Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture– “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
| Insight: According to the dictionary the term stronghold means the following: “A place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack or a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld.” This term can be used in many different contexts such as military strongholds, political strongholds or ideological strongholds. Someone can have a stronghold on a part of a market in a business context. Someone that you may be infatuated with can have a stronghold over your heart. But from a spiritual and biblical context it has a deeper meaning. It is the areas of our life where our pride is clinging onto that which we have not fully relinquished control of to God. These are the areas that are so hard to let go of because they are of “the world,” “man-centered,” and “proud” areas that the enemy uses to set up pretensions against the authority of God in our lives. They are things that give us a sense of comfort or control. But in order to be truly set free in Christ, we must relinquish all the strongholds in our life that we are still captive to. We must see them as part of a deceptive and manipulative attack by satan to keep us from putting God first and surrendering all areas of our life to Him. The enemy is cunning and patient, and he will seek to gain a toehold, which can grow into a foothold, and then become a stronghold that is very tough for us to overcome. What are some of these areas in your life? For me, they are so granular and hard to untangle, but I do know they exist because they cause friction in my faith walk. They include things like finances, control, lustful thoughts, and my own beliefs themselves, which are only a heartbeat away from being irrelevant anyway. But maybe the biggest stronghold in my life is that I have always liked options. I want choices. Choices make me feel like I am in control, be it on the menu of a restaurant, a career, or how I am going to live my life. But too many choices can lead to paralysis in God’s Kingdom plan for us and so for our benefit, He puts in borders and boundaries. It sounds innocuous on the surface, but when it comes to deep faith, the only 1 option is to follow God’s plan, even when we may not understand it, agree with it or want to participate in it. This is the serious part of Christianity where we must literally learn to die to ourselves and our understanding in order to be set free. This is a very hard and a constant struggle as it is diametrically opposed to everything our flesh yearns for and all that the world teaches us. Many of these thought processes have been embedded in us since childhood, and thus they are strongholds that are hard to eradicate. The ultimate goal is to get to a place like Paul did in his faith where in Philippians 1:21 he was able to proclaim “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Even reading that may make you cringe. If so, it may be another sign of a stronghold that is in desperate need of being removed. In God’s kingdom plan, there is only one way, and it is His way, not ours. Until we fully embrace that, we will never truly be set free. Trust me, I know. I struggle with it every day of my life. Prayer: Father God, help us to demolish the strongholds in our lives that keep us from enjoying your true peace that comes when we have relinquished everything we cling to over to you. You are in control and we are all just a heartbeat away from eternity anyway. Help us to just be thankful for each moment you provide for us, for each breath we take. For all that you put in and take out. You are faithful always. We submit our lives to you afresh today, knowing that in the end, your plan is the best plan and the only one that will truly matter anyway. We pray in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen! |
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