Fortresses

Daniel 11:38 "He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts."

Foothold
I don’t know about you but I believe scripture speaks on many levels. In this blog I want to look at “fortresses” in the spiritual and mental context. With so much mass media saturation via Hollywood and the music industry, I believe as Christians we should choose more carefully what we digest from the enormous amount of media sources available today. Especially television, movies and music. While some things are clearly unhealthy and offensive, there is still so much more that we often do not perceive or think is effecting us.

It’s common for people to deflect their hardships on to God, or outright blame Him. I do not agree with that as His Word tells me otherwise in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Father clearly tells us his intentions toward us. Furthermore, the Word reveals the enemy and his works and the source of hardships and sorrows in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Many may say, “How can he harm me, I’m a Christian?” Let me ask, and I include myself in this, what books do you read, movies do you watch, TV shows, what music are you listening to, do you read horoscopes and play games like GTA? These are all “footholds” the devil can use to build “fortresses”, if we allow. Have you ever been in a great mood then suddenly find yourself road-raging, or yelling at your dog…? What song was playing on the radio recently, what in your environment triggered that sudden mood shift? It’s well documented that music and images directly effect our mood and can even stir emotions. So with this notion, can you begin to see why it’s important to safeguard our minds against giving satan “footholds” to build “fortresses”?

Fortify
How can we accomplish this vigilance? Changing habits, watch less television, listen to music that edifies and lifts you up, spend more time just talking to our Father, talking to each other. Hey, I’m nobody to be telling you how you should live, I just know what works for me. But try it and pray about it. Change some habits, the results can only be positive. And the next time you think, “why did this happen to me, why do I feel this way?” Give praise to God and seek out that “fortress” and destroy it in the name of Jesus. If we are truly following Christ it shouldn’t be hard to leave some unnecessary things behind.

Grace and peace!

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.


This article was written by Thomas Austin 

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