The
theme of our Women’s Ministries Department for this year is “Releasing
Strongholds; Strengthening Sisterhood.” According to the
dictionary, a stronghold is a fortified place, like a wall around the city. In
the spiritual logic, a stronghold symbolizes a wall of resistance to the
promptings of the Holy Spirit. In
2 Corinthians 10: 3, Paul refers to this as the spiritual
battle. It is the spiritual battle which the Christian must fight, not
against flesh and blood but against a spiritual entity.
Sisterhood
is defined as a friendly
relationship among women based on shared respect,
genuine concern, support and
admiration for one another. Sisterhood is critical for living a
successful Christian life. One of the ways we learn to be good Christian women
is from other Christian women.
Similarly, our young sisters look to us for examples of how to grow into
strong and mature godly women. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:17, Iron sharpens iron;
so a man [woman] sharpens the countenance of his friend [sister]. What are some
of these strongholds? They are things such as pride, envy, backbiting, lying,
deception, gossip, selfishness and, un-forgiveness towards one another.
Strongholds prevent us from coming together to
experience the joy of sisterhood, and from connecting with one another on a
personal level. They make us insensitive and indifferent to the needs of one
another. The devil knows that when sisters come together to love and support
one another, their families will become stronger, so he drives a wall of
division between us.
Thankfully, God provides an avenue
which helps us to release these strongholds. In 2 Corinthians 10: 4, the Bible
says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. As sisters, the power of God is at our
disposal to help us pull down fortresses or strongholds among us so that we can
feel free to come together to experience joy of sisterhood. In the next issue,
we will discuss some tips on how to strengthen sisterhood.
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