Breaking Strongholds

Breaking Strongholds

We live in this world, but we don’t act like its people or fight our battles with the weapons of this world. Instead, we use God’s power that can destroy fortresses. We destroy arguments and every bit of pride that keeps anyone from knowing God. We capture people’s thoughts and make them obey Christ.

– II Corinthians 10:3-5

STRONGHOLD: Anything that exalts itself against God’s Word.  It contradicts the Truth.  It contradicts what God says about you.  It goes against the will of God for your life!

a)      A stronghold begins with a thought, or two or three.

b)      A negative thought unchecked…leads to vain imaginations…and that’s how strongholds are born.

How to Break Strongholds:

1. Go to the source—your thought life.

Proverbs 23:7- For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.

a)      We have to evaluate our thought life.  What wrong thoughts have  we accepted and believed that led to this stronghold?

2. Let go of the past pain.

Isaiah 43:18-19 Do not remember the things that have happened before. Do not think about the things of the past. See, I will do a new thing. It will begin happening now. Will you not know about it? I will even make a road in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

a)      FORGET the past!

b)      Don’t DWELL on it anymore!

c)      This is a NEW day!

3. Control your thoughts.

Ephesians 6:12-13 Our fight is not with people. It is against the leaders and the powers and the spirits of darkness in this world. It is against the demon world that works in the heavens. ¹³ Because of this, put on all the things God gives you to fight with. Then you will be able to stand in that sinful day. When it is all over, you will still be standing.

a)       Take every thought CAPTIVE and make it obedient to Christ.

b)       We have to deliberately choose what we allow our minds to dwell on.

c)       Decide Right Now:

d)      I am finished with this battle!

e)       I’m not fighting this stronghold the rest of my life!

f)        I am not going to let suicidal thoughts get the best of me!

g)       I am not going to allow poverty to reign in my life!

h)       I am not going to allow bitterness to control my life!

i)         Divine Weapons To Demolish Negative Thoughts—You Have:

j)         The Word of God

k)       The Name of Jesus

l)         Power and Authority over Satan

m)     At The First Sign Of A Negative Thought:

1. Stop and acknowledge that the thought is not from God.

2. Make a decision: I am not going to take Satan’s bait! I am not going to dwell on this

ungodly thought.

3. Resist Satan in the Name of Jesus!

4. Replace that thought with God’s thoughts about you.

a)     Don’t identify yourself with tempting thoughts.

b)     Instead of turning on yourself and attacking your self-esteem when thoughts come—turn

it around and attack the lies!  Deal with the real culprit that is a lie of Satan.

4. Be PERSISTENT!

A stronghold doesn’t develop overnight.   So you have to be consistent and persistent until you see the victory

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Unconditional Love

Definition of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

1: not conditional or limited : absolute, unqualified, Complete Love

“Then the world will know that you [God the Father] sent me [Jesus Christ] and will understand that you love them as much as you love me” (John 17:23, NLT).

Did you catch that? God loves you as much as He loves Jesus! That’s almost too much to even comprehend!

Scripture records that God’s love “never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]” (1 Corinthians 13:8, AMP). His love for you can never weaken. It’s impossible. His love for you isn’t based on your behavior but on His faithfulness.

God’s love for us is so all encompassing that we simply cannot comprehend its scope.

“For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, the voice).

Why did God give Jesus? The answer is simple: to purchase us back. In Genesis Adam gave himself, and consequently all his offspring (including you and me), to a new lord when he heeded Satan. Adam disobeyed God and separated himself and his descendants from Him. But since God loved each of us so much, He wasn’t willing to assign us the same fate as Satan and his angels.

God purchased our relationship back with Him by giving Jesus in our place. Jesus paid the complete price for mankind’s disobedience to God. He took our judgment.

The price of our soul is so expensive that nothing else could have bought us back besides Jesus Himself. “God bought you with a high price” (1 Corinthians 6:20, NLT). “Visualize this: His blood freely flowing down the cross, setting us free! We are forgiven for our sinful ways by the richness of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7, the voice translation).

