Soldiers For Christ Ministry
Saturday, July 25, 2009
“Set the captive free” (understanding what we have been given in Christ)
1st, I want to start by answering an age old question. Why are Christians in the condition that they are in if God is so big?
Hosea 4:6 says “My people perish for the lack of knowledge”
When
I looked at the message bible at this chapter, God is dealing with the
priest, the religious leaders in saying this “my people are ruined
because they do not know the truth from what you are teaching them and
by their own rejection of knowledge”.
So the answer to the question is “they lack the understanding that is needed to allow God to be big”
*Jesus came to set the captives free
Luke 4: 18 “ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed
*We
have freedom & liberty in Christ to live free from the bondage of
fear by the power of the anointing of God working in and through us to
bring victory and now this same anointing & power lives, dwells and
abides on the inside of each & every born again believer enabling believers not only to live free but to also help in setting others free.
Romans 8: 11 “
But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you”
Power!
*The word captive from it’s biblical origin means a prisoner of war, (one who has been captured, led, carried or driven away). When
we see someone being taken prisoner in war, this means that they were
overtaken in the battle, in other words “the battle won”. This should
not be so with born again believers and followers of Christ because the
battle has already been won through Jesus, leaving us to only have to
walk in the victory. Remember what Jesus said in John 19:30 “it is
finished” as He hung on the cross and gave up His spirit to God for you
& for me, for all.
He gave us the victory!
1st Corinthians 15: 55 “ O Death, where is your sting?
O Hell, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also
risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes
intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord
*Some
signs of someone who may be captive are: an unhealed broken heart, a
mind filled with evil and/or tormenting thoughts and imaginations,
sickness and disease, unbalanced emotions, fear, doubt, unbelief,
sexual perversions, addictions, suicidal thoughts, cutting or
inflicting pain on self, lying, cheating or stealing, fighting or being
filled with anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, repetitive broken
relationships, depression, all unhealthy behavior, etc...
*God
does not intend for us to live our lives this way and this was His
purpose in sending Jesus for us, to set & deliver us from the
bondage of captivity and then to use us to do the same for others. In
the Old Testament a type & forerunner of Christ, is Moses: When God
raised up Moses to be a leader, He did so with the purpose of sending
Moses to set God’s people free from Egyptian bondage & slavery. God
equipped Moses and then used Him boldly to speak for the people of God.
Exodus 8: 20 says “And the LORD said to Moses, “Rise
early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh as he comes out to the
water. Then say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Let My people go, that
they may serve Me”
The
key to our living a life of victory is in our understanding of who
Christ is and who we are in Him… fueled with confidence and in our
knowing that He will, not only in that He can.
Philippians 4: 13says “ I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me
Another
key to our living a life of victory is in our understanding of who the
devil is. The devil is a liar, God’s word refers to him as “the father
of lies” this means that he is the one who birthed lies to begin with.
Sin originated with satan, so his main plan of attack is to keep us in
a lower of the flesh yielded to sin. The devil & his evil cannot
overtake us unless he first convince us. How does he do this? Through
deception and fear.
*The
closer we get to God by perfecting our relationship with Him and by
knowing what His word says, the more victory we will have over the
enemy and in winning the battles of life.
1st John 4: 18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear
involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love
Again,
the devil is a liar! He is the one who brings torment our way,
sickness, disease, addiction, confusion, mental & emotional illness
and so on.
2nd Timothy 1: 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind
*Spending
time with the Lord, reading His word, praying & seeking His
decisions, this is what gives us freedom & liberty in Christ &
in our life
John 8: 31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free
(if
you go even one day without eating, what’s going to happen to you? You
will get weak. So when we go even one day without spending time with
the Lord, praying & reading His Word, our spirit gets weak)
*We are overcomers in & by Him, by spending time with Him daily and making Him a priority
Revelation 12: 11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death
Isaiah 61: 1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound
*This
chapter is titled “the good news of salvation”….Jesus came to set the
captives free, may we all walk in this freedom that He laid His life
down to give us. Amen
A tip for the journey: accountability, keep yourself accountable to other believers.
Ecclesiastes 4: 9 Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. 11 Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone?12 Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.And a threefold cord is not quickly broken
Read Hebrews 10:22-25
Send your warring angels oh Lord Jesus to break the chains that bind....Amen