When I first became a follower of Jesus in my early 20’s, I lived with the impression that all the neat, clean people that sat on the pews around me on Sunday mornings were sinless, happy, and healthy people who lived worry free lives of contentment. However, after decades of serving in churches, I can say unequivocally that my impression was wrong.

If we are honest, a great many believers today are saved but remain in bondage to sin, addiction, shame, and a host of other hindrances to their walk. The truth is that other than church attendance and having their sins forgiven, a large percentage of believers differ little from the people they work with or go to school with who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them. Divorce rates in the church rival divorce rates in the culture at large. Christian teens seem to have little power over the cultural pressure to drink, experiment with drugs, or to be sexually active. A significant number of believers live on antidepressants, tolerate marriages dominated by anger and rage, live with bitterness toward the past, and are crippled by an overpowering sense of unworthiness and rejection. In short, they continue to live out their lives in emotional brokenness and bondage.

I’m not scolding these believers for not being “the Christians they should be.” Through the years, I have struggled with many of those issues as well. These believers are desperately looking for freedom and healing, but for the most part have not been able to gain victory over the issues that rob them of the joy and peace they long for.

Jesus declared that he came that his people might have life and have it to the full – abundant life. He also declared that he came to bind up the brokenhearted and set captives free. For many believers, there is a huge gap between the promises and the reality. Why? We can say with confidence that the shortfall is not on the part of Jesus for Jesus has done everything perfectly.

The truth is that, in many cases, these men and women have not been shown by their churches how to access the freedom and healing that Jesus promises. The majority of churches in America, offer their people the forgiveness purchased by the cross but not the healing and freedom. When confronted with brokenness and bondage, they send the children of God out into the world to find solutions. They are left to seek healing and freedom from those who often do not believe the core values of our faith or even that God exists.

Even when they are referred to “Christian counselors,” those good men and women have nearly always been trained to use the weapons of the world rather than divine weapons. There is something terribly wrong with that picture. Doing so implies that Jesus has no answers for the emotional suffering of his people, so we must look elsewhere. The weapons of the world can help but cannot go far enough for real victory. They tend to provide “coping skills” rather than lasting freedom.

A gospel that only gets us to a place of forgiveness, but does not radically change us through the healing and freedom that is ours in Christ is not the gospel that Jesus preached. When Jesus preached the gospel, there was always a demonstration of life-changing power with it. Paul pointed to this truth when he said, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life” (Phil. 2:14-16).

Stars stand out in stark contrast to the darkness around them. Jesus himself declared that his followers were to be the light of the world. Those who wear the name of Christ should stand out in the crowd by their sheer “differentness” and have a testimony of his powerful work in their lives. Jesus spoke of being “born again,” not as figurative language for trying harder, but as a reality where something real and essential has been altered in everyone who comes to him. After a short while, that essential difference should become apparent, not a as a reflection of our efforts but as a reflection of the power of God working in us and Christ being formed in us.

If the world can provide the healing and freedom that Jesus promised his people, then much of what Jesus paid for with this suffering and death was unnecessary. Paul clearly stated that the wars we truly fight, must be fought with divine weapons rather than the weapons or strategies of the world (2 Cor. 10:4, Eph.6). Most churches have little idea about fighting in the Spirit and little access to those weapons. Therefore, their people continue to struggle with emotional brokenness and bondage.

We need a shift. We need to be willing to say that what we have been doing is lacking. We need to be willing to say that we have meant well but have missed something important in the scriptures because our fruit does not yet rival the fruit we see in the New Testament. My hope is that many senior pastors and elders will begin to ask for more, seek more, and risk more so that their people have access to everything Jesus purchased for them. The power of Jesus is immense and its impact should be profound and visable. Our people should stand out from the world and walk in victory over the things that burden most of the earth. It is not that we will be trouble free, but that the trouble will come from without rather than from within where Jesus lives – and that makes all the difference.

This week I’m attending a four-day conference at the King’s Park International Church in Durham, North Carolina entitled Healing the Human Soul. Most healing conferences offered by churches today are all about praying for physical healing. I love those conferences as well, but I would say that healing the soul is of greater importance and if the soul is healed, many times physical healing will follow. For a number of decades now, leaders in the field of medicine have estimated that 60 to 80 percent of all illnesses are emotionally rooted. When they say “emotionally rooted” they mean that chronic stress, worry, fear, bitterness, anger, etc. tend to compromise the immune system, increase blood pressure, rob people of sleep, create chemical imbalances, etc. and those conditions then give way to illness. Because of that, physical healing is often impossible or, at least, impossible to maintain without first healing the soul.

The prophet Isaiah recognized the great need of healing the soul when he spoke of the coming Messiah. He spoke for Messiah prophetically when he said, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isa.61;1). Because of sin, man is enslaved to a number of things: sin, addictions, demonization, self-centeredness, and illness. All of these create their own form of bondage for people – even God’s people. In Isaiah 61, the prophet suggests a chronology needed before each person can be fully released to become all that his/her Father in Heaven has decreed for them. First the gospel must be preached so that sins are forgiven in Christ. That releases us from the legal demands of sin on our lives. But secondly, Jesus came to bind up, heal, or minister to the brokenhearted. That is healing the soul. After that, captives and prisoners can be set free from whatever form bondage has taken in their lives.

