Stronghold in Christ or Bondage?

“The Lord is my light and my salvation -
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life -
of whom shall I be afraid?”
(Psalm 27:1)

In “Living Free”, Beth Moore tells us that the word stronghold appears almost 50 times in the OT as opposed to only 1 time in the NT. I am not really sure why that is the case, but in the Old Testament the word stronghold was used to describe places that the Israelites hid from their enemies in. A place of safety. A stronghold is a fortress or a refuge. The definition says it is a “defensible place”. It means ‘to be strong for’ or ‘to be exalted‘. We can use the term stronghold to refer to a wonderful attribute of God.

David tells us in 2 Samuel 22:3 that the Lord is our stronghold and refuge. In this sense, a stronghold is a good thing. When we rely on God to be the place of safety in our lives - the place of rest - then He becomes our stronghold.

But on the flip side, a stronghold can be just what it says. It can by anything that has ‘strong hold’ on our lives and that isn’t always a good thing. It can represent something false in our lives. A false stronghold is something that goes against the very nature of God. It is in direct opposition to the knowledge of God. It tries to be bigger to us than God is. Simply put -stronghold = bondage. It can cause us to be anxious, overwhelmed, defeated and weary. It steals our focus off of the Lord and it can keep us from living the abundant life in Christ that He desires for us.

“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 Cor 10:5)

In order for us to rid ourselves of these false strongholds, we have to rid ourselves of the lies that Satan would have us believe. We have to stand firm in the Truth! The Truth is Jesus.

In order for us to head down the right path we have to listen to the one who has the right directions. If we spend time in God’s Word - the map for our walk - we will have the strength and the knowledge we need to release those strongholds in our lives that are holding us captive.

Let’s trade that stronghold of bondage for a stronghold of freedom in Christ!

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

THANKful Thursday

I love Thankful Thursday and I so appreciate Sonya in her diligence to help us remember to be thankful!

There is so much to be thankful for, I could create a list a mile long.

1. I am so thankful for the birth of Jesus.

“…and she brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS” Matthew 1:25

2. I am thankful for the ministry of Jesus on this earth and the purpose of God who sent Him.

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” Luke 19:10

3. I am thankful that after Jesus was crucified on that cross for our sins, that he was resurrected after 3 days, just as He predicted.

“But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” Luke 24:2-3

4. I am thankful that because of Jesus, there is a way for us to inherit eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

5. I am thankful for the promise of His Word, that He will return one day to take us home with Him for eternity.

“He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:20

I Surrender All

All to Jesus, I surrender.
All to Him I freely give.
I will ever love and trust Him.
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all.
I surrender all.
All to thee my blessed Savior.
I surrender all.

How many times have we sung this hymn at church and not really focused on the words we are saying? So many times, we are just singing words from our mouth and not letting those words penetrate our hearts.

Do we even know the definition of the word surrender?

1. To declare yourself defeated.
2. To give up possession of something.
3. To relinquish control

When we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we should be totally surrendered to Him. Most of us will SAY this is true of our lives, but when we get right down to it, we are far from surrendered. I think that it is something that we have to do on a day to day basis. Surrender doesn’t come easy. It’s a battle that we have to keep fighting.

When we lift our hands toward Jesus as we sing praises - we are in the posture of surrender. Hands held high. Humble. But it’s more than just an outward expression that creates a surrendered heart. It’s that inward attitude that truly denotes the humility associated with surrender.

* We have to declare ourselves defeated. We have to admit that without Christ, we are defeated by sin.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus" Romans 6:23

* We have to give up possession of our own lives. We belong to Jesus. We are His.

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His Name” John 1:12

* We have to relinquish control. God is in control.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” Proverbs 19:21

If we want to live productive and fruitful lives, we have to come to that place of total surrender in Christ. He is our creator. He is the author and perfector of our faith. He is the one who determines our steps. We are at His mercy - under His authority - dependant upon His provision.

I confess that I need to take “me” out of the equation. I desire total surrender to Christ. Without Him, I would be nothing. Everything I am is because of His mercy and grace upon my life. I want to approach Him with hands held high - head bowed low - heart overflowing with gratitude and praise.

Are we Sowing the right Seed?

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Galations 6:7

Whatever we sow.. we will reap.

If we are sowing things of the flesh, we will reap corruption.

If we are sowing things of the Spirit, we will reap everlasting life.

When we sow to the flesh, we are basically promoting our own sinful, corrupt nature and that is in direct opposition to God. We will reap physical, moral and spiritual ruin.

When we sow to the Spirit, we are seeking after those things which are pure, holy and right. We are promoting Godliness and Truth. We will reap physical, moral and spiritual wholeness. Everlasting life.

If we want to sow to the Spirit, we have to equip ourselves with the right seed.

The Word of God is that seed and we have to read it, study it, treasure it, know it and share it. Luke 8 tells us that we must take the Word of God and protect it, hide it in our hearts so that it can't be snatched away.

We can't reap the things of the Spirit if we aren't planting the right seed. That is God's Word and God's Word will never let us down. If we are doing the things that He teaches in His Word, we can't fail. When God is the reason we do what we do - we can't go wrong. If we keep our eyes on Him and we are seeking after those things which are about Him, we will be sowing the right seed!

And when we are sowing the right seed, we will bear fruit. The right fruit. Good fruit. Spiritual fruit.

"By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples.' John 15:8

Lord, I want to sow the things of the Spirit. Your Spirit, Lord. I want to bear fruit for your kingdom. For your Glory. Thank you for your Word. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you for eternal life.

He Hears Me

This past week has been a stressful one. Let's face it - life can just be stressful. I've always thought that I handled stress fairly well. I don't get overly anxious and can usually keep myself calm over situations that are out of my control.

I had my yearly check-up Thursday and when they took my blood pressure, it was 135/96. They took it 3 times just to make sure with 3 different machines. My b/p has never been that high. He advised me to follow-up the next day with my regular doctor, which I did on Friday. Of course, by the time I got there, I had gotten myself all worked up over it and it was 150/96! Not a good sign. Added just a little more stress to my day. I go back Monday and if it is still elevated he said we would talk about medication.

I am a pretty small person, so he said he wasn't weight related. My diet could be better. I do need to exercise more. Ok... I need to exercise a lot more. Ok... I need to exercise period! But basically he said it's just a case of bad genetics. My father died of a heart attack at the age of 58. My grandfather had his first heart attack when he was only 40. This has really disturbed me and left me just a little unsettled.

I don't feel stressed, but we all know that our lives are busy and hectic and work can be busy and hectic and then we feel the pressure of it all.

I turned to the Psalms last night and began focusing on this:

"In my distress, I cried to the Lord. And he heard me." Psalm 120:1

Praise God that when I am in distress I can call upon His Holy name. I can cry out to my Lord. Abba Father! I can look to the one who gave me the best genetics of all! And... He hears me. Oh, praise His name that He hears my cry. I know that when He hears me, He will send me the comfort that I need.

He calms my fears.
He settles my soul.
He hears.
He responds.
He covers.

Thank you Lord that you are my help.