Living the Victory

Don’t you love it when you get tackled by a revelation that seems to have the depth of Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave? I mean we’re talking something that, as you continue to follow it’s steady, steep descent, makes your ears pop with it’s vast shaft of unforgettable wisdom, lodging snuggly in your soul like a gem that’s become a family heirloom. Then every once in a while, you take it out and study it and God gives you yet another facet to examine. The priceless nuggets are as follows: "Freedom people free people. Bondage people bind people." And one powerful illustration of this lies in Matthew 18:21-35.

When the servant couldn’t repay his master and the servant pleaded for mercy, the master made a choice forgive him. The master was a freedom person – one who chooses to set others free. Now being a freedom person is not necessarily easy. Especially when someone has hurt us. Something in us just gnaws at the idea of not holding a grudge and not getting even. We might even fuss about how unfair it is and get all wrapped up in a mental stronghold of bitterness and unforgiveness that begins to hinder our prayer life, interfere with our creative abilities, and short-circuits God’s destiny for our lives. You see, when we allow unforgiveness and bitterness to take root, then we eventually begin to experience jealousy, envy, and strife toward others – whether they are the party who caused the original pain or not. And if the root grows deep enough, we may even try to sabotage their gifting or calling or God-given destiny. We attempt to imprison them in the same type of bondage in which we have been imprisoned. And if they don’t forgive, the cycle repeats itself. To make matters even worse, the enemy will take every opportunity to thrust the torment of mental anguish on us from the original painful memory itself, which intensifies the unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, envy, strife and any other work of the flesh in which we find ourselves walking (Gal. 5:19-21).

So how do we break the cycle? By following the example of the master and forgiving. Now I admit, sometimes that’s easier said than done. But if we want the freedom that comes with living the victorious Christian life, then the element of forgiveness must be included. We may have to go to God and say something like, "God, I am so mad at so-n-so! What was done to me was so hurtful and I’m just having trouble forgiving. I’m sorry about that. Will you help me to forgive so-n-so?" And one thing of which we can be pretty certain is that whatever was done to us, was most likely done to the person who hurt us. In addition, as much as we might not feel like it, that person needs prayer that God would set them free in that area. As we pray for that person, we’ll be set free from our pain. And as we are set free from our pain, the anointing of God on our lives will become stronger. We might even be able to experience the joy of being a vessel for Him that helps someone else to become a freedom person - living the victory.