I recently read an article about a father who, along with his children, built a fortress made of snow at his home in Canada. He and the children would gather snow from their neighbors' yards in an apartment complex. This snow fortress took five days to construct. Laboring to pack snow in plastic containers, they transported these heavy blocks and used ladders to build this structure higher and higher. As they carefully stacked the molded blocks of frozen snow and ice, it was no small feat and it attracted all kinds of attention. The pictures of it were quite impressive. Neighborhood children toured inside and marveled at how high it was. But some of the attention it attracted resulted in the father being ordered to dismantle the ice castle, to demolish the fortress. It seems that the owners of the condo complex were compelled to take action, seeing the potential peril of people inside the structure in danger of being injured. The beautiful fortress was in effect a deceptively deadly prison if the snow ever collapsed. Someone could even die there.
The father originally rebelled against the idea that others could step in and order it demolished. He questioned whether they had the authority to pull it off. But once it was explained to him and he could see the potential dangers of the situation he gladly demolished it. What took days to build up only took hours to tear down.
I see a spiritual picture here of what the Spirit of God can tell us through the word of God. We spend lifetimes habitually building fortresses that we live in. Spiritual places of worship. These fortresses are called strongholds. Castles around our hearts. These heart habitations, these strongholds, can be holy ones or unholy ones. When we worship God in our thoughts, words, and deeds, we actively build holy fortresses. Holy fortresses are like living in the castle of a strong king. It is the safest place to live. But when we worship anything or anyone other than God (and we will because we are built to worship) we habitually build wicked strongholds. Block by block, thought by thought, word by word, action by action builds the structure of our lives until our fortress becomes a prison. And we are bound in our own sinful structure, waiting to die like a prisoner awaits execution on death row. The wages of sin is death. Payday is coming. We may find ourselves at times waking up to the fact that we are bound in our sin, lost and separated from holy living and sometimes wonder how to break out of this frozen fortress. But we know we can't get out on our own. We don't seem to have the power. Who can set us free from these strongholds?
Good news. God has a plan. And He has the power. Consider the following words:
"...for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..." (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
The father who built the snow fortress came into the knowledge that what he thought was a harmless endeavor was actually a deadly deception. He surrendered to the authority that had the power to order it dismantled. And he gladly participated in its destruction. We can do the same today. Acknowledge our helplessness to escape from these unholy strongholds and surrender them to a superior power today and be set free to live as you were originally created. God will give us the truth about how we are living. Ask yourself, does what I am thinking, saying, and doing glorify God as a worship experience? If not, surrender that act, word, or thought to the power that can tear your fortress prison down. Submit to the power of Christ and the word of God and live life in the power of the Holy Spirit and worship Him in spirit and truth.
It does make a difference where the power is this year. Is God's power in you?
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