No person or thing is more valuable to God than Jesus. Yet, God saw our value equal to that of what He prized most. Now here is the amazing thing If you and I had been worth one cent less to God than the value of His Son, He wouldn’t have purchased us because God would never make an unprofitable deal. (Recall the above scripture, “God bought you with a high price.”) A bad purchase is when you give something of more value for something of less value.

In God’s eyes, Jesus’ value is the same as yours! Do you see how important you are to God? This is why Jesus prays, “You love them as much as you love me” (John 17:23, NLT).

How Do You Trust God?

It’s easy to say, “Give your cares to God and trust Him” when everything in life seems to be going well.  It’s easy to say, “I trust you God with everything I have” when bills are paid on time and when you just got a promotion at work.

However, if God striped you of everything you own; If God told you to leave the very job that’s paying your bills, will you trust the Lord enough to do it?  Will you trust God even when you don’t understand; even when life hurts?  If God told you to leave the familiar and enter the unfamiliar, will you trust Him?

For many of us, God has done just that.  He has taken you from what’s “oh so familiar” and redirected our paths into the unfamiliar.  Where we don’t understand what’s happening in our life; what to do or where to go.  The only thing we know is that the Lord gave us a “word” (instruction, a promise, vision, etc) and the only thing we have to hold on to is that word.

For me, when I began to feel a stirring I started to seek and waited on God for a while. In my mind, I wanted  him to show me the path ahead of me and to show the type of path, is it good?, is a plain sailing one or is it a difficult one? In my thinking, I thought if the path that God showed me is a good one, then I would walk in it.

Isn’t that how we always think, we are so afraid of making mistakes?

Isn’t this the type of mind-set that we have? Every time when we are at a crossroad, we want to know that whether we are going to take a gold trodden path ahead of us and we want an assurance that the path that we set out to take will be peaceful and plain sailing. Right? We wanted to know that the path ahead for the future would be rosy before we stepped out and walked towards that goal.

Isn’t this what you visualize, because I definitely visualize it this way!!

I didn’t want to make any mistakes, I didn’t want to walk a difficult road, I didn’t want to have troubles, heartaches and worries, anxieties and any complications. I didn’t want to waste any time.

You know what God began to show me?  Instead of showing which path I should take, told me “Step out and walk, and walk in faith and a Path will open unto you “. He reminded me that just like the Israelite’s when they crossed the Red Sea, the Red Sea was not opened all the way to the bank on the other side that they could see.  As they took the next step they began to see farther in front of them as they walked out in faith, step by step, the path to the other bank was becoming more visible.

I believe sometimes, God will place you in a situation where you have to trust Him and He’ll give you piece by piece as you obey and trust Him. Everyday I’m learning that you may not understand life and all that’s happening; but God will give you a piece to the puzzle as you learn to step out on faith, trust and obey him.

Today, I still don’t know where he is leading me, but what I do know is that I’ll trust him and I’ll go where he says go.

The Wall I Keep Running Into…

Have you ever felt like you were running into a brick wall? Have you ever said “God why can’t I get passed this wall?” Have you given up because the wall seemed so big? Have you thought “God what am I doing wrong! that I can’t get over this wall?!?!?!”

I’ve felt that way this past week, and I couldn’t see how to get past it, and I’ve learned I was looking at my situation all wrong, I was to busy looking down and defeated, I was to busy looking at the wall in front of me thinking I can’t do this, I until I read Joshua.

In the book of Joshua chapter 6, it talks about the Israelite and how God told them they were going to overtake the city of Jericho. Many of us are very familiar with this story. But this week as I read it, and I’ve been facing this wall not knowing how to get over it, this is what came to me.

The City of Jericho was a city that was completely surrounded by a wall it was completely fortified, and the bible says that no one could go in to it and no one could come out of it. Now here is the part I love God said the the Israelite, But I will give you the land! I will give you Jericho, the king and all the mighty men of valor. You know what that says to us? That no matter how impossible it may seem and no matter how high that wall may seem to be. If God says i’m giving it to you than he means I’m giving it to you.

