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Removing That Stump

"Build up, build up, prepare the road! Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people," were the words of the Holy Spirit to Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 57:14.

The Israelites of Isaiah’s day were a motley bunch.  Some had their eyes on God and desired his purposes but for the most part they had drifted from God and his commands.  Isaiah lived and ministered in the years before the great captivity of Israel by the Babylonians.  He prophesied about the coming captivity as a result of their disobedience and immorality but he also prophesied about their return to their homeland and future prosperity.  As the prophet uttered these words I could imagine his thoughts.  Perhaps he prayed, “O God almighty, have mercy on your people.  They have cluttered up their lives with obstacles and sins that have become strongholds.  Help me to show them that they need to repent of sin and overcome the strongholds that hold them captivate.  Help me to dig out the old stumps and prepare the ground for your blessings.”

Friend, habitual sins and strongholds that grow in our lives need to be both cut down through repentance and spiritual warfare, and eliminated through meditation on God’s word and through prayer.  A stronghold is just that – strong!  Satan won’t role over and play dead; he does not give up without a fight.  Jesus said, “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.  Then it says, `I will return to the house I left.'  When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.  Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.  And the final condition of that man is worse than the first,” (Matthew 12:43-45).  Unless you remove that old stump of habitual sin which supported the stronghold in your life and replace it with the word of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, that old thing will come back with vengeance. 

God-tracker, let us repent of sin, deal with those strongholds that hold us captive and then remove the obstacles out of the way of God’s purposes for our lives.  Let’s dig down deep through prayer and confession and, with endurance, find the source of those things that inhibit our walk with God.  Let us then rip out by the roots depression, immorality, fear, anxiety, criticism, unforgiveness, timidity, pride, impatience, doubt and the like!

So be strong, you can do it in Jesus who gives you strength.  He is your warrior in this good fight and he is your source of victory.  Be encouraged to read the Bible more and spend more time in prayer, worship and fellowship.  Replace the old with the new and walk daily in the power of God’s Holy Spirit.  He who is faithful will help you and you will grow from glory to glory.

God-tracking is removing the obstacles that litter the track of God’s purpose.

Blessings

Dudley

1 Peter 4:1
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.

“When you face the perils of weariness, carelessness, and confusion, don't pray for an easier life. Pray instead to be a stronger man or woman of God.” --- Luis Palau

Your suffering is my help

Hebrews 2:18
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Pray:
O God, my Lord, I pray your forgiveness for the things in my life that have inhibited my walk with you.   I repent of all sin – footholds that I have given to the devil that have become strongholds in my life.  Lord I praise you that by your grace, mercy and forgiveness I have overcome these strongholds – they have fallen, Lord.  But I know now that the roots of these things go deep into my heart and my life.  Today I take up the axe and spade and cut away at those roots in Jesus’ name.  I renounce my involvement in sin and claim back the ground I have given to the enemy by removing the stumps of strongholds that have kept me bound.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I pray.  Amen