YouTube» Vimeo» Audio» Paperback» Website»
Explore the issues in the heart that can hold us in bondage. Discover that ungodly soul ties, inner vows and word curses are three entry points into our lives, where we can open ourselves to bitterness, jealousy, anger, complaining, addictions, etc, which then become strongholds in our lives, that the enemy can come in and take hold of. This includes other peoples words and actions towards us. As we recognise these traits in our lives, we can take ownership of them, renouncing and releasing them from our lives in Jesus Name.
[Introduction]
Let’s welcome the Holy Spirit this morning. Lord we open ourselves to You, we want You to touch us, we welcome You. May the kingdom of heaven come into this place. May we see your presence established, your kingdom established. We reach out to You Lord today, we thank You for all You’ve done so far, and all You will do today. In the meeting this morning, in the meeting tonight, we thank You. We treasure Your presence. We love what You do. Most of all, we set our heart on You. We give You the honour Jesus, and we thank You for what You’re doing. Amen.
That was very exciting last night wasn’t it? I always love it when God moves, just surprises us. I didn’t expect that demon to manifest so quickly. Let’s just this morning, continue where we were; and as I teach, I’m changing the flow which I normally teach in.
[Summary of Last Session]
What I want to do this session, is I want to look at heart bondages. We’ll just quickly look at where we were yesterday. We looked at Jesus was anointed to set people free. We looked at Jesus teaching on deliverance, and how deliverance is a manifestation of the kingdom of God. We saw that Jesus taught that once demons were cast out, they will try to come back and re-enter the person. This has brought deliverance into a lot of discredit over the years, because people have focused on the demons, rather than focused on the issues the person has.
Jesus said that after a person’s delivered, and the evil spirit’s gone out, they will seek to re-establish their hold in the person’s life. So we saw as a result of that, the need to deal with underlying root issues. In other words, our role is not just to cast out demons, but it’s to bring the person out of darkness and into light. It’s to help them journey in their life so they’re walking with God. We saw one of the scriptures in Ephesians 4 – when is a thief, not a thief? It’s not when he stops stealing; it’s when he works and gives.
We identified different avenues, or ways, evil spirits get in. We saw number one, they come in through legal rights. This is where a person has broken the law of God, and the demon claims a right to access. Remember in Jesus’ teaching, how the demon says “I will return to my house”. If you were listening yesterday, when I began to pray for that girl at the beginning of the meeting, the demon began to speak to me and say “She belongs to me”. In other words, the demon is claiming “this is my house”; or that I have a right to ownership. So, it’s important, if we’re going to set people free, that we remove all rights to ownership. We’ll show you how that’s done quite simply.
Now, for a Christian, Jesus Christ is their owner. Demons can never own a believer. When the Bible says: “we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus”, that means we are purchased, a price has been paid to set us free. A person is saved when they believe in their heart, and confess with their mouth, that Jesus Christ is my new owner, my new lord; and we are moved by the Spirit of God into a new kingdom, with new rights and privileges.
You remember when I was inviting people to come to Christ, I quoted John 1:12; and it says – “To whomever who received Him, even those who believed in His name, He gave the right, the legal right, to become a child of God.” So, when we put our trust in Christ, there is a legal standing, we shift in our legal standing, and we are now privileged to be sons of God and heirs. So, a demon can’t own a Christian, they can just oppress a part of their life.
You may have noticed at the beginning of the corporate prayer, I led people in a confession of faith. “Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord. I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus from every curse, every evil spirit, and all the power of sin. I belong to Jesus Christ.” This profession of faith helps position the person for deliverance. When the demon says: “she belongs to me”, it’s absolute nonsense, because the person has already confessed: “I belong to Jesus Christ”. Sometimes I will remind them: “she belongs to Jesus Christ”. So, we saw a major doorway of entry is through legal rights.
