"that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage."- Jer.34:9 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." - Exodus 2:20Bondage is defined as: The state of being a slave. A state of being greatly constrained by circumstances or obligations.
There are so many circumstances in life that keep us in bondage outside of the normal and/or obvious ones. The important thing to remember is that no one is exempt from bondage. Regardless of social status, money in the bank, health, etc. anyone in any situation can be in bondage. It's easy to point fingers at people like addicts and criminals because of their circumstances, but make sure you are examining yourself as well. The millionaire can be in bondage to his/her money, the hard-worker in bondage to his/her job; getting a little deeper a parent can be in bondage to their children or vise versa and the "every day church going, bible reading, roof raising prayer warrior" can be in bondage to their church. Oh yeah, I went there. Before you get all up in arms and stop reading hear me out, satan will use whomever is not paying attention.
We pray daily and put on the armor of God and cover, cancel, bind and block agendas but we tend to let our guards down at church. The one place we should really be on high alert. We should hope and pray that un saved folks are coming into the church every service, that is the purpose - to seek and save lost souls right? So why is it that we get in church, leave our purses and such laying around unattended because "it's church", we take everyone and everything at face value because "it's church" and we feel like if the minister is reading a scripture we don't need to see it because he/she is a minister and they know the word.
Corinthians 12 talks about having different roles within the body of Christ, none of those roles include not knowing the word for ourselves. Our ministers, teachers, spiritual leaders and even mentors in within he body of Christ are there to teach and guide us. Not do it for us, no one just can get you to Heaven, you have to speak and believe the words yourself. If your child's teacher stood in front of the class, taught the literature, gave all the answers during the test and physically did the homework for them you would be highly upset because they wouldn't learn a thing.
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was." - James 1:22
Being a doer is in prayer and in works. We hear and are given revelation of the word by our spiritual leaders, and it is up to us to go back and study and really get even more revelation and self-clarification in the word. How else can you fully explain it to someone else if you are only mimicking what you heard?
When you fall into that type of bondage it is very hard to get out or even realize that you are in bondage. You feel like you are just being obedient and serving the Lord, but you have to be careful and make sure that you are truly serving the Lord and not man. How you pray, what you pray, how you give, how you tithe, how you worship, how you praise; it's all between you and God. When we fall into a rhythm of only being able to pray one way because "that's what sister so and so said I should do" or we only sit on the left side of the church because "brother so and so said you can't really receive on the right side"...that's bondage. Waiting for someone to tell you how much to tithe before filling out your offering envelope, instead of praying on it and giving what you've prayed on...that's bondage. 2 Peter 2:19 talks about us being slaves to whatever overcomes us. We need to serve God and all times and not be pleasers of man.
We go to church to learn, fellowship and receive revelation in a holy environment. Not for a fashion show, not to see who makes the most money and not to find out what our next move should be. Our ministers, spiritual leaders, elders, etc. are there to guide us teach us and help mold us. Getting to a point where we cannot think and make moves without their consultation can very quickly become bondage if you are not paying attention. And if you are a spiritual mentor, leader, counselor, etc. to someone make sure that you are not keeping them in bondage by allowing them to put you before God.
Break loose from any and all bondage in your life.
