Tag: Breaking Down Strongholds

⁴⁹ I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! ~ Luke 12:49-50

Jesus understood His mission. He understood His call in life. He knew the importance of it to the point that it distressed Him. His call was His focus. It was His North Star, if you will. It led Him back to the Father. It led Him forward to whatever He needed to accomplish. It led Him in every endeavor in life. He understood the urgency of fulfilling that call because He was on fire for God. That fire inside of Him, He wanted to share with the world. He needed to share with the world. It was like it was shut up in His bones, and He had to release it. This is His desire for us.

So, many of us know our call. We can feel it deep within us, but we refuse to chase after it. We refuse to let it direct us. Maybe it’s because of fear. Maybe it’s because of depression, doubt, or anxiety. Maybe we’re battling a sin we don’t feel God can save and redeem us from. Whatever may be blocking and hindering you from fulfilling your call, you have to tear it down. You can’t allow it to overcome you. You have to overcome it. You have to master it so that you can fulfill the call of God at all costs.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Distressed By Your Call.

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¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. ~ Revelation 3:11

Jesus told the Church in Philadelphia to hold fast to what they had so that someone else wouldn’t take their crown from them. So many of us take this warning from Jesus as a warning against someone taking the crown of life from you, but that’s not Jesus’ warning. Paul said that he was certain that no one could remove us from the love of Christ. Therefore, no one could take or seize our salvation from us. Jesus was warning us about someone else taking our blessing, promise, etc. from us. So often, the Church holds on to the false hope of que sera, sera, but this isn’t Biblical. We all have promises, blessings, and favor given to us from the good LORD above, but unless we hold fast to them, unless we claim them, they won’t be given to us.

Moses was a man that was slow of speech and tongue; never is there a claim that he received his healing. Moses was called to go before Pharaoh alone, but Moses allowed his doubt and fear to get the better of him, and his descendants have long since been forgotten. Aaron, who wasn’t a part of the original plan but obeyed as the LORD called, seized Moses’ gift. It was Aaron’s descendants who became the priests and high priests of Israel. His descendants received the legacy that was initially intended for Moses’ descendants.

Your blessings, promises, and God-given favor aren’t just going to fall into your lap. You have to hold on to it by being obedient. You can’t allow any stronghold, whether it be fear, shame, doubt, anxiety, anger, grief, etc., to keep you from being obedient to God because you may just very well miss your good gift from your good Father in Heaven.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hold Fast To What Is Yours.

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²² And David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. ²³ As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him. ²⁴ All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. ²⁵ And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.” ²⁶ And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” ²⁷ And the people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” ²⁸ Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” ²⁹ And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?” ³⁰ And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before. ~ 1 Samuel 17:22-30

Let me give you a little backstory. Goliath had been taunting the army of Israel for the past 40 days. David was at home with his father, tending to the sheep. His father sent him with food for his brothers and the commander. When David arrives, he’s astonished that Israel’s army isn’t fighting against Goliath, who was blaspheming their God. When he brought this to the attention of those around him, only one person was upset and angered by him, his brother Eliab.

Eliab was the eldest son of Jesse. He was the firstborn, and he looked like a king, so much so that Samuel thought it was Eliab that God had chosen to be king when he saw him. But that wasn’t Eliab’s call. Eliab was never meant to be king of Israel; instead, it was his youngest baby brother. And that same youngest baby brother was now pointing out that no one had fought Goliath. Eliab was offended by David’s words. Why? Because Eliab knew deep down, it was his call to defeat Goliath.

Think about it, David wasn’t on the battlefield. He wasn’t even supposed to be there. Goliath had been taunting Israel for 40 days, and no one stepped up. It was then that Jesse sent David with food to check on his brothers. And it was only Eliab who was grieved by David’s questioning. Eliab was meant to be a great warrior, but he missed his call.

Fear could’ve stopped Eliab. The Spirit of Rejection could’ve gripped his heart. Anger could’ve overcame him. Eliab was too busy focusing on the past that he missed his call. He missed his story being told. How many of us miss our call because we’re too busy focusing on the past? We’re too busy desiring someone else’s call that we miss our own call.

God has a plan and call for our lives. We’re all meant to do great things, but if we get caught up in the great things that are for other people, then we’ll miss the great things that are for us. Don’t let the Spirit of Rejection root in you because it will make a way for fear, anger, depression, anxiety, and many other strongholds to come in and overcome you. You have been called. You have a call on your life from the LORD God above.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow Your Call.

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¹ I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ~ John 15:1-5

The bottom in Jesus’ discourse is to abide and “Bear Fruit.” Jesus said that He, Himself was the Vine, and we are the branches. Jesus doesn’t just use any old frivolous analogy here to describe His relationship with us, and ours with Him, and the Father’s obligations in the whole plan of fruit-bearing.

Let me describe the vine for you. The grapevine has a trunk that comes up out of the ground, and then there are two arms of the vine stretching out on each side called canes—a perfect picture of the Crucified Messiah.

Now from the two arms, several shoots grow vertically. Those shoots are the branches that are us, the Christians, the Body of Christ. The growing upwards is a perfect picture of our relationship that we have with Jesus. Our relationship with Him is a vertical one. Our prayers, our intercessions, our requests, they all go upward to Jesus. We even raise our hands upward in worship.

Leaves and grapes only grow from new shoots each year. Therefore, all of the old shoots are cut off and thrown away. This a very good example of the lesson that we cannot live in yesterday’s glory or survive on yesterday’s miracles. We have to keep seeking more. Jesus encouraged His disciples (and us) by telling them that they would do greater things than even He did. Time is so short we can’t afford to dwell in past miracles as if God has stopped working. God is the God of new things. His desire is to continuously do new things in your life until you have become perfected in Christ Jesus.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek New Miracles.

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¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 12:1-2

Your best life is ahead of you, not behind you, so don’t look back, keep looking forward. Living in the past or yearning for the past disrupts your future. God has something better for you, but longing for familiarity, disobedience, and fear can disrupt this future.

There is a little phrase that plagues the whole human race, and that is “What if….” It’s so popular that Matthew West has a song called “What If.” What if I can’t? What if they laugh? What if I look foolish? What if I fail? What if… What if…

You cannot get to where God has for you if you are constantly looking backward. Stop thinking about the wrong decisions you have made in life. You can’t change them. Start thinking about the right decisions that you will make in your future. The past is dead and gone; the future is bright and promising in the LORD.

Here is the thing, if you try walking looking behind you, you cannot walk a straight line. You will stray. You will swerve off. Now look forward at a specific point and walk toward that point; you will be able to walk a straight line.

The bottom line is: As Christians, under no circumstances, are we to look back longingly. Under no circumstances are we to stop regretfully! We are to keep moving forward, not backward, but forward toward the prize that is before us. God has greater things than we can imagine in store for us; run toward those things. Now is not the time for stopping and resting. Now is the time for fighting for and running toward the prize.

LORD God, help me to run the race set before me. Help me to look forward instead of backward so that I might run a straight line to You. Please help me to give You my past so that I can receive my present and, one day, my future. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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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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