Tiniest of Seeds

High Places: Tearing Them Down to Walk in the "More" Promised

• Laurine Decker • Season 1 • Episode 20

Share episode

Send us a text

"High Places" are areas that we haven't allowed God's healing to touch and haven't surrendered. Often, this is because we don't know what they are because we are not positioning ourselves to hear what God has to say about them. If there is ANY place you are not seeing the truth of what God and the Word says is yours in Christ, there just might be a "high place" you have been given the authority in Jesus name to tear down.

As children of God, we often stop short of receiving the true gift of our salvation. It really is possible to walk in the joy and peace and victory and assurance we are told are ours. And, to take it even a step further, not only told we can, commanded to do! It's not a pipe dream. It can be reality. Does this mean we will always feel it? Does it mean it's not a battle? No, we are given some pretty violent language in the Bible as to what it takes to walk in this truth. Demolish. Take captive. Tear down. Suffer. Pick up your cross. Leave father, mother, sister, brother. These are just a few examples.

No wonder we are often not walking in the "more" promised. It takes perseverance and practice to continue to show up and actually surrender all and receive what he has promised. Surrender and receiving isn't something as disciples of Jesus we can do just here and there when we feel desperate. We are are meant for journey in deeper and deeper love and surrender.

Laurine Decker:

Hello, this is Laurine, and yesterday I recorded this podcast on high places and had a lot of emotion and I was having a tough day yesterday and I was going to re-record because I feel like I was a little bit all over the place. But rather than that, I'm going to keep it. But I did want to give you a definition before we start about high places a little bit more clearly. High places in the Old Testament referred to altars or places that were dedicated to idol worshiping. Another term you'll hear is ashera poles, and they were sacred trees or poles that the Canaanites worshipped. And if you remember who the Canaanites were, they're historically known for paganism being very barbaric. They were the indigenous people that were in the promised land. So they were the people that Joshua and Caleb scouted out.

Laurine Decker:

And, anyway, there's a lot more I could say about that, but for our purposes today, I want to just say that in a number of places in the Old Testament, it says that God's people neglected to tear down the high places. Today, under the new covenant, which means after the cross, we're told that we are the temple of the Lord God Most High, and so we have places within us that need to be torn out, torn down. High places for us, or anything that is erected that holds a place of a stronghold or an idol. It's anything that sets itself up in this knowledge of Christ, knowing Christ, knowing His truth, his commands, loving God, loving others, as we're commanded to do. It's anything that comes against that. We're commanded, as His followers, to walk by the Spirit, which means to walk in that love, peace and joy. I talk about that further on in the podcast. We're joint heirs with Christ, and so a high place is anything that is preventing that it could be. Generational, familial, personal enemy prowls around seeking to kill, steal and destroy, and so strongholds, high places, can be erected any place in our life, any place that we are not willing to surrender. That seems out of God's reach, that seems impossible. Second Corinthians 10-4 says that we fight with weapons that are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds, and so we demolish arguments in every pretension that sets itself up in this knowledge of Christ. We take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ, and that, you guys, I would say, is the test. Are we walking in love and thought and glory to God, the Father? If not. There's a pretty good chance that there is a place that we need to surrender or a high place that needs to come down. So with that, I'm going to go ahead and let you listen to the rest of what I recorded yesterday. Thanks so much for joining me.

Laurine Decker:

Have you ever cared so much about something that you can't put it into words, you feel like you can't grasp it, you can't make others understand, because really it's not yours to make them understand, but you care, so so much. That's what I feel like today doing this podcast. My name is Laurine and my twin sister, Autumn and I started this podcast about eight months ago as part of a devotional project. We wrote a devotional together that we hope to publish next year and, long story short, we started Breathe in Him three years ago because we were both desperate for more community with God and others. We knew that there was more, and so here I am, and it's over three years later and I'm more convinced than ever about the faithfulness of God and the more Ephesians says to him, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. To him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. And my hearts cry today is deeper than I ever thought, because I am increasingly experiencing the more, and I want to tell you what I mean by more. I mean the love, the joy, the peace, the presence, the adoration of God, the loving the Lord, god most high, and I'm not saying in a holier than now manner, even the fear of the Lord. That is the beginning of wisdom. It's a gift from Him and we have to ask and we have to seek and we have to knock. And as I've been doing that, because of my own desperate need, misery, dread, fear, born out of that, I feel this depth of the more, this inexplicable joy. And today I'm going to be talking to you about high places.

Laurine Decker:

High places were referred to in the Old Testament as things that were not torn down Over and over. In the Old Testament it says they left the high places, they left the Asherah poles, they didn't rip out the last remnant. And it's a complicated topic because even in Exodus the Lord says I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. So there's this process of working with the Lord God. Philippians talks about working out our salvation with fear and trembling, yet it's he that is at work within us. So there's this process, as we go deeper, of surrendering every last bit that sets itself up against the knowledge of Christ, and we're commanded to do that in the Bible. That's what I've been experiencing in these past couple of years is a ripping out and a tearing. I'm going to be a little bit all over the map today, because this is really from my heart, and in fact I had to call one of my friends right before I started recording because I am so sure that I can't do this.