Too often we try to heal the physical body or cast out a demon without addressing the brokenness in which a disease is rooted or to which a demon is attached. If the wound isn’t cleaned and healed properly, even if there is some temporary relief, the infection will return. Addictions are ways in which we attempt to medicate our broken souls. If the soul is not healed, a person may be set free from one addiction but will simply find another with which to medicate the wounds hidden deep in his or her soul. Believers often get stuck in their spiritual growth because they can’t get past their brokenness. The church over the last 200 years has been excellent at bringing people to forgiveness but is just now beginning to discover or rediscover how to heal the soul so that the sanctifying work of the Spirit can truly make us like Jesus.

As we minister to broken people, we too often think that problems are one-dimensional and need a one-dimensional solution. If a person is sick, command healing. If person is emotionally distressed or in bondage, cast out a demon. If a person is hopeless, preach Jesus. All of these are valid expressions of the kingdom of God and are extremely important. However, broken and enslaved people typically need all three of these elements to find healing and freedom.

God is interested in redeeming every part of us. Paul echoes that truth when he says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess.5:3). In one sense, the idea of sanctification is for us to align ourselves perfectly with God’s will, his ways, and his purposes. He wants the body, soul, and spirit of every believer to be aligned with him. When that occurs healing is manifested, freedom is experienced, and the fruit of the Spirit can finally begin to flourish within the believer.

Most often this is a process, not just an event and discipleship is the ultimate solution so that these afflicting conditions don’t return. As Americans we are prone to look for the quick fix and often leave many things undone that manifest later. Taking our time to minister to body, soul, and spirit is a much more effective approach in the long run. The cost on the front end is time and effort – both on the part of the one who needs the healing and on the part of those administering the healing. Slowing down is a spiritual discipline that many, if not most, of us need to master. I’m at the front of that line.

Pastor Jim Laffoon from Nashville, Tennessee is leading this conference and is providing really interesting insights and thoughts about healing the soul. Much of his presentation is connecting what the Bible has told us for millennia about the impact of sin and righteousness in our lives and the lives of our children with current brain and genetic research. This research is revealing some of the “whys” for God’s commands and may suggest even more effective approaches to our use of the divine weapons that God has given us.   I will be sharing some of those insights in my next few blogs.

Fifteen years ago, I asked a faithful Christian woman, we will call Mary Ellen, when she was going to forgive her former husband. It was a hard question. She had been physically and emotionally abused even beyond what most abused women have had to endure. She had fled from that husband five years earlier, moved far away from him, and had started over with a new marriage. The problem was that her new marriage wasn’t going well either. She had come in seeking answers and, after three sessions, I felt compelled to ask the question. In fifteen years I haven’t forgotten her response. With her hands clenched into fists, the veins on her neck popping out, and her jaws tightened, she snarled, “Forgive him? Forgive him? I hope he burns in hell for what de did to me!” In her heart there was no impulse to forgive and in her mind she felt totally justified in hoping for his eternal damnation.

Although this was a woman who had grown up in church faithfully serving in various ministries, she was in bondage to bitterness, rage, and unforgiveness. She was the poster child for the old saying that “unforgiveness is like drinking poison, believing that it will make the other person sick.” She was aware of the multiple verses in which Jesus was very clear that if we don’t forgive those who have sinned against us, then our heavenly Father will not forgive our sins against him (Mt.6:14-15, Mt. 18, etc.). She simply felt that her case was exceptional so that those verses did not apply to her. The truth was that the toxic bitterness and rage she still felt against her first husband was spilling over into this new marriage and poisoning it.

Of all the sins that Christian men and women are in bondage to, I believe that unforgiveness is the most common and, in the long run, the most destructive. It is also the most common because we have all been wounded and betrayed and have all felt fully justified in our anger or bitterness toward the perpetrator.

In fact, we have likely been truly justified in our feelings. We just haven’t been justified in holding on to those feelings and keeping them alive. Because we are justified in our feelings in the beginning, we feel justified in keeping those feelings alive forever. But the decision not to forgive is where sin begins and when the door swings open for the enemy to enter. It is even where we begin to take offense at God when we discover that he is not hammering the person who wounded us.

Concerning unforgiveness, the apostle Paul counsels us, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph.4:26-27, ESV). This verse reveals several things. First of all, we can experience anger and not sin. Perhaps, our anger is a righteous anger such as the anger Jesus demonstrated in the temple when he was turning over the tables of the moneychangers. Perhaps, it is just the normal human experience of anger welling up within us when we feel threatened or betrayed. There is a point, however, in which our failure to manage our anger becomes sin.

Our experience of anger becomes sin when we take the next steps of retaliating against the person who wounded us or when we choose to nurture our anger to keep it alive. We forget that Paul had some experience with the kind of rage that begins to take control of a person. As Saul of Tarsus, he was not just attempting to discourage false doctrines about Jesus of Nazareth from arising within the Jewish community. Rather, he was described as one who was “breathing out threats and slaughter” against the church (see Acts 9:1). He was the one who coordinated the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, without any evidence of remorse. Saul was a man who was full of rage and obsessed with the destruction of Jewish people who simply had come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Before his encounter with Jesus, Saul was not a righteous man trying to defend truth, but an angry man filled with rage against people he had never met. He was in bondage to his anger in the same way that Mary Ellen was in bondage to hers.

