The Stronghold of My Life
STRONGHOLD: A place having strong defences; fortified place; Fortress (Webster’s New World)
BIBLE READING: PSALM 27:1
As I dug deeper into the definition of STONGHOLD, I found this one that blew my mind. According to Evangelist Olivia Wright (Blog 2013), she described a stronghold as “Something that has a “strong hold” over a person….” She gave other definitions but when I read this, there was a bubbling up in my spirit and I heard the Spirit say “Tinuke, that’s for you.!!!!!!”…
A “Stronghold” can have both a positive and negative meaning but this was where The Holy Spirit stopped me. He told me, “Tinuke, GOD HAS A STRONGHOLD OVER YOU, OVER YOUR LOVED ONES, OVER YOUR LIFE..” Immediately, I asked for a scripture to back it up and Psalm 27, jumped into my spirit. This is the kind of Stronghold I want over my life and I never want to resist this Stronghold. With this in mind, I turned to Psalm 27 and I started to read:
The Amplified version says in Verse 1 “ THE LORD is my Light and my Salvation-whom shall I fear or dread? THE LORD is the Refuge and Stronghold of my life –of whom shall I be afraid?”
I decided for completeness to look up the word “Refuge” and Webster’s defined it as “Shelter or protection from danger, difficulty..”
So I can say, God is my Light and Salvation (He saved/saves me), my Strong defence, fortifying my loved ones and I from danger and difficulty, of whom shall we be afraid?As I look at this interpretation inspired by The Holy Spirit, I saw Psalm 27:1 in a new light. Understanding this first verse of the Psalm put every other verse of the Psalm into perspective for me.
The Lord is my Light, how can darkness comprehend me? HOW? The enemy can never evaluate me because The Lord is my Light. The enemy can never overshadow me and I will always be one step ahead of him because The Lord is my Light. He has to flee when I remember who I am in Christ… Jesus says “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD” because His Life is my Light and He gave that Life for me to become Light in this world. No enemy of my life or the lives of my loved ones can put us out, absorb us or withstand us. As I read on and continued to meditate, because He gave His Life for me to become Light, He automatically is my Saviour. He saved me from the kingdom of darkness by going on the cross to die for me thereby, redeeming me back to God. The sin of Adam plunged me into the kingdom of darkness; the death of Christ brought me back into the Kingdom of Light. I need to remember this, know what Christ has done for me and appropriate it always as the enemy brings his lies. As Pastor Taiwo Odukoya put it, “I MOVE, LIVE AND HAVE MY BEING IN THE FINSHED WORK OF CHRIST.”I am no longer a slave to sin or afraid of the enemy because even though I am operating here on earth, I am actually seated in heavenly places with Christ where I am above all principalities and powers. I live in a natural world but I now operate supernaturally. It takes knowing this and believing it to manifest these supernatural powers here on earth.
AS I read on, I now understand why The Psalmist will call God his Refuge. It all makes sense. He bought me with the price of the Life of His Son and saved me from the kingdom of darkness, why would He not continue to shelter and protect me from danger and difficulty. AS a parent, I will always do all I can to protect my children and as old as I am, my Father is still doing all he can to protect me from difficulty and danger. He takes my name before God every morning and the names of all those connected to me, even though he knows I am a “Pastor”. As far as he is concerned, I am his daughter, Pastor or no Pastor, he believes it is his duty as a parent to protect me and the only way he knows how is to “Pray” for my loved ones and I everyday. He knows if anything happens to my loved ones, I will not be happy, so he includes them in his prayers. Every night, not caring the cost, he calls my children to do Bible study for a few minutes and then evening prayers…I AM JUST SO BLESSED… and when he finishes he calls all my nieces (those old enough to do Bible study and pray) and prays with them, the others he includes in his prayers. I have never asked for anything he is able to give, and he has said “NO”. This is my biological father, how much more God. God will do all in His power to protect me by fortifying my loved ones and I from perils and danger. To get to me, you have to go through HIM, then CHRIST before getting to me and any of my loved ones….so WHOM SHALL I FEAR?
Brethren I don’t know about you, but I AM BLESSED!!!!!! AS one of the verses of one of my favourite hymns, IN CHRIST ALONE says:
“No guilt in life, no fear in death, This is The Power of Christ in me: From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus COMMANDS MY DESTINY. No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hands; Till He returns or call me home…HERE IN THE POWER OF CHRIST I STAND.”
UNDER GRACE UNDER MERCY
ATINUKE OLASHORE