Christian Living

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I found the Secret

Most of us, believers, have some part of our lives bound by the adversary (cursed be his infamous name!). We wonder why we pray, fast, study the Word of God, attend seminars, or listen to so-called anointed speakers, yet still remain bound to dreadful habits or some besetting sin.

The Word of God provides clear and definite solutions to this problem.

Firstly, God has provided for us complete liberty through His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

John, the apostle, records the Master’s words, “If the Son shall set you free, you shall be truly free” (John 8:34 NKJV). True freedom only comes from God, the Father, in a relationship with Christ, the God-Man.

Freedom for some of us may mean “freedom to be or do whatever we please.” However, when we are not subject to authority, we have become our own gods. This absence of God, who transcends us and all material things, enslaves us to our whims and passions. Here is where addiction controls and eventually destroys us. We self-destruct. It is just a matter of time.

Secondly, through the prophet, King David, God revealed the remedy for the sin problem. Controlling the human tendency to sin is easy, when you understand that the Father has given ample provision to do so. In fact, His divine wisdom has chosen strong images to help us to understand how to conquer the sin problem. The believer’s chief weapon, the Word of God, is compared to a two-edged sword (Heb 4:12; Eph 6:17). We are instructed to use the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

Of course, Jesus ably demonstrated that the way to conquer Satan is to refrain from argument with him, but to defeat him with the Word of God, and not surrender to his relentless attacks, even if he begins to quote scripture to us. Persistent, bold use of God’s mighty Word in the face of the devil will ultimately knock him out (Matt 4:11).

King David vowed to memorize scripture, not just to read it. Jesus also in His confrontation with the devil was simply quoting verses He had memorized from the book of Leviticus. Young men can face the challenge in today’s sex-crazed world by throwing the Word of God into the devil’s face, and win the battle to be pure in thought and in behavior (Psa 119:9-11).

Jesus told His disciples that the Word, if it becomes a source of constant, daily, throughout the day meditation, would be a detergent for the soul. “You are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3).

The big question we each face is: How can I get from under this yoke of bondage that has enslaved me for so long? When two oxen are yoked together to plough a field, neither can get away from each other. Isaiah, the prophet, clues us into the secret of deliverance from any kind of evil bondage. The destruction of bondages comes from the anointing, a term not really understood in these times.

What is meant by the anointing? Some believe it is a feeling that comes over a believer under special circumstances. Perhaps a gifted speaker brings a stirring message in a church and the believer is moved to tears, or finds his body shaking emotionally. Or it could be a crowded gathering when a respected singer ministers and a believer feels tingling sensations all over his body.

Alas, none of these can rightly be identified as “the anointing.” All such experiences are merely natural human reactions to some external stimulus. For example, when the day is dark, cloudy or rainy, we may feel depressed. When our favorite team wins at football, we may clap and yell words of triumph.

However, the anointing is something much deeper than mere reaction, even if the stimulus is supernatural. “The anointing,” according to John, the apostle, “remains in you; “the anointing is truth,” and “the anointing teaches all things.”

Careful analysis of the above statements by John, the Beloved apostle, will reveal what Jesus Himself and the apostles taught.

Firstly, Jesus taught that when the Spirit came, He would not abandon the believer. Secondly, He referred to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth. Thirdly, before His crucifixion, He promised His disciples that after He was gone the Holy Spirit would be their Supreme Teacher reminding them of all that He had taught.

Finally, what about the whole aspect of truth? The Holy Spirit would operate, not in a vacuum. He would always guide them into “all truth.” Truth, according to Jesus, is the Word of God (John 17:17). The foundation of all reality is not what we see, but what God has declared. Therefore, the anointing is intimately connected with what God says. True freedom only comes, said Jesus, from knowing the truth.

We can conclude, therefore, that no one is actually free, whose experience is not grounded in the Word. That means that your conversion must be firmly rooted, not in your emotions, but in what God has said. God says: “Your sins are blotted out!” Your faith agrees and says what God says: “My sins are blotted out!” You don’t bring up your sins from the dead ever! God says: “You are healed!” when you do not feel anything, or even feel worse, you say, “I am healed!” because God says so.

This is the true experience of a genuine anointing on your life. And it is this confident knowledge of what God has said in his Word that brings you into the freedom of the sons of God!

You may contact this author by e-mail: [email protected]

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