Laurine Decker:

And yet the Bible says that I'm a competent minister of the Gospel. The Bible says that when I am weak I am strong. The Bible says his power is perfected in my weakness. The Bible says that he will use the weak to shame the strong and the foolish to shame the wise. It's an upside-down kingdom. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head we are joint heirs, and the wisdom and that power that comes only from the Holy Spirit is born out of humility and desperation. When we are in a place of surrender, the mysteries of Christ come alive. And so that is what I am prayerful for you today, listeners, is that you will recognize that anything that sets itself up in this knowledge of Christ is something that the Lord God most high, through the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, wants to rip out.

Laurine Decker:

I say often, in Galatians 5, it talks about the fruit of the Spirit. We're told to walk by the Spirit. We're told that we will have fruit of the Spirit If we are told that it means that they are ours to grasp. Those fruit, the love, the joy, the peace. They are for us. They are for us to walk in. We are told. Jesus says the first and greatest commandment is to be the Lord God with all of our heart, soul and strength to live others as ourselves. And those are things that we are commanded to do. If we are commanded to do them, surely they are possible.

Laurine Decker:

I also want to say that, going back to that Exodus 23 verse, it's the Lord God who drives them out. There is no shame, there's no condemnation. The Lord God, the Holy Spirit, john tells us, the Holy Spirit convicts us as to sin and righteousness and judgment. We do not need to go looking and searching for these high places. The Lord, god, will make them known as we come in a posture of surrender and worship.

Laurine Decker:

I've talked a lot about how, a couple of years ago, the Lord convicted me to get on my face to bow. The Bible tells us to bow before the Lord, god most high. The Bible tells us to meditate, to wait, and I was convicted that I have all the excuses in the world. My brain is wired. However, my brain is wired, yours is unique to you. But one thing is certain there are so many obstacles to waiting, to presence, to prayer, to bow before the Lord, to taking that time to receive what he has, and so the Lord convicted me that I needed to start doing that, and I will tell you what, guys.

Laurine Decker:

It was super tough at first and I just committed every morning to get on my face and to pray the Lord's prayer, also to pray Romans 12, 1 and 2, I would kind of do them interchangeably, and even at the beginning I barely had the tolerance or the resilience to even pray that much. And the Lord is taking me deeper and deeper into a journey of praise and worship and posture and surrender as I've continued to show up in obedience. Now, you know, I had my conversion experience when I was 30. And as a disciple. Then there were things that he asked me to give up, places of surrender. I remember at that time some high places were ripped out, and so it's not a. You know, I've said often it's not one and done, it's a one and done, that Jesus accomplished it for us on the cross. But we need to continue to walk it out All over the Bible.

Laurine Decker:

It talks about mercy and grace. It says in Lamentations New Morning, new Mercies. His mercies are new every morning. We are told to cry out to the Lord continuously, to pray without ceasing. Today is the day of salvation, today is the day of joy, restoration, redemption, and so that is what I would ask you to take a look at. Are you walking in? The more Is your life marked by joy and presence and peace? And again, that's not a condemning word, it's a word of hope.

Laurine Decker:

Because if you're not, I would venture to say that there may be a high place, something that the Lord God wants to tear down, something that was erected, that is causing family generational pain. He's faithful to reveal and to show and you know, just recently I've had deeper roots of a high place of caretaking and man-pleasing that has been exposed. I've mentioned that a couple times for those of you who to go to church with me at New Day. I've mentioned that to different of you who are friends of mine. He has exposed the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit, the Lord, god Most High. He's exposed a root of man-pleasing that I have just recently had my eyes opened up to, and so you know, the Lord's grace covers a multitude of sins. His love covers a multitude of sin. His love has won it and accomplished it on the cross, and yet there are things that will be exposed along the way.

Laurine Decker:

It gets really tricky to talk about some of these things because it can almost start to feel like a prosperity word or a health and wealth word. That is not the case, however. We know in this world that there will be trials and tribulations. We are not relieved of our suffering. In fact, jesus went to death on a cross, the disciples were martyred, so that's not what I'm preaching here. What I'm preaching is the more, the exceedingly, abundantly more for you and your family, the steadfast love and faithfulness over the generations, the spacious expansion of joy and peace and love in your heart, in your soul, in your body, the wellness that is ours in Christ.

Laurine Decker:

And this can all sound like a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo. What are the practical nuts and bolts? I want to strip it down to a real, basic thing. That's even coming back to the Lord's prayer and even more than that, the posture of receiving the ministry of the Spirit even as we begin to pray. The Bible says that we have not, because we ask not, and when we ask, we ask with wrong motives. And yet our hearts are desperately wicked.

