As children of Christ, we should no longer look outward for joy through acquisitions, people, places or things.
This is the day the Lord has made rejoice and be glad in it. Our joy is internal. It emanates outward. What we see and walk through does not dictate our joy. Our joy is the expression of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
Today is a great day to acknowledge our sins to God and the iniquity we have hidden. Today we proclaim change.
Sin blocks our fellowship with God. It keeps us from experiencing His goodness.
As humans we often repeat the sins that have been forgiven. We feel discouraged because we have difficulties overcoming them and feel we have failed. We fear we have lost fellowship with God. Good news, God is a God of many chances.
This is the day we free ourselves. Ask God to apply His forgiveness one more time and receive His mercy, this time with conviction.
Confession spiritually cleans our hearts. This is the day we proclaim victory over our sins and enter fellowship with our Lord. We will no longer carry unconfessed sin in our hearts allowing it to keep us weak, discouraged, and miserable.
“Be Glad in the Lord and rejoice you righteous; shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Ps 32:11)
Image – LAB Photo
Scripture – Bible.com
Reference – Charles Stanley, Life Principles Bible, Ps 32
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
2 Corinthians 10:4 NIV
According to this scripture, a stronghold is a demonic hold. Strongholds are demolished through spiritual warfare. When we are in spiritual warfare, it is imperative to put on the Armor of God, because we cannot enter a battle ill-prepared.
There are two strongholds that bind believers in bondage. The first one is an incorrect perception of who God is, and the other is an inaccurate perception of who we are. (Identifying Strongholds)
According to Deliverance Ministries, a stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern. They 
are built upon deception and error, perpetuated by Satan. The global news is one mechanism used to create strongholds today. Rarely do we view ‘good’ news stories. Why, because these stories would dilute the stronghold of deception, hate, oppression, and depression.
2 Corinthians 10:5 continues by expressing that “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.”
The KJV uses the phrase casting down strongholds and imaginations.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 KJV
The only way we can demolish strongholds is through the transformation of the way we think. Our thinking is governed by what we know, what we are taught, what we see, what we hear, and what we feel. In essence, much of what we know is informed through emotions. We must renew our minds by cleansing it of deceptions, errors, and lies by reading and studying the Word of God. We cannot allow ourselves to conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Romans 12:2 NIV.
So, what are common strongholds that we must break to live a Godly life? The primary strongholds are anger, fear, abandonment, shame, lying, financial lack, addictions, sensuality, depression, grief, mental instability, pride, and procrastination. These strongholds can be referred to as clusters because they group a host of similar emotions. (Charisma News)
Satan builds strongholds by reminding us of our past failures and sins. He keeps us in bondage threw doubt, anger, fear, and shame. He works to create an environment of self-hate and self-loathing and uses them to tear down our faith which says we are worthy. He uses our sins to gain a foothold. Extra-marital affairs are an example. There is temptation, desire, and lust, followed by action, twisting the truth, which in turn fosters shame, lying and guilt. Satan convinces us that God rejects us because of our sins and we are unworthy of God’s forgiveness and love.
The only way to break the stronghold is through repentance and the renewing of our mind. We must put on the Armor of God and read the scriptures that offer strength and truth to overcome our strongholds. I think we can all admit that we have experienced strongholds we are not proud of, but with prayer have overcome.
Satan tempted Jesus, he will and does tempt us. Thank God, Jesus died on the cross to take away our sin, 1 John 3:5, and He chose to forgive our sin. Hebrews 8:12.
IMPORTANT NOTE
This post only begins a conversation about strongholds, but hopefully provides an understanding of what demonic strongholds are and how they create a gulf between you and God.
The final verse in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says, we must bring captive every thought to the obedience of Christ. The only way to do this is to practice living the Word of God to align ourselves with His thinking and promises that set us free.
ReBlog – https://wp.me/p9BMGC-M8
Images – Google Images; YouVersion
Scriptures – Biblegateway.com
Resources – Ministering Deliverance.com; Charisma News-How to Take Down 13 Demonic Strongholds that Bind You, Mark Virkler. Chrisma.com; Identifying Strongholds, Greatbiblestudy.com; Spiritual Warfare-Tear Down Strongholds, Greatbiblestudys.com; The Battle for Your Mind, Rick Warren. desiringgod.org; WInning the Battle of Your Mind, Joseph Prince.com/blog; Prayers that Rout Demons, John Eckhardt.
Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.
Jesus never changes, He is always the same. Throughout the day remember Jesus is always the same. Our relationship with Him is not dependent upon our feelings, expectations, or daily responsibilities.