A second major doorway is through traumatic experiences, where a person has a painful experience, and it affects them emotionally, and hurts them deeply. Similar experiences can affect different people in different ways. We’ll come back to the trauma area a little later; but let us say this: that when a person has a traumatic experience, the shock can open the door for a spirit to come in. For example, during teenage years, many people have some extremely distressing experiences at school; and the mental pictures and the beliefs that formed often are open doors for demons to affect them.
Then we saw the third area was how people react to painful or traumatic experiences. We’ll come back to each of these a little later.
How is it then that people are set free? What is the basis for setting people free?
We saw first of all, we must know what Jesus has done. We looked at the work on the cross; and what Jesus has done legally for us. You need to know these things; able to quote them, able to speak to demons the Word of God.
Secondly, we looked at what the person’s responsibility is. We found they need to recognise, and take responsibility for their problem. They needed to repent and confess sin, they needed to release forgiveness, and usually to renounce any bondages or agreements that they’ve entered into with evil spirits; and then actually make a stand to resist the devil.
In James 4:7 it says – “Submit to God, or position your life in alignment with heaven. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”. Very clearly from that scripture, we are to position ourselves aligned with God. The word ‘submit yourself’ is the Greek word hupotasso. The word tasso is to position yourself. Hupo is the word beneath. So, hupotasso means literally ‘position yourself and the leadership of Jesus, so together you can get a victory. The word ‘hupotasso’ is a military term. It’s an alignment in God’s order, so that great victory can be won. It would be used of troops aligning for battle. You understand it? It’s not a subservient; it’s actually a functional word.
When it says for example, ‘wives submit to your husbands’, this is not a controlling, superior kind of thing. It’s about alignment for victory. ‘Submit to God’ means: align your life with God’s order. If there’s sin, repent. If there’s unforgiveness, forgive. If there’s bondage, renounce. So, submit. Position yourself you can get the victory.
The second word is the word ‘resist the devil’. That’s the word antitasso. ‘Anti’ means against; ‘Tasso’ means position yourself. You notice the use of the language is ‘position yourself under God, so you’re aligned for victory’; ‘position yourself against the devil, and he must flee or run away from you’. Now, when you look at that scripture, it’s quite clearly puts a responsibility for the person to align themselves and take a position in the battle. Remember that scripture - it’s a very powerful one to remember, when you’re preparing people for ministry. Your role is to help them align with God, and make a stand against the devil.
You can see then, if a person loves their sin, and doesn’t really want to let go of the sin; they’re not submitting to God, and they’re not resisting the devil. If a person is unwilling to forgive, they’re not submitting to God, they’re not submitting to His order, they’re staying on the side of the devil.
In James 4:7 –Submit to God, or position your life in divine order or in align with the kingdom; resist the devil; then it says draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. You see the person is able to move from being oppressed by a spirit, into enjoying the presence of God.
The key point is the issue of change. When we’re ministering to people, we want to help them see what their part is in getting free. Otherwise, we have this kind of ‘victim culture’; or ‘you come to me, I come and fix you’; which keeps the person a victim, and makes you the rescuer. We need to build in people faith for their breakthrough. We need to look at how to do this.
[Main Message]
What I want to do now, is I want to look at some of the bondages that come in the heart. I want to identify what the bondages are in the heart, and how you could break these bondages. Then, we’ll go back to the doors of entry, identify each one, and show what you do to help a person get free. What we’re going to do now is look at heart bondages.
You remember we saw in Luke 11, the need to remove the armour, so we can then set the person free. I want us to look at a verse in Proverbs 4:23. It says – “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it, flow the issues of life.” In other words, be a watchman over your heart. The Bible says: there’s a reason you need to guard, or watch, over your heart carefully; because it’s out of your heart that the borders or limitations of your life are established. What is happening in your heart will always find a way to manifest in the world around you.
