HUMAN NATURE AND SOUL TIES HOW TO BREAK AN UNGODLY SOUL TIE

Transcription

1 Keynote Scripture is Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) HUMAN NATURE AND SOUL TIES HOW TO BREAK AN UNGODLY SOUL TIE 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God s will is his good, pleasing and perfect will. Here we see Paul identifying the root cause of man s downward spiral into a life of degeneration and sin, the very place where the accuser wants them He says that the mind is degenerate and needs a transformation. The mind must be turned around and renewed. Without this process, man has no hope, no future So the attention moves to the source of regeneration, the place where a man has the ability to make the adjustments in his lifestyle, to address his past and correct his path forward The mind is a powerful tool which must be committed to either life or death It is this life decision which every man must ultimately take God wants a bride which is pure and spotless. It is not physical dirt that is spoken of here, but the mind So how do we redress our past and our immediate present, in order to be freed of all ungodly associations and ties? In order to make the changes in your life, you first have to admit to yourself that you need to change, that you have a problem Let us be honest with ourselves today, we know that we have problems because we suffer with them every day 1) IDENTIFY THE SOURCE / THE ROOT CAUSES It has been said that the best way to deal with a problem is to just start. If you do not know what is troubling you, you will not know how to correct it I am sure that if Job had more insight into what was going on, the entire process would have unfolded differently and he would have handled it differently

2 I think that if we knew how things would work out, we would live our lives differently. That given, human nature would take over and we would just mess it up given time and opportunity When in doubt, we therefore always revert to known things. We feel with our history and so we process our thoughts and actions as we have always done and which has worked for us in the past. This is because almost all people resist change and stick to things scenarios familiar to them Let us deal with this issue by way of an exercise a) Write down (3) three thoughts that are in your head right now, whatever they are b) Write down (3) feelings that you have been having recently. For this exercise, relate these feelings to (3) three individual people who are influencing your feelings at the present time c) Write down (3) three actions that you have being taken in your life recently Discuss the relationship between these answers 1) Historically, our rational and most natural thought will always take us to issues which have scarred or hurt us, that impact our emotions as part of our soul activity 2) In all likelihood, the answers you wrote down will have a direct relationship to and bearing on each other 3) You may have considered issues that have made you happy, but it highly unlikely nor would it have dominated your natural thought processing! The reason for this is the nature of man. Research on human behaviour has shown that individuals are never fully satisfied with what is going on in their lives and when they experience a breakthrough in anything, they merely become less dissatisfied. They merely move on to the next issue or problem 4) Your emotions are therefore directly linked to your issues/problems. I would venture to say, even dictated to by your emotions 5) The relationship between thought and action is sub-conscious. You are acting before you have correlated your thoughts (like putting your foot in your mouth scenario) 6) Recalling hurt is inculcated into human nature and is strangely comforting albeit it hurtful. (the pain of death is a good example of this)

3 7) I am sure that you may have considered other options, but for the most you would have focussed on that which is causing you pain at the moment and how you feel about it and therefore what you are trying to do about it The ultimate objective to achieving a breakthrough is to identify why you made your specific choices and the correlation that exists between them. In other words, what feeds your thought processing and resultant actions! Whatever your choices were, the reality that this is with what where your mind is preoccupied with at present, it is that which is holding you captive I now want to discuss a strategy called the Cognitive Awareness model This model identifies the functioning of the human mind by assessing what an individual is thinking, what he is feeling and what he is doing at any point in time and in various situations Once you know what drives your life (your thoughts, words and actions), then you will be able to overcome the problem which by now could have become a soul tie Write down what you can recall in your life which would have caused a soul tie to exist in your life and then rationalise it, or prioritise it by working through it in prayer, fasting and quiet reflection Once you have identified the cause, then you will know what to watch out for in future Whatever is controlling you at present is where your and mind is and more importantly, who and what is in control of your mind. God has endowed you with a helmet to protect your mind. This helmet is not merely an adornment, oh no, it is a spiritual armour to protect the saved mind, so use it! Change those circumstances and you change your perspective and potential solutions 2) IDENTIFY THE TRIGGERS A trigger is any reaction to a scenario, situation or event in your life which causes you to react in a certain way or manner or in a style which fits your nature It is our on switch and brings out our true character, mostly always negative. Triggers come in the form of words, feelings, interactions, behaviour and so on, which scratches our memory bank where all our hurts, fears, joy, etc is stored Certain people over time come to understand what their and others triggers are and derive an element of enjoyment in pressing these buttons

