I WANT TO talk to you about bonds. Sometimes they aren’t obvious, and we almost feel like we can put up with them. We let them push us down like heavy chains until we sink into the dust. But this approach just intensifies our bonds. Think about it: Who is supposed to be crawling in the dirt on his belly? Who is supposed to be eating that dust? When I was throwing a pity party one time, the Lord told me, “What are you doing down there in the dust, rolling around in your emotions? Get up!”
We are no more righteous today than we were on the first day we were saved. But bonds keep us from operating at our highest and best. These bonds, if we receive them, will handicap us. That’s why we can’t give the enemy a foothold (Eph. 4:27). Where is the foothold? It’s in us.
All of a sudden, we become chained to a wrong identity. We start looking at others and seeing what we’re not. And then we start tying a bond to the wrong identity. We’re trying to identify with man, dirt, and dust. That way, we sink into Adam’s fallen identity. We get wounded. The pain is heavy, and it slowly pushes us down because we don’t know what we’re carrying.
What does the enemy shoot at you? The only ammunition he has is suggestion. Do you know what he gets you to do? Self-sabotage. He has no teeth, no power, no authority. It’s all been stripped. But if he can get you to feel a certain way, you lose sight of who you are.
God’s thoughts always bring peace. Practice thinking His thoughts!
We must lay down our dignity, our pride, and who we think we are. Many people try to renew their mind, but they miss step one, which is sacrifice. That means that we must lay down the identity we’re trying to hold on to.
We have to be able to say: “I’ve been crucified with Christ. It’s no longer I who lives. It’s Him who lives in me, and I like to stay up here enthroned with Him.” We need to understand that the renewal of our mind is a process, and it’s work. It’s crazy how lazy we are. We want a fast fix. But there’s this deep work that God wants to do with us. There’s restoration and transformation that take place in us when we receive all that He is into all of us and we put our lives completely in Him.
Paul says, “Until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). You see, we’ve been putting in all the information, but is the Word living in us? When we have the Word of God living within us, the right words will just come out of us. It’s all about the Word and the Spirit. And when they come together, our lives will be changed.
Let’s shake off everything that’s holding us back and realize who’s in us! Because there’s no devil in hell that can stand against the power of God that lives on the inside of us. And all we have to do is yield and get out of His way. Let’s take down every stronghold—lie by lie, brick by brick. Let’s rebuild the Word on the inside instead. That way, we’re going to be transformed into the very image of God. And when we show up at a place, He shows up, and our words get results.
It’s no longer Jesus and us. It’s us in Him and Him in us. And when we can see that, we’ll never roll around in the dust a day in our lives. But we have to go through the process of transformation with the Word. Let’s receive the engrafted Word of God, which has the power to restore our minds, our will, and our emotions.
Author
Afton Johnson
Share this Post