Although I don't normally read Christian help books, I was impressed to buy The Pulling Down of Strongholds by Dr. R. B. Ouellete at Preaching Conference last year. It is a book of 158 pages and I remember reading it in about an hour or so, but promptly forgot about it after placing it on my bookshelf.
Well, I remembered about it last night and read it again today. I would like to share some excerpts from the book that caused me to stop and think:
We want to know the will of God in advance so we can review it and see if it meets our approval. There is no free trial offer where you get thirty days to see if you like God's plan. The only way you can ever live in the will of God is to surrender to it--in advance. That's where faith comes in; you have to believe to see.
Surrender is writing God a blanck check for the rest of your life...Given what He has done for us [sacrifice Jesus made for us on the cross] it is only reasonable that we yield ourselves back to Him.
Our circumstances should never cause us to fear that God has abandoned us.
If you act on Bible principles, you are safe; if you follow your heart, you are in great danger. [The heart is "deceitful...and desperately wicked" Jer. 17:9]
Fear destroys faith.
Fear keeps us from obeying God's commands.
...Unforgiving people are unhappy people; unforgiving people are unblessed people; unforgiving peoplea re unused people; and, according to the Word of God, unforgivng people are unforgivin people. [Jesus said, "But if ye forgive not men thier trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" Matt. 6:15]
Someone once said that harboring bitterness in your heart is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.
Holding a grudge, harboring biterness and remembering everything wrong that has been done to you is a sign of bitterness, and bitterness is a warning sign of a stronghold in your life.
Many of the strong impulses and urges we have originate with the Devil, but the responsibility for sin lies with us.
The way ot of your stronghold, the way out of your depression, the way out of your gloom the way out of your darkness, the way out of your bitterness begins when you start praising God.
Submission is obeying God regardless of our feelings.
Saying you want to get closer to God deosn't improve your relationship with Him. The Bible says that we have to draw closer to Him; and when we do, He will draw closer to us...everytime you take a step toward God, He takes a step toward you...Until we do what we know what is right, God is not going to move toward us.
The best way to cast down strongholds is to keep them from being formed in the first place. To do that, we must attack wrong thoughts as soon as we have them [by using Scripture as per Jesus' example when the Devil tempted Him.]
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