I have had a lot on my mind the past few days. And for some reason, I went to bed last night thinking about the buoyancy of a duck. This lead me to wonder if a duck could actually drown. So I went to Google and Youtube to find out. It turns out that a duck can actually drown. Furthermore, other ducks can and do intentionally drown fellow ducks.
Now in my head, I had decided that ducks would not be able to drown because they are full of oil. If you have ever eaten duck, which I do highly recommend, by the way, if not prepared well it is greasy because the flesh of the duck holds a lot of oil. So in my mind, the duck was so full of anointing, if you will allow me, it would not sink. All though it sounds great, it is not accurate.
What actually keeps the duck afloat is a combination of a waxy coating on its feathers and air pockets that give ducks the ability to float. Ducks are not heavy birds, so they do have some advantages to this in their ability to float and swim.
This made me think about how often we take for granted what we think is holding us up in life. Most of us could do more in focusing on what we have on our outer layers that are keeping us afloat. Way to often, we let things outside of one's self have control and influence over our actions and motives. This is why recognizing strongholds is so important for the Christian.
Anything that has more power over you or influence on your behavior than the Holy Spirit and Word of God can become or already is a stronghold. It is important to put on the Whole Armor of God. This is the protective barrier that keeps outside forces from having control in one's life. Most of the time, the things that control the individual, whether it be addiction, or immoral behavior, is rooted in in unhealed hurts. It is rooted in a thirst for the healing that can only come from the Power of God being active in one's life. It requires surrender, not sort of or partially, but complete surrender. It requires wanting to be nourished by God and find healing to the point that nothing else matters as much. In this sense of crisis and urgency, one finds the desire to become sanctified, cleansed from things that are not right in the Eyes of God.
You can not take control over what has a hold on you. You can not take authority over what has authority over you. One can not take authority over what one feels sorry for - this will only cause you to make excuses for it. And one can not take authority over something that has the ability tempt one with an offer- this will cause you to be in fellowship with it. If you try to take authority over what has authority over you, at the same time that what has authority over you is trying to maintain authority over you, then you are wrestling with that stronghold.
(Ephesians 6:10-20).
As long as living sinfully appears to have more to offer than living for Christ, the individual is not at a place of surrender. That means that the stronghold is still actively controlling the motives and behaviors. We can overcome those things that want to hold us back from our godly potential. We have to be intentional to shut down access to our lives of anyone and anything that brings distance to our relationship with God. We must not allow strongholds to have access to our mentality and our desires.
This past week, I read a good bit of Entire Devotion to God by Phoebe Palmer and one of the things that I noticed was her sense of urgency toward sanctification and holiness. This sense of urgency was once a major theme in holiness churches, but in recent years has taken a back seat to other more popular topics. But Palmer makes the point that we are not guaranteed to have more time to fix or repair the damage that we are doing to our eternal potential, nor should we become too relaxed about taking control over the sin in our lives.
Strongholds rob us of our potential in the Kingdom of God. They drown us in misguided priorities. Physically, Mentally, and literally, we have to respond well spiritually so that the natural manifestation in one's life reflects the determination to live according to God's Word. We have the authority of God's Word as grounds for changing our attitude and mindset, so that we can walk away from sinful behaviors and become intentional about raising our own standards. Strongholds reflect lowered standards. Living according to God's Word reflects higher standards. Through the Power of Jesus Christ, we have the ability to overcome challenges and weakness in our lives and to be healed and made whole.
- We dont have to sink in sin.
- We dont have to die in our sins.
- We can be free.
- We can be made whole.
- We can be saved.
- We can be healed.
- We can be delivered.
- We can be filled with the Power of the Holy Ghost.
