During the praise and worship service, I saw Tom come through the door with his head down, looking very despondent and oppressed. This was very unusual for he was one of the most enthusiastic members of our congregation and normally arrived at church 30-45 minutes early.
Tonight, however,
he had arrived late, during praise and worship, and now stood at his seat with his
head down and his arms folded across his chest without entering into worship. I
thought to myself, "Wow! I wonder what happened to Tom today!"
Shortly
thereafter, he interrupted the proceedings and asked, "Would you all pray
for me? I am all bound up!" Normally I would have said, “Yes, come forward
and we will pray for you.” But this time I was intercepted by a manifestation
of the Holy Spirit.
It happened so quickly
that I was myself surprised by how I responded. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, I
emphatically replied, “No, we are not going to pray for you. Jesus said that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. You take you take your
liberty!"
Something
marvelous then happened, the likes of which I had not seen before nor have I
seen since. Tom immediately thrust his hands into the air and a spiritual
explosion occurred. Suddenly the entire congregation erupted in shouts of
praise to God and continued for at least the next 10 minutes. It was awesome!
Tom shouted praises along with the others. His very countenance changed. He was
free!
Satan's
Power Lies Only with His Ability to Deceive.
We must remember
that Satan and demons have no real authority against the Church and individual
believers. Satan is able to control people only to the extent that he can
deceive them with lies and deceptions. The truth of God's word is the antidote
for all of Satan's lies. Nothing, therefore, can take the place of God's word
in the church and in our personal lives.
When Tom asked for
prayer because he was "all bound up," the revelation suddenly came to
me that if I prayed for him to be free, I would be affirming Satan's lie to him
that he was "all bound up." I saw clearly that what was needed was a
declaration of the truth that freedom was already his "in Christ."
When Tom heard
that declaration of freedom, he responded to it and we all experienced a level
of freedom we had not known.
The
Truth Set Rick Free from a Tormenting Past.
During this same
pastorate, I dropped by the home of young man, knowing that he was in a state
of despair. Rick had grown up in an atmosphere filled with drugs, violence and
immorality. He never knew the identity of his father. As an adult, he had a
very powerful encounter with the Lord and committed his life to Jesus. His
past, however, continued to haunt him, bringing doubts about his standing with
God and his own ability to walk in freedom and liberty.
The problem seemed
to be especially exasperated by teaching he heard concerning generational
curses, i.e., that family curses are passed down from one generation to
the next. People attempted to help him by ministering to him deliverance, the
healing of memories and by breaking generational curses. Nothing, however,
produced lasting results, and he seemed to sink further into despair and
defeat.
As we sat down in
his living room, I felt impressed to read a passage from the book of Ezekiel.
We both opened our Bibles and I read aloud Ezekiel 18:1-20 which is all about
the fact that children will not bear the guilt of the sins of their fathers. We
came to vs. 20 which says,
The
soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor
the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall
be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself
At this point Rick
leaped from his chair and began dancing a "jig" around the room,
shouting and praising God. From that moment he was free. He later moved his wife
and two small children to Texas where he attended Bible school and after
graduation served on the staff. He is still free and his son is a pastor in the
Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.
What set Rick free? It was the truth of God’s
word! You shall know the truth, Jesus said, and the truth
shall make you free (Jn. 8:32).
Martin
Luther Discovered the Mighty Power of God's Word.
In his reforming
endeavors, Martin Luther learned the power of God’s word. Opposed by both the
pope and the Roman emperor, Luther saw amazing results when he simply and boldly
preached and taught God’s word. In a sermon preached in 1522, Luther said,
I
simply taught, preached, wrote Gods Word; otherwise I did nothing. The Word so
weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor did such damage to it. I did
nothing. The Word did it all.
Luther also wrote
a brief poem expressing his confidence in the sufficiency of God’s word. It
reads,
Feelings come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving.
Ill put my faith in the word of God, naught else is worth believing.
Our
Freedom Will Come as We Abide in His Word.
The key to
ultimate and consistent victory is found in the words of Jesus recorded in John
8:31, Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in Him, "If you
abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you free."
Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt is Bible teacher, revivalist and church historian with over 50 years of ministry in many parts of the world. His numerous books are available on Amazon and his website at http://www.eddiehyatt.com
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