Do You Want To Be Loosed?
In John 11 verse 43 at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus shouts “Lazarus come forth.” He came forth bound hand and foot with grave clothes and Jesus said “Loose him and let him go.” You may have been delivered from spiritual death through the blood of Jesus but you still need to be delivered from anything that would interfere with your relationship with Jesus. In this message I want to go over some of the things that we may need to be loosed from that would hinder our walk with Jesus:
1.) Judging one’s spiritual walk based on the natural circumstances- We can’t base anybody’s spiritual walk on what is happening to them in the natural. You may look at somebody who is having a problem in the natural and say that there must be sin in the camp, God must be upset with them, they must have backslid and the truth is that they are just going through a wilderness experience and are ripe for a miracle from God. On the other hand there are others who seem to have it all together- wearing nice expensive clothes, dancing and shouting in church, driving the best cars, having a big expensive house but they are in reality two-legged devils in disguise. It is all a big cover-up! They could be living in hell at home getting ready for a divorce, but they look like everything is so great on the outside. You can’t judge people spiritual condition by looking at their outward appearance. You can’t do the same with you: just because you are going through a trial, it doesn’t meant that God is upset with you, on the contrary, He could be putting you through a test to purify you as pure gold and getting you ready for a promotion. Daniel had to go through the lion’s den before promotion, the three Hebrew children had to go through the fiery furnace before their promotion and Moses had to go through the wilderness experience before he was chosen to lead his people out of Egypt. Also, you can’t assume that your relationship with Jesus is O.K. just because your natural circumstances are lining up properly. Everything is O.K. with your job, you just got promoted, kids are doing well in school and your mortgage has just been paid off. All these things are great but you could still be ready to bust hell wide open, if you should die. Those things that you have may have interfered with your Creator. You may have assumed that you got all these things by yourself. You may have fallen in love with the blessing and forgot about the Blessor! We have to be careful. In Deuteronomy 8 verse 17 God tells His people not to say their own might and power has gotten them victory over their enemies. God then says in verse 18 that it is the LORD God who gives us the power to get wealth! In Isaiah 53 the word paints a picture of Jesus in His sufferings for us. If one would look at Jesus as He was being beaten for us this person would say that this Jesus must be out of the will of God, that God must be angry at Him, that He has sin in His camp, etc. One could judge by their eyes in looking at Jesus as He suffered that He is a failure. In verse 2 the word says that Jesus had no form or comeliness. They beat Him so bad that He didn’t even look like a man. The word also says that He was despised and rejected. It would be foolish to judge Jesus’ spiritually by what one saw in the natural. The truth is that Jesus’ sacrificial beating and death was a major victory, not a defeat. He won the victory for us, to enable us to get to heaven. He looked like a “mess” so we could be a “message” for Him. The word says in v. 12 that what looked like a defeat in the eyes of people who were watching His suffering was a victory in the fact that He got the spoils of victory for us. This is evident in the very next chapter as the word says that because of what Jesus did for us we can sing (verse 1), we can enlarge our expectation of blessings from God, we can expand (verse 3) and we don’t have to fear anymore or be ashamed (verse 4). All this and more happened because of what Jesus did for us, even though He must have looked like a failure. You see you can’t judge people’s spirituality by what they are going “through.” You don’t know where they are going “to.” We need to be loosed from this in Jesus Name.
2.) Be loosed from fear- In 2 Timothy 1 verse 7 Paul tells Timothy that “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power love and a sound mind.” In Isaiah 54 verse 14 the word says that if you don’t want to be oppressed and in terror don’t give place to fear. The word also says in verse 17 that no weapon formed against us shall prosper because God created the devil as a waster to destroy (verse 16). The devil was created by God and has no power, except what God permits. Satan is just a created “waste.” You don’t have to fear Satan. He is fear and he is terrified of you. In Jesus Name be loosed from the spirit of fear today.
3.) Be loosed from your past- God wants you to look back at your past through His eyes. The Devil would like to keep condemning you over past sins. I am not condoning sin but God wants to point out all the pressure that was on you to push you into the sinful act. God wants you to see what you learned from the mistake and where you are now. Even if you made a terrible mistake yesterday God wants you to repent and go on. As long as your number one prayer is for the Father to conform you into the image of Jesus, you can repent, learn where your weakness was and go on in service to Jesus.
4.) Be loosed from religion- You need to find God for your self and not be led as a “dumb sheep” by religious people who wouldn’t know the Spirit of God if He ran over them like a “mack truck.” It is easier for somebody else to make your decisions for you, but they could lead you away from God and into a spiritual ditch. You need to be covered by authority but please make sure that this authority is serving the same God that you are. Be loosed from the spirit of religious bondage, search the word for yourself and be restored back into right relationship with the One who gave His life for you-Jesus!
We will continue with more that we may need to be loosed from in my next message.