We are also told that we should not let the sun go down on our anger. In other words, deal with it in short order. Don’t even go to bed until you have dealt with it as Jesus would. Why? Because…any kind of prolonged unforgiveness gives the devil an opportunity to establish a beachhead in our hearts. Some of the older translations say that we must not “give the devil a foothold.” The Greek word is “topos” and means a position, a sanctuary, or some standing in our lives. When we refuse to forgive or keep putting it off, we come into agreement with Satan. All Adam and Eve did was to come into agreement with Satan. Whatever we agree with, we give authority in our lives and you never want Satan to have any authority in your life.

Many Christians are not living a spiritually abundant life nor are they making progress in their faith or their freedom because they have chosen not to extend forgiveness to someone in their life. They unknowingly have given Satan a foothold that has probably become a silent stronghold over the years. A satanic stronghold is not typically the stuff that The Exorcist was made of where the presence of demons is totally weird, extreme, and unmistakable. Typically, strongholds manifest as compelling, persistent thought patterns that, in the case of anger, keep anger alive and provide total justification for continuing in our unforgiveness.

From these strongholds, the devil tells us that our case is the exception to the commands and warnings of Jesus about a refusal to forgive. He convinces us that our case is so extreme that it is not the kind of thing Jesus was talking about when he insisted on forgiving our enemies or he convinces us that we have been hurt so deeply that it is impossible for us to forgive. Because it is impossible, Jesus will give us a pass on that command. He will go on to convince us that our anger is righteous and just because to forgive would let evil people off the hook or excuse their behavior altogether. He will also tell is that our anger and unforgiveness is the very thing that protects us from more hurt and, therefore, is both necessary and justified.

The problem is that Jesus gave no exceptions to the rule and demonstrated the “no exception” clause on the cross when he asked the Father to forgive those who had just betrayed, beaten, and crucified him. What we must understand is that forgiveness is primarily for us, not for those who have wounded us. Forgiveness frees our heart from bitterness, from the past, and from those who would continue to hurt us. Forgiveness keeps the devil out and keeps us from poisoning our own wells. Forgiveness opens the door to God’s blessings in our lives and aligns our hearts with the heart of Jesus. Justice will be done. God will deal with those unrepentant individuals who go through life harming others whether you have forgiven them or not. If they are not right with God, he will deal with them. The bigger question is always whether or not we are right with God.

Forgiveness frees, heals, and makes reconciliation possible when it would bless all parties. It is the ultimate chance to trust God by doing the very thing that seems most risky and trusting him to bless and protect us in our obedience. It is the ultimate measure of how aligned our hearts are with his. The first step to forgiveness is acknowledging that there are no “exception clauses” for us, no justification to ignore his command, and that God only asks us to do those things that bless us. After that, we can receive God’s help in fulfilling his commands.

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

For many of us, this is a familiar passage but, perhaps, one that we have not dug into very deeply. There is a two-part promise that comes to us as servants of the Lord that we often need to stand on. First of all, God promises that no (none, not any) weapon (weapon, instrument, possession, plan) forged (formed, fashioned, planned, designed) against us will prevail (prosper, cut through, force entry, succeed) if we are servants of the Lord (full time, not part time).

Since Paul tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but rather against spiritual forces of wickedness, we can say that no weapon the devil forms against us and uses through people will prevail or be victorious in the long run. He is not saying that we will not face some battles and even get some cuts and bruises. He is saying that in the long run, the plans of the enemy to destroy us will not succeed if we continue to stand with the Lord.

Secondly, he declares that God will eventually refute every accusation that comes against us. These are connected thoughts and the second may actually be a clarification of the first. Satan is called the accuser of the brethren (Rev.12:10) and not only accuses us day and night before God, but also before men. Many of the weapons formed against us come as accusations, slander, condemnation, and so forth. Sometimes we experience those assaults through the lips of people around us. At other times, we hear them in our own thoughts. They are hurtful, discouraging, and damaging. They are fiery darts from the enemy. Search the scriptures and you will see that all those who served the Lord were, eventually, accused of ungodly motives and actions by their enemies. They were accused of being blasphemers and heretics, subverting governments, and being in league with the devil just for a start.

The promise is that we will refute the accusations made against us. But how will we refute them? Do we argue, make our case, or slander back? No. We trust God to vindicate us in the eyes of those around us. Jesus did not answer his accusers and he is our model (1 Peter 2:23).
As you search the Psalms, you see David frequently asking God to vindicate him but he rarely attempted to vindicate himself. There is an old saying that you should not try to defend yourself against slander because your enemies won’t believe it and your friends don’t need it. There is a great deal of truth in that.

How, then, do we refute words spoken against us? By continuing to live a godly life regardless of how others accuse us. Jesus went as far as commanding us to love our enemies who typically reflect the devil’s character as they accuse us day and night. He commands us to love our enemies by praying for them, speaking well of them when they speak evil of us, and doing good to them (Lk.6). Those actions keep the devil from getting a foothold in our own hearts. The promise is that, eventually, the people we care about will see Christ in us and see the devil in our accusers. If we give in and join them in the mudslinging, then people will eventually see the devil in us and that will hide the devil in them because he is a much more accomplished mudslinger than we can ever be.

