Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Breaking Free....


I recently picked up a book from the library called, "Released from Bondage", by Neil Anderson and others. What a find! I had been coming to realize that spiritual bondage was very real, and may be something I needed to understand further. Coming from a church history of council that only dealt with our sin, and gave very little room for anything other than to deal with our sin, I found this book very helpful and refreshing. I always thought that going back through your past and understanding how it shaped you, and even created mental strongholds was important. Those thoughts seemed to fall on deaf ears in my old church.
Since leaving that setting of limited non-helpful council, I have sought to understand spiritual warfare, as well as begin to accept the "therapeutic" council, which was not embraced in the church. I was glad to see the book intertwine both.
One key thing brought up over and over was teaching people and helping them to see who they are in Christ. Helping Christians to fully believe they are a precious children of God, secure in the knowledge that God loves them fully no matter what they have done. Many Christians live with a battle going on inside them and are insecure in the Father's unwavering love for them. Often there are other voices competing in their mind and they can't hear God's voice. Often, all we as Christians hear is condemnation and guilt. I know this was my experience.
What I really loved about this book was that it helped to address bondage to not only the revelation of a believer's freedom in Christ, but to demonic spirits and strongholds. In addition the therapeutic is addressed in the end and rounds out the book in a unique way.
I am going to conclude with a quote from the back of the book.

"If we were lost in a maze, we wouldn't want someone to explain....all the intricacies of mazes and then give us coping skills so we could survive in the maze. We certainly wouldn't need someone to tell us what a jerk we were for getting lost in the first place. We would desire and desperately need clear directions out...God sent His Son as our Saviour, provided the Scriptures as a road map, and sent the Holy Spirit to guide us. People all over the world are dying in a lifeless maze, for want of someone to gently show them the way out."

~ Nobody can fix our past - even God doesn't do that - but we can be FREE from our past if we are new creations in Christ. ~


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