Jesus said: when people speak, they speak what is in their heart. In Proverbs 4, it says – ‘out of your heart flow the issues of life’. In other words, we don’t just live from our head and our thoughts; we actually live out of the flow of what’s in our heart. If there’s a root of bitterness if your heart, it will just flow like a river of poison, into every relationship you’re in. It will be demonically empowered; and it will just show up in your life. It will defile all your relationships. So, we need to be able to recognise these things, and to deal with the root.
Inevitably, what’s in the heart will find its way out through the words, or the countenance will be seen by its fruit. For example, if someone is bitter, if you ask them “Are you bitter?” They say “No, of course not.” “Are you harbouring deep anger and unforgiveness?” “No. No. Why do you think that?” If you know what to look for, you will find so many people are very bitter. Let me just share what you look for. These are some signs of bitterness flowing. We’re just going off course now, but I may touch it again another time.
Bitterness shows up in a number of ways.
1.) First of all, it shows on the face – there’s no joy. A bitter person cannot be joyful. Their joy doesn’t last, because their heart is bitter.
2.) Secondly, if a person’s got bitterness, often you can see it on them on their face. It looks sour. It just shows on some people. The older they get, the more it shows - it can’t be hidden. You find some people, when they’re older, they’re sweet and loving; other people when they’re older… You can feel it.
3.) Another way it shows is in sharp words. Sharp, cutting words. The word ‘bitter’ means literally ‘to be sharp’. When you hear sharp, cutting words, bitterness underlies it.
4.) It’s also seen by anger that’s suppressed. When a person’s bitter, they often hold anger underneath. You can literally feel their disapproval, but they’re not saying anything.
5.) Another way bitterness shows, is complaining. Complain this, complain that, and complain about something else. They can never rejoice and be thankful.
6.) So, another sign of bitterness is ingratitude; because underlying bitterness is anger and unforgiveness; unforgiveness is a demand. So, when a person is bitter, they can’t be grateful for what they have, there’s still a demand for what they don’t have.
7.) Another evidence of bitterness is blaming. It’s all you. You, you, you. That constant blaming, accusing people, is evidence of bitterness, and resentment, and anger.
8.) Another symptom of bitterness is the inability to congratulate other people on their success. So he gets promoted, “Oh, why did he get promoted. He doesn’t deserve it.” There’s an ability to celebrate the victories of other people.
You ask the person “I think you’re bitter.” “No. Why are you saying this to me?” So, I used that just as an example, to show you that: what is in the heart, will find a way out. These are some of the evidence of bitterness, which is like a root that defiles. So, I just use it to illustrate that if things are in your heart, they find their way out. No matter how much you try to pretend and make your life look good, it flows out; and if you’re spiritually sensitive, you can often feel it. It’s like there’s a tension around the person.
We’ve established then, that whatever’s in your heart will flow out into life. I want to just share with you then, some typical bondages of the heart; and then what do you do to deal with each one of them, because demons will attach to these bondages of the heart and intensify them. It’s very helpful, when you’re ministering people, to be aware you have to deal with heart issues. Here’s a list of some of the ones I have commonly found – bondages that affect the heart of people, and affect their lives. Later on we’ll talk about trauma as something specifically separate.
Number one: Ungodly Soul-Ties. A soul-tie is a bonding between one person and another. It holds them in close connection. It is a bonding between people. God intends that we be connected, and bond to other people. So, bonding is a very important aspect in life. For example, a child needs to bond with its mother, or it never forms secure relationships. So, bonding is the very first skill a child must learn. Bond with the mother; and of course later, it leads to learn to separate.
When they’re up to about 15 months, they cling to mum; and they breast-feed, they’re looked after. Then, about 2 years old, they become independent. “No, no. I want me.” All these kinds of things; but this is normal development. If the child doesn’t bond with the mother - and sometimes happens if the mother attempted an abortion, or didn’t want the child - then the child has difficulties all through its life, and forms ungodly attachments to try to meet this insecurity. A soul tie then, is a bonding between two people; and the bonding can be very positive and helpful, or it can be ungodly.