To me, the most important part of the Isaiah passage is that protection and vindication are our heritage in the Lord. If that promise is true for the servants of God, how much more must it be true for his children?

Jesus said that in this world we will have trouble (Jn.16:33). Weapons, plans, and strategies will be formed against us. We will experience much of that warfare in the form of accusations and condemnation. Our part is to continue to stand with God, always take the high road, and trust in the Lord for vindication. If we fall into the trap of the devil by taking up his tactics in the fight or by receiving the condemnation he is spewing, then his weapons will have prevailed in our lives. But if we trust the Lord and his promises and continue to reflect the character of God, then our faith will quench the fiery darts of the enemy.

Standing with God in the face of unfounded accusations is hard. It typically takes endurance. If there is truth in the accusation, then we need to hear it, acknowledge it, and repent. David understood this principle. After his son Absalom conspired to take David’s kingdom, David and those close to him were leaving Jerusalem. A man name Shimei accused David of treachery against Saul’s household and was pelting David with stones. Abishai, one of David’s commanders came to him and offered to separate Shemei’s head from his body. David commanded Abishai to leave the man alone. Davis thought that, perhaps, God had prompted the man to say those things for there might be some truth that David needed to hear. If there was no truth in the accusations, then David believed that God would bless him for the abuse he was receiving without retaliation (2 Sam.16). The same spirit is found in Paul’s directives in Romans 12. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Do not repay anyone evil for evil…but overcome evil with good” (Rom.12:14-21).

Satan’s primary strategy is to alienate us from God and to draw us into his camp. If we come into agreement with Satan in our heart or in our actions and remain there long, we give him a place in our lives.  When we stand with the Lord, believing that victory and vindication are part of our inheritance, then we will see the power of the enemy fade and the promises of the Father prevail. Then…no weapon formed against us shall prosper. Be blessed today by blessing those who curse you! By the way, you will probably have to ask Jesus for the grace to do so.

There are certain things that seem to get in the way of answered prayer, healing, and deliverance on a regular basis. Believers, who are attending church and serving God, often wonder why God has not answered their sincere prayers or why nothing seems to be working out in their lives.  Eventually, they begin to question God’s reliability, promise keeping, and faithfulness in those instances, but often the fault lies in the heart of the believer. The number one hindrance, that I see, to the move of God in the lives of believers is unforgiveness.

Jesus is very clear about this issue. “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Mt. 6:14-15). In the parable of the unmerciful servant (Mt.18:21-35), Jesus tells of a man whose master forgave his unpayable debt of ten thousand talents. The man immediately went out demanding payment from a few who owed him inconsequential amounts and when they couldn’t pay, he had them sent to a debtor’s prison. When the master heard about it, he withdrew his mercy and turned the unmerciful man over to the “tormentors.” Jesus finished the parable by saying, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

Forgiveness is not optional if you want the blessings of the kingdom in your life. I was reading through Jonah and I thought how much we are often like the old prophet. You remember the story. God directed Jonah to go to Nineveh and declare that catastrophic judgment was on the way unless they repented. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, a world power that had killed, brutalized, and deported thousands of Jews over a period of decades. In the mind of Jonah, no grace nor forgiveness was due the Assyrians. My guess is that Jonah felt as if God were being unrighteous and unjust in even considering delaying his judgment on that city – a day that Jonah had privately prayed for.

Rather than obeying God and being an instrument of God’s grace, Jonah ran as if he could hide from the Creator of heaven and earth. Many of us believe that those who have betrayed and wounded us should experience the wrath of God in their own lives. When we hear the command to forgive, we run away in our minds – we find other things to talk about, think about, and focus on. We find a dozen reasons why we should not forgive at that moment. Instead of instant obedience, we put if off – sometimes for decades.

After being cast overboard by a crew of pagan sailors out of Joppa, Jonah was swallowed by a fish prepared by God for that moment and after three days and nights he was vomited onto the shore. (The life of a prophet is not always glamorous.) In his refusal to forgive and express mercy toward Nineveh, Jonah had been turned over to a tormentor – in this case a great fish. Then the Lord commanded Jonah, a second time, to go preach repentance to Nineveh. This time, Jonah went.

Remarkably, Jonah’s less than half-hearted preaching did the trick. The entire city, from the King to the dogcatcher, repented in sackcloth and ashes. Jonah was furious. In his mind, God had no right and no business extending grace to these godless people. In fact, Jonah confessed that he had run away because he knew what would happen – God would withhold devastation.

The book ends with Jonah still pouting about God’s goodness. We are not told what happened to Jonah after that. What is clear is that God’s heart is to forgive whenever possible and he wants that to be our heart as well. Here is the key: we don’t forgive because those who have wronged us deserve it, but because Jesus deserves it. To refuse to do so leaves us in the hands of the tormentors.

Who or what are the tormentors? Sometimes, they are simply our own emotions. Anger, bitterness, blaming, revenge – all of these poison our own well, rob us of joy, increase our blood pressure, and spill over on the innocent who are then driven away by our harshness. Sometimes they are demonic spirits who gain access to us by our anger, resentment, and disobedience. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil a foothold” (Eph.4:26-27).

