Strongholds
Lionesses do life together, and everything they do is for the benefit of the whole pride. This is a true statement for the lioness and it holds true for the Body of Christ as well. We need each other. Community and fellowship among believers is a necessity. Together we stand, divided we fall and there is no place in the Body for the lone ranger.
So, is that it? Do we do things together or not at all? No! I am not suggesting that we become lone rangers and do life with the mentality that we don’t need anyone else; however, I do believe that there are some things we have to do alone, away from the group. Even the pride minded lionesses have some things that they cannot do as a group:
MATING: The strongest lion and the lioness in heat, go off away from the pride to “take care of business.” The lion has his time of intimacy with each adult lioness, one at a time. As believers, we too must have our time of intimacy with our Lion. We cannot survive as a group, if we don’t have the strength that comes from our daily, one on one, encounters with our Bridegroom King.
GIVING BIRTH: The lioness finds a secluded den away from the pride and gives birth alone. She stays away from the pride for 6 to 8 weeks (until the cubs are old enough to hold their own among the other cubs in the pride). This alone time with our Lion, produces fruit in us that must be brought to the birth. No one else can birth what God has planted in you.
So, today, I want to talk about the “thing” you are called to do alone; that “thing” that you must conquer in order to open a door that will benefit the whole Body of Christ:
The first thing David did after being crowned King was go after Zion. Zion was a neighborhood within Jerusalem. It was considered a stronghold for two reasons:
It was located on a hill whose natural topography made it easy to defend militarily (surrounded on 3 sides by steep valleys).
It has a natural water supply which made it possible for them to hold out for long periods of time against anyone trying to capture them.
In a word, the stronghold of Zion was “impenetrable.” Israel tried several times to take Zion, and failed. Since the children of Israel could not take Zion, they occupied the land around it, but they had this constant reminder that the land promised to them by God was not fully theirs. They did not drive out all the inhabitants of the land like they were told. The Canaanites had and kept Zion until David. They were lucrative business men and the children of Israel became their customers!
Scripture gives credit to David for “taking” the stronghold of Zion, and rightly so. He was the king, and the king gets the credit for all the victories (and also for the defeats). When we lay hands on the sick and they recover, our King gets the credit (as is His due). So, David got the credit, but Joab, his cousin was the one who did the work. David issued a challenge to his men that whoever took the stronghold of Zion would become the captain of his army. Joab was an ambitious man, took that challenge, got into Zion through the water system and opened the door of the city for David and his men to come in and conquer.
Joab did this alone, but the whole of Israel benefited. Zion not only became the seat of David’s power, but more importantly, it became the place where the Ark of the Lord was to rest. David’s first order of business was to establish a place where the Presence of the Lord could be a 24/7 reality in Israel, and Joab was instrumental in this taking place.
Joab took the stronghold of Zion for his king. What is that “thing” that stronghold you are called to take for your King? The stronghold, which if taken, will benefit the entire pride (the Body of Christ)? Joab was gifted, trained, physically fit, experienced in battle and anointed for the task. He wasn’t one of David’s 3 mighty men, nor was he listed as one of the 30, but his one act, accomplished alone, made him captain of them all. What is that stronghold that you are meant to penetrate that will not only open the doors for others, but will also catapult you into your place of leadership among the children of God?
What are you gifted in? During your times alone, what is the Lord training you for? What area have your life experiences qualified you to conquer? What great victory are you anointed to give birth to? You may not have the reputation of those around you, but, as a child of God, you are meant for something great.
We all have a Zion to conquer. A Zion that we alone are anointed to conquer, and if we don’t, then others suffer. Look at David’s 3 mightiest men. They all fought battles, alone, that brought great victory to the entire nation. They alone were anointed for the battles that they won. The mightiest of the 3 killed 800 men by himself. He stood his ground when everyone else ran, and the Lord gave him what had to be the supernatural ability to win that battle single handedly. Would it have been ok for him to run because everyone else did? Absolutely not!
Zion was a national problem and Joab became the solution. Throughout the history of the Promised Land, the children of Israel gave up on taking Zion because it was deemed impossible. One man became anointed to do the impossible. What impenetrable thing in your life are you called to penetrate? What unconquerable problem in the world are you called to conquer? Others may run from this “thing” but you are anointed to stand your ground!
A friend of mine died last night. She was a young woman in her early thirties. We bonded while she was a teenager. We struggled with the same issue. When I heard about her death, one of my first thoughts was that I could have been her Joab. As an older, more mature Christian, perhaps it fell to me to go forth and conquer that stronghold of our common struggle. If I conquered our Zion, and opened the gates that blocked her entry, perhaps she would have walked through and gotten freedom. I will never know. However, what I do know is that this stronghold must come down. It is no longer acceptable for me to have this enemy occupied territory in my land. It is no longer “ok” to do business with the enemy. I do believe I could and should have been a better help to this young woman, and when I heard that she died, the “could haves” and “should haves” started speaking really loud to me. However, I understand that guilt and shame is a foothold the devil uses to penetrate our defenses and hold us back from pursuing God. I won’t allow that to happen. The gift of repentance came at too high a cost (Jesus blood) for me to allow those things to have any place in me. I have acknowledged what I consider a failure on my part, repented and now ready to keep fighting. I encourage you to do the same. If your stronghold is still there, can I suggest that it lingers because you are the champion meant to go forth and conquer it?