Freedom Blog

Do you remember the childhood saying of “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?” I remember chanting this when I was young, in order to mask the hurt I felt inside when the other kids picked on me for being different. No matter how much I said it, the words still hurt because words have power to build up or to tear down. Ephesians 4:29 says “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (NLT). In working with people who struggle with addiction, from my experience trauma is one of the leading causes of addiction. Physical, mental, verbal and sexual abuses are all contributing factors that can lead people down the road of addiction in search of relief, self-punishment or misguided vengeance to name a few motivations.

For people who struggle with sexual addiction, rejection is a major catalyst that perpetuates the abnormal behavior. Objectifying people for our own sexual gratification is abnormal. God didn’t create us to use and abuse one another, but to love one another (1 John 3:11). Regardless of the many pro-porn arguments, pornography is demeaning, period. In helping these people work towards freedom the Lord has revealed to me that in many if not all instances, verbal traumas are some of the first attachment points that certain strongholds (rejection, self-pity, self-hatred, shame) began to take root which helped catalyze the road towards sexual addiction. Add on to this, other traumas like physical, mental or sexual abuse and the range of addictions increases (alcohol, drugs, food, anger, etc.).

The book of James talks about the tongue being untamable by human means (James 3:2,8) and how blessings and curses come out of the same mouth (James 3:9). I don’t know about you, but I experience the truth of these verses everyday, be it in my own struggle to control what I say or don’t say or when I’m on the receiving end of some not so self-controlled words from others. But, when I do feel offended, unjustly criticized or even judged, I am grateful for Holy Spirit who restrains me from reacting and reminds me of God’s love and grace. When I first came to faith and read through the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23a), I was always perplexed by self-control. But, the longer I walk with Jesus the more grateful I’ve become of this particular aspect of the Spirit’s fruit.

God’s heart towards His creation is one of love, redemption and restoration. The Father’s desire is to see us saved, redeemed and made whole. This was the precise reason Jesus came down out of Heaven to die on a cross for sin. It is in Jesus that people are set free from the bondage of sin, are delivered from being demonized, healed of sickness and disease and where our brokenness is restored. This is where the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit in gifting people prophetically has great influence and power in joining with God in His mission of redemption and restoration. All believers have the privilege to speak truth and life into others. But, this must be done in love (Ephesians 4:15). The prophetic gift must be exercised in love, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV).

Recently, I’ve been reading a book by Kris Vallotton, Developing a Supernatural Lifestyle, and came across this statement: “Never underestimate the redemptive power of God’s supernatural ministry. So many people are starving to know who they really are. You have the ability to alter the history of people who are lost in darkness and broken beyond repair.” This is a true statement. But, we must always remember that our own tongue fights against us and that unless we become more and more dependent on Holy Spirit in taming our tongue we will do more prophetic harm than good. Holy Spirit gifting does not equal maturity; it is through the fruit of the Holy Spirit that brings about maturity. Furthermore, though we should earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially prophecy we must remember that we must pursue love first (1 Corinthians 14:1).

So this is my prayer: that the Lord would continue to cultivate in us a greater capacity to love, that He would impress upon each of us the great need to be fully defined by the Father’s love and the need to always pursue love first and foremost. Help us Lord to allow ourselves to be fully loved by the Father and from out of that place of belovedness love others. For, as Your Word says “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19). In Your Name Jesus we pray, Amen.

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Over this past month, I’ve been wrestling with the loneliness that has been holding my heart hostage. This loneliness has stolen much of my passion and motivation. I’ve been feeling extremely stuck. Hence, this past short break from blogging. Though it’s only been about a month, it feels much longer because before hitting this speed bump in my heart I’ve been in a pretty good rhythm of faith and life. But, as I have been wrestling within my heart, soul and mind with this growing loneliness I’ve come to realize that unless this loneliness is addressed it will continue to derail me and cause me to stumble You see, I have within me (as we all do) a sexual longing that seeks to be fulfilled.