Just thank Him when you see Him at work, which is all the time. Look for His infusion in all that you do, and in everything around you.
Our Lord lives in us, the atmosphere, and the universe.
He is the great ‘I AM’.
He is the same today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
Re-Blog – http://www.youngchristianwarriors.com/jesus-is-always-the-same
Images – YouVersion.Bible.com; LAB Photos
Scriptures – 35 Powerful I am Verses
References/Resources – Deb Wolf, Counting My Blessings.com
Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.
When we pray, we should begin the day knowing God meets all of our needs. If we know this to be the truth, then our focus will be on the victory, the successes, and not the circumstances that prevail around us. Our strength is in knowing God will lead us, comfort us, and carry us when we are weak.
We can stop worrying because He promised to take care of all of our needs. Seek His Kingdom first.
“But first and most importantly seek (aim at, strive after) His kingdom and His righteousness [His way of doing and being right–the attitude and character of God], and all these things will be given to you also. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
MATTHEW 6:33-34 AMP
Images – Bible.com/YouVersion
Scriptures – Bible.com
Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.
None of us are perfect. We were born sinners. We made and make mistakes, some worse than others. Why can’t we forgive ourselves and believe we are forgiven? Why can’t we believe we are forgiven? The beauty of being a Christian is that we can repent of our sins, and God will forgive us. Jesus died on the Cross for us. We are born into sin, but unlike those living during the Old Testament dispensation, we will not be doomed to sin for all time. When Jesus died, the new dispensation began. We live under the law of the New Testament, not the Old Testament.
Paul was a Christian hater, he persecuted and murdered Christians, but God forgave him and make him his apostle. Paul referred to himself as the”chief of sinners” because of his wicked ways.
1This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. 4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ…You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. 13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie. 22 And still, the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!”
Galatians 1:1-24
The things man has done are not revelations to God. He created us before we entered our Mother’s womb. He knew we would be challenged, He knew we would fail. He knew we would sin. He knew we would kill, steal, destroy, commit atrocities and crimes, yet He loves us so much, He sent His son to live, walk the earth, and then be given over to man to reconcile unforgivable sin. When Christ was crucified, we were forgiven of our sin. Yes, we have a sin nature and must work hard to separate our sinful desires from our being, but there are times and seasons when we fail and live an ungodly life. Thanks to God, we are not destined to remain in those sins for eternity. He gave us an out. We can repent from the heart, and He will forgive us.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
1 John 1:9 NLT
God always planned to rescue us. Can you accept His love for us, despite our wicked past? Despite everything, God wants our repentance to be genuine. The problem is that we have to believe God has forgiven us for everything we did against others and then, this is key – we have to forgive ourselves.
God wants us to change and leave behind the past. How do we do this? We have to believe if we want God to forgive us. There are rules (precepts) we must follow, and actions we must take to be forgiven.
We must,
Like Paul, God has a plan for our lives, but if we do not repent for our sins (wickedness), He cannot forgive us. If we do not ask for His forgiveness (repent) He cannot forgive us. Many of us repent, but do not forgive ourselves or truly believe God will forgive us because we think the sin (wicked acts) was too vile and we are eternally bad. We feel condemned by our own actions. The fact is we are wicked and we are sinners. The degree in which we sin differs from person-to-person. But none-the-less, God is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of our wickedness. God saves hardened sinners, murders, and evil people. He gave us free-will to determine how we will live our lives, because of this, He allows us to sink into flagrant wickedness and then redeems us when we recognize our wicked ways and ask for His forgiveness.
Will you take time today to once and for all, acknowledge your sins before God, repent, believe you are forgiven, forgive yourself and walk into the grace and mercy our Lord provides, and walk the path He has designed for you, never looking back?
The reason God does not want us to look back is that when we look back, it opens the door to temptation and our return to our sinful state. My pastor shared with the congregation that we must run from temptation. We can not stand and engage it on any level if we do, we will lose. We must do as Forrest Grump was instructed to do, ‘Run Forrest Run’.
It is time that we forgive ourselves.
Once we repent, we must continue to look ahead and hear God tell us this is the way.
Re-Blog – https://wp.me/p98Coa-wC (copy and paste into your post)
Images – YouVersion.Bible.com
Scriptures – Biblestudytools.com
References/Resources – bible.com; biblestudytools.com
Thank you for visiting my Young Christian Warriors site and dailyinspiration-lisasthoughts.com, at the moment there is some duplication. I am working on merging the two to create one great site. Please bear with me through this process.
Lisa’s Daily Inspirations 