Eliminating Srongholds

Wasps are particularly vicious around their nests.

On a recent Salkehatchie mission trip I attended, we encountered lots of wasps and found many wasp nests. When we eventually removed the nests, the wasps moved on too.

I felt prompted to take a picture of one of those many nests. I wasn’t sure why at the time, but I’ve learned to follow those promptings which commonly come from the Holy Spirit.

I didn’t think much about those wasps after they were gone, but as I was scrolling through my pictures after I returned home, the shot of the nest caught my eye. It doesn’t look like much and is completely harmless once it’s taken down, but when it’s attached and supporting wasps, that’s an entirely different scenario altogether.

When wasps have an active nest, they will aggressively defend it. It becomes larger and larger if left unchecked. It can become a home to many stinging insects and can become very dangerous.

But, once it gets knocked down, those dangerous wasps will move on to a different location. They won’t just simply rebuild in the same spot.

That wasp nest made me think about strongholds that we have in our own lives. We all have areas of weakness where we allow the Enemy to whisper in our ear and to build a nest of sorts. It could be anything ranging from pride, self-doubt, anger, hurt or unforgiveness to name a few. The list of human weakness is vast and when we don’t put on the Armor of God, we can find ourselves unprotected.

Over time, strongholds for Satan can be built and when people come near to challenge them, the wasps will fly. Those stings hurt.

Think about it. When we come across the path of someone who has been hurt in the past, we can reach out to them and they can strike out us for what seems like no good reason at all. We can in turn become angry with them and the wasp nest for both of us continues to grow and thrive.

But, there is another way. We can prayerfully ask God to show us those strongholds and ask for help removing them. The Holy Spirit will help us knock them down. It’s not always easy and we may sometimes get stung. However, once they are gone, they can no longer harm us.

We can be free.

A picture of a wasp nest reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