We are the gatekeepers of our minds. It matters big-time what we’re letting in, because what’s going in is somehow going to come back out. We leak out what we are full of. The seeds we sow today will bring the harvest that we reap tomorrow. It’s the principle of sowing and reaping that’s all throughout Scripture. The Bible is a military book. It’s a political book. It’s also an agricultural book and uses as a metaphor sowing seed that produces a harvest. If it’s bad seed, it follows that we’ll reap a bad harvest.
We must be careful to decide now who we want to be in the future, and also where we want to be. Then we should ask ourselves the honest question, “Are the seeds that I’m sowing into my life now going to produce the harvest that I want to receive later?” A bamboo shoot, when it’s planted, barely grows at all in the first five years, but in the fifth year, it can grow twenty to forty feet tall in one year’s time. You can’t see it happen in the beginning, but the harvest will come suddenly, and if we don’t guard what is going into us, we too will reap a harvest, and it won’t be good unless we course-correct right now.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God [or, knowing God], bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”
We talked before about strongholds in our lives. We don’t do hand-to-hand combat with the devil-like Charlie Daniels sang about in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. We’ve been given weapons for the fight that’s to be fought. We can’t live a passive Christian life – there’s no such thing. We put the “Go” in “Gospel”. There’s movement, momentum, and inertia because we’re either advancing the Kingdom in our time – or we’re not. Jesus said “Go, therefore.” Our weapons are mighty in God – given to us – we get to hold and wield the sword, which is the Word of God; and also the shield of faith. We get to handle these things and use them to pull down strongholds.
A Strong Hold is a satanic lie, a generational mindset, or a human wounding that you listened to long enough, believed strong enough, and owned deep enough that it has become part of your identity, and it has fortified itself in you and dictates your thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions. It is an unholy filter through which all thoughts pass; a stronghold is anything that has a Strong hold on you. – Pastor Steve Berger
We can observe certain patterns in people and families, where the same behaviors and issues of the parents show up in their children. The seeds that are sown in one generation can and do bear fruit in the next – and the next – and the next generation. That’s called a generational curse, iniquity, or besetting sins. But, a curse can be broken by the blood of Jesus, by the name of Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit – the ties that bind can be literally broken.
The bungee cord that’s attached to us jerks us back every time we try to get some momentum, and causes us to wonder, “What’s going on here? I seem to be doing good, and then I fall into another pattern again.” That could be a generational iniquity that’s pulling us back, and we don’t even see it or know it – but people around us see it because they see the pattern. When people say, “You’re the spittin’ image of your daddy”, it’s not always a compliment (that’s an old colloquialism that came from “You are the spirit and image of your father.”)
How many of us would like to see the curse that has come down to our generation, or to those around us, be broken? That can happen today. There are all kinds of strongholds – poverty, rejection, insecurity, fear, anger, shame, guilt, condemnation, etc. Here are six words to keep in mind as we move through a series of Strong Holds that are holding you back from being all God wants you to be, and frankly, all you want you to be:
Humility – Honest – Recognition – Repentance – Reward – Renewal
We need to be humble and honest, and we need to recognize issues and quickly repent of them. There’s a reward to this as we do the right thing. It’s a natural and logical consequence of aligning ourselves with God. As we walk in obedience to His Word, and receive the goodness of God, then revival comes – as we renew our thoughts and actions and say, “Yes, Lord, we’ll do what You say in Your Word – whatever – whenever – wherever. I’m Yours!”
Game Changer #1
Your value, worth, identity, wholeness, joy, motivation, etc. must not come from other people. We must learn to listen to the voice of THE FATHER, not the voice of a father. When we carry the stronghold of rejection, everything is suspect – everyone is out to get us, and we actually set up our own self-fulfilling prophecies and opportunities to be rejected. When it happens it solidifies it all and we say, “There it is! I knew that was going to happen!” Of course, we did – we created the circumstance.
That’s the power of a stronghold of rejection in our life – passed over – not paid attention to – not listened to – neglected. Then, something happens inside of us – feeling left out – pushed aside – rejected. Life happens – we strike out and strongholds in us are reinforced – and they will devastate our lives if we don’t put them before God. We have to listen to the voice of The Father – not a father who had to deal with his own generational issues.
Seeds that are sown in us and are nurtured and fester grow into strongholds. Even after those strongholds are broken, we may have to re-visit them as they might get triggered – residue from the past that needs to be submitted to God.
Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV
“The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”
This is what God thinks about us. He rejoices over us even though we’ve messed up or made mistakes. We’ve been set free indeed!
Game Changer #2
Jesus lived free from people’s applause approval, and affirmation because He understood that his value, identity, worth, and purpose rested in His Father, not in man. When we experience rejection, it can become a stronghold for us. Those hurts become soul wounds and memory-scars – little nicks and pricks that cut and then fester as we own them – and they become strongholds in our lives that, in turn, become a filter or lens through which we see everything.
John 2:23-25 NKJV
“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”
Jesus was secure in who he was and didn’t need the affirmation of people. Hallelujah for freedom. Praise God that he can break strongholds and destroy generational ties, curses, and iniquities in our lives.
Game Changer #3
Luke 3:21-22 NKJV
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.’ ” He says the same thing over us!
The more you battle with rejection, the more you’re going to need to listen and hear and believe the Father’s loving, accepting, and affirming words. We have to care more about what God thinks about us and receive that by faith, than what anybody else says or thinks. It’s horrible to live under the tyranny of other people’s opinions. It’s decimating to try to live wanting everybody to like us. When we move past that – as strongholds are broken off of our life, things become very clear. We can be free of other people’s likes and opinions as we, instead, seek to only please our Heavenly Father.
Making it real for real-life
John 3:16-17 NKJV – (God loves me)
“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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
Romans 5:8 NKJV – (God loves me)
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
1 John 4:16 NKJV – (God loves me)
“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”
Isaiah 43:1 NKJV – (God loves me)
“But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.’ ”
Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV – (God loves me)
“The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: ‘Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.’ ”
Prayer
Father, in the name of Jesus we come before You as sons and daughters, and right now, by faith, we invoke the name and power of Jesus to break any strongholds off of our lives. They are broken in Jesus’ name. They are lies from the pit of hell and we refuse to live under the weight of them. We resist the enemy’s yoke of bondage, insecurity, and rejection, because You, Jesus, have accepted us and Your voice is the only one that matters.
According to You, we are accepted in the beloved – we are saved – we are Yours and You call us by name. We get to walk in freedom because whom the Son sets free is free indeed. By faith, we invoke Your Holy Spirit and the power and anointing of Who You are, and the blood of Jesus to break any stronghold on our lives – any rejection or insecurity – right now in the name of Jesus. Father, thank You that You break any yokes off of our necks, and we walk away free indeed. We honor You and love You. In Jesus’ name. Amen
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on The Bridge
Featured Image by Andrew Neel on Unsplash
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