Have you ever kept the score at a baseball game or watched someone do it? It’s a distinct task that keeps track of every single hit, pitch, swing, foul, strike, ball, and strikeout. Regardless of technological changes, it happens at every baseball game. What’s cool is that you can look back over a scorecard and tell exactly what happened in the game.  

In like fashion, our souls keep records. We may be unaware of this fact and or not like it, but the rules of the game and the score of the game are still true. This is life. Our souls are the supernatural part of us that are our essence—the mystical meeting place of our bodies and our otherness. Not God’s Spirit, but a beneficiary of it. Also, not our body, but completely affected by it. It’s the thing that makes us – us. The God spark that is unique, fragile, eternal, and is our responsibility to host and protect. It is the great mystery that is found in every human. 

As a young child I remember when my parents had a rough patch of arguing and being frustrated with each other. As I heard them arguing I wanted to run to them and be comforted by one of them, but I didn’t feel safe to. So I went to my room and consoled myself. This single moment in time marked my life and started an unhealthy independence that is tied to my current tendencies. It’s a facet of my soul that was malformed, but with awareness, forgiveness, and intentionality it does not still hold a place on my “scorecard”. 

Many of us have had experiences MUCH worse than this, with repercussions much more heartbreaking than this. Full stop. 

With the proper compassionate help, professional or otherwise, we need to unpack these experiences. We need to unpack them from our hearts, say them out loud, speak God’s love over them, and find out where they should reside within our understanding of our life experience. Some of these experiences are so untouched and solidified in our soul that it may take years of intentionality to affectively disempower them from their active effects. 

In some traditional church settings, the above explanation would seem to contradict the power of the Holy Spirit. I think that’s foolish. The effects of Holy Spirit AND our ability to be wounded and unhealed from our experiences are not polar opposites that contradict each other, but parts of complex mysteries that only God, patience, and time can properly heal. They are the progression of spiritual maturity; akin to the strategic movement into the promised land. 

Except we are not talking about Canaan where pagan kings and their kingdoms were removed; we’re talking about spiritual wickedness in high places, demonic influence, and evil strongholds. 

It doesn’t matter if you had a wild life of sin prior to knowing Christ or if you have a life that seemed to always involve God, the principles are the same. The forthcoming application are exactly the same with relevance to every stage and facet of our lives. Your spiritual condition is a result of your spiritual health, not your religious highlight film. 

But before we get to that let’s revisit some of rules of the game…

Jesus says that “If you love me you will obey my commandments.” (John 14:15) It seems like we gloss over such phrases at times or equate His reference to commandments to Moses’ law. The laws of Moses are the baseline of rightness and righteousness, but Jesus’s commandments are not the same, although they encompass the spirit of Moses’ law. Jesus’ teachings, that could be summed up in loving the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself, are the overarching mission statement, but do include many well defined teachings and commands. The themes that run throughout Jesus’ teaching are undeniably forgiveness, generosity, non-violence, honesty, and humility. As Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7:24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine, and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock.”, meaning that in these teachings and commands lie victory for you. 

As disciples of Christ who recognize the spiritual ramifications of obedience to His teachings, all of our life – in all the inward and outward layers, the seen and unseen, rests on our obedience. I hope that last statement makes you squirm a bit, it does so for me. 

So here’s the thing, Jesus’ teachings have applications for now, and for our past. They are retroactive in how we should apply them. With His guidance and power we can look back at our wounds and those who have wounded us, and apply the blood of Christ and take on His gracious posture. We look back on the actions of our former selves, bathing them in the tears of God who wept to win us back to Himself. Some of these situations, we look back on and we have convinced ourselves that the person who harmed us does not deserve forgiveness. We have justified our anger and given full rights to demonic strongholds. Do you not believe that God is a just judge? Do you not believe that the forgiveness of Christ is contingent upon your forgiveness of others? Maybe you believe that but you’ve not been made aware of the ways the rules of this game apply to your opponent.