Examples that are healthy include: the mother and the child; husband and a wife; members of a church; friends, close friends. So, the bonding is good; it’s an attachment that enables you to have close connections. So, we can be bonded. We’re made to be bonded and have relationships.
Now, the devil doesn’t create anything new. He just perverts what God has set in place. So, a soul tie can be ungodly. An ungodly soul tie is a bonding that is destructive, or brings negative energy into the person’s life. They are attached, but it’s not healthy. They are attached, and it’s an ungodly attachment. They’re attached, and demonic spirits use it to defile them. This is far more common than you realise – a soul attachment that is ungodly, and creates a doorway for demonic spirits.
Let me give you some examples of some ungodly attachments. The first one, if people have sexual relationship or intimacy without being married, they bond together; and that is an ungodly soul tie. Sexual relationships before marriage lead to a number of soul ties to the different partners – it’s like an invisible cord, attaching the person back to the other person; and their heart wants to return to that person, and it can’t fully enter into marriage. They keep remembering the sexual images, and the things they’ve done together, and demonic spirits torment their soul. So you need to be aware, if you’re dealing with sexual sin, it’s not enough to cast out the demons; you need to deal with the soul tie. Break the soul tie.
Proverbs says: a man shall be held by the cords of his sin. I used to think that, like sin wrap cords all around you. I now understand that they’re like invisible cords, which take you back to where you sinned, and hold you back in time with that experience. People can be soul-tied to a controlling person. The person is so much under the control of another, it’s like there’s an attachment to that person; they can’t break free and form their own life. A soul tie needs to be broken, because it’s like a co-dependant relationship. A person can be soul-tied to an abusive person. Even though they’ve been hurt, it’s like ‘I can’t seem to break free of the person.’
A person can be soul-tied to someone they have an infatuation with. This is where the danger comes in counselling. If a man counsels a woman, there can be an unhealthy soul-tie formed between them. Maybe one to the other; or it may be just the other way around. Sometimes people get soul-tied to a dead person. In other words, maybe a grandmother – they were very close to the grandmother, because there was a conflict in the family. Even though the person has died, it’s like they haven’t let go, they’re still attached.
People can be soul-tied to pornographic images and websites. So, when men look at a woman, look at pornographic sites and the images, their soul can be attached to those things, and then a spirit comes through that soul tie. One of the worst aspects of pornography is, it actually physically alters the brain; and repeated exposure forms neuron paths in the brain like tracks. So, the slightest trigger, and the man or woman’s thinking go down this track towards perverse things.
So there are soul ties that need to be broken. Attachments to images, attachments to websites; because a person becomes addicted to a website, and they may have paid money to go on the website, now they’re trading with a spirit of perversion; trading with a spirit of prostitution. So there’s a soul tie to the images and to the sites that they’ve gone to.
With women, it’s often like a romantic fantasy. So, they may become soul-tied to some character in a soap opera; or they begin to fantasise about some pastor, some spiritual leader, and have all of these fantasies in their mind – they’re soul-tied to them.
People who worship idols can become soul-tied to the idol. So, these are some of the areas where people can become bonded in an unnatural way. It can be that a certain kind of sexual fantasies, the person becomes bonded. So, whenever there’s an ungodly attachment, demonic spirits use the attachment as a way accessing the person’s life to torment them, and energise that problem.
So, how do you deal with a soul tie? Very simple, there’re just two steps to it. First, the person needs to renounce the soul tie. That means to speak words that cancel it. So, they must recognise the attachment, and then renounce it. They must want to turn away from it, not just continue to entertain it. The person then would just say: “In Jesus’ name, I renounce this soul tie, I renounce this attachment in my soul to the sexual relationship, to this image, to this idol, to this fantasy, to this website, I renounce the soul tie.”
