Demolishing Strongholds
I have so many thoughts I have been wanting to piece together and write. The Lord has been moving in a few different areas; as usual they are all intersecting with each other, building truth and understanding.
Here are a few of those pieces: I have been praying for some dear friends of mine who are walking through dark and testing trials. My classes are deep and challenging as we look at some not so great realities about this world we live in, the mess people are in because of sin and our sin nature. AND, the reading of Nee's book, as well as my real life interactions at work and with the Body of believers have all been contributing factors. So bare with me a little, this may be longer than normal.
My heart and mind have been grieved over the hurt, trials, and sin, that touches all of our lives; more so being magnified through the pieces I shared in the latter paragraph. A few days ago God spoke to me as I read this passage in Corinthians in my quiet time:
(NASV)For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
or in the NIV,
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 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.
Do you SEE that!!! The weapons WE have available to us have DIVINE POWER to DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS! This phrase has gripped me! I find myself repeating it over and over... "I have His divine power to demolish strongholds..." The excitement in me cannot be contained!!
This, combines with something the Lord showed me yesterday in our Sunday School class as we were looking at Rahab. Anyone remember her? Look back in Joshua chapter 2; you may remember her title was not the most reputable, but her name ends up in the lineage of Christ. Somewhere between her business and the stories she heard about the God of Israel, her heart began to believe:
"When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below."
Her own words spoke of God's power to "completely destroy" his enemies. He not only destroyed the wicked nations in the land of Canaan, but ALSO the strongholds within her! Sound familiar?
He did it THEN, He did it BIG (bringing down the walls of Jericho! Saving Rahab and her family!), He can do it and Does do it today!
Okay, I am not finished...
Nee, in speaking of our death with Christ on the Cross, and the symbolism of baptism of this fact says: "Our testimony in baptism today is our admission that the death of Christ two thousand years ago was a mighty all-inclusive death, mighty enough and all-inclusive enough to carry away in it and bring to an end everything in us that is not of God." (Italics added by Me!) Yes!!!
Oh the POWER that we have in Christ! The MIGHTY RESURRECTION POWER... to walk in Newness of Life! The old is GONE, the NEW has come! It is a daily reckoning that we are DEAD but ALIVE in Jesus! Okay, I am a little excited!! Well, no, a LOT EXCITED!!!! THAT is how we LIVE!
This is a truth for all who call upon the Lord and are His own... but it really means something when it gets personal. It is truth for ME. I have asked the Lord to show me where strongholds exist in my life, heart and mind. I know they are there, I am HIS yet somehow the flesh wages war against my New nature and I can say the words Paul said, "I do the things I don't want to do!!" The Lord is so gentle and good in revealing places that are strongholds in my life. I am so thankful. I want to be different, I want to confidently depend on Him and be a person of Grace. I can't do this on my own; I don't even know how He does it but I surrender.
"I am crucified with Christ...."
Many years ago, I had a dream. In my dream I saw a mutilated body hanging on a cross, squirming, seething and fighting the position the nails were holding it in.... as the dream continued, I realized it was me. Like you see yourself, outside of yourself; it was me fighting the cross. The flesh was so mutilated. Yet, I was still moving... pushing, pulling, fighting.... I remember in the dream, those words came to my mind, "I am crucified with Christ..." and I woke up; my arms were stretched across the bed in the same position I had been in in my dream. It was SUCH a powerful dream and God was ministering me VERY clearly in the circumstances surrounding the time I had the dream. But, this morning, that dream came to mind... and I gained a new understanding. I AM dead, crucified with Christ... I can stop fighting and receive the Work Christ did for me! It is not by my power I die to myself..., "(i)n the death of Lord the emphasis is solely upon "I in Christ." In the resurrection, while the same thing is true, there is now a new emphasis upon "Christ in me." (Nee)
I surrender, Lord. I surrender. Live In me, Jesus.
Here are a few of those pieces: I have been praying for some dear friends of mine who are walking through dark and testing trials. My classes are deep and challenging as we look at some not so great realities about this world we live in, the mess people are in because of sin and our sin nature. AND, the reading of Nee's book, as well as my real life interactions at work and with the Body of believers have all been contributing factors. So bare with me a little, this may be longer than normal.
My heart and mind have been grieved over the hurt, trials, and sin, that touches all of our lives; more so being magnified through the pieces I shared in the latter paragraph. A few days ago God spoke to me as I read this passage in Corinthians in my quiet time:
(NASV)For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
or in the NIV,
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 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.
Do you SEE that!!! The weapons WE have available to us have DIVINE POWER to DEMOLISH STRONGHOLDS! This phrase has gripped me! I find myself repeating it over and over... "I have His divine power to demolish strongholds..." The excitement in me cannot be contained!!
This, combines with something the Lord showed me yesterday in our Sunday School class as we were looking at Rahab. Anyone remember her? Look back in Joshua chapter 2; you may remember her title was not the most reputable, but her name ends up in the lineage of Christ. Somewhere between her business and the stories she heard about the God of Israel, her heart began to believe:
"When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below."
Her own words spoke of God's power to "completely destroy" his enemies. He not only destroyed the wicked nations in the land of Canaan, but ALSO the strongholds within her! Sound familiar?
He did it THEN, He did it BIG (bringing down the walls of Jericho! Saving Rahab and her family!), He can do it and Does do it today!
Okay, I am not finished...
Nee, in speaking of our death with Christ on the Cross, and the symbolism of baptism of this fact says: "Our testimony in baptism today is our admission that the death of Christ two thousand years ago was a mighty all-inclusive death, mighty enough and all-inclusive enough to carry away in it and bring to an end everything in us that is not of God." (Italics added by Me!) Yes!!!
Oh the POWER that we have in Christ! The MIGHTY RESURRECTION POWER... to walk in Newness of Life! The old is GONE, the NEW has come! It is a daily reckoning that we are DEAD but ALIVE in Jesus! Okay, I am a little excited!! Well, no, a LOT EXCITED!!!! THAT is how we LIVE!
This is a truth for all who call upon the Lord and are His own... but it really means something when it gets personal. It is truth for ME. I have asked the Lord to show me where strongholds exist in my life, heart and mind. I know they are there, I am HIS yet somehow the flesh wages war against my New nature and I can say the words Paul said, "I do the things I don't want to do!!" The Lord is so gentle and good in revealing places that are strongholds in my life. I am so thankful. I want to be different, I want to confidently depend on Him and be a person of Grace. I can't do this on my own; I don't even know how He does it but I surrender.
"I am crucified with Christ...."
Many years ago, I had a dream. In my dream I saw a mutilated body hanging on a cross, squirming, seething and fighting the position the nails were holding it in.... as the dream continued, I realized it was me. Like you see yourself, outside of yourself; it was me fighting the cross. The flesh was so mutilated. Yet, I was still moving... pushing, pulling, fighting.... I remember in the dream, those words came to my mind, "I am crucified with Christ..." and I woke up; my arms were stretched across the bed in the same position I had been in in my dream. It was SUCH a powerful dream and God was ministering me VERY clearly in the circumstances surrounding the time I had the dream. But, this morning, that dream came to mind... and I gained a new understanding. I AM dead, crucified with Christ... I can stop fighting and receive the Work Christ did for me! It is not by my power I die to myself..., "(i)n the death of Lord the emphasis is solely upon "I in Christ." In the resurrection, while the same thing is true, there is now a new emphasis upon "Christ in me." (Nee)
I surrender, Lord. I surrender. Live In me, Jesus.
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