4 I remember from my training that the interaction between two individuals is much like a dance. You take one step and I take one step. The dance cannot continue unless it follows a logical order. Use words now instead of leg movement and you will soon find the true nature of each individual coming out Generally triggers tend to bring out the worst in us and this causes great consternation with our emotions and general well being A trigger will be both conscious and sub-conscious and the more your character reacts to certain external stimuli, the quicker you will engage those trigger situations The problem however is what you do when your emotions are triggered and the long term effect on those who are in the path In identifying natural triggers in your life, you will be able to overcome or prevent them when they arise in the future This however requires great introspection and honesty. Write down those situations which are triggers in your life and then quantify the importance of each one. Once you work through your list, you will eliminate many which are non-essential and then work only on those which are important Of course, if you do not know how to identify and manage your triggers, you will end up requiring counselling 3) COME FULL CIRCLE The mistake we always make when dealing with problem issues is that we relent (stop, give up) before we have actually come full circle By this I mean that we often believe the problem has been resolved before it actually is resolved This part resolution is the same or even worse than not dealing with the issue at all Many people may feel that they do not want to drag up the past, to let sleeping dogs lie For example, the high priest, Pharisees and general crowd believed that Jesus would be shut up through killing Him by public crucifixion, but boy were they mistaken In Acts 5:29-39 we see the Pharisees attempting to quiet the zealousness of the Peter and the Apostles Remember, this same Peter had just denied this very same Jesus at His crucifixion. Peter would have been inclined to have merely fade into obscurity after his failure, but to his credit and with much help from Jesus after His resurrection, Peter overcame his emotions and came full circle. Let us read; 29 Peter and the other apostles replied: We must obey God rather than men! 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God

5 exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him. 33 When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. 34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. 35 Then he addressed them: Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. 36 Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. 38 Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God. Here we see an attempt by Gamaliel, a well known teacher of the law, in a vain attempt to rationalise his thinking about a man called Jesus the Messiah, whom he did not accept and certainly knew nothing about, simply because he had no relationship with Jesus, unlike the now called apostles Peter identifies in this passage of scripture, that Jesus gave forgiveness to those who repented and the Holy Spirit to those who believed Gamaliel s supposition was that because of the past, the same outcome would apply to the present situation If things have not worked out for you in the past, it does not mean that they will not work out for you now, but how wrong he was regarding the apostles and deadly accurate regarding the work of the Spirit in man However, you also cannot continue to pursue an outcome which has failed in the past, by doing the same things but calling them by a different name If you want to have a different outcome then you must do different things! Things that please God and things that are holy to God give the right conclusions every time The only way to appeased Jesus is to accept His position, authority and message Jesus was adamant about closing the circle when He said in His The Word that you should leave the communion alter and go make peace with a brother towards whom you have animosity or who has animosity towards you. You can not merely confess the problem with your mouth, but the Word teaches that you must go to the source and make it right in person where you deal with the real issues which hold you in bondage The problem arose at its source and must also be closed at its source

6 So make a list of situations in your life which still hold you in bondage because you have not closed the loop. We see in the story of Esther, how not closing the loop and going full circle has massive consequences 4) ALIGN YOUR THOUGHTS If you want to resolve issues which are troubling your mind, you must first align them into a logical and understandable order This will allow you to prioritise your thoughts and identify how they are linked and associated in your life If you are presented with an entire elephant to eat, do not look at the whole elephant, but at a collection of parts that make up the whole elephant. Eat one section at a time and not try to eat the whole elephant in one sitting or you would fail miserable and hate it When we use this approach, we take the focus off the size of the problem by dealing with broken down smaller issues which form part of the whole Paul writes in Romans 12 verses 1 to 2 that it is the fundamental responsibility of every believer to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which mirrors God as holy and which is pleasing as a true and a proper example of your worship to Him When we understand our relationship to God and who we are in Him, then will our minds begin to be transformed in order that we may gain insight into what is the good, what is the perfect and what is the pleasing will of God! Unless you have fully surrendered yourself in body, and mind and soul and strength, you will always walk with veiled eyes and lack understanding Think of this as a degree which you have enrolled yourself for at university. For three years you diligently work at your studies and when you are about to write your final examinations in year three, you give up. Or maybe you write all your final examinations, but fail just one examination and decide not to re-write it. Well, the logical outcome is that you have failed to complete the degree and therefore have no degree behind your name. You cannot assert that you have a degree merely because you only failed one exam Our thoughts and linked emotions are like our actions which we engage every day in different situations and with different results The Word of God says that the battle is not against tangible and obvious things, but against spiritual forces at play in the heavenlies You can pray and fast as much as you like, but if your mind is not centered firmly in Jesus then your will not get breakthrough

