WALK AROUND MY HOUSE
We did some deep soul work this past weekend and on this Tuesday we want to keep blocking the enemy from adding bricks to the wall that the Spirit destroyed. We have to work ourselves into a new way of thinking and living. Psychology says it takes thirty-days to form a habit - so we've got twenty-eight more days until our new reality and way of thinking. I invite you to take a few moments: read, pray and do some soul work this over your life. Let's start by saying these words together: "Holy Spirit, walk around my house - and turn it upside down."
We know that we all have the choices in life and even though this is not our hearts goal - we often catch ourselves falling into a pattern of abuse. Sometimes these actions are against others and sometimes against our very selves but on this Tuesday - what if we chose to shift. What if we shift out of a place of hidden captivity into a realm of visible freedom. Such a place of freedom that everyone that encounters us will know that we are free in Christ.
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 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 - 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
A stronghold, for many, is one of those churchy words that is hard to wrap our minds around. It’s not a word that most use every day. So what exactly is a stronghold?
In the Old Testament, a stronghold was a fortified dwelling used for protection from an enemy.
A stronghold can also be a thought pattern that forms a fortress around the mind, holding it prisoner to faulty thinking. It is formed brick-by-brick by repetitive faulty thinking or all at once by a onetime traumatic event.
My friend, Beth Moore, calls a stronghold, “Anything that we hold onto that ends up holding onto us.”
A stronghold might be a thought such as:
I’m damaged goods.
Nobody loves me.
Nobody cares about me.
I can’t do anything right.
My mother died from this - so will I
Shopping.
Over-eating.
Feeling sorry for yourself.
I cannot worship in freedom.
The enemy locks you up in hopes you’ll never reach for the key that is certainly within your reach. But you can and the only way to expose the enemy and defeat him is to tear down the stronghold, the fortress where he is hiding. An ungodly habit becomes his habitation, his stronghold in our lives. Once you recognize a lie in your life—perhaps something that has even taken hold of your imagination and stirred ungodly feelings such as jealousy, worry, fear, or anger—you reject the lie and replace it with the truth. Each time you reject a lie, you knock one more brick from the enemy’s fortress, and pretty soon, he’s exposed for the liar and deceiver he is. No more lies will be believed. No more crossed arms in worship but lifted hands to our saving God. Holy Spirit, we ask you to walk around our house and turn it upside down.
For some this is instant but I do not want to give the impression that this is an easy process. Some of us are so comfortable with our strongholds we don’t even realize they are there. Destroying strongholds is not easy, but it is simple. When we realize the enemy’s true identity, recognize the lies that have formed a stronghold, and tear down those strongholds with God’s truth, we’ll be free. Holy Spirit, walk around our house and turn it upside down. Reveal to us the places that we are hiding from total freedom in You.
Please take a moment and pray with me:
Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and choosing me before you made the world. You are my true Father—my creator, redeemer, sustainer, and the true end of all things, including my life. I love you, I trust you, I worship you. I give myself over to you, Father, to be one with you as Jesus is one with you. Thank you for proving your love for me by sending Jesus. I receive him and all his life and all his work which you ordained for me. Thank you for including me in Christ, forgiving me my sins, granting me his righteousness, making me complete in him. Thank you for making me alive with Christ, raising me with him, seating me with him at your right hand, establishing me in his authority, and anointing me with your love and your Spirit and your favor. I receive it all with thanks and give it total claim to my life—my spirit, soul, and body, my heart, mind, and will.
Father, I bring the blood of my Lord Jesus Christ right here, in this very place. I renounce every claim I gave the evil one to my life right here, in this very place. And I bring the blood of Christ now against the strongholds and against the spirits operating here. [Sometimes you will need to be firm and specific: I bring the blood of Jesus against all spirits of addiction, of alcoholism, all spirits of rage, over my tongue, and so on]. I claim the riches in Christ Jesus over my life today. I bring the blood of Christ once more over my spirit, soul, and body, over my heart, mind, and will. Jesus, thank you for your angels. I summon them in the name of Jesus Christ and instruct them to destroy all that is raised against me, to establish your Kingdom over me, to guard me day and night. I ask you to send forth your Spirit to raise up prayer and intercession for me. I now call forth the kingdom of God throughout my home, my household, my kingdom, and domain in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving all glory and honor and thanks to him. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Walk around my house and turn it upside - you own me. I am yours! Amen!
- Jeremi and Amy
