Breaking Free Introductory Session

In studying Beth Moore’s Breaking Free, I am finding it is so very helpful to summarize or paraphrase what has been said in her workbook and in her videos and research further to gain better understanding. So, this is what she taught in the introductory session video and my research in my own words.

From the example in Judges 6: 1-6 on Midian’s defeat we can learn a few things; We, the people of God, can live under great oppression. Being a Christ-follower does not make us immune to the influences of Satan. He is the Oppressor and he has two goals for us: to make us unproductive and impoverished. He wants to make it so you aren’t saying or doing anything that benefits the Kingdom of God. He wants to suck you dry and keep you from your true source of nourishment, Jesus Christ. We also can learn from Midian’s defeat that if we don’t seek freedom, we will seek shelter. What does that mean? Freedom is found in our surrender to Jesus Christ. He proclaims it and we have to come and claim it. If we don’t claim freedom in Christ than we will seek shelter; we will curl up in a ball in the corner of our jail cell that has the door open wide and not come out. Whatever is keeping us from claiming our freedom is making us seek shelter and/or comfort and peace through other things like alcohol, drugs, over-eating, burying ourselves in our work, etc. A stronghold has kept us in the jail cell and keeps us in isolation.

www.gotquestions.org tells us what a stronghold is and how to bring it down:

The word strongholds is found once in the New Testament, used metaphorically by Paul in a description of the Christian’s spiritual battle: “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses [strongholds]” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4, NASB).

1)    Our battle is not planned according to the way this world fights; earthly stratagems are not our concern.

2) Our weapons are not physical, for our warfare is spiritual in nature. Rather than guns and tanks, our weapons are those of the “full armor of God” and consist of “the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:14-17).

3) Our power comes from God alone.

4) God’s plan is to demolish spiritual strongholds.

What are these “strongholds” or “fortifications” we face? In the very next verse, Paul interprets the metaphor: “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 10:5). The “arguments” are the philosophies, reasonings, and schemes of the world. The “pretensions” have to do with anything proud, man-centered, and self-confident. 

Here’s the picture: the Christian, wearing his spiritual armor and bearing his spiritual weapons, sets out to “conquer” the world for Christ, but he soon finds obstacles. The enemy has erected strongly fortified garrisons to resist the Truth and thwart God’s plan of redemption. There is the fortress of human reasoning, reinforced with many subtle arguments and the pretense of logic. There is the castle of passion, with flaming battlements defended by lust, pleasure, and greed. And there is the pinnacle of pride, in which the human heart sits enthroned and revels in thoughts of its own excellence and sufficiency.

The enemy is firmly entrenched; these strongholds have been guarded for thousands of years, presenting a great wall of resistance to the Truth. None of this deters the Christian warrior, however. Using the weapons of God’s choosing, he attacks the strongholds, and by the miraculous power of Christ, the walls are breached, and the bastions of sin and error are battered down. The victorious Christian enters the ruins and leads captive, as it were, every false theory and every human philosophy that had once proudly asserted its independence from God.

2)      If this sounds a lot like Joshua fighting the battle of Jericho, you’re right. What a great illustration of spiritual truth that story is (Joshua 6)!

Sharing the gospel is not the only time we see resistance. We can also face demonic strongholds in our own lives, in our families, and even in our churches. Anyone who has fought an addiction, struggled with pride, or had to “flee youthful lusts” knows that sin, a lack of faith, and a worldly outlook on life are indeed “strongholds.”

The Lord is building His Church, and the “gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). What we need are Christian soldiers, totally surrendered to the will of the Lord of Hosts, who will use the spiritual weapons He provides. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7).

Midian was a nobody according to Scripture. He was the least likely to be able to bring glory to God but God calls the meek, the low, the nobodies, the least likelies and He gives them the divine power to demolish the strongholds; the pride, lust, selfishness, etc.

The journey through breaking down the strongholds will be hard. You may feel like giving up, you may feel like you can’t take anymore, you may feel like it is killing you but God knows what you need. Ask him for the strength and wisdom to help you through this journey and he will fill you with the abundance of life he so wants to give his beloved child. Reach out from the corner of your prison towards Jesus who is standing outside the opened door of your prison with his hand reaching out to you. Reach, reach….keep reaching…

365 Days of Spririt-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 234

Have you ever gone along with the crowd or agreed to something because you thought it would please the group, crowd, family, etc? I think we have all been swayed by peer pressure and driven by our own fears of rejection or our needs to belong and done things that we should not have done. King Herod does this in Acts 12. He sees how the Jews are pleased with how he has had James, the brother of John killed and so he decides to seize Peter because he wants to do what is pleasing the crowd. In this case, Peter is put in prison in chains and heavily guarded but God uses this opportunity to show the believers who are earnestly praying for Peter that God is listening by sending an angel to help get Peter out of prison. This is not anything like a jail break in a modern movie with tunnels being dug or schemes being played out that help the prisoner to get out of prison. Peter is literally visited by an angel who instantly releases him from his chains, tells him to put on some clothes, shoes and a cloak and to follow him. The angel leads him out and the iron gate leading to the city opens all by itself. God has taken the unwise decision of King Herod and turned it into an event that brings Him glory. Our own unwise decisions will be used by God for his greater plan as well but how about working on not making those unwise decisions in the first place. We shouldn’t be swayed or manipulated by anyone to do or say anything. Only God is our Guidance Counselor. It is Him we should go to when choices need to be made. This is a tough challenge in our busy world to do. How to stop and consider what Jesus would have us do. Pause and pray for wisdom to make the wise choices. It is something that needs to be cultivated in us. A habit needs to be formed and only a committed heart and some preparation will lead you to successfully becoming prayerful in all your choices. I am going to make it a family challenge and get my family to start working on praying before making our choices. We can celebrate with each other our successes and share our thoughts on how we might do better in the next days. A community effort is always helpful and I am sure pleasing to God.

Acts 12:11 Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 38

I got newsletter in the mail from a ministry called Voice of the Martyrs. It shared about their ministry of getting people to write letters to Christians that are in prisons around the world. It shared one story of a man who was imprisoned because he was selling bibles in China. He ended up getting bags of letters and cards from Christians around the world that gave him hope and strength. He was filled with joy at receiving such a gift when he was in prison. This gift gave him the hope and strength he needed and he brought several fellow prisoners there for murder to accept Jesus Christ. Finding joy in such circumstances is almost unfathomable to consider but we are never alone in these struggles and that is the joy of it. This man prayed to be freed from prison as he was being tortured hourly and heard the voice of Jesus tell him “my grace is enough”. He wasn’t freed at that point but lived on knowing he was not alone and that Jesus was with him. I think the ultimate joy that we are given is in knowing Jesus Christ.

1Peter 2:21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.

Happy 2013!