Strongholds

FRIEND’S OF GOD 

As we embark into the second half of 2005 there are some things we need to consider as children of God. It’s time for us to move into the deeper things of God and move from the surface. We should understand that because our lives were created with destiny and purpose we can’t stay where we are in our relationship with God. Our relationship with the Father should be ever evolving and maturing. The Word of God in Colossians 1:10 encourages us to grow in the knowledge of God.

            A sign to us of maturity is allowing God to deal with us on a more intimate level. This means he has already dealt with the surface stuff. It’s now time to allow him to conduct surgery. The kind of surgery we need amnesia for. It’s not easy to submit to the process but it is necessary in order to be effective for our Father. Although many of us are saved and may have been saved for many years our thoughts and motivation for doing things sometimes are not. We enter into a new relationship with God and place many barriers up in the process. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the bible says that if we are in Christ we are a new creation. That means those old patterns of thinking and ways of doing things should change. As new Christians we come to our Father with many mindsets and strongholds. As we mature in him his desire is to strip us of the old and deposit the new. But we must commit to the process.

            You see situations happen in our lives, which cause us to see things through a clouded and confused perspective. Often times this develops strongholds or wrong patterns of thinking. In actuality we do this to protect ourselves in the beginning but it ends up being a hindrance to our spiritual growth and maturity. We need to make a conscious effort to let God challenge our thoughts and way of thinking. We must come to understand that I may not have been responsible for what happened to make me think this way but I am responsible for my reactions to my past and the distorted concepts I cling to. Sometimes we create stories in our minds of our past just so we can cope because the truth is too painful. But God wants us to deal head on with our “demons”. Just because you may not like that you were neglected, as a child doesn’t mean that you create a fantasy life to help you accept what was done. It means that with God’s leading deal with and confront the memories and allow God to heal it once and for all. You will never again find a need to cover it up. If we don’t allow God to heal us, of all the painful situations we’ve all had in some form or another, these things will stop our growth and maturity in the Lord. Eventually as God is challenging us to come higher in Him he’s going to want to confront those issues that hold us back. That’s provided that you are in relationship with the One True God. He’s not doing this to cause us pain. It is quite the opposite however. He wants to see us healed and made new as His Word promises us. This is how we move on a steady and constant path of growing and maturing in the Lord. We must surrender all our past mistakes, broken dreams and life situations that we try to hide in the closet. After all God knows about every one of them. But we must trust Him as a friend to go through the pain of remembering to get to the wonderful process of healing and being able to help others in similar situations. After all is that not why we walk with the Lord to be able to minister to his people and win them to Christ. How can we be a ambassador for Christ if we are operating out of past hurts and wrong ideas and wrong patterns of thinking? Be encouraged because the Word of God says in John 15:15 that we are friends of God. He has our best interest at heart and never does anything to hurt or harm us. So ask yourself the question. Lord, what are the areas in my life that I am with holding from you? Wait for a response because we believe that God always wants to communicate. Repent for the act and surrender and open up the closet wide and let God work a miracle in your life. You in turn will be able to be a blessing to someone else and be a miracle worker in his or her lives simply by being honest and open.

Apostle Sondra Turner