Passages from 2 Kings 14 give great insight to the impact that strongholds in high places have on our lives.
Amaziah was an amazing king but even good kings can be held back from all they were meant to be.
Amaziah accomplished great things as a leader. However, it was the strongholds in high places that he failed to remove from his life that kept him from being all that he could be.
Where are the high places hiding in your life? Places that continue to just be out of reach. They serve as an iron lid that keeps you from reaching your full potential.
Everything else in your life may appear to be in order but there is that one stronghold that is held over your head and is holding you back.
Oh what a difference there might be if you could find the courage, the strength, the willingness and the simple obedience to remove the strongholds found in the high places of your life.
Deliverance from the high places only comes through the power of the Lord. All things are made possible through him. This includes removal of strongholds in high places.
In ancient days the Italians were challenged by the Apostle Paul. Romans 7:15-24 does a great job outlining the struggles we all have with strongholds in high places.
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
“So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Try as you might, the strongholds in high places can lead to pure exhaustion, discouragement and defeat; the exact place where the enemy hopes to lead you.
Only when you call on the Lord for help do you see him provide a way of escape from the strongholds in high places.
You can reach your full potential when you reach and remove strongholds in high places!
(Inspired by 2 Kings 14:3-4)
