Let your mind be renewed...

Tools for Staying Free

Freedom is a precious thing! Once you've experienced freedom it's important to guard that freedom carefully. The same enemy who caused you to be in bondage does not want you to now live in freedom. He will attack you again. But you can experience ongoing freedom if you learn how to live free.

Check out these areas of your life. Make sure you're incorporating them into your daily living. Doing so can give you wonderful protection from the enemy, and allow you to keep the freedom you now have.

• Get to know the Deliverer

  If you've truly experienced bondage and then found freedom, you know you could never have done so on your own. Jesus won the victory over your enemy, and now you have joined Him in experiencing that victory. The most important factor in keeping your freedom is developing a relationship with the One who set you free.

  Developing a relationship with Jesus is like developing a relationship with any human being. Talk with Him. Listen to Him. Spend time with Him. Those are the very things you would do to have a relationship with a friend, or your spouse, or your child.

  Consciously set aside some time every day to spend with your Deliverer. Read about Him in the Bible. Talk to Him about everything that concerns you. Then listen to what He has to say to you. Just be still and listen. Take Him with you everywhere you go. Know that He wants to be part of everything in your life. As long as He's with you, you'll never be alone. If you stay close to Him, the enemy can't win against you.

• Guard the gateways to your soul

  A city or country that knows its enemy plans to attack will be on the alert. It will protect its borders, strengthen its defenses, and prepare weapons for any battle. So we must guard our city — the soul.

  Our enemy constantly sends troops against us to weaken our defenses and separate us from our Deliverer. Our mind is constantly bombarded with messages from the media, entertainment, and people around us that are designed to change our allegiance to the enemy's camp, or at least make us let down our guard.

  Be careful what enters your mind. Be careful what your eyes see and your ears hear. Don't be curious about evil. Be careful who you associate with. Let your mind be renewed (Rom. 12:2). Don't give the enemy an excuse to batter your mind.

• Use your Words

  "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death" (Rev. 12:11).

  Your words are a powerful weapon in your ongoing battles with the enemy. Your words affect what happens in the spirit realm. Make sure your words are working for you and not against you.

  If you say, "This house will never sell," it probably won't. If you say, "I feel so terrible: I don't know when I'll ever get well," you probably won't. What you say determines a great deal of what you will have (Mark 11:22,23).

  Our words affect our own spirit. When you speak out loud, and your ears hear, it is a way of letting your mind hear what your spirit is saying, and helps get your spirit in control.

  What do you say? Think about these things:

  • Speak the truth
  • Confess God's power — i.e. "You are the Lord my Healer" (See Ex. 15:26)
  • Speak to the devil in Jesus' name — to GO

• Apply the blood of Jesus

  The Israelites placed the blood of the lamb on the top and the sides of the door of their house, so the destroyer would not be able to enter (Ex. 12:23). Just so, the blood of Jesus, APPLIED to our life, home, and family, will protect them from the destroyer - the devil. It is a protective covering he cannot go through.

  When Jesus shed His blood, the defeat of the devil was complete. His death and resurrection showed satan to be forever defeated (Col. 2:14,15). When you apply the blood to your life, you are availing yourself of all the victory Jesus accomplished.

  The devil hates the blood. He can't stand to see it. The blood means his defeat is complete. When you show the devil the blood of Jesus, he recoils in torment. You remind him that he is defeated — forever! Note again Rev. 12:11.

  How do you do this? Out loud. Say out loud, every day, "I plead the blood of Jesus over my life, spirit, soul, and body. I plead the blood of Jesus over my family and my home. Nothing can touch me or my family except what comes through the blood of Jesus!"

• No fear of Death

  The third weapon mentioned in Rev. 12:11 is no fear of death. "…And they did not love their lives to the death." When the devil has tried his best with you and lost, you no longer have any reason to fear him, or what he can do to you. That is a wonderful place of freedom!

  Jesus came "that He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:14b,15).

  There is no need to be afraid of the one who Jesus has already conquered. He only seems like a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8), but his only power is that which we give him. With the blood of Jesus on your side, you are the one who is stronger! (See 1 John 4:4)

• Keep your Heart Clean

  In this life we are all subject to failure. But when we do sin, it gives the enemy an opportunity to harass and attack. When you have conscious guilt in your heart, you cannot resist satan's advances. You're an open target asking for trouble.

  Whenever the Holy Spirit brings something to your mind that you need to repent of, do so quickly. Ask forgiveness of the Lord, and any person you have wronged. Get clean again. (See 1 John 1:9). You'll feel free once more.

  A clean conscience is strong protection against many attacks from the enemy. Don't waste precious time and energy wallowing in past guilt. Accept God's forgiveness, and you will know strength and freedom daily.

• Worship

  There is nothing quite like worship to bring you into the presence of God.

  If you know anything about Jesus at all, you will agree that nothing evil can remain in His presence. If you could see Him physically before you, as when He was here on earth, you know you would be healed, set free. Sickness cannot remain in His presence. Bondage cannot remain in His presence. Confusion or fear or depression or lack cannot exist in His presence.

  You can be in His presence now. Worship is the way to get there. Set aside everything troubling you. Enter His presence, and the rest will be taken care of. Let everything else fade from your sight as you have eyes for only Him. In His presence you can't help but be free!

  Your freedom is too precious to allow it to be stolen from you. Guard it carefully. Pay attention to the things in your life that allow you to walk in freedom. Your freedom can last!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.