Sometimes, we interpret Jesus as saying that we must forgive when those who have wronged us when they come crawling to us, pleading for our forgiveness. In our minds, if they don’t repent we don’t have to forgive. Jesus did not set that condition on our forgiveness. Again, we forgive because he forgave us. We forgive those who owe us debts because the master forgave us an unpayable debt.

On several occasions, we have labored to cast out a demon that will not budge until we discover that the person we are ministering to has not forgiven someone in his or her life. When they do forgive, the demon looses its place (his legal right to be there), and then comes out quickly. I believe this situation is repeated when some are not healed and when blessings never seem to find their way to a person or a family.

In those situations, God is not withholding – we are. I wonder if the command came to Jonah for his benefit more than for the benefit of the Assyrians. I imagine Jonah as an angry prophet, beaten down by the years, and bitter in spirit. Perhaps, his bitterness was toward the Assyrians and it was God’s grace that gave him a chance to be freed from that bitterness by seeing the citizens of Nineveh as frightened and broken people rather than just evil enemies. Jonah turned down that opportunity and at the end we see the sun setting on a prickly curmudgeon who is still mad at God rather than a man whose heart had been healed by grace.

Forgiveness is not optional, although reconciliation may be. When the people we have forgiven are still hurtful or dangerous we are not required to let them back into our lives. But forgiveness (releasing their wrongs to the judgment of God along with a decision to no longer make them pay for what they did) is an imperative in the Kingdom. Like Nineveh, they may eventually fall to the judgment of God because they will not repent or change, but it will be his action not yours.

Does it seem that something is blocking your blessings or binding your heart? Is there someone you have not forgiven? Maybe it is someone from so long ago that you rarely think about him or her and so assume you have forgiven that person. Like many things, you need to verbalize that forgiveness and ask God to bless them as he sees fit. Forgive them in the name of Jesus because of what he has freely forgiven in our lives. It is a freeing and healing experience – one that God wants you to have.

With Passover and Easter coming up next week I thought I would use this week’s blogs to reflection on the single most significant event in post-Garden, human history – the death and resurrection of the Son of God.

As I look at Easter I wonder if it really had to be that way. Did Jesus really have to suffer for my sins? Couldn’t God have just swept them all away with an executive order and given Jesus a pass on his Passion? We could argue the point but the Father’s intentionality about the death of his only begotten tells me that there was no other way. Remember that Jesus asked the same question in the Garden of Gethsemane. The resounding silence of the Father answered the question.

His intentionality predates Adam’s sin. John tells us in his vision, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev.13:8). The idea that in the mind of God Jesus was slain from the beginning of time tells us that, in his foreknowledge, God knew the path that man would take and the cost of redeeming his fallen creation even before he formed Adam. I find it remarkable that Elohim (Father, Son, and Spirit) was willing to pay that indescribable price in order to have a portion of his creation choose to spend eternity with him. That seems to be an almost obsessive love on the part of our Heavenly Father.

From the beginning of time, the cross would be the solution where God’s holiness and love would intersect. His holiness demanded that sin be dealt with rather than excused or ignored. Love desperately looked for a way to redeem the relationship between God and condemned man. Jesus willingly went to the cross to satisfy both the holiness of God and the love of God. Sin would be dealt with justly. Love would be triumphant.

The intentionality of God in his love was demonstrated from the very beginning. Immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve, God declared that the offspring of Eve (Jesus) would be in conflict with the serpent Satan and that the conflict would culminate with Jesus being bruised but the serpent would be crushed (Gen.3:15). Immediately after declaring that first Messianic prophecy, we are told that God covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame with animal skins. At the outset, God sacrificed the innocent to cover the consequences of sin in man. From that moment on, sacrifices of innocent animals pointed to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the cross.   Sin condemned man as he ate from a tree in the Garden of Eden and man was set free from that condemnation as the Son of God hung on a tree (the cross) thousands of years later.

As God downloaded the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, a whole system of sacrifices was codified. Each sin offering pointed to the reality that sin deserved death, but that God would allow an innocent to take our place on the altar of judgment.   Paul declared that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23). Sin earns death and death, in the spiritual sense, is separation from God. On that Passover Eve two thousand years ago, did Jesus simply die a physical death or did he also endure everything that would be experienced by those who die in sin? For a moment, on that dark Friday did Jesus experience the absolute desolation of the lost: fear, shame, guilt, unbearable loneliness, absolute darkness, and even torment so that we would never have to experience any of that? I’m not certain but I know that, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Cor.5:21).

I also know that this death, this sacrifice was not accidental, unplanned, or a last ditch effort to salvage men who had unexpectedly rejected Jesus. It was an intentional offering of himself on our behalf that had rested in the mind of God while the blue prints of this earth were still being drawn up. It is the intentionality of God’s unrelenting love. Passover and Easter are without question God’s lavish expression of his love for a fallen race.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us,

in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom.5:8)

One of the keys to a growing relationship with the Lord and the power of the Spirit flowing through us is the practice of confession and repentance. Confession is the act of agreeing with God about sin and repentance is a commitment and often a recommitment to align our hearts and actions with the will of God.

