The 5 R's For Freedom
Fear.
Shame.
Pride.
Jealousy.
Addictions.
Unforgiveness.
Negativity.
Lust.
Rejection.
Lying.
Anger.
There are too many stories of how people struggle with these things. It’s not from God, it’s never been, but all too easily, we find ourselves struggling and going back into the cycle of what we long to break free from.
SAMSON’S STORY
The enemy’s plan has always been to steal, kill and destroy your life and the destiny that God has placed on your life. Look at Samson’s life, he was one of the strongest men that we can read about in the Old Testament. He had supernatural strength but he started hanging out in the enemy’s camp in the vineyard. He wasn’t doing anything wrong, but while he’s hanging out, he sees a pretty lady so he walks up to her and decides he was going to marry her although she was from the enemy’s camp.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
You may already know his story – he kills a lion and pulls it apart and goes on his way. When he is on his way to get his parents, he decides to find the lion’s carcass and in the middle of the lion, there is some honey. He leans over, touches it, and tastes it. So, he grabs some and gives it to his parents as well, but does not tell them about the lion or where he got the honey from.
As we read on, his life begins to go downhill from there. He started making bad decisions and the enemy had an influence on him. We would read that and think – Why? What happened? Why did you do that? But he couldn’t help make those decisions because he had opened the doorway to the enemy, represented by the tasting of the honey. See, the enemy’s goal is to get you to see, to feel, to get to his place. Once you’d done all that, it’s hard not to taste, but once you’ve tasted, you develop a taste for that sin and it becomes a doorway for the enemy. This is what causes the struggles within you, the ones that dominate and influence you. Like fear, shame, pride, jealousy, addictions, unforgiveness, negativity, lust, rejection, lying, anger...
WHAT HAVE YOU TASTED AND SEEN?
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.”
Jesus came to bring us life and life abundantly. He wants us to taste and see that the Lord is good! How do we do that? Take a look at the Lord’s prayer and how He teaches us to pray daily. “Deliver me from the evil one”, it says in Matthew 6:13. When we do this, what we’re saying is, “God, get this out of me. Deliver me daily.” When we make this a habit, we pull the weeds out daily from what we’ve intentionally or unintentionally, consciously or unconsciously partnered with.
YOU CAN CHOOSE FREEDOM
Repent
Your freedom starts with you – you have to decide that this is what you really want. God has given us a free will and this is what allows you to experience true freedom. I’ve prayed with many people, and I’ve found that the ones that are really desperate for freedom are the ones that experience it. Start by repenting. Here’s what you can say:
“God, I repent of opening the door with that demonic influence, for going to other influences for comfort, and for not making You Lord of every part of my soul. Please forgive me and today, I make You the Lord of my life.”
Renounce
To renounce is to declare abandonment on one’s claim or possession, to resign the right or position, to refuse to continue, to reject. So, when you renounce, you are refusing to continue with what has previously dominated your life. I’m refusing to continue with my insecurity, I’m refusing to continue with my anger, I’m refusing to continue with my fear. Ask the Holy Spirit – is there anything I need to renounce? Ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind what has a foothold or a stronghold in you. Was it something you were born with? Or was it something that was inherited in the family?
Once you have found these out and listed them, go ahead and renounce your partnership with these unwanted influences.
Remove
Then, we remove it. You’ve got to take authority in Jesus’ name. With Jesus, you can tell it to leave. Was it anger? You can command it to go in the name of Jesus. Was it jealousy? You can tell it to leave you in the name of Jesus. Everything that you’ve previously listed above, go ahead and remove them from your life in the name of Jesus.
Receive
Once you’re done removing, receive it – receive your freedom. God said to taste and see that He is good! Have a moment with God, telling Him that you want to taste and see that He is a good God!
Remain
John 15:4 (TPT)
“So you must remain in life-union with Me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to Mine.”
Lastly, we must remain in Jesus. Once we get to a place where we experience true freedom, it’s important to guard yourselves. Look at what Matthew 12:43-45 in the NIV says:
“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
If we don’t remain in Jesus, we will be seven times worse. It’s become our responsibility to remain in Jesus. How do we do that? We read our Bible, we go to church and fill ourselves up with God things and not worldly things. Sometimes, you have patterns in your brain that you’ve learned over the years that will be the easy way of going back to what you know. What it takes is a retraining – a retraining of how you think, how you react and when you learn how to do the right things for your soul, it helps you remain in Jesus.
DON’T LOSE IT
A common thing that I hear people say to me when I pray with them, is that they feel it’s quiet in their minds. When they experience a freedom, suddenly it’s clear in their minds and their face lights up. They feel the love for God and an adoration towards God because they’ve experienced freedom. They get to a place where they say, they don’t want peace from the world, there’s no way they’re going back to that because they know the difference.
These are the 5 R’s of freedom. I pray this blessed you!
If you have never entered into a relationship with Jesus, we want you to know that He loves you very much. He died on the Cross for all of your sins and if you would like to make a decision to follow Jesus today and would like to know more, head on over to kingdomcity.com/Jesus to know more.
Click the links below for more!
Taste & See Sermon
*Extracted from ‘Taste & See’ sermon by Jemima Varughese
Jemima is married to Mark and leads Kingdomcity Communications Ltd. They have two sons, Zeke and Caleb.