you always. If you continue on and refuse to let bitterness build up in you, then the LORD will bless you regardless of what land you’re currently in.

Dear LORD, please teach me not to grow the root of bitterness within me. Help me to uproot and destroy any tree of bitterness that has already made its way into my heart. Help me to forgive those that I feel have wronged me. Help me to let go of past hurts and pains. Teach me to move forward and cling to Your promises and good plans for me above all else. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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³⁴ Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright. ~ Genesis 25:34^CSB

Esau came in from these fields, and he was famished. Jacob was cooking down a nice-smelling lentil stew. Feeling his belly growl, Esau went over to ask for a bowl, but Jacob said not until you sell me your birthright. Esau replied, “What good is a birthright to when I’m about to die from starvation.” Jacob said swear to me, and Esau did.

Now look at what the text says, “He ate, drank, got up, and went away.” He got up and went away. Never giving another thought to his birthright nor to the consequences of his decision. Because he sold his birthright so cheaply, without a thought or regret, because he held so little value for his birthright, so he was considered to have despised what was rightfully his. Then, when it came to the blessing, he sought it with tears, but to no avail.

The same is true of our birthright, the new birth, the one Jesus purchased with His own blood. When we despise salvation by our words, our actions, or even in our thoughts, we despise our birthright.

One day soon, Jesus is coming back to get us, and if we are found to have despised our birthright, although we seek it with tears, it will be too late. The time is now, the opportunity is here for us to be like Jacob, who saw the value of the birthright and sought it with all his heart, and he received both the birthright and the blessing.

Dear Heavenly Father, I humble myself before You to receive all that You have for me. Help me never to despise my birthright, nor snub my blessings, nor downplay Your importance in my life. Please forgive me for all the times that I did, consciously and subconsciously. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹⁰ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ~ Matthew 3:10

The Pharisees and Sadducees were all in the Church, so to speak, but they did not obey the LORD Jesus’ commandments. Therefore, John the Baptist told them that even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Listen, if you are not bearing good fruit, you will be cut down and thrown into the fire, the eternal fire and torment. And John did not leave it to misinterpretation or misunderstanding by saying fruit. No, he did not. He said good fruit, not just any old fruit.

We have to always honestly self-judge and self-evaluate so that we can be sure we’re bringing good fruit before the LORD. We have to make sure that we are willing to uproot any tree that doesn’t bear good fruit. See, many Christians just want to shave the tree down, but few are actually willing to uproot the entire tree that they might find total freedom.

We let the root of bitterness spring up which causes us troubles and thereby defiles us (Hebrews 12:15). Some people are satisfied to simply shave down some branches, but they never uproot the tree in order to get to the root cause of the problem altogether. In other words, the problem never gets rooted out.

I declare to you right now that you cannot live any old way you want. You cannot continue to live in sin and debauchery and expect the LORD Jesus to overlook your blatant disrespect and rebellion. God will only accept good fruit, so plant good seed. Water it. Nurture it. And uproot all trees that bear bad fruit.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Uproot and Plant.

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⁴ You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ~ Exodus 20:4-6

Stanley Yelnats family has a generational curse. The curse went from generation to generation to generation. Even the story of the origin of the curse was passed down, but no one ever tried to send the curse. The curse was finally broken by the great great great grandson of the man who brought the curse upon his family. He didn’t even do it intentionally, but because he knew the past, he was able to make a better future.

See, many of us have generational curses passed down to us from no fault of our own. These generational curses keep us from wholly fulfilling the will of God because they keep us trapped in one place in our lives or another. We can see certain strongholds afflict generation after generation in certain families. One plagued with alcoholism, another with fear, and another with homelessness and poverty, another with the inability to finish anything. Generational Curses are passed down from generation to generation through the mindset of its victims.

Breaking generational curses starts with the acknowledgment and identifying of them. Some are broken with just repentance, while others may take intense fasting and praying to break. One thing is the same in each situation, every stronghold can be broken, and every open door can be closed in Jesus’ name.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Break Generational Curses.

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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

As a woman, it’s very easy to buy into the so-called struggle women have. Self-oppression is one of the most detrimental things we can do to ourselves. Why? Because it causes us to be our own worst enemy. When we are self-oppressed, we see oppression and hatred everywhere we look. We create obstacles that hold us back and keep us from fulfilling the call God has for our lives. We also begin to twist the world around us, even the Scriptures, in order to make ourselves feel better. To ease the wound that we’ve created in ourselves.

I’ve seen many women and feminist men who’ve bought into female oppression proclaim loudly that God is either both male and female or only female. I don’t understand this. I can’t relate. Are there times I feel like men look down on me because I’m a woman? Sure, but those times are few and far between. There’s always going to be people who don’t like us because of something that we can’t change about ourselves, whether it’s our race, sex, height, nationality. There’s always going to be haters, but their opinion doesn’t matter. We don’t try to change God in order to ease the wounds that we create or that others create in us. We allow God to change us. We invite God into our lives so that He can show us who we are in Him. God’s desire for us is for our good. Therefore, He’s the only voice that we can trust and believe when it comes to defining who we are and what our worth is.

Dear LORD, thank You for saving my soul. Thank You that You see a creation worthy of Your time in me. Thank You that my worth and identity aren’t found in the world or even in my own opinions of myself, but that my worth and identity are found in You. Because in You I’m a new creation, the old has passed away, and the new has come. Please help me to never lose sight of who I am in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, ⁶ being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. ~ 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

I remember being a kid and watching the movie, Penelope. The movie was all about a rich family who had brought a curse on themselves because of how they mistreated a poor servant girl. The curse could only be broken if one of their own accepted the next daughter who was born into the family. The catch was that the daughter would be born with a face like a pig. Throughout the movie, the mother tries to find a high-society man to marry her daughter. Failure after failure, the movie finally ends with the girl accepting and loving herself and breaking the curse. The mother then comes to the realization that if she had just loved her daughter, the curse would’ve been broken from the moment she was born.

Many of us have generational curses that can be broken with the simple act of either forgiveness or love. So many of us are living our lives bound and in pain because of something that we ourselves didn’t even do. It’s true that where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom, but not every single curse is broken at the moment of repentance and acceptance of Christ. Sometimes, there are things we have to deal with and address. Sometimes, there are spirits that we have to remove from our lives. When we start breaking down strongholds and tearing down words spoken over us in the name of Jesus, that’s when we begin to see a change in our lives, and we have freedom.

Dear LORD, please help me to tear down all of the strongholds in my life. Help me to break every generational curse that has kept me down. Tear down every evil word spoken about me and to me. Help me to find complete and total freedom in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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