There’s a big difference between something that is imprisoned and something that is dead. I came to realize the distinctions in a personal time of worship and prayer. I was basking in the lyrics of a powerful Spotify playlist. I had all the big hitters lined up – Hillsong United, All Sons and Daughters, Kari, Jen and Brian Johnson… and then, low and behold Tasha Cobbs graces my Bose speaker with the battle cry song “Break Every Chain.” (Now, let’s be clear, I am not suggesting that these worship songs are the key to enter into God’s presence, we can and do enter into his presence without a praise song, but this was my Power Hour, and the Spirit was certainly moving through this playlist.
So there I am, me, Jesus, Tasha and this epic, powerful decree and demand to BREAK EVERY CHAIN. In this moment, emotions high, authority in my voice and I’m rattling out demands that God would break the spiritual chains in my life. Break the chains, all the chains, they have got to go! It wasn’t long before I felt like I had hit a spiritual wall. I felt nothing, nada, not a peep from God. Um, what am I saying wrong? This is where God steps in, eradicates my bondage, queue in the weeping, inhale then exhale, and I feel freedom, right? Nope. Not today. I turned off the music and asked what the Lord was wanting to tell me. So he did, he told me alright.
“Sometimes it’s not a matter of breaking chains, but a matter of breathing in new life.”
And just like that, I am undone. God showed me the areas in my life where I already had the gifts and treasures. These things weren’t on lock down, they were nearly dead because I had let them get to a place of devastation and despair. If you don’t tend to living things they don’t go to jail, they just die. I had joy, I had peace, I had self-control, I just needed to speak to them, to tend to them and give them life again.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:4-6
God brought me to my personal “Valley of dry bones.” He showed me a sea of dead things, not a prison camp.
In order to breathe living air into the dead areas of my life, I had to read the Word of God, His living breath of life (Acts 17:15). I had to gather my people and be honest and real about my ugly, dead issues (Hebrews 10: 24-15). I had to practice speaking life and not death (Proverbs 18:21). These things were my spiritual prescription to achieve a living and healthy spiritual life.
Here is what I am NOT saying. I am not saying there is no bondage, imprisonment, or chains to break in the spiritual realm. I have been in bondage. I have been in chains. I have been through powerful deliverance from strongholds of the enemy. That stuff is real, and sometimes it takes deliverance, no doubt. But, what I am saying is, sometimes we give the enemy more credit than he deserves. There are some things in your life that AREN’T in chains or bondage, they just need to be told to get up and start living. God wants to prescribe you some spiritual practices to heal the dead things in your life. I want to encourage you to take your sick and broken things to The Great Doctor and Healer.
He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). ~Mark 5:41
Guest Blogger: Deanna Opheim
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