That’s the first step. The second step – when you’re ministering to the person, speak as though you’re cutting something. “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I break that soul tie, I cut that attachment, I break it in Jesus’ name”. See yourself like you’re taking the sword of the Spirit and cutting it. What’ll happen is, sometimes demons manifest, even the moment you do that. So, if there’re sexual soul-ties to various people, I just picture these long cords going back, and say: “Jesus, I break them, I break them, I break them.” When you picture something, it tends to put faith or confidence that what you’re doing has effect.
One area I forgot to mention, an important area related to soul ties, is that people can be soul-tied to a trauma. When you minister to trauma, one thing that’s important to do is, to break the soul tie to the trauma. It’s like the person is frozen in time, and in their memory, they’re attached back to something that happened years ago.
The second heart bondage is the area of bitter root judgements. A bitter judgement is a judgement that’s made out of feelings of bitterness and resentment. It causes a cycle of reaping to take place in the person’s life. For example, “You can never trust a man; they’ll always let you down.” “You can never trust a woman, they’ll always try and control you.” “Don’t trust authorities, they’ll always abuse you.” “Never trust anyone; people will always let you down.” Now, those are judgements. Bitter judgements often have the word ‘always’ or ‘never’ in them. “Never trust a man. They’ll always let you down.” There are so many different kinds of judgements: “I’ll never succeed. I always fail. Nothing I do ever works out.”
You notice there’s a common thread of negative bitterness in there. When there is bitterness in our heart, and we make a judgement, it’s like negative faith. We begin to attract into our life, the very judgement we’ve made. Notice what it says in Hebrews 12: 14 – 15, it says “Pursue peace with all people, in holiness without which no one will see the Lord, looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness spring up, cause trouble, and by this, many become defiled.” A bitter root judgement is a reaction to being hurt. You may have been hurt by one or two men, and then you judge “all men are like this”.
Jesus said in Matthews 7:1-2, “Don’t judge, or you will be judged. For whatever judgement you judge with, you will be judged. In the measure you judge, it’ll be measured back to you.” So, when we face difficult or painful circumstances in life, we choose whether we release grace into it, or judgement. If you release judgement, you set in place a cycle of reaping the very thing you judged. For example, a woman who judges her father bitterly will usually attract a person into their life who’s just like their father. It’s like a belief that that’s what will happen. It literally attracts and draws into the person the very thing that they’ve judged. You would be amazed how frequently the problem a person has, is a reflection of something they walked away from in their home life.
I prayed for one woman who was deeply bitter that her mother had adopted her. Her whole life had been negatively affected. Then I found to my amazement, she did the very same thing. It’s like what she was reaping in her life was the very thing she had judged. So, when you judge something or someone, you set in process of reaping the same thing somewhere in your own life. So, a woman who judges her father will most likely end up attracting a man just like him. A woman who judges her mother will turn out exactly like her. All the time hating it; and not even seeing that she’s just like her mother.
So, bitter root judgements are important to cancel. A bitter root judgement is a reaction, judging someone because of a painful experience. Here’s the problem: people often forget they made the judgement. Once they make a judgement, it becomes demonically empowered, and then they begin to reap the same thing over and over in their life.
How does the person get out of the judgement? Firstly, they need to recognise there’s judgement taking place. Acknowledge the pain, it’s important to acknowledge the pain; forgive the person they’re angry with; and then cancel the judgement. Renounce it. “In Jesus’ name, I renounce each bitter judgement I made against my father. I renounce each bitter judgement I made against men. I cancel that judgement; and I bless and forgive.” Then, once that has happened, you can “In Jesus’ name, I break that judgement over your life. I break that cycle over your life. Spirits of bitterness - go.” Because inevitably, there’ll be spirits associated with it.
Another heart bondage is the area of Inner Vows. A vow is a promise you make. An inner is a vow you make into yourself. It’s a promise you make as a reaction to being hurt. Usually, an inner vow consists of the words: “I will never”, or: “I will”. It’s an inward vow that’s made, and once you make the inner vow, it locks into place in your life, and becomes demonically empowered. Often the person forgets they’ve made the vow. Whenever there’s an inner vow, there’ll also be roots of bitterness that are just growing deeper and deeper in the person’s soul.