Laurine Decker:

And so, just on a real, practical level, just coming to the Lord even now and saying, lord, I don't desire you, I don't hunger and thirst for righteousness, I don't fear you. Increase and be Lord by the power of your Spirit. If you've received Christ as your Savior, you have the Spirit within you, you have the deposit of the Spirit, you have the guarantee of the Spirit, you've been sealed with the Spirit. It tells us this in Scripture. In Acts, jesus said wait for the Spirit, the power will come upon you, you will receive the Spirit and then you will be witnesses. We need to still receive the truth in the ministry. That Spirit is there for us to receive, for us to walk in.

Laurine Decker:

Something switched in me not too long ago about the receiving. I think often we're afraid to say yes, I receive the truth, I receive your healing, I receive your promise, I receive your deliverance, I receive your peace. I think often we can be scared or fearful of saying I receive, because then somehow it makes it solution-oriented, it somehow makes us feel like then, if we don't really feel it, or if we don't experience it, or if we don't see an external result, then then somehow God has not been faithful or true. I know, for a long time I had a hard time speaking out the truth with confidence, because then I felt as if I was failing Somehow, I didn't do it right. And so, just as far as a practical how-to, I would encourage you, listener, to just begin to speak out the truth, the name above all name.

Laurine Decker:

I receive, lord Jesus Christ, the truth over my life, the truth over this area. That seems impossible. What is impossible with man is possible with God. Nothing is impossible for you, lord, god. With you I can leap over a wall, I can run against a troop. I put on the garments of praise for the Spirit of heaviness. Thank you, lord, god, that I am spinning in distraction. But I will praise you, I will lift up my voice to your holy name and you know, those high places have to come down.

Laurine Decker:

If you recognize something, you know I've had a long battle with eating disorder. I still continue to have obsessive compulsive thinking or patterns. I used to have obsessive compulsive germophobia and I still can get caught off guard. But you know, what I have learned is that there is still hope. When I am weak, he is strong. If you want to walk with Jesus, he says come, be yoked, come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Do you know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like come, I will give you rest, take my yoke, receive my yoke, take my yoke, for I'm meek and lowly in heart. You'll find rest for your soul. You know what that tells me? That I can stand on the promise of rest and peace and joy and love. Am I going to feel like that all the time? No, but I can know that God's will is to bring down those high places.

Laurine Decker:

I've talked before about Stephen the martyr in Acts, when he was stoned. In fact, the apostle Paul Saul at that time was one of the ones holding the coats. Saul was such a hater of Christians and he was transformed by the power and the love of Jesus Christ, paul, the apostle Paul, and he was there when Stephen was martyred, and it says in that scripture it talks about what Stephen said, and he had a beatific look on his face. He was abiding in the Moor. That is what God promises us. Despite the world's trials, tribulations, storms, illness, whatever it may be, it is ours to walk to the glory of God, the Father in the Moor, in the love, in the joy, in the peace. You know that all sounds well and good, but when you don't know firsthand the love of God, when you don't trust his faithfulness, how can you continue to show up and go deeper? Well, you show up and then you go deeper, and that is where, wherever you are at right now. Jesus Christ, if you have received him as your personal Savior, has the Moor. He promises it, and so if you will press in, if you will take his hand, there's nothing too hard for him.

Laurine Decker:

If you've listened to this podcast and you want to talk a little bit more about some practical ways to approach tearing down some high places, please reach out to me. I would love to pray with you. I would love to schedule a time to come and ask the Lord, god specifically from ministry over you in this area. I would love to answer any questions. There are practical tools. Many things have been written. There are practical tools about how to pray or how to press in, how to receive.

Laurine Decker:

It's not rocket science and yet it takes a diligence and a learning and I would say the number one thing is to get into the Word, whether you understand it or not, to know that that Word is living and active and that the Holy Spirit is there to instruct you. Jesus promises that. Jesus said it's better that I leave, because I'm gonna leave the Spirit to instruct you, and so we know that if we show up, that the Spirit is there to take us deeper, to administer those things. But if you want to chat more about it, it has been such a long journey for me. In fact, I've had quite a few people reach out to me recently and I've been so encouraged by a few of you. I've had one woman in particular. Her psychologist has told her to pray for the saints as she battles with her own OCD brain patterns, and so she is praying for me as I'm praying for her.

Laurine Decker:

You know we're all part of the great cloud of witnesses and we need one another, and so please reach out.

Laurine Decker:

You're not alone if you're feeling desperate or isolated or stuck in a pattern that seems insurmountable.

Laurine Decker:

I truly believe that Jesus is the one that is high and lifted up. He is the author and the perfect of our faith. We can throw off those weights that entangle and we can run toward Him with that hope that doesn't disappoint, and those high places can be brought down in the name of Jesus. And so, as I close today, I do just want to pause and thank you, lord, that you are the name above all names. Thank you, lord, that your will for us is always good, that your promises are yes and amen, that you have conquered sin and death, that you have redeemed our lives from the pit, that you have made us to walk in power and love and peace and joy and kindness and goodness. You have made us to live full, abundant lives, to have streams of living water flow from us. That is your will for us, and so, lord, I pray for each person listening today. I pray that for myself. May we walk in and receive the more. In Jesus name, amen.