Jesus’ teachings are not just poetry. The cross is not a religious symbol. It’s the single most-important act in history, breaking the back of the adversary’s power over humanity. The cross is the point in time that changed everything prior and everything that was to come. 

As you process these concepts you may be revisiting the superficial or convenient teaching that left such a significant vacancy in your understanding up to this point. Been there, done that. I wasn’t able to theologically wrap my head around it until I experienced its truth. Which is incredibly convenient if you are aware of the adversaries kingdom and his tactics.

So you see, the adversary has not and does not play this game with kiddy gloves on, nor does he follow the rules of good religious intentions or care how we think ALL OF THIS could or should work (And how you have theologically or doctrinally compartmentalized it. LOL.). He follows the same laws and commandments that Jesus laid out in the New Testament, seeking footholds in people who know they should ________, but chooses not to. He uses past sins/wounds that have been left to decay and fester to manipulate people into dysfunction, isolation, and defeat. He is doing exactly as he is allowed to under God’s authority. 

Take note: Jesus will separate us from our enemies, but not separate us from those who we have befriended. That’s why we HAVE to come into the light, be proactive, and put a stop to it.  

Last year I made a sickening discovery that I had allowed the adversary to trap me and steer me away from a fruitful time in my life. I was doing non-profit work for an organization that helps people experiencing homelessness. The pressure was heightened and was ALWAYS intense. But God was sooo involved in the work. I felt like I was being used by Him in unprecedented ways. I had divine meetings on a regular basis. But as the work was difficult and engulfing so were the stress levels. As best I as could do in those moments I was constantly forgiving folks and doing my best to be gracious. BUT I began to allow my own since of justice to seep in I started to accumulate frustration about a few small factors of what I thought should happen. Eventually INSTEAD of being full of grace and preemptive forgiveness, like Jesus is, I allowed frustration to reside in me. That frustration developed into a poison that changed my perception of my reality. It allowed stress and anxiety to run rampant in my inward parts stealing from me my ability to continue in the work that I loved. My ability to continue there waned and God was gracious enough to open a new door for me and start a new chapter of work. 

The sad part is that I know that if I had done a better job of regularly performing maintenance to my soul that level of frustration would have never of gone that far. Yes, I could blame the devil, or the people who became the target of my frustrations, but that would not help my problem. The problem was that I chose to embrace small “justifiable” sins that allowed for dark forces to interject and step in between me and this fruitful season of life. 

Application: Take some time to prayerfully consider… In your recent season, what accumulations of frustration, angst, disdain, worry, and unforgiveness have you allowed?

With Holy Spirit’s help, make a list of the strongholds that have developed. Maybe you have harbored frustration for your spouse, or your boss, or your job, or your ______. They did something that hurt you and now instead of allowing Jesus to use you and to serve His gracious kindness, there is separation. Forgive and bless them, draw a line in the spiritual sand that you want to walk in the grace of Jesus, not the power of the accuser. ALLOW the freedom of Holy Spirit to renew those relationships. Give an eviction notice to the adversary in that situation. 

As you take God’s guidance over this recent season allow Him to set you free to be wildly in love with your life. Allow Jesus to walk with you in your current mission field. Leave room for God to judge, liberated so that you can simply love and live connected to Jesus and those who He has given you.  

Deeper Application for Disciples of Jesus: Evil spirits exist (and for non-disciples) are very powerful. But for you they have no power over you that you have not given them. Ask Holy Spirit to show you some of the sins that you have committed where dark forces are at work opposing you. With Jesus help, repent, forgive, and simply tell those forces they no longer have a place to work in your life. You’ll come to realize the relief that comes and the new freedoms you’ll experience. Voices you thought were your own no longer speak, curses that followed you for years stop having an effect. Get free. Jesus paid for your freedom. (Read Derek Prince’s They Shall Expel Demons along with the New Testament. Reach out to me.)