David’s confessional psalm (Psalm 51) after his sin with Bathsheba has always impressed me with his lack of self-justification. Because of the gravity of the sin and his fear of the possible repercussions for him, Bathsheba and the nation, David kept quiet for nearly a year after his sins of adultery and murder. When God finally confronted him through Nathan the prophet, David made no excuses but fully owned his sin and the consequences.

Most men or women who faced such dire consequences would have made an attempt to spread the blame around, excuse his or her behavior or at least minimize it in some way. It would have been easy for David to point out Bathsheba’s culpability in bathing outdoors where she might be seen or her eager willingness to come to his apartment. After all, David was just a man and couldn’t help himself after she threw herself at him the way she did. He might have blamed Uriah for not being a husband who met his wife’s emotional needs so his failure as a husband actually set up both of them for an inevitable affair. Not only that, but it was a one-night stand based on impulse – not a long-term, premeditated affair. David could have confessed his years of struggle with sexual addiction and checked into a clinic for 30 days. He could have easily tried to justify himself and excuse his actions as being only human.

However, David simply owned his sin and entrusted himself to the mercy and unfailing love of God. He made no excuses. He simply declared his sin and took full responsibility for his actions. He responded with godly sorrow and asked for cleansing and mercy rather than attempting to convince God that he simply couldn’t help himself or that he was the real victim in some twisted view of reality. God’s response was immediate forgiveness and a promise to walk with David through the consequences of his actions.

I see many believers today who do not walk in an intimate relationship with God or who are not filled with the Spirit because they continue to justify or excuse sin in their lives. Godly sorrow for sins is hard to come by in a culture that wants to hold no one responsible for their actions and excuses sin based on past wrongs done to the person, genetic predispositions, or brain chemistry. We live in culture of double and triple standards that makes everything a “shade of gray” where right and wrong have no meaning and, thus, the idea of confessing a wrong and repenting of it loses all meaning.

The recent tragedy in California where white policemen shot and killed a young black man demonstrates our confusion. As soon as word got out that a white policemen had shot an unarmed black youth, many leaders in the black community immediately decided that the cop was a racist who had gladly shot down a black man in cold blood. Racism is about unwarranted stereotypes that project negative qualities on an entire race or class without considering the individual.

In California, the racism was first apparent not in the policeman but in the community that quickly assumed that every white cop would gladly gun down a black man if given the chance without looking at the facts or the individual. But no one called that rush to judgment racism. No one pointed out the double standard and so many judged (possibly unjustly), many rioted, many stirred the waters of racial hatred and no one called it sin. The white policeman may, in fact, turn out to be a racist but his sin cannot justify or excuse the racism and sin of others or nothing changes. Sin is sin and needs to be owned and confessed in order for God’s grace to touch a life, a situation, a neighborhood, or a nation.

Two people will never be reconciled and two races will never make peace until they both acknowledge their sins and their need for the blood of Jesus. We can no longer excuse or rationalize sin and refuse to hold anyone responsible for their actions because God still holds them responsible. The answer to sin is not excusing or denying but confessing and repenting. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives” (1 Jn.1:9-10).

The Spirit of God brings healing and transformation when we own our sins and lay them at the foot of the cross. We cannot give away what we do not own. We cannot give our brokenness or sinfulness to Jesus until we own it. If you’ve ever thought that you wanted to be like David, it starts with no excuses. Be blessed and know that God is so willing to forgive when we acknowledge how much we need it.

David’s psalm after his sin with Bathsheba –

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge … Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice … Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (Psalm 51:1-17).

Walking with God in intimate fellowship is the goal and the key to experiencing his presence, hearing him, receiving his promises, ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit, living with joy and everything else you can think of.  Walking with God is based on agreement with him. “How can two walk together unless they are agreed?” (Amos 3:3). To maintain our “agreement” with God we must deal effectively with any sin that creeps into our lives.  David’s psalm quoted above is vey instructive.  First of all, David knew the heart of God better than any man in scripture other than Jesus because he was “a man after God’s own heart.” Secondly, after his sin with Bathsheba he was in desperate need of realigning his life and heart with the Father.

It’s helpful to know that after adultery, murder and a year of covering up the sins, God’s forgiveness was not out of reach for David. Undoubtedly, David’s sin had set some consequences in motion that he would have to live with, but as soon as he confessed his sin to God he was forgiven and his walk with the Lord restored.  Some great difficulties loomed in his future but God, as a loving Father, would walk through those difficulties with him.  David’s heart and view of God revealed in Psalm 51 is the key to restoration.  Let me just point out a few keys but you should reflect on this psalm yourself for your own insights.

First of all, throughout this psalm David made no attempt to rationalize, justify or minimize his sin. He blamed no one else for his actions but acknowledged that he was totally responsible for the choices he had made.  Too many times we come before God like children caught with our hands in the cookie jar giving every excuse for our actions.  “I couldn’t help myself.  I was overpowered by the smell of those cookies. Actually, my sister made me do it! If mom hadn’t made the cookies in the first place this would have never happened! What’s the big deal anyway, it was only one small cookie?  Besides, the cookie rule is stupid and unfair!”  You get the drift. David could have tried to spread the blame around or deny his personal responsibility by declaring that Bathsheba shouldn’t have been bathing outside or that she should have refused to come to his apartment. Maybe if Uriah had been a better husband this would never have happened or if God hadn’t given David such strong sexual desires he could have said “no” to the temptation, etc.

