My Strong Tower

"God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...." Psalm 46:1,2

I sat in the presence of a mighty, loving God last night who answered my call.

I woke up at about 1:45 a.m. sweating and with an awful sense of fear overwelming me. I had awaken from a dream - one that was very dark, demonic, and straight out of a horror film. (I don't watch that garbage, so this was out of the ordinary for me.) Even though I was awake, and I was not in the midst of the dream anymore, I felt an enormous amount of fear. What I was afraid of, I don't even know. I felt like I needed to get up, pray, and read my Bible to push through this fear, because fear is NOT of God....it is straight from the enemy of our souls. I have dealt with fear like this before, fear that I had worked myself up into, but this time it was different - It felt like someone had taken a big heavy piece of metal named "fear" and placed it on my shoulders, and I just couldn't throw it off of me. As silly as it sounds, I felt like Satan was standing over me, pushing down on the metal and laughing at how pitiful I looked.

I sat in the living room, in tears, praying for my Father to comfort me and release me from the stronghold of fear. I looked up and asked, "please speak to me," and opened my Bible.

I opened right to Psalm 46:

"God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

There is a river whose streams shall made glad the city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High,

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just as the break of dawn.

The nations raged , the kingdoms were moved

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Come behold the works of the Lord,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted amont the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The Lord of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge."

Coincidence? Nonbelievers would say so. I, however, felt the presence of my Father last night like no other time. In a book of 1189 chapters, I find it hard to believe that I coincidentally fell onto this Psalm at this particular moment of need. The song, "Strong Tower" by Kutless immediately came to mind after reading it. My love for my Father was magnified by 100 after this encounter with Him. The fear was removed from me, and I crawled in bed and fell right back to sleep. Take that, Satan!

What I learned from this incident is that God is bigger than anything that may have a stronghold over you and is keeping you from walking in fullness with Him - fear, anger, impatience, unkindness, addiction, lust, whatever it may be. You fill in the blank. Many may know this, but many aren't humble enough to go before Him. Once you realize you are just a mere, weak soul without the power of Christ, chains will finally be broken and life will be restored.

You need Him. Period.