KEYS TO UNLOCKING TOTAL FREEDOM

As I was leading the prayer team one Sunday, a lady came for prayer regarding a serious case of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) she’d had for years. She would wash her hands several times in one day. Glancing down at her hands, it was obvious her hands had been through the wringer (no pun intended). They were dry, crusted and looked aged at least ten to twenty years older than the woman herself. As she explained here condition, I could hear the desperation in her voice to be free from what seemed to be an endless torment.

Two prayer team members and myself began to pray for her. As we began to pray for her, I had a vision of a snake wrapped tight around her whole body in a death grip and it was suffocating the life out of her. The snake represented the woman’s OCD suffocating the life out of her. However, as we continued to pray for her I could see in the vision the snake began to loosen its death grip upon her, unwinding itself from around her body and the eventually slithering away. She was set free by the power of God’s spirit, no longer bound by the torment of having to wash her hands several times a day. WOW!!

I began to share with her the vision and God revealed that although she has been set free the sensation of the snake being wrapped around her was still there because she had been bound for so long. She may not feel any different, but she was indeed free. In this new freedom, it would be important for her to know that her freedom is not about a feeling. She needed to begin to do things differently and to begin doing things she could not do before. We encouraged her to begin to exercise her new found freedom. The enemy will try to tell her she still bound, but it is a lie from the pit of hell. She will have to renew her mind daily and begin to walk by faith into this new freedom. It is her right as a child of God. I will also add that there are times people will need counseling and therapy to understand how to operate in this freedom and there is nothing wrong with that.

Here are a few thoughts regarding freedom that we all need to know.

Freedom is our choice and our right! Sometimes Christians stay bound for years with a problem because they like the momentary feeling and comfort received from whatever they are doing. The thought of change can be hard and being bound can be comfortable, predictable. Convincing themselves and believing a lie from that pit of hell that change would be too hard, they remain bound in unhealthy rituals, relationships, and situations. God’s Word says it is not by might nor by power, but by my spirit (Zach 4:6). God can do and will do what we cannot do. It is by His Spirit that we are set free, not in our own strength. We cannot set ourselves free. Jesus’ blood bought and paid the price for our freedom when He died on the Cross for our sins.

We have sometimes lacked freedom because we didn’t know that we can actually be free. We may have forgotten that it is our right as a child of God to be free from sickness, depression, anxiety, and things that weigh us down or comes against our life. One key to your freedom is renewing your mind daily in God’s Word reminding yourself that you are God’s child and Jesus bought and paid for your freedom.  We do not have to settle for just a little peace of mind, a little bit of joy, partially healed, barely enough money, but believe, pray and stand in faith for the fullness of your freedom in every area of your life. It is our right as a children of God.

We have a part to play in our keeping our freedom. Freedom will cost you giving up the old way of doing things and the old way of thinking. You can be free and not exercise your freedom. It is not enough for you to just be free from something or someone. Just as the women we prayed for was set free, the prayer we prayed for her broke the chains, but it was not the end to her freedom, that was just the beginning. She needed to exercise her freedom and do the things she could not do before. She needed to begin to change her mindset to a freedom mentality and no longer settle for what it had been.  

Often times our complete freedom is found on the other side of resisting the devil, resisting the lie, resisting the old way of thinking, resisting the temptations. Submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). We will have to submit to God our weakness, our inability to do this on our own, come out of agreement with the enemy's tactics, take our stand and refuse to be railroaded by old habits and resist the devil, in order to see and experience our freedom, but first we have to submit to God and choose freedom.

The price of freedom is establishing a new mindset and vehemently resisting anything that would try to steal your freedom. God’s freedom is worth anything you have to give up or any habits you may need to change. The peace, joy, strength, love, self-control, patience with yourself and others and His sufficient grace you receive is far greater than what you ever thought could be possible. This is true freedom that is only found in Christ and whom the Son has set free is truly free (John 8:36).