In the past, I’ve allowed this sexual longing to control me which has propelled me to explore a variety of avenues to gain sexual satisfaction, none of which were at all pleasing to the Lord. Since coming to faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has taken me on a journey of freedom. Freedom from all the many soul ties I’ve made with the various women of past relationships which have controlled me by keeping me living in the regrets of the past. It’s amazing how past disappoints and moments of rejection and betrayal can linger and fester in one’s heart. But, as Jesus has broken these soul ties and brought healing to my wounded heart, I’ve gained greater freedom to live in the peace of the present while looking forward to a future of hope. 

So, why am I still stuck wrestling with this loneliness today? Well, what the Lord has revealed to me (which has sparked this renewed vigor) is that I’ve been allowing my past relationships, regardless if they were healthy or not, and my inner fantasies of a future wife to comfort me in my loneliness, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to be my Comforter. It’s not that I wish to live in the past, the Holy Spirit has done that good work of setting me free from the shame, regret and pain of my past, but rather in my loneliness I’ve been comforting myself by remembering moments when I wasn’t lonely to give me relief. I’ve also been finding comforting in fantasizing about what being married will be like, even what I hope my wife will be like which isn’t all that healthy either because both reminiscencing and fantasizing have a way of idealizing and distorting reality.

It’s amazing, I’ve read and prayed Jesus’ Words to myself countless times in asking Holy Spirit to be my Comforter (John 14:16, 26). But, what this recent revelation has revealed to me is that though Holy Spirit is my Comforter, I’ve shunned His comfort in leiu of my own self-constructed comfort which to be honest really hasn’t worked out so well. So, in response to this gentle and loving revelation, I’ve begun to ask Holy Spirit to help me let go of my self-constructed system of comfort, so that I can begin to embrace Him as my Comforter in my loneliness. So this is my prayer: Father in Heaven thank You that You continually pour out Your grace upon our lives. Thank You Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit, Who comforts, helps, intercedes, advocates and strengthens us in our weakness. And Holy Spirit, great Comforter, come and comfort me. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Today, I’ve been meditating on what it means for God to be the Creator and Giver of life (Genesis 2:7), who literally dwells within me (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy1:14) . The reason being is that lately I’ve been struggling something fierce with my flesh (Romans 7:15). I’ve come to the conclusion that all my flesh desires is to satisfy itself whether it be through greed, lust, gluttony, comfort or laziness (to name some of the usual suspects). But, just today God gave me this revelation: that He is closer to me than even my own flesh. Hearing these words has electrified my spirit and begun filling me with great hope. If I truly am a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) which I am, then it makes perfect sense that because of this I am no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness (Romans 6:18). This means that the righteousness of Christ is closer to me than the sinfulness of my flesh, right?

To take this a step further, I believe that the life that we are living here on earth will be completely paled in comparison to the eternal life all believers in Jesus get to look forward to. I mean can you even imagine what it will be like to be literally standing before the throne of God? The amount of glory and life that must radiate from God must be simply awesome. I mean He is the very Creator and Giver of life, the one and only true Living God. Everything that God does has eternal ramifications. He holds all of life in the palm of His hands. When He speaks life or death happens. And it is this same fully alive almighty God, who literally dwells within us and is actively breathing more life and glory into us day by day as He recreates us into the image and likeness of His Son, Jesus, through His Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). What an amazing truth! When I really sit down and think about this, it blows my mind. The very notion of this can’t help but to create awe and splendor towards God within me.

So this is my prayer: “Help us Lord to recognize the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us and the amazing truth that You are closer to us than even our own flesh, that it is Your righteousness that now defines us, rather than the sinfulness of our flesh. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

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I was talking with a couple friends and I asked them what kind of rhythm would describe their prayer life: One friend said he felt like he was constantly skipping a beat. It was like he was caught in this broken rhythm that felt like he was taking a step forward, but then would get bumped back or to the side. Another friend said he feels like an erratic metronome that fluctuates from super fast tempos to slow dragging beats. He says he does pray throughout his day (slow beats), but there’s not a lot of passion. The times that he feels passionate about prayer (super fast beats) are when he goes to prayer meetings or conferences. Where are you at on the metronome?