Sometimes our approach to confession betrays our view that God will forgive our sins or continue to love us only if we convince him that the sin wasn’t our fault or that the biblical standard isn’t fair or that it is out of step with our current realities. David does none of that.  He relies immediately and totally on God’s mercy, his unfailing love, and his great compassion.

He refuses to bargain with God or to offer to somehow work off his sin through penance or good works or by never doing it again – “God if you will just forgive this, I will….” He acknowledges that there is nothing he can do to make his sin right or to make it go away.  He simply asks God to cleanse his sin and purify his heart because there is nothing else he can do. He declares that God’s standards are right and just and simply acknowledges his great failure in living up to those standards.

In this psalm, there is obviously godly sorrow in David’s heart for his sin.  He has wronged God first by violating his commands and wounding (in this case killing) those that God also loved. He feels his guilt and shame but he is laying all of that at the feet of God’s mercy and the cross which already stood in the mind of God (Rev.13:8).  Even after his great sin, David believed that reconciliation was possible and that God was willing to restore his joy because of God’s great heart and relentless love for his people.

David also understood that God is not interested in us carrying guilt and shame around for years so that our joy, our service to him and our testimony is suffocated by the weight of our past.  I see people who seem to carry guilt, shame and self-loathing over sins from there past as if they can earn God’s forgiveness through their self-inflicted misery and emotional suffering.  God is not interested in that because our refusal to accept his forgiveness robs him of our joyful service, our praise, and our testimony to sinners around us. Our insistence on continuing to carry our guilt and shame for past sins declares that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough for us.

David was not theologically clear on the cross but he was clear on the heart of God that provided the cross and so he pressed into God and trusted him totally for grace, mercy, unfailing love, cleansing, and restoration.  No excuses. No rationalization. Just confession and trust in the heart and character of God.  We need to come to God daily with every sin in the same assurance.  We can actually come with even more assurance because we are this side of the cross and understand what Jesus has done for us. If we believe that our sins, our brokenness, and the darkness we still discover in our hearts make us unacceptable to God then we will distance ourselves from him and begin to deny, justify and rationalize our sins until we no longer accept God’s standards in our lives.  God doesn’t require us to live up to his standards before he accepts us, he accepts us in Jesus so that by his Spirit we can begin to live up to those standards.

Dealing with sin and weakness in our lives on a daily basis through the cross is essential to our walk with the Father. Nothing is beyond his grace and mercy. David understood that and when sin was greater than David, God’s grace was greater than sin.  It still is.  Be blessed today in the unfailing love and sure forgiveness of your Father.

One of my favorite authors through the years has been Philip Yancey.  Two of his books, What’s So Amazing About Grace and The Jesus I Never Knew, are books that I return to and reread from time to time. I was teaching a class this morning when the essential subject of forgiveness came up.  It is an essential subject because if we fail to forgive those who have wronged us, we open the door to the enemy and give him a perfect right to camp out in our living room (metaphorically speaking).  I like what Yancey has to say about the act of forgiving or our refusal to forgive.

As the Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt said, the only remedy for the inevitability of history is forgiveness; otherwise we remain trapped in the “predicament of irreversibility.” … Not to forgive imprisons me in the past and locks out all potential for change.  I, thus, yield control to another, my enemy, and doom myself to suffer the consequences of the wrong.  I once heard an immigrant rabbi make an astonishing statement,  “Before coming to America, I had to forgive Adolph Hitler,” he said. “I did not want to bring Hitler inside of me to my new country.” (Yancey, Philip. What’s So Amazing About Grace? Zondervan, 1997, p.99)

Those who have been wounded bristle at the thought of forgiving the one who has hurt them – especially when that person has hurt them over and over again. We bristle because we think they are getting a free pass for their “crimes” against us.  It’s like Jesus has commanded us to hand over a “Get Out of Jail Free” card to our worst enemy so they can go on hurting us as well as others. Our sense of justice cries out. Our anxiety level spikes because we think that these people must be stopped and it is the force of our unforgiveness that will stop them.

But here is the secret about forgiveness.  Forgiveness is a gift of God for the one who has been wronged, not for the one who has committed the wrong.  If we can understand that, we can summon the heart to forgive.  The rabbi quoted by Yancey had it right.  Unforgiveness keeps the hurt and the hurter alive in our hearts. God has actually made us to forgive so that time and distance will do a work of healing – unless we keep the hurt alive by constantly ripping the scab off our wound as we rehearse the wrongs and keep them fresh so that our “enemy” will not escape our wrath.

But we are the ones who will not escape without forgiving. Without forgiving we carry our “enemy” with us wherever we go.  We don’t allow God’s grace to do its work. Forgiveness is not the act of minimizing your pain or excusing what has been done to you.  It is the act of releasing judgment of the matter to God who judges perfectly.

What could you do with all the energy you have burned up thinking about the one who wounded you and wondering how justice will be served? Think of the sleepless nights and the pain you have endured reliving the memories of things done and said to you. God offers that back as a gift to you if you will simply release the matter to him.  You no longer have to forfeit your time, energy, and sleep to the matter. Release it to him.  You don’t have to spend one more second considering how you will make the other person pay for what they did to you. Release it to him. Forgiveness is like selling a mortgage to another company.  It will be their job to collect the debt, keep up with the legal work, and keep the records.  You won’t have to give it another thought.

