True Freedom

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor. 3:17 NIV)

Scripture teaches us that true freedom comes from being in God’s presence. From dwelling in the fullness of Holy Spirit. It’s about a daily intimate walk with the LORD that brings transformation in our hearts, and is evident in our everyday life.

Rebellion was never God’s plan. Where the activation of the Spirit is no longer present, a false sense of freedom takes its place – it’s called rebellion. Truly being set free is having an understanding of God’s authority in our life, and a knowing of the need for it to live a balanced life.

Rebellion is the flesh resisting what God wants to do in our life whether subtle or unnoticed. It’s the broadest definition of humankind’s sinful nature.

When a person is in rebellion for whatever reason they will despise any kind of authority. The definition of rebellion is: opposition to one in authority, defiance of or resistance to an established government. In this case disobedience to God’s direction and Holy Spirit’s counsel.

A “rebellious spirit” is someone who lives to contradict authority or to follow their own way of life. Part of the ‘nature’ of this spirit is actually a form of having control or needing to be in control in itself. The sense of losing control comes from fear. Fear of being ‘being taken advantage of’ or not knowing who to trust. Fear causes many reactions in a person the most extreme being paranoia.

Scripture teaches us that God has not given us a spirit of fear but a spirit of LOVE, POWER and a SOUND mind. (2 Tim 1:7 NIV)

In fact, this scripture teaches us that when we are living in God’s will, we have a sound mind. It’s just the opposite of what fear does, which is birthed from rebellion and therefore an unhealed mind.

Many Christians today still have an unhealed mind because they refuse to surrender all to the LORD because that cycle of fear of being vulnerable, or whatever their fear is, keeps them from fully opening up. With fear comes mistrust. Because fear distorts truth and trust becomes a huge factor.

Those that allow this oppressive spirit of rebellion will often associate healthy authority with control; even if it is not the case, especially if they’ve had unhealthy authority figures in their life or those who they perceive to have hurt them. This can cause people to distort the truth to further justify their rebellion. By the time they’ve ‘given their mind over to the strongholds of the adversary, they are already blind to it, and the truth has been turned on its head.

That’s why Paul said to those that had lost their faith and were sliding off the cliff so to speak, he said, “What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? (Gal 4:15-16 NIV)

As most Ministers know, this is a common occurrence when a person loses their faith.

An unhealed rebellious Christian can do more harm to the body of Christ than someone who is not a Christian. In fact, throughout history, it is those in the Church who have come against the Church of Jesus Christ. Manipulation is not excluded from this spirit. It just depends on how prideful a person is as to how far they will go.

Don’t take my word for it, always measure what is said with what God’s Word has to say on it.

Scripture puts rebellion right up there with divination.

In 1 Sam 15:23 the Prophet Samuel says this to Saul, “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”

The enemy will always try to attempt to break down any kind of authority in the church and twist it so that leaders will shy away from what Scripture says on this topic and render the church “powerless”.

This is dangerous because it demeans the very structure God has set up to protect the church and diverse groups of people in it.

God has given every believer authority over these oppressive strongholds to overcome them. When we make a decision not to, we leave ourselves open to spiritual attack which starts in the mind.

In fact, it is very difficult for a believer to know or truly see the will of God for their life unless the mind is renewed or unless we are walking in alignment and obedience with the LORD and we are willing to let God change us on the inside.

Our own physical body is not excluded from this process because we cannot worship in totality without our own body being submitted to God as well as our mind, as the body forms part of what is conceived in the mind.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans‬ ‭12:1-2‬)

Once the mind is renewed, there is clarity of thought and we are able to see what God wants for our lives. clearly see and know the will of God for our life and the direction we should go.

When a person is in rebellion they are usually antagonistic against most things concerning the Spirit and God’s Church. It doesn’t happen overnight, it happens as a person makes choices that follow the natural and not the Spirit.

Slowly, they’ll move further and further away from God and become more intellectually orientated than spiritually minded. They start seeing the very ‘way of faith’ and worship that they once knew, as wrong and fanatical. Not because it is, but because they’ve shifted.