Now that we are already halfway through May (how did that happen?), are you still walking in the freedom and deliverance that you celebrated last month during Passover? The circumstances and relationships of day-to-day life can have a way of blocking you from experiencing this freedom. The enemy’s lies about who you are, who God is, and about how He sees you are crafted to make sure that you never experience the freedom that Yeshua purchased for you with His blood at Passover.
When Yeshua’s blood is over the doorposts of your heart, death passes over you just as it did in Egypt where lamb’s blood was over the doorposts of the houses. You are free not only from eternal death, but also from anything that brings death into your heart each and every day.
You have already been freed from living in bondage to fear, guilt, rejection, self-condemnation, bitterness, punishment, shame, worthlessness, etc. All of these things take life away from you, they bring death to your mind, body, emotions and relationships. They are the very tools that Satan and his demons use to fulfill their mission which is to steal, kill and destroy all that God has made, including you!
You, however, already have the victory in Yeshua who defeated death and the enemy! Satan has no authority in your life as a believer unless you give it to him through your own choices to hold onto these things, and to believe his lies about you and about God.
Now I don’t know about you, but I have to remind myself daily that I am FREE! I have to picture Yeshua’s blood over the doorposts of my heart. It’s so easy for me to fall back into old ways of thinking and reacting that keep me in bondage. For example:
1) Unforgiveness: I was so hurt by the words of someone close to me, that even though I tried to forgive, I just couldn’t let go of the anger and bitterness. I felt that I had been falsely accused too many times, it just wasn’t fair or right, and I couldn’t let go. During a worship time, God reminded me, “Is it worth it? Is it really worth giving Satan a handle through unforgiveness to bring death to your body, emotions, relationships, and work?”
The enemy is trying to kill you and me, but he can’t unless we let him. God impressed upon my heart how serious the consequences were of my emotional choice “to not forgive this time.” He reminded me that the choice is mine, it’s in my control (not God’s), whether I’m going to allow Satan to wreak havoc and bring death into my life or not. This was very convicting because so often we may say – “I’m under attack of the enemy!” Now this may be true, but it’s up to US, not God or anyone else, to say “NO” to giving Satan a handle through choices such as unforgiveness, fear, self-condemnation, etc. God also reminded me that NO ONE deserves forgiveness – not me, not them, not anyone – it’s a gift from God that we extend out of obedience. We must forgive regardless of what our emotions tell us. The enemy doesn’t care if our feelings are justified or not, he just wants access through us to get back at God any way that he can!!!
2) Self-condemnation: I was down on myself because I had blown it! I had given in to frustration, anger, and unforgiveness. Consequently, during a recent seminar, I felt I had let God down when the teaching didn’t feel as powerful and impactful as usual. I continued to beat myself up for days and felt like a failure to God, ashamed before Him, disconnected spiritually, and that He was distant, absent or was “missing in action.” Then one morning in worship, He lovingly reminded me that even if I had messed up, HE had already taken the punishment for it. I didn’t have to punish myself, I just needed to accept that He took the punishment for me, and believe that He didn’t see me any differently than He does when I do everything right! He was still rejoicing over me with singing! I had not let Him down, He was not disappointed in me, and He surely wasn’t mad at me.
At that moment of acknowledging that Yeshua had already taken the punishment for me, the heavy oppression lifted and I felt such joy and freedom that I thought I was going to leap right up into the sky! This is the freedom that He purchased and that He desires for you every minute of the day! This is His will for you!
3) Carrying others’ fear and anger: I learned early in life that when others around me were fearful, angry, sad, negative, etc., that it was my job to “hold it” for them. I thought I was to be a receptacle for anything that came my way, or even if it was just in the same room or house! I believed the lie that I HAD to take it into my heart, and that in some strange way, I was responsible for it in the first place. Yeshua has recently reminded me again that having His blood over the doorposts of my heart frees me from having to take in death that others might be spewing out or at me. I may not be able to control others’ responses, but I have been freed from taking their emotions into my heart, accepting the blame for them, and being controlled by them. Yeshua’s released me from that burdensome job of death and bondage, praise God!
One last insight I’d like to share with you is a picture that Yeshua just revealed to me yesterday. While in worship, I could picture the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem where I just visited a few months ago. He showed me that I grew up locked away in such a tomb, and that my tomb was filled with lies that kept me in bondage to death. They were lies about myself – that I was bad, worthless, not valuable enough to be seen, known or to express myself, that I didn’t have a right to exist, that I was on my own, etc; and lies about Him – that He was distant, that He wasn’t always with me, that He saw me as I thought my parents/siblings saw me, that He was disappointed in me, etc. Then I could picture Yeshua rolling away the tombstone, opening up my tomb. His light pierced more and more brightly through the darkness, and He reached out His hand toward me and pulled me out of the tomb. His light and truth freed me from that tomb filled with lies. In Him there is freedom, He is the way to freedom! He took every form of death upon Himself in that very same Garden Tomb, so that I don’t have to. I am free from every lie, every message, every emotion, barrier or stronghold that brings death into my heart.
Are you walking in freedom every day? Are you allowing Yeshua’s blood to cover the doorposts of your heart? Or are you giving the enemy handles and bringing death into your heart and life through fear/stress, unforgiveness, self-condemnation, bitterness, shame or rejection, old lies and messages about yourself and about God? Yeshua carried all of these things for you so you don’t have to. He already purchased your freedom at Passover, He has already let you out of your tomb of lies, now it’s up to you to make the choice – moment by moment – to receive His freedom and experience it every day of your life!
For more in-depth study on this topic, “Passover: Hope for Healing” is available in the STORE as a single CD or as part of the “Applying the Biblical Feasts” CD series.
