Great deliverance He gives to His king…Psalm 18:50
Pharaoh, Goliath, Haman: what did these three men have in common? The answer should not come as a surprise to us; all these men caused a dark shadow over Israel. These three personalities seemed to have the power to hold Israel back from moving forward in their God-given destiny. Thank God that in Christ, “He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” (Colossians 1:13); nevertheless, there is a constant battle over our callings and our destinies. How does the enemy keep us locked in from fulfilling our callings and our destinies? The answer is through strongholds.
What is a stronghold? A stronghold is a fortified place from where someone is unable to break out. The first step in overcoming a stronghold is to recognize one; the easiest way to recognize a stronghold is to identify patterns that repeat in our life. A repeating negative pattern; the same thing discourages you over and over; being overcome by the same cycle of negative emotions; a recurring negative habit; a physical ailment that keeps recurring; etc. Remember that to keep Israel bound, Pharaoh used the same pattern: he wore Israel down by overburdening them. Goliath used the same pattern: he intimidated Israel over and over again. Patterns have the power to keep us bound, but thank God that His power has set us free: “The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4). May God give every one of us the courage to acknowledge our strongholds and bring them into His light. When we do this, without doubt, our song will be, “Great deliverance He gives to His king…” (Psalm 18:50).
Declaration: My destiny in Christ is not bound. I will live as one who is delivered and free to fulfill my calling and purpose to its fullest.
Scripture: Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this. (Daniel 3:29)