You Obey but No breakthrough ?

I found this article on this website - Livingwaters Prophetic Ministries

The end-time is very crucial period to the body of Christ as a whole.  Because it is a time of intense warfare and demonic opposition. In this end-time, we need to rise up as God’s victorious army and take our place in the battle field. 

 Let’s Quickly Consider The Place Of Strongholds In Delay.

Strongholds are fortresses and stumbling blocks used by the enemy to limit people and cage them into a particular state or position. They are yokes of limitations held together by demons and evil spirits assigned for such purpose. Strongholds are sources of oppression which serve as weights and burdens to people, in order to impede their progress. To possess our possession, we must be willing to fight and pull down every stronghold. Because until we resist the devil he will not flee. Until we evacuate every illegal occupant in our territory, we cannot fully enjoy our inheritance.

II Corinthians 10:3-6

Verse 3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

Verse 4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds ;)

Verse 5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Verse 6: And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled

Our warfare is not against men but with forces of darkness & our weapons are also spiritual weapons. Before we can fully revenge all disobedience, our obedience must be fulfilled. Many hearts has been made sick because the devil has used his strongholds to hinder their desires & expectations from coming to life.

Proverbs 13:12

Verse 12:  Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

One thing you should know is that God is a God of principles. And His word has laid for us certain principles that make things work. All of God’s promises are conditional. Except we meet the condition we cannot partake of the blessings & promises. The devil cannot stop God from doing what God wants to do in our lives. Neither can he stop God’s word from being fruitful.

Isaiah 55:11

Verse 11:  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 14:24-27

Verse 24: The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

25: That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

26: This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.

27:  For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

But the devil can hinder or stop us from meeting the needed conditions that will make us partake of the promises & blessings. This assignment is carried out by the strongholds of the enemy through our imaginations, thoughts, ignorance etc.

Job 36:11

Verse 11: If they obey and serve him, they    shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

“If” proves this to be a conditional promise. God expects us to live in abundance because He takes pleasure in our prosperity. But except we fulfill the condition of obedience and service, we cannot partake of this promise. The strongholds work by hindering us from obeying God’s voice and serving Him faithfully. If we do not obey and serve Him we cannot live our days in prosperity and our years in pleasures.

Deut. 28:1-14

Verse 1:  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:

2:  And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.

3:   Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.

4:   Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.

5:   Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.

6:   Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.

7:   The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.

8:  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

9:  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.

10:   And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.

11:  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

12:  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

13:   And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:

14  And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

The blessings outlined in this passage are conditional ones based on the fulfillment of verse 1. Many people claim to be the head and not the tail but still find themselves under. Because God did not say we are the head and not the tail. He said He will MAKE us the head and not the tail IF we walk in OBEDIENCE to His revealed will.

Psalm 1:1-3

Verse 1: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2:  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3:  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

There are many things which the devil puts in our way to make us have delay and these are called STRONGHOLDS OF DELAY.  God does not want to delay you from having a child, a good family, a good job, a business breakthrough. But you must pull down all the strongholds of the devil. Consider Daniel, he was hindered by strongholds of delay for 21 days. Have you prayed and trusted God for a change in your business and there is still no change? Break the strongholds of delay.

 Have you done all you know to do in God’s word in order to get the right partner to marry, and still remain single?  Break the strongholds of delay. Is your marriage in trouble, and your family out of order despite series of intercessions? Break the strongholds of delay.

 Have you trusted God for admission, promotion or employment and you still don’t have it, even when you stand on God’s word and refuse to compromise? Break the strongholds of delay.

 Is your finances out of place and your debts increasing regardless of your sowing and sacrifices to the kingdom?  Break the strongholds of delay.

Are you facing devourers in your health, your business or your family even after being faithful in tithing and giving?  Break the strongholds of delay.

 Have you sown and sacrificed and done all kinds of kingdom investments without seeing any harvest? Break the strongholds of delay.

 Have you been promised something only to be turned back anytime you appear for it? Break the strongholds of delay.