Greetings!
I spent all day serving at THE JESUS ENCOUNTER weekend at the tampa underground -- what a BLESSING...
We had about 75 participants -- they were showered with the lavish love of God -- many people testified that they had NEVER felt so loved in all of their lives -- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
I gave a talk on walking in spiritual FREEDOM -- I will attach it to the end of today's blog [if I can figure out how -- ha! ha!]
I am so tired -- I have that awesome feeling you get when you are totally spent for a very great cause -- it was worth it tonight and today...
Now to Nouwen...
"The deepest joys come not from the money we earn, the friends we surround ourselves with or the results we achieve. Rather, we are whom God made us to be in his infinite love. We are the gifts we are given, not just the conquests we make. as long as we running around, anxiously trying to affirm ourselves or be affirmed by others, we remain blind to One who has loved us first, dwells in our heart and has formed our truest self."
God's love is a gift -- undeserved, unconditional and unending -- it never comes as a result of our performance BUT as a result of who we are and who God is -- we are the beloved children of the consummate Lover...
Have a great night's sleep...
guy
Freedom Talk
The Jesus Encounter Weekend
The Tampa Underground
5 December 2009
Guy M. Glass
Our FREEDOM in Christ is directly related to our KNOWING and APPLYING the TRUTH in our lives – please close your eyes and listen to several true truths from God’s word…
1 John 3.1: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!
Jesus in John 10.10: The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Ephesians 6.12: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
1 Peter 5.8: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Jesus praying to the Father in John 17.15-17: My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Galatians 5.1: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery…
Jesus in John 8.32, 36: You will know the truth [me] and [I] the truth will set you free…so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!
SPIRITUAL REALITY – let’s start TOGETHER in our understanding – these five truths will be our starting point…
1. Jesus wants to reveal the Father’s lavish love to US – Jesus wants US to walk in truth and be FREE…
2. Satan wants to blind us and destroy us – he wants our life to be a miserable existence characterized by frustration and ropes of BONDAGE…
3. There is a spiritual battle going on – Jesus [good] vs. Satan [evil] in the battlefield of our minds – we cannot opt out of this very real war – every human person has been drafted [conscripted]…
4. The war is NOT between two EQUAL yet OPPOSING powers – Jesus is the Lord of all –Satan is already defeated [his only power is in deception] – he entangles us in ropes of bondage through deceiving us with lies…
5. We can be FREE through Jesus – it is God’s will for each of us as his beloved children to be released from habitual sins, soul ties, generational sins, patterns of bondage and a defeated walk of frustration and failure – the ropes can be cut > SET FREE!
KNOWING THE ROPES…
[have the team bring out the ropes and loosely bind the hands of the participants]
By definition: soul ties are ungodly bonds formed between the souls of people for the purpose of control, manipulation or domination.
What begins so simply, and sometimes innocently, can have devastating and lasting impact – leave us feeling hopeless in our bondage…
We open doors to the ropes…
1. The occult – especially inquiries into the future [horoscopes]…
2. New Age indoctrination – Secrets…
3. Addictive chemical behaviors [abusing] – drugs, alcohol, food, prescription drugs, etc.
4. Abortion…
5. Sexual violation – abuse, molestation, incest, trauma, etc.
6. Addictive sexual behaviors – pornography, lust, exploitation, visualization, fantasy, etc.
7. Personal choices – especially rebellion [often lived out through unhealthy relationships and willful / damaging behaviors]…
8. Sexual sharing outside the marriage covenant – the unique sin [power]…
9. Family of origin issues [ideological biases, prejudice, generational sin patterns, nationalism, enculturation, pride, control, bitterness, culture of honor, music, etc.]…
10. Religion [pride, exclusivist, compromise, heresy, manipulation, exploitation, following institutions rather than Jesus, missing the point, etc.]…
HOW did we get roped in???
Satan’s strategy for binding us with the ropes…
1. Temptation: this is such a small thing; it really does not matter…
2. Condemnation: you did what? God will never forgive you of that…
3. Attacks identity: do you really think you are a child of God when you are so sinful?
4. Questions the Father’s love: do you think God loves hypocrites like you? You might as well just give it up!
5. Hopelessness, bondage and fear: who am I? [Paul in Romans 7.24: what a wretched man I am – who will rescue me from this body of death? THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO DELIVERS ME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!]
GETTING FREE…
Jesus wants to cut our ropes and set us free from habitual sins…
1. Get honest and confess specifically [agree with God] and walk in community > [confront denial; stop rationalizing; start with the truth no matter how painful; forsake deception > run to the light]…
1 John 1.9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
James 5.16: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
2. Submit to God, repent [change of mind] and receive his strength…
James 4.7, 10: Submit yourselves, then, to God…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
3. Resist the evil one…
James 4.7: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.
4. Close the door [renounce the lies / sins specifically; choose truth; seize your authority as a beloved child of the Father to speak release; with the sword of the Spirit, cut the ropes and trust God to break the bondages]…
2 Corinthians 10.5: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ…
We have the authority, in the name of Jesus, to break these bonds and walk in our freedom as beloved children of God. In the final analysis, this is not so much a POWER encounter as it is a TRUTH encounter!
John 4.24: God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth…
5. Give ourselves fully to God and walk in intimacy one day at a time…
Romans 12.1: Offer our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is true worship! Do not conform 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…
My long walk to FREEDOM…
[after my personal story, have the team come forward and cut the ropes with scissors]
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