“One who is wise can go up against the city of the mighty, and pull down the stronghold in which they trust” (Proverbs 21:22, NIV).
Have you ever faced a wall that seems impenetrable? You can't find a weakness in its structure. Each time you think you have found a way to break through, the wall just reinforces itself. No matter what you try, you fail. You are about to give up, but then you admit that you haven't asked God for His help and guidance. You have stubbornly tried to bring that wall down by yourself. Without His wisdom to reveal the weakness of that wall, you can't discover the one thing that will bring it down. With God's wisdom you can leave that whole wall in ruins.
Do you have a wall in your life that keeps you from freedom in Christ? Do you have a stronghold that holds you fast? Perhaps there is something in your life where you have unwisely and maybe even unwittingly placed your trust. Maybe you can’t quite identify what causes your feelings of bondage. You need God's wisdom to identity and conquer what you alone have no power to address. “If any of you lacks wisdom,” James writes, “you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5, NIV). If you ask God for His wisdom He bestows it abundantly without restraint. With His wisdom you can identify, address, and conquer that very thing where you have placed your trust—the thing that has held you in bondage. With His wisdom and power you can pull down any stronghold which has claimed your trust more than God has claimed your faith.
With God’s wisdom and power you can also discern what is needed to bring down strongholds that have claimed the trust of others. With His wisdom you can have strength and Spirit-led forbearance to go against the powerful who have been deceived. BUT how can you powerfully address another person’s stronghold until you have addressed your own? Before you find what needs to be addressed in someone else’s life, cast out what is in your own. Seek God's wisdom and admit your stronghold—that wall which keeps you from His fullness. When you have His wisdom and have wisely studied that wall's strength, you will find the weakness in its structure which, when addressed, will pull down the whole wall. Allow the Holy Spirit to have control and guide you, and the wall no longer is impenetrable. That stronghold no longer has a greater strength than your God who strengthens you. His wisdom has found the crack in its structure, and it will fall. When your wall is down you have experienced His power that brings down strongholds. You understand freedom in a way you never thought possible. You walk in His power and His wisdom and have insight to help others address their own walls and discover freedom. The Kingdom of God is found in your heart. This is where your journey of faith begins and where it ends—in Him.
(Copyright 2017 Lynn Hampton Lacher)
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