The Next thing that happens in the chapter God begins to tell them how to over take Jericho. But instead of telling them that he wants them to get on the weaponry they have and instead of telling them he wants them to get all the men they could get to over take the city. Instead of man made things he tells them this I want you to go and just walk around the wall for six days straight and than on the seventh day he said I want you to walk around seven times. Now here is the thing he said the priest will carry the Ark of the covenant Which represents the presence of GOD, you see that is the thing that will give them victory is the presence of God will go before them. Its not by might, It’s not by power BUT its by HIS SPIRIT that we will overtake and that we will overcome!

Now this is the last part! And than God tells them after you have walked around the walls of Jericho, now he doesn’t tell them to go some where and sit down and be quiet. The bible says that he told them to lift up the trumpets and the horns, and than he tells them I want you to SHOUT! I Want you to SHOUT!!! I want you to SHOUT for the VICTORY! I want you to SHOUT before you SEE it. I want you to SHOUT before you know how its gonna work out! I want you to SHOUT now and the WALL will come DOWN.
We need SHOUT for our Victory, it’s time for us to SHOUT unto GOD with the voice of TRIUMPH because he is giving us the victory.

Christian Coffee House Menu

If I ever have a coffee shop this is what the menu will look like.. 🙂

1.) Muffin but the blood
2.) The scone was rolled away
3.) Jesus loves you a latte
4.) Amazing crepes
5.) Holy Toast
6.) Unto the least of cheese Danish
7.) Eggs Benediction
8.) Come just as you orange Julius
9.) The Good Shepherd’s pie
10) Noah’s two by tuna sandwich
11) Every knee shall bow tie pasta
12) Serve the Lord with all humili-tea
13) Fire and brimstone ground grits
14) Forbidden Fruit Cup
15) The Garden tomb salad
16) Hot cross buns
17) Holy bottled water
18) Just as I ham sandwich
19) Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s salad
21) Thou shalt not steel cut oatmeal
22) Here is your fearfully and wonderfully made latte!
23) Fresh fruit of the Spirit
24) Rolled away the Scone
25) Locust & honey croissant
26) Jehovah Java

Leave The Past Behind

Stop
dwelling on past events
and brooding over times gone by;
I am doing
something new;
it’s springing up – cant’ you see it?
I am making a road in
the desert,
rivers in the wasteland.

– Isaiah 43:18-19

Reading this Scripture I knew that God wanted me to understand that He was indeed doing something new in my life. In fact I had heard those verses before and really liked the idea of His doing something new that He would make a way for me where it looked dry and wasted. But this time I knew He wanted me to see verse 18 and that the two verses really did go together. That got me to thinking.

I didn’t need to ask if I really was dwelling on past events. I was the queen of brooding over times gone by. When the God brought this to my attention there were a few things that I found interesting. First of all, whenever I would start dwelling on past events, on wrongs done to me or on wrongs that I had done to others, I would start to relive the feelings of the past and get angry, depressed, you name it. If I had either forgiven or asked for forgiveness, then I was purposely going back to the filth of those sins and wallowing in them probably not such a good thing to do. Then there’s the word “brooding.” Now, some people use that word to mean fuss or fume over something, but this is the same word that the God uses in Genesis when He says that the Spirit of the Lord was brooding over the face of the deep during creation. There is a sense of care and nurturing attached with this word. Was I really caring for and nurturing my feelings of pain and frustration that are attached with those times gone by? You bet I was! Lastly, if I really was dwelling on past events and brooding over times gone by, if my attention was focused there, could I really see the newness that the Lord was bringing to my life? Very simply, it was extremely difficult to do so because my attention was not on the Lord.

God is indeed doing new things in our lives. He wants to bring us to new places of intimacy with Him. He wants to heal us emotionally, physically, and spiritually. But we have to cooperate, let go of what lies in the past, focus our attention on the Lord, and be amazed at what He does for us!

