I have a quote from Chris Tiegreen in my prayer journal that reads, "Where the Spirit of God rules there is freedom and life. Where He doesn't, there is captivity and death." This should be a simple truth/fact that every believer holds deeply and seeks to have the first scenario be the one that marks our life.....but it isn't. We are masters at compartmentalizing the Holy Spirit and His rulership in our day to day living. We welcome Him into a lot of places and shut the door on Him in just as many. We treat Him as a dishonest homeowner would a prospective buyer. We share all the good parts and features of our "house" while seeking to keep all the "rot" and potential disasters from Him. Like the prospective homeowner, we live in fearful tension that we'll eventually be found out. Truth: We already have been. And we pay a heavy price by our continued walling off of various parts of our lives from Him. The rot only worsens as our foundation steadily weakens. Spiritual freedom doesn't reign in us and the enemy's captivity grows greater and stronger by the day.
Thinking of selling homes, the real estate term, "Location, location, location," comes to my mind. Where in our lives can His power and presence be seen? My brother and his wife live in a nice, 1970's style neighborhood. Very middle class, but certainly not a high dollar area. Right up the street there's a home that was built by a local businessman who eventually went bankrupt. The home is closer to being a mansion than anything else. It's been on the market for a very long time. No one will pay the asking price because it is located somewhere that it shouldn't be. Many of us are like that in the spiritual sense. Scripture says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that He created us that we might be witnesses of His glory, but we too often live in ways that greatly tarnish His glory. We develop attitudes, habits, thoughts, and even language that aren't worthy of Him at all. We're living in the wrong location spiritually, and we have devalued Him because of it. We don't look like people set free by the blood of Christ. We look like prisoners living in cells of our own making. Deep down, we know it's so.
If we're only free in part, then we're not really free at all.....but we can be. We were created for it. The key is to give Him the key. The key to every area of our lives. Yielding every place to Him. In doing so, the darkest "room" filled with the greatest amount of "trash" becomes clean and whole in Him. We cease trying to hide what He already knows is there. And we're free. Gloriously, wonderfully free. It's what He created us for. All we need to do is allow Him to enter in and in Him, we enter into the fullness of His freedom. The prison doors swing open.
Blessings,
Pastor O
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