What’s the rhythm of your prayer life?

     – Is it a driving techno beat or a hypnotic trance beat?

     – Is it a slow classic rock anthem beat? 

     – Is it a fast two minute punk beat?

     – Is it a slow bluesy beat or a catchy country beat?

     – Maybe it’s a complicated jazz fusion number?

Whatever it is, is it a rhythm that keeps you in step with the Holy Spirit in your life? If not what needs to change?

There’s this music technique called “syncopation.” Maybe some of you know what it is, but for those of us who don’t, like I didn’t, here’s what it means: Syncopation is the accent of a beat that is normally unaccented.  It is deliberately upsetting a beat by placing a rhythmic accent on an unexpected beat or a weak beat in music. How many times has God forced you to change up the rhythm of your life because of an unexpected surprise, both good and bad; or stretched you by putting you in an uncomfortable “weak” position. Syncopation exists in order to add emphasis on certain notes to liven up a beat or rhythm. Maybe God is trying to liven up your life by bringing in needed change. Regular beats with the same accents can get boring; adding syncopation changes the feel by adding accents to places where you would not expect. Doesn’t that sound like something God would do?

We all have blind spots in our lives and only God can reveal those things that are hidden from us. And more often than not He gets our attention by changing up the rhythm of our lives by breaking us out of our routines of comfort, so that we can begin living the fullness of life that Jesus promises us (John 10:10). It’s real easy for us to get so caught up in the temporal side of life and forget that true living involves eternity where believers begin witnessing the Kingdom of God breaking into their families, their friends, their neighborhoods and towns. I believe God brings syncopation into the rhythm of our lives in order to get us grooving to a new rhythm, an eternal rhythm; one that involves the glory of God and the reconciliation of all things through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and the glory due His Name because of His suffering.

I believe the Holy Spirit wants to orchestrate a rhythm of prayer for every believer’s life. But, we need to start making ourselves available to God, so that He can begin to birth in our lives this rhythm of prayer. Don’t resist the movement of the Spirit to simplify your life, but surrender your schedule to Him. Let Him begin to set up moments of prayer with believers and nonbelievers. Even ask Him to do so. I believe the more we do this, the more we will be grooving to the the eternal rhythms of Heaven.

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“For God did not give us a Spirit of timidity, but a Spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV).

There’s this story of a Christian missionary working with people with HIV in Africa. One day a photo journalist comes to the camp where she’s ministering at and begins taking pictures. While watching her, he is moved by her gentle care and obvious love for these people. All day he sees her love and care for these terminally sick people and what he finds so moving is that she actually enjoyed being there. After spending a day there, the journalist begins to leave, but before he does he asks the woman, “How can you stay here, there’s so much death and despair, there’s no hope for these people?” And she answered back, “The love of Jesus compels me to stay, I can really do no other.”

And with that the journalist leaves, but while driving he can’t get the missionary’s words out of his head. As the story goes, he is so moved by her words that he comes to faith while developing the pictures he took. Our Christian service when empowered by Christ’s love becomes a power witness. Though the missionary only said a few words to the photo journalist, what amazed him was the fact that there could be a love so strong that this woman would endure such tragedy willingly and with joy. The missionary’s Christian service fueled by the Holy Spirit truly magnified the Gospel.

This Spirit, who pours out power and love into Christians, also gives us self-discipline. Self-discipline for Timothy as for us means the ability to control our actions and thoughts preventing any reactionary behavior which in turn will help us to assess any situation, especially difficult ones, with the clarity of mind necessary to trust in the invisible God despite any threats, distractions or tragedy. What this means is when we’re in the heat of the moment, when our emotions are running high and we’re feeling a lot of pressure or under a lot of stress, the Holy Spirit helps us to make good and loving decisions, so that when we look back on our lives there will be less regrets about how we acted in any given situation.

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