Luke 4:18-19
- The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.
Freedom is not defined by what is absent but by Who is present. But this in no way minimizes the reality that in many ways we might still be poor, brokenhearted, captive, blind, and oppressed. Jesus brings good news, healing, liberty, and sight. God is in the process of transforming us by revealing to us by the Spirit who he is and who we are in him. Often this process is hindered by things in our life which need to be removed and then replaced with his truth. These hindrances fall broadly into three categories: the flesh, the world, and the devil.
The world is the environment in which we’ve lived all our lives, including our culture, families, church experiences, media, and many other aspects related to living on planet earth. The devil, along with a host of demonic beings, is at war against God’s purposes within our world and our lives. My flesh is simply the physical body in which I live, including the amazingly complex computer known as my central nervous system. This computer has been largely programmed by my sin nature, previous life experiences, and the deception of the enemy regarding what those experiences mean about who God is and who I am.
Bondage in our lives does not result directly from what we have experienced. The computer of our flesh is deeply programmed, not by what we’ve experienced within the world, but by our agreement with what the devil has told us regarding what those experiences mean. What happened to us (the world) is not our problem What we believe (the flesh) about what happened to us is our problem. Our enemy (the devil) is the father of those lies.
So, spiritual warfare is essentially a war between light and darkness, between truth and deception. I empower one or the other by my agreement. To the degree I agree with the enemy’s deception regarding the events of my life, I empower the enemy in my life. These false beliefs are the primary hindrance to God’s purpose and freedom. As I learn to hear God’s voice, and discover the truth about who God is and who I am, the core lies I have believed about God and myself are identified and replaced with truth.
I respond to the Holy Spirit first of all by confessing and renouncing the lies he is helping me identify and secondly, confessing and embracing the truth he reveals to me about who he is and who I am.
