Recently I was thinking about the difference between God's deliverance and our overcoming faith. Sometimes God delivers us from a situation but as we grow in faith, He prefers that we exercise our faith to overcome a certain situation. I believe that though God promises deliverance, His ideal is for us to learn how to overcome our strongholds and obtain victory. Just like the children of Israel had no power to stand up to their Egyptian taskmasters, God knows when we are powerless to stand up to our slave taskmasters. These were times when He had to intervene to deliver us from bondage, like how He miraculously brought the Israelties out of Egypt.
However, once the Israelites saw the mighty acts of God, their faith in a living and powerful God rose up. God was building their faith in the desert during all those years of wandering. In fact, it wasn't His plan for them to wander so long. It was only an eleven day journey but God knew they weren't ready to face the giants, so He took them on a longer route to better prepare them. However, they were still not ready to enter the Promised Land when the time came. They saw themselves as grasshoppers and were fearful of the giants living there.
This time round, the Lord didn't deliver them from the giants living in the Promised Land. He didn't destroy all the giants so that the Israelites could possess the land easily. The land was already given to them by God but they still had to take possession of it. Notice it was something active whenever we have to exercise our faith to face our giants, overcome our strongholds and obtain victory. Sure, God is backing us up but we have to cooperate with Him to possess our inheritance. It was a necessary process because God wants us to build our faith muscles. 1 John 5:4 says that it is our faith that overcomes the world.
Fear is a spirit. Fear comes to torment you, so you got to resist those thoughts immediately. Say no to that thought, resist it in Jesus' name, for you have authority in that name. The enemy is already a defeated foe, so don't let him bully you. Get victory in that area and you will be freed. Sometimes the enemy will come and threaten you again in that same area to see if you really believe in the power of Jesus' name. Stand firm in your faith for victory belongs to you. Then the enemy will try to put fear in another area but you continue to resist him and get victory in the other area. That's how you grow in faith and become stronger in the Lord. That's how you progress and gain ground.
I know it's easy for God to deliver me from bondage anytime but He wants me to conquer my fears in this area. He didn't want to deliver me from this stronghold, He wants me to overcome it. There is a difference between deliverance from and overcoming a stronghold. When God deems that you have no power to come out from the bondage, He will use His power to deliver you from it. But that is not His ideal. He wants you to grow strong enough to overcome that bondage so you will be forever set free.
Once I obtain victory in this area where I had been constantly bullied, God will bring me on to greater exploits in His kingdom. I can then show others how to obtain victory in the area of their bondage. Like how God has proven me time and again that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. All I had to do is to cooperate with His Spirit and success is guaranteed. God is patient with me...He can take as long as is required for this work to be completed in my life. This is more crucial than the manifestation because then I would be truly set free from the age old strongholds.
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