7 Make a list of those situations which control your reactions and your emotions and then evaluate if you are hostage to any of them. Then when you pray and fast, give them over to Jesus 5) PRIORISE AND ELIMINATE THE THREATS Many people make a mountain out of a molehill and then they stand on it and dance to their own drum I believe we are ineffective because we do not know the extent of the threat against us? We do not have a fear of what we are facing nor do we know the imminent danger we are in. The devil on the other hand, certainly knows our triggers and knows how to use them against us in his focussed attempt to steal, kill and destroy (in Jesus own words in John 10: 10) Remember: If you are praying for breakthrough over a stronghold in your life, don t think it will miraculously vanish but rather prepare yourself to be bombarded with opportunities to be tested to overcome it. Jesus wants you to earn the victory and not merely for it to be given to you every time If a holy, blameless, fearful and righteous man in God s eyes (Job), could not see what was happening to him, then what chance do we short-sighted, self-centered, egotistical and sinful people have!? Do you now know and understand why you are given armour as a believer? Only once you have donned your armour, do you know who the enemy is and retrospectively, how the enemy knows you? You are targeted and the devil knows your triggers and how you will react Only once the shepherd boy (King David) put on his armour, did the enemy (Goliath) know who he was. Even with only a sling in his hand, did Goliath know he was in a battle. Imagine a teenage boy armed only with a sling and stones approach a behemoth of a giant without fear. And you think you can t overcome your problems Now I do not mean that you must go out and make war and fight against everyone who disagrees with you or who even challenges you, or who dislikes you or hates you even You must fight the battles which are essential for your survival and ministry and which you can win because of who you are in Jesus Christ. Every other battle is for God, for those battles belong to Him When you realise that the enemy is only the devil (already defeated devil) and that you can only stand against him with your spiritual armour and the Spirit s gifts in you then all other battles are non essential. The focus must be on overcoming the devil The only reason that we fight these natural battles with our fellow men, is because of our human nature

8 We feel somehow empowered because the playing field is level and we stand an equal chance at success The devil is the only threat and all other threats are mere human nature This requires that we must stop fighting each other and put our individual and collective attention in fighting our one and only common enemy You must go to those with whom you have enmity and release them The bible says that if your brother has sinned against you, go to him and make right, if he does not want to make right, not take a witness, if not take the church elders and if not, hand him over to the devil Matthew 18:15-20 (NIV) 15 If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. 18 I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. Jesus says you must forgive if your brother repents, BUT, give him over to his own evil ways and desires if he will not (repent) Luke 17:3-4 (NIV) 3 So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, I repent, forgive him. Paul qualifies this by adding that we must get a witness to prove our righteous intentions 2 Corinthians 13:1 (NIV) 1 This will be my third visit to you. Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 (NIV) 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 6) PURGE YOUR HEART AND MIND

9 To purge your heart and mind from sin (from sin including generation soul ties and curses) requires that; 1) You make yourself physically pure or clean by the removal of dirt or impurity (water baptism). 2) To prune yourself of unrighteousness (John 15) (Confession of sin) 3) Empty your sinful nature by flushing the sin out with the Spirit s infilling (Spiritual baptism) 4) Make spiritually, ritually and morally pure or clean. It is therefore patently clear, that a person cannot purge themselves of their past (their unrighteousness, associations, works, words and actions) by merely acknowledging them I have previously taught that confession with the mouth is just that, words that mean nothing by themselves unless supported by a change of heart and mind The restoration process must surpass the mound of sinfullness It is important to note here that all the actions required to restore ones righteous standing before God Almighty, are actions that validate our (mans) faithfullness and will get a reaction from God when we believe and act upon it All acts of purging oneself is for self, it is me putting my life in order and not God putting me in order, for my benefit So what must you do to overcome? 1) Fast according to Isaiah 58 2) Pray without ceasing according to 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 and Ephesians 6: 18 3) Travail with groans in your submission according to John 16: 21 and Revelation 12: 2 4) Meditate on the Word of God and your testimony according to 1 Timothy 4: ) Be born again and baptised in water and Spirit according to John 3: 3 5 6) Put on your armour according to Ephesians 6: ) Take up your authority according to Matthew 28: ) Repent according to Acts 2: and 38

10 7) DOCUMENT THE PROCESS Start a journal to monitor your experiences including your highs and your lows A journal provides the evidence to entrench progress made But when you write down what you have been going through, you can identify before, during and after, the events which caused and benefitted your restoration path It is imperative that you keep a record of what you went through, not only for your peace of mind, but also for your children and associates who were affected by your life Keeping a record of your journey will help you to deal with all the issues that are affecting your growth and the growth of others in your life Now! Just do it