I’ll give you an example. I had a woman that came to a Bible school I was speaking at, and she brought her husband and her baby with her. She said: “I want to thank you for your teaching on inner vows.” I said: “Tell me what’s happened.” She said: “Well, I have two children. The first child, the pregnancy was so difficult, that I vowed I would never have another child. I was so sick, and so distressed, I vowed I’ll never have another child. After the child was born, I forgot all about that; and I wanted another child; and we tried and we had three miscarriages. I finally decided to come to Bible school. When I heard about inner vows, I renounced the inner vow, I cancelled the vow I had made, and by the end of the year, I was pregnant and we have had another child. We would not have had this child unless we had dealt with the inner vow.”
She had vowed to herself: ‘I will never carry another child’; and her body responded, and rejected all other children. So, when a woman has miscarried, and it happens several times, you have to consider the possibility that there may be inner vows; or in the case of miscarriages, maybe idolatry.
So, how do you deal with an inner vow? The person needs to acknowledge the pain of the situation; if necessary, release forgiveness; and then renounce the inner vow. Renounce and cancel the inner vow. Then, you can just say: “In Jesus’ name, I break that inner vow. I release you from it.” It’s just as simple as that. It may be there are spirits attached to it, there could be spirits of bitterness and fear; but the inner vow itself is very easy to break. The person renounces the vow, and you just say: “In Jesus’ name, I break that inner vow now. I release you.” Sometimes deliverance happens immediately.
I remember one man I prayed for, and he was extremely wealthy, but he was extremely driven. There was no rest inside him. When we talk with him and interacted with him, we found that he had grown up in a family that was very poor; and he had been embarrassed by the clothes they used to wear to school. So, he made an inner vow: “I will never be poor. I will work and have money.” Now he had money, he couldn’t stop working; and he couldn’t enjoy what he had, because in his own heart he believed he was poor, and he was driven by this inner vow. No matter how much he had, it was never enough. He just had to keep working to get more. So, his family was deeply hurt by this drive in his life. He needed to renounce that inner vow, and release or acknowledge the grief and pain he’d experienced as a child.
Here’s another one – word curses. A word curse is a negative pronouncement over a person. In Proverbs 18:21 – “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”. So, there are two forms of word curses. Firstly, self-cursing; a person speaks words that literally curse themselves. They speak into their own heart words which are negative, destructive. For example, a death-wish: “I just wish I was dead.” Often when people are in pain, they make a death wish. “I wish I was dead. I’d be better off dead.” They come into an agreement with a spirit of death, and it affects their life, and numbs their heart. So, this is an important area to deal with.
You’ll find often when people have been sexually abused, or abandoned in a relationship, or abused in a relationship, they just wish they were dead. So, in a prolonged period of stress and pain, the person may make a death wish. “I wish I was dead.” They may forget they made it, but find that their heart is numbed, and they can’t seem to experience God, or experience relationships.
The person may have just spoken words of failure into their own life. “I’m useless. I’m stupid. I’m never good enough.” Those words become an ungodly belief system in their heart. They’re like bitter judgments. “No one will ever want me. No one would ever accept me. I’m unwanted.” Almost all of these things are quite short, but they form a belief structure in the heart, that demons inhabit and use to torment them. When you believe a lie, spirits of death and hell are able to enter and torment.
Word curses can come from other people, for example, words spoken by your parents or authority figures; school teachers; spiritual leaders. Spiritual leaders have to be quite careful, because you can very easily curse people, by speaking words of failure or negative words over them. So, words of failure, name calling. These kinds of things can be like fiery darts, which go into the person.
Sometimes people grow up and they have humiliating experiences at school. Teacher says: “You’re stupid. You’ll never come to anything. You’ll never pass that. You’re a failure.” Those words, if the person agrees with them, they sit in the heart as a