Stronghold

If I could tell someone what to do in a season of their lives that their struggling in spiritually, I would tell them a few things. Most importantly, they should be focused on God and what He can do through the season in their lives. What's most important is they they get into his word and acknowledge what the problem is in their lives. Most often the sin.

For me, I have gone through seasons where I could recognize the problem I had between God and me, but I wasn't willing to take the step up and be willing to change. So the first step is to change for the glory of God. This means we have to acknowledge the fact that you and I have a sin nature and so that sin nature only leads destruction and chaos in our lives. When we think about it, what sin is is the pathway, or the formula we swallow, that slowing drives us to the grave. So we have to acknowledge that because we have this sin nature from birth, we need to put all out lots into Christ alone. Not our friends. Not our family. Not our church support group. But in God.

The next thing is to acknowledge what John the Baptist acknowledged in the second chapter of John. We must become less, he must become more. In Psalm 103, the last verse says, "Let all that I am praise the Lord." I think this means our actions change into his likeness, as well as our countenance. I very well believe those who are closer to God, or are more obedient and aware of who God is in their lives, they tend to have a a demeanor of spiritual maturity just as Christ did. That said, we have to look at Christ to see the kind of life we should be living in. I've been in seasons in my life where the face in the mirror does not match the person who was once in a great spot with God in her life. She looked depressed or discontent. She looked hard. Not gentle. And I think that has proven to me to be indicator of where I am spiritually. It also shows if I am trusting in God or if I am trusting in people or things in this world. I have noticed also that my weight will fluctuate drastically based on how I am doing spiritually. There's been two bad seasons in my life where one I gained weight and then the other I lost it to the point of not being healthy. So I would say overall our outlook on who we are and who Christ is is the second thing we ought to do in those seasons where we are struggling with a stronghold or some sort of spiritual battle.

The third thing would be to not focus on the time period that it's going to take to be delivered from a sin. It's going to save you from getting discouraged if you believe the journey will be a while or it can make you content at a certain point that God intends for you to grow further in your walk with him in a certain area in your life. So overall, it's about knowing it will take time. When I was first saved, I had a lot to work through. I gave up a lot of stuff that deep inside I never wanted to give up. Giving them up was going to lead to fear and anxiety, and yet it had to be done. So I slowly gave up control of my life and focused on Christ. And it wasn't that thought in my mind "now I am going to focus on Christ and live for him." That's shallow compared to the depth that I really needed to go about to heal from my situation. I would say being a new believer, I had a zeal and a committed love for Christ that was so rooted and so child like that nothing was going to stop me. So when I say that my focus was on Christ, it wasn't because I knew I needed to focus on him so much as it was that heart and desire that I wanted to live for him. It was apples and oranges. I wasn't forcing myself, I was allowing myself by just getting to know him. And I think that's the thing we ought to do whenever we are struggling as believers. It's a simple fact that we focus on Christ, but it's more like "how can I fall in love with Christ?" A husband who has lost desire for his wife I hope would not just say, "I need to focus on my wife." Focusing on a something doesn't make it anymore beautiful or desirable than if we go and learn more about it, and analyze it in our minds to come to the conclusion we may just love it. So does the husband who wants to fall back in love with his wife. This is how I want to live for Christ.

The forth thing is we have to be willing to let God speak to us. We are born sinners. We never searched God out. That's evident in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve hid from God. We just don't have that natural love for him or desire. It's his spirit within us that gets our attention (thank God for that!). We need to focus on the idea that God will reveal to us what we need to change and what to do to change it. It's hard because we do not change for the better easily. Especially when we get older; we just have a sterner outlook on life. We're not easily swayed to change. So this is why we are told to be like children. By having a heart like a child, we become the clay that the potter (who is God) can mold easily. Having that in mind, we become good listeners, and it helps to do the other thing we ought to be doing, which getting into his Word. The Bible is going to teach us a lot of things about ourselves and the character of God. When we focus on him, we are molded into him. We become what we focus on. This is why I come back home and see mannerisms or idiosyncrasies that friends of mine have at college in myself. It's because I was around them. So it's like that when we are spending time with God more and more every chance we get. And I encourage, especially if you're going through a hard time in your life, to get into the Word every chance you get. I think we spend part of our days doing absolutely nothing of significance. We can be on Facebook for hours and it'll carry nothing beneficial into our lives, so much as the people we talk to on there. So our time spent in the word is going to be found in those times that we may think we need to just zone out or take break, or even times with friends.  We need to make that time for God so we can listen to what he has to say us. And so that's why I encourage it everyday; every opportune moment.

Another thing I would encourage is to pray. Prayer can be hard to do when we are in a season in our lives that we feel like we're away from him, but I find that it's those times that I say more on what's on my heart than what sounds good. That usually means my prayers can be as much as monologue to even two sentences. That said, I don't think that God won't bless the person who comes to him with a humble heart. A heart that wants to change (Psalm 40:4). In fact that's the heart that God honors. We see in Philippians chapter two that Jesus Christ had a humble heart. Though he didn't have to change at all, he had a heart for God, his father, and he was willing to live according to what his father's will was, not his own. And that's exactly as believers we are suppose to do.When we lose sight of the blessings that come with Christ, we can easily lose our focus. Think about how Christ never lost focus of the end result of his suffering upon the cross. "Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine" are the words of Christ. This was his life long attitude and having that attitude kept him in that mindset of humility to where he was surrendering his life for our sins. And having that humility, he was open to God's will as well as communication with God. And that's exactly what we are to be doing as followers of Christ.

The last thing we should focus on any time in our lives are the seeds sow and what they will reap. When I look at the first semester of college, I think of  a lot of the seeds that were sown and are reaping right now. I will be honest, a lot of them are not good. But it wasn't just college, it was before I went there. These are seeds that were infused by my pride and distrust in God that seeing my life now, I know I have seen better days in my walk with the Lord. That's not to say that this is that end for my relationship with Christ or God wants to disown me. I rather be vague that it takes a lot of trust to believe that God is still here with me. Even with the seeds that I have sown, I have begun to refocus myself. I have come to realization that my stronghold has build itself back up, and I need help tearing it down again. I look to God and see his mercy. I look into his word and see the truth. I pray and hear him reply. And I seek more knowledge from wise counsel and I compare it to God's word. One thing that I want to point to that mirrors my life now is Psalm 42. David is in a great depression. For how long? I don't know. Why? It appears it could be for reasons that are similar to mine. I have sown seeds that were far from God's plan for my life. Ones that were not a part of his plan, but now he will work for his glory. Galatians 6:9 says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

This is my hope. 

There have been times before in my life that I have looked to God and he heals me from sin. He took me and molded me into his son's likeness and I was made right with him. What I need now is to fall back in love with him. To recollect on his word. To know it. To love him. When I write this post, I am writing at the a time that I am seeking mercy everyday from God. Mercy for the seeds that I have sown that are causing me to hurt him and myself. I trust when I finally post this that it will be at a time that you won't recognize that I even struggle. In fact, it will be when I have conquered this stronghold through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). 

Remember Christ rose from the dead to beat death. Death is what is bred through our sins. Through Christ, we are given strength to conquer those sins that are killing us slowly and ultimately live one day with him. Do not give up and do not fret. Because as David once proclaimed in his stage of depression, " Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him my Savior and my God."