The Hidden Reason So Many Christians Feel Defeated

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There was a time when I honestly couldn’t understand why I felt like I kept fighting the same battles over and over.

I loved Jesus.

I read my Bible.

I prayed.

I genuinely wanted to obey God.

Yet I still felt like I was living in a cycle of defeat.

It wasn’t until I was studying the kings of Judah that I realized I had overlooked something Scripture repeats again and again.

And once I saw it…

I couldn’t unsee it.

If You Want To Stop Living In Defeat, Do This One Thing

We often look for another strategy, another book, or another habit that promises victory.

We often look for another strategy, another book, or another habit that promises victory.

But Scripture points us somewhere much deeper.

As I studied the kings of Judah, I noticed one issue that kept appearing again and again.

The one thing that will defeat the cycle of defeat

King after king received almost the same evaluation.

“He did what was right in the sight of the Lord…”

Then came one heartbreaking sentence.

“…Nevertheless the high places were not removed.”

Every time I read those words, I found myself asking the same question.

Why?

If these kings genuinely loved God…

Why didn’t they remove the high places?

Eventually, I realized something.

The high places weren’t simply a historical detail.

They were the reason the cycle kept repeating.

The one thing that would have stopped the cycle of defeat in God’s people was tearing down the high places.

“High places” were shrines erected to false gods in which they would hold festivals and feasts, sacrifice, and burn incense to these gods. 

Notice that when Joash became king in 2 Kings 11, they destroyed the temples of Baal, but they left the high places.

They destroyed idolatry…

to a point.

But they refused to go all the way.

And the consequence was that God’s people were continually defeated by their enemies. 

This is why so many Christians live defeated

The reason why so many Christians feel defeated is that they love God to a point, but they are not willing to take the radical steps to completely eradicate idolatry in their lives.

It’s not that they are living in full-blown idolatry.

Just like in Judah, when Athaliah was killed, and Josah became king, the people destroyed the altars of Baal, so many Christians will turn from the obvious sins in their lives.

But Judah left the high places.

And many Christians do the same.

They’ll walk away from obvious sins…

Yet still cling to approval.

Still cling to control.

Still cling to fear.

Still cling to comfort.

We remove the obvious idols while quietly protecting the hidden ones.

He is concerned about every high place in your heart that exalts something over Him.

He is a jealous God – He wants all of your affection!

Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” Luke 10:27

All means all.

All doesn’t mean that we leave little high places in our lives that we refuse to surrender. 

Living in victory comes with a price

Most of us don’t have literal high places.

But we do have places in our hearts we’ve quietly protected.

The desire to be accepted.

The need to control outcomes.

Comfort.

Success.

Approval.

Fear.

Anxiety.

Anything we trust more than God eventually becomes a high place.

Here’s what God has been teaching me.

The problem isn’t simply that we have idols.

It’s that we’ve forgotten who we belong to.

When we know we are daughters of the King, we don’t have to cling to the things we once trusted for security.

Identity changes obedience.

The kings of Judah remind us that partial surrender still leaves room for defeat.

But the Gospel tells a better story.

Jesus didn’t simply forgive our sins.

He invites us to tear down every false refuge and find our rest in Him.

Not because He wants to take something from us…

Because He wants to give us Himself.

Every high place we surrender becomes another opportunity to discover that Christ is enough.

The more we know Him, the less we need the things we’ve trusted instead of Him.

That’s where true victory begins.

Not in trying harder…

But in surrendering more completely to the One who has already overcome the world.