Wake Up..

In the book of Job, as God speaks from a whirlwind, he sets up his challenging “conversation” to Job by sayng “Brace yourself like a man!” Lately through reading scriptures from Job 38-40, having dreams about what will happen in the earth, and is already happening, some, and through prophecy, it’s like the Lord is saying to the church, “!” We have to get ready for what God is about to do, and what he might allow in our nation and in the world. He knows the time and season, Jesus is longing for his bride. And the earth (and the true church) is longing for Jesus…Beloved, the time is NOW to allign our hearts with the will of the Father. To pray in the spirit. To be bold and obedient. To declare with heaven, the glory of God on the earth. HOLINESS UNTO JESUS! The Lord shared with me last year, that he was raising up a generation who’s only cry is “Holiness unto the Lord!” and that he wanted to raise up a “Matthew 5” generation. ARE YOU AWAKE TO THAT? Are you listening to the voice of God or the echo of others? (even “Christians”) In Psalm 103:7, it says,”He revealed His CHARACTER to Moses and His DEEDS to the people of Israel.” Remember when the Israelites did not want to seek God “face to face,” but just allowed Moses (their “Pastor,” so to speak…) to hear from God for them? Well, they missed out on a beautiful treasure, an intimate knowledge of WHO GOD WAS…what He was really like, and could have pleased him a lot better if they had known for themselves. Yes, they saw miracles and provision, God’s “deeds,” but Moses got to see God’s “Character!” Are YOU willing to climb the mountain of His presence? Are you hungry to know God for yourself? To hear his secrets? To know what he’s like and how to please him? DO YOU WANT TO BE CHANGED until your very face shines? It won’t happen through a second-hand experience or a “hand-me-down” word. It will only happen when yousee God for yourself. Don’t settle…Don’t run away from God. Run TO him. get alone with Him and pour your heart out. Climb that mountain and stay there until he reveals himself to you. “Jesus give us eyes to see your beauty and ears to hear your voice. We don’t just seek your hand, we seek your face!” Time is short. Walk close to Him and heed his instructions. Be ready! “Brace yourself like a man.” He’s coming. You will see signs and wonders in the earth. You will feel the earth trembling. Let the Lord shake your spirit as he will shake this earth. Some of the “shaking” you will see, is God, shaking our nation(s) by the shoulders out of sleep, with his own hands saying “WAKE UP!” God is calling for true worship. SOUND THE ALARM! Isaiah 58:1…

Jesus Resume

Address: Ephesians 1:20
Phone: Romans 10:13
Website: The Bible.  Keywords: Christ, Lord, Savior and Jesus Hello.

My name is Jesus -The Christ. Many call me Lord! I’ve sent you my resume’ because I’m seeking the top management position in your heart. Please consider my accomplishments as set forth in my resume’.

Qualifications:

I founded the earth and established the heavens, (See Proverbs 3:19)
I formed man from the dust of the ground, (See Genesis 2:7)
I breathed into man the breath of life, (See Genesis 2:7)
I redeemed man from the curse of the law, (See Galatians 3:13)
The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant comes upon your life through me, (See Galatians 3:14) Occupational

Background:

I’ve only had one employer, (See Luke 2:49).
I’ve never been tardy, absent, disobedient, slothful or disrespectful.
My employer has nothing but rave reviews for me, (See Matthew 3:15-17)

Skills Work Experiences:

Some of my skills and work experiences include: empowering the poor to be poor no more, healing the brokenhearted, setting the captives free, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind and setting at liberty them that are bruised, (See Luke 4:18).
I am a Wonderful Counselor, (See Isaiah 9:6). People who listen to me shall dwell safely and shall not fear evil, (See Proverbs 1:33).
Most importantly, I have the authority, ability and power to cleanse you of your sins, (See I John 1:7-9)

Educational Background

I encompass the entire breadth and length of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, (See Proverbs 2:6).
In me are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, (See Colossians 2:3).
My Word is so powerful; it has been described as being a lamp unto your feet and a lamp unto your path, (See Psalms 119:105).
I can even tell you all of the secrets of your heart, (See Psalms 44:21).

