Take These Chains

There are times when feelings and experiences are good aids in decision making, but if they work against the counsel of the Holy Spirit they are detrimental to us and those around us. The effects of our experiences, and the resulting emotions attached to them, can be an open door for the enemy to intrude in our lives and wreak havoc.

As an example, consider the parent who was sexually abused as a child. As an adult, he may protect his child so desperately that the child is inhibited from forming close and lasting relationships. Fear of abuse controls the parent and it stifles the love of God through this father. You can imagine the resulting relationship problems from a situation like this, not only in the child's life but also in the father and mother's lives.

This is but one example of how our emotions and experiences can affect our lives and the lives of others. We are sometimes unaware that we are operating this way, but we may continue to run into the same problems in life over and over. We may even decide that our way of thinking is a result of genetic makeup because our parents thought and did the same things. But we cannot allow the enemy to deceive us into coming to the wrong conclusions! In the end, we are not chained or imprisoned by our upbringing, but set free by the Word and Spirit of God if we choose to live for Him!

Look at the patterns in your life, where your actions and decisions have led you. You may see that many of them were deeply affected by your prior experiences and resulting emotions that have not been given to the Lord for healing. Anger, obsessive behavior, guilt, abuse, insecurity, manipulative behaviors .... God is able to heal us of these and cleanse our thought and decision making processes. Sometimes He leads us to get help from other people that He's trained up for this very purpose; only He knows the way in which His healing and wholeness will manifest in our lives.

Get in the presence of God and ask Him to show you why the things in your life are happening the way they are. Is there anything in your emotions and experiences that has grasp your thinking process and brought these patterns into your life? If so, God is willing and waiting to reveal it so that you can be healed and renewed in Him!

"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me...He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners... to comfort all who mourn... And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the LORD to glorify Him." (Isa 61:1 condensed)