See God has mercy and is forgiving, and even forgetting; our adversary is not. Even though God has control over all creation, He has given us many choices. Choices that will affect our level of freedom. Not because God is not in control, but because He has made a way for us to stave off the bondage that attacks us by our simple obedience to Him. It’s an act of love and trust in our communion with Him.

We have a tendency to forget the greatness of the supernatural forgiveness that was given to us when we asked for God to forgive us by the blood of Jesus (Eph 2:8-10). It was like night and day for me and many of you who are reading this.

Have we forgotten that we received a gift when we received Christ? Did any of us earn our right standing with God? Nope, we didn’t. We had a choice to receive Him and and to follow Him. And we have a daily choice of whether or not we will follow Him. There is a trend that has always existed since the faith began, folks love the idea of a savior, but hate the idea of a ruler.

This, as you already know, is problematic. Not because God is hurt by this, although He is, especially since He isn’t getting what He paid for with His own blood. It’s problematic because people who once “got saved” (whatever that means) put themselves back in the bondage that they were once saved from. “Christians” like to debate about some of the technicalities of biblical salvation, which can be interesting, but I feel like the better use of time is recognizing that salvation is gift and a choice that if don’t participate in an active relationship with Jesus Christ and His teachings we’ll find ourselves as “Christians” in bondages that Christ died to free us from.

I’ve been thinking lately, kind of in the back of my mind, about the term we Americans use when referring to our problem areas, “We all have our demons.” Or  something of the same sentiment. Some of you know that I do deliverance ministry, (don’t gasped and leave). I didn’t believe it either till I was removing demons from influencing my life. Truth is truth, whether you stick your head in a hole or not. We, as Americans, seem to have a faint acceptance of demons as they relate to our issues, at least when it comes to describing our difficulties (just don’t try and remove them from influencing us, that’s too weird). But after having experienced enough deliverances and helping many saved Christians though the process, I’ve realized that demonic strongholds have most to do with the above issue of not being obedient to New Testament commandments of Christ.

Let me explain. From what I can tell, regardless of what type of family background we’ve had or what schools we went to or what ever other variable we’ve had, evil uses whatever landscape it is given to try and develop a stronghold. If you were raised in the church, you might have self righteous/judgmental issues at the core of your stronghold. If you were neglected by your parents you might have acceptance issues. If you were abused you might have sexual issues. Trust me, any set of circumstances you were raised in the adversary knows just how to attack us so that we live less that victorious lives. The stronghold works to keep us sinning so that we are perpetually kept from the presence of God.

The trick is to figure out which area is your weak area and pay special attention to is like tending to a wound. You probably already know what it is, as it’s most always rooted in childhood or adolescence experiences. In most cases, at the core of that experience, your fault or someone else’s, a sin is there that you are upholding. This is the core of the stronghold. Many things may have come as a result of this stronghold and lies may try to make it unclear, but with God’s guidance you can get free. For example, if your mother abused you, you are probably holding unforgiveness toward her and choosing to be angry, both of which are sins. If you were neglected you might have trust issues. If you were raised religious you might have self righteous/judgmental issues. We have to own up to what happened, quit blaming people for the issues and start removing the adversary which is the only reason these issues are still issues. Our adversary is to blame, not your family or the person who harmed you.  I’m not saying forgiving that person or that people is easy! I’m just calling a spade a spade. Remember the adversary does not play nice, he uses whatever he can get of to hold us down. With God’s help we have to take every measure possible using His strength to be obedient to God’s commands concerning these issues. You might figure out what you’re suppose to do in your situation and come to the realization that you just can’t make yourself do it. That’s okay, but with God whatever effort you can muster will be enough to start a deep work. Then it will be of utter importance that you go back to this area and do more work. Work that one weak area until it’s your strength.

Here’s my point, since our freedom is already given to us in full by Christ’s work on the cross, it’s our job in unity with the Holy Spirit to obey Christ and work with Him to walk out the full freedom He desires for us. Don’t over look your weak area, work on it. Get free. You’re not alone, everyone I’ve ever met had a weak area. It’s just most choose not to address it to over look it. They pretend. But not you, there is work for you to do. Remove that weak Achilles heel.

~ K.P. Yohannan 1988

Twelve days later I had one of the most profound prayer experiences I’d ever had. Not sure how to categorize it Biblically, I was praying in my room when I entered a vision and met with Jesus. His face is remarkably beautiful. One of the things that I remember most about His face is that His jaws were strong and well defined. In this vision he led me from a city street into what I can only imagine was the temple and in past what seemed to be the veil. In that place He showed me images and information in what seemed like a movie screen, but was it was much more effective.

As He led me in He said “Come in after me I will be found, Come to the deep places let me show you the depths… I have been heavy scared by the well intentioned people. They have placed limits on what’s possible with God. Most always leave room for what’s possible with God… I have never wanted to keep anything from you.”

As He took me into this deep place He showed me a pastor who I know of and gave me words for Him concerning His influence in the city, then He told me to have him pray for me. He also showed me another pastor and gave me words for him. That was pretty much the end of it. Short and powerful.

Okay so fast forward to February 23rd 2010, I finally got to meet with the first pastor and humbly deliver the word for Him. He is an amazing man who made it easy to share with. Our meeting was special to say the least. I don’t know how how the words I had impacted him but in obedience to the Lord and this most profound message, I asked Him to pray for me. I humbled myself in front of him and let him lay hands on me and speak whatever was on his heart.

Amazingly, this brother turned out to be one of the most passionate and raw people of prayer I’ve known. He let it loose on me sharing with me things that will prepare, things that encourage, and practical cover fire that will protect. But towards the end of this unleashing prayer he paused and in reverence and sincerity towards me and the situation (that tells of his humility) he asked God “Would you give Jason the burden of intercession for the city?” He asked again and we humbled ourselves with quietness in the asking.

At that point not sure what the answer to the question was because in part of his asking he said “would you wake him up in the middle of the night burdened for the city” and I was honestly was not really excited about losing sleep (shamefully). Our time ended with much love and kinship that will stand the test the time.

This morning I woke up with The Burden. My heart’s cry is now the city need’s Him. The meetings with the city’s pastors that I had been shying away from now has an agenda. The prayer meetings for the city will now have a substance that was not there before.

Not sure why I shared this story, I know its profound nature to me deserves to be sealed away as personal and intimate with my Lord. But It baffles me that in obedience to share with my new pastor friend what God showed me, God had plans to take him and pray life altering words into and over me.

We serve and awesome and powerful God, my friends, whose way are not our ways and thoughts are not our thoughts.