Are you living in a fortress of safety, or are you living in fear? And what does your answer have to do with your health journey? Watch the video or read the blog to find out more…

Where we live has a big influence on what we think and what we do: on our thoughts and on our actions, driving our habits and behaviours, and ultimately our lifestyle. We can see that different countries around the world produce people with quite different cultures and beliefs, because where people come from influences the way that they are. But equally two children brought up in different households on the same street could be very different because of the values and traditions that they live with.

The same goes for where we live in our mind. And it’s here that we can either be living in God’s fortress or living in fear. This will hugely affect what we think and do and the lifestyle that we live. It’s true for our health journey too.

Imagine that you’re living in complete faith and trust in God. You believe all his promises, and you believe that he will lead you to a healthy, whole, and free place in your health journey. You believe that he will give you all the tools and resources that you need.

How would you act and what kind of choices would you make? How much confidence would you have to go the extra mile, to really believe in God’s best for you?

Then imagine the opposite: imagine if you’re out on a limb you haven’t got any protection. You don’t have any defences or any form of attack. How does that make you feel? You’re less likely to have confidence that good things will happen for you. You may find it hard to commit to things; you might be scared.

That’s why it’s so important to live in the fortress of faith that God has provided for us.

Psalm 18:2

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge.

My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Our fortress helps us to stand strong in God, and in our faith, so that we can be protected. Imagine an actual fortress, a castle with slit windows through which you can fire arrows out at the enemy. It’s the same if we live in a fortress of faith with God: where our fiery arrows are prayer, Bible verses, or worship that we can use against the specific lies, challenges, and problems we may face.

But if we’re living in fear, we don’t have that opportunity; will probably always be running, always looking around us, unable to mount a defence. Living in that fortress that God has given us is our best chance at succeeding in so many areas of life. 

How do we start to live in a fortress of faith and not in a place of fear?

Psalm 139: 23-24

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

We need to start small and practice. Meditate on what God says in the Bible about being the Rock and being our fortress, then put small steps of faith into action and make note of them. And make note too of when God answers prayers, so you can look back on what He has done and how He has been faithful, giving you encouragement to move forward. Build up those foundation so that you’re standing on the rock and living in the fortress.

That way you can be intentional about sending out arrows of prayer, of Bible study, and of worship, to defeat those things that aren’t of God; those lies encourage us to believe that we’re not good enough, that we can’t succeed or reach our goals. Because, if we live in a place of fear, we subconsciously put things in place to make sure that we don’t succeed, because we were worried that we can’t, or because it hasn’t happened for us before. We limit ourselves and we limit God.

But when we live in the fortress, we remove those limits and can operate in God’s power to fulfil his plan and purpose for our lives.

Let’s stand on God the Rock!

If you want to delve a bit deeper we have a series of online courses and events over the next few months; you can find out more here.