Strongholds

The message today was on strongholds. It reminded me about a study that I did a few years ago. It was done in my room, just me and God. The study, “Facing the Giants in Your Life” by Dr. David Jeremiah, really touched me deeply.

How many of those strongholds have I won victory over, I wondered, as I drove home from church. That led me to wonder what the biggest stronghold was in my life today. Often when I am driving the 40 or so minutes to and from town, I am deep in thought about something or other, or praying as I drive (yes, with my eyes open.)

This time in the car is when God has me as a captive audience. There is no escaping his voice in my ear. He can even reach me over the volume of the radio. Today, He was prompting me to look deep in my heart of hearts and recognize that which was keeping me trapped and away from His side.

What I realized, as I thought and prayed, was that an image kept coming to my mind. It was the image of my mother lying in a hospital bed, her legs blackened up past her knee. You see, my mother was a diabetic and she had gangrene in both of her legs. She chose not to have any amputation. Once again, I felt the anguish of watching her suffer, and knowing that there was nothing any of us could do to relieve her pain. It felt as real as it had when she was still alive, over twenty years ago.

Now that I have been diagnosed with diabetes, this image is always lurking, causing a deep and terribly crippling fear in my heart of hearts. Will I end up like Mom? Will I suffer as she did? These questions are never far from my mind. Each time my ankle swells, or I have leg cramps, or my toes tingle, or my heel becomes calloused, or... the fear increases.

In so many things, I have placed my complete trust in God’s plan for my life. Facing cancer—five times—did not instill in me the fear that the mental image of those blackened legs has. This, I recognized, is my greatest stronghold.

What is tricky about these types of strongholds is that we do not realize what a profound affect they have on so many other areas of our lives. The fear of my diabetes has coloured my relationships with family and friends; it has caused me to make choices, which, at times, are not the wisest, God purposed choices; and it has crippled me in my faith walk, handicapping my spirit and the Spirit’s work in my life. In a very real way, this fear has me giving up—giving up on the joy that should fill each day; giving up on trusting God for healing, as well. Now, I know that I have always had trust issues, but I did not realize that I had trust issues where God is concerned. I always thought that I trusted Him completely…however, in this stronghold, I have to ask myself, where is my trust in God?

So, all of this understood, what do I do about it? The first step, of course, is recognizing that there is a problem. Just as it is true with an alcoholic recognizing that he is powerless over his alcoholism, so must I recognize that I am completely powerless over this fear. Only in complete submission to that revelation, can I let go completely and allow God to work on it. As long as I try to battle even the smallest part of that fear, satan has a toehold to continue to persecute me through it and bind me to it.

Next, I have to find the courage to allow God to work on it. Even the most fearful, uncomfortable place can become comfortable—especially with those of us who feel like we are not worthy of any better.

My job, in the work, is to pray fervently for God to remove this fear…and this image from me. I know, with all of my heart and being, that only through Him can I be relieved of the chains of this fear.

My challenge to you, dear ones, is to search your heart of hearts to discover that which holds you in bondage. What are the strongholds in your life?

Here is a small list to help you sort that out. It is the list of strongholds that are worked through in the before mentioned study. I have included a Bible reference which speaks to this stronghold.

For myself, I think it is time to work through the study again. Needless to say, I will be concentrating on “fear.”

LIST OF STRONGHOLDS
- Fear (Deuteronomy 1:19-40)
- Discouragement (Nehemiah 4)
- Loneliness (Colossians 1:21,22; Hebrew 10:25, Roman’s 12:4-6)
- Worry (Matthew 6:25-34)
- Guilt (Psalms 32 and 51)
- Temptation (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)
- Anger (Ephesians 4:25-32)
- Resentment (Matthew 5:38-42)
- Doubt (John 20:24-29)
- Procrastination (Acts 24:22-27)
- Failure (II Corinthians 4:7-18)
- Jealousy (1 Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 4:30)

May God richly bless your personal time with Him.




2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (New International Version)
4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We 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.



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