Major Accomplishments

I was an active participant in the greatest Summit Meeting of all times, (See Genesis 1:26).
I laid down my life so that you may live, (See II Corinthians 5:15).
I defeated the archenemy of God and mankind and made a show of them openly, (See Colossians 2:15).
I’ve miraculously fed the poor, healed the sick and raised the dead!
There are many more major accomplishments, too many to mention here. You can read them on my website, which is located at: www dot – the BIBLE. You don’t need an Internet connection or computer to access my website.

References

Believers and followers worldwide will testify to my divine healings, salvation, deliverance, miracles, restoration and supernatural guidance

In Summation

Now that you’ve read my resume’, I’m confident that I’m the only candidate uniquely qualified to fill this vital! position in your heart. In summation, I will properly direct your paths, (See Proverbs 3:5-6), and lead you into everlasting life, (See John 6:47). When can I start? Time is of the essence, (See Hebrews 3:15).

The Tough Season

Ref: Luke 8:43-48, Mark 5:25-34

There was a woman in the bible who had been dealing with the issue of blood for 12 years, when she hears about this saving king this man of God who is in her town and rumors where the only way to get things around back than, just by word of mouth, of what was going on in the city. She had got word that this man of God was doing healing; he was healing people, raising people from the dead, casting out demons. He was doing things that they hadn’t seen or even heard of. She decided that day, that this was going to be the day of her healing. I cant even imagine being in her shoes at that time, because during that time, because the condition that she had during that time was called being unclean, and most people with that condition had to stay outside the city gates, they weren’t even allowed inside, they couldn’t be a normal person everybody had to know what happened, everyone had to know… Some of us are in situations like this it may not be 12 years it may 30 years, 5 years, 2 months, maybe only 12 days. There’s a Savior, who not just in the “business” about us just hearing about him saving our lives, that’s the most important thing… there’s some of us who love God you’ve been serving him, but you have dealt with something for a long time that has kept you from truly loving God, Loving people, it effects everything you do, it effects your worship it effects the way you live your life. Jesus wants to remind us he is in control he is so faithful in Ephesians 3 it says there is nothing to big for God, nothing!.. We hear that and we think that’s nice for my neighbor, “pat on the back”, we walk away thinking it doesn’t apply to me but it applies to each of us every one of use each and every one of us. Sometimes we go through those seasons of just UGH…how many times do we go through those places where we are just broken even hope deferred.. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.. Sometimes there stuff in our heart, things that God wants us to let go of.. we have to lay those things down at times to take on who God says who we are and not walk regret and not walk in places of being hopeless because he gives us hope. God is in the pursuit of us walking in the freedom the anointing and the authority that we have because his son Jesus. We get to win, Satan doesn’t get to win, he’s a liar.. We should get up every morning and just kick him in the teeth.. but we let ourselves believe lies we have lived in these lies for years and years and years, and I pray that you get a revelation that God is for you and not against you he says he will never leave us nor for sake us, Just like the lady in the bible she decided you know what I may not be allowed to go into the city, I may have believed that I am this way or that way because of what people had said but tonight that doesn’t matter, that day she decided I don’t care what people say, I don’t care what people think I don’t care I don’t care I am going I am going after my Healing!.. I’m coming after this savior I’m gonna go and I’m going to find him and I’m going to press in and im not going to give up, She didn’t give up when she seen how many people were there needing something from this God, she came and she pressed in until she got her healing that day, the bible says the moment she got her healing the lord knew, and he said to her woman you are healed because of the faith in your heart, and her life changed that day. He is for us he isn’t against us, even in the tough seasons of like, he’s there and he’s come even to write upon your heart to remind you who he is that he’s never going to leave no matter what season your in. his word says in Romans 8 that there is nothing that will separate us from his love