“But what do I get,” you ask?  You get peace.  You get a heart drained of poison and bitterness. You get some relationships healed and restored and others just set aside.  You get a future untethered to your past.  You get the full forgiveness of God. You get space back in your heart so that love can fill the space that resentment once occupied.

Again, forgiveness is God’s gift for the wounded.  It is the pristine environment where healing can occur.  Will God forgive those terrible people who wronged and wounded you?  Will he forgive those who took your life away by their brutal acts?  If they repent; if they change; if they truly come to Christ he will.  But if they do, the individuals that hurt you will no longer exist. That will be a blessing as well.  If they don’t repent God won’t forgive.  But if you want to be fully healed pray that they will repent and be saved. Ask God to bless them. Forgive as you were forgiven.  Choose to overcome evil with good and you give your violators no more power over you. Then you will be free indeed.

How to Rid Your “House” of Unwanted Guests:  Identifying the Problem

Not everything is demonic. We have to deal with the appetites of the flesh and learn to say “No” to our fallen nature. You can’t cast out the flesh. You must crucify it.  Sometimes, in a fallen world, illness is simply illness; depression is caused by chemical imbalances, and broken relationships are created by our own negative choices.  However, many things do have demonic dimensions that must be dealt with before freedom and healing can occur.

Demons attach themselves to believers because someone has given them a legal right to do so.  We may have opened that door through persistent, unrepented sin in our lives, refusal to forgive those who have wounded us, or long-standing unbelief related to God’s truth.  It is possible that demons have come down through family lines as a consequence of “the sins of our fathers” or that someone with authority over us spoke curses that created “legal” assignments for the enemy.  Perhaps, we ourselves spoke those words. It is also possible that demons entered in through wounds inflicted by trauma, abuse, or rejection.

There are several common experiences or doorways that make individuals vulnerable to demonic affliction or that indicate or suggest demonic activity within a person.  If you recognize these “doorways” or manifestations in your life, it raises the probability that you may be struggling with demonic oppression.

Sins of the Fathers – This demonic door is opened when ancestors (especially males) rebelled against God and lived in unrepented sin.  This is especially true in the areas of sexual immorality, occult activity, violence, or addictions.

Child Abuse – Child abuse opens the door for the enemy in many ways.  Often the abuser has some authority over the child or the enemy can enter later through the child’s residual anger, resentment, unforgiveness and shame.

Sexual Sins – For some reason, our sexuality is a place the enemy has targeted in man to produce all kinds of destructive behaviors that alienate us from God, others, and ourselves. Sexual sin of all kinds is a place where Satan gains tremendous access to individuals and families.

Gender Confusion  – Scripture says that God “made them male and female.”   Although our fallen nature contributes to damaged genes and chemical imbalances in our bodies, it is not God’s will that His children be confused about their sexual identity.  If gender confusion is an issue, it may have demonic components.

Anger – Emotions of rage, anger, bitterness, etc. are usually established in childhood after a wounding experience, a painful wrong, or a perceived betrayal.  These thoughts and emotions are natural reactions to those “wrongs,” but if nurtured or kept alive by subsequent wounding, they can open the door for demonic spirits to come in and fuel these destructive emotions and mindsets.  They then become strongholds and may be experienced as rage, hatred, thoughts of revenge, or bitterness.

Abandonment through death, divorce, sickness, or neglect may open the door to spirits of sorrow, fear, and distrust.

Occult Involvement – Christian and non-Christian occult groups throw the door wide open to demons as they invite their presence, pray to them, or serve them.

Curses – Demonic spirits may be commissioned to enforce curses in the lives of individuals or families that are attached to sins or word curses. If you feel trapped in patterns of abuse, destructive relationships, poverty, crisis, etc. a curse may be operating.

You Conspire Against You by persistently engaging in sinful or destructive behaviors and thought patterns, even though you want to be free from those things.  You may say and do things frequently that “aren’t you.”   You may have tried prayer, the Word, accountability, counseling, etc., without victory over the issue. The demonic is indicated when the more you resist a sinful or destructive thought or feeling, the more it presses in on you.  It feels obsessive, compulsive and addictive.

If you struggle with any of the above issues, you may have unwanted guests that have harassed and tormented you for a short time or as long as you can remember. Many demon-afflicted individuals have struggled with sinful or destructive thought patterns so long that they believe it is normal and that everyone must fight those thoughts every day.  That isn’t the case. When the demonic is involved, deliverance makes an unbelievable difference in managing temptation and condemnation. Sometimes you may not be certain whether demonic activity is involved.  I recommend treating it like a spirit and if it isn’t you haven’t lost anything. If it is, you have gained your freedom.

The first step after identifying demonic activity in your “house” is taking away the issue that has given Satan a legal right to camp in your life.  Having done that, you can command those spirits to leave by the power and authority of Jesus Christ who has delegated that power and authority to every believer. If there is sin, you need to repent.  If there is unforgiveness, you must forgive. If there are generational sins you must acknowledge those and renounce them.  If there are curses you must nullify those in the name of Jesus.

In Part 8 of Dealing with the Demonic, we will explore those steps in more detail.