There Should Be Freedom In Your Faith, Not A Feeling Of Being Trapped
This is the Transformed Faith Manifesto
I had been a Christian for nearly 10 years when it finally happened. My faith had turned bland and lifeless. Yes, I was reading my Bible and praying regularly, but there wasn’t communion with God. It had become an exercise of obligation.
We went to church on Sundays. Did our morning quiet times. Prayed when it seemed appropriate. My wife and I even lead men's and women’s Bible studies. Yet, there was no power or excitement to our faith.
Sure, every so often, we would have these glimpses of amazing things. But for the most part, it wasn’t any different than that of our non-believing coworkers or friends.
We fell into this rut because we kept doing the same thing over and over again but nothing was different. Most of all, we had let lies about who we are create barriers that didn’t allow us to go any deeper in our faith.
We knew something had to change, but we weren’t sure how to do it.
The Problem and the Lie
When he reached this season of life, we started to find more and more things feeling difficult. This would lead to us just sitting in our troubles and then trying to avoid them or numb out when they came to the surface.
We didn’t have a church community that was creating life in our lives or helping draw us closer to Jesus. In part, this was our fault, we were attendees of a huge church where we lived and hadn’t gotten plugged in very well.
Between a lack of community and a lack of personal growth in our faith, we started to really believe a lie that takes many Christians captive today:
“I am a sinner saved by grace and it's just the way I am.”
If we believe in Jesus, then we aren’t sinners anymore. The idea that we are still sinners is a lie that Satan has snuck into the church and now it keeps people from living in the fullness of God’s kingdom and power.
How the Problem is Solved
We have established that the problem is how we aren’t actually sinners anymore if we believe in Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, we die to sin and become alive in Christ which makes us a new creation. We see this clearly spelled out in the Bible:
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. — 2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB
The solution is already here. But we have to let go of the past things and the lie that we believe. We need to learn to let go of the “sinners” identity and take up the identity that God put in our lives, a new creation.
How do we do this though?
It’s actually quite simple. In fact, it starts with breaking ties to this old identity. Here is something you can do right now if you feel this has been true in your life (speak these words out loud)[1]:
I bless my spirit to prominent and lead over my body and soul. I bless my spirit to connect with Holy Spirit and receive all that God has for me.
In the name of Jesus, I break the power of all ungodly spirit, soul, and body ties forged between me and the sinner identity.
By the power of the cross, I send back all parts of the sinner identity that were given to me that do not belong to me.
And I take back from the sinner identity all parts of me that I gave away that never belonged to this spirit.
Father, I ask that you set a guard over my spirit, soul, and body to never again connect with the sinner identity in this ungodly way.
I nail to the cross the lies that join with the sinner identity which I believed, accepted, or promoted.
I break all agreements I made with this lie known or unknown and turn away from joining with it.
Father as you send this lie away from me, what is the truth about this situation you want me to know?
After you have walked through this spiritual practice of breaking ties with lies and spirits, spend time listening for what God has to give you to replace the space that the sinner identity had taken up in your life.
Sometimes it is a picture. Other times you will have words or stories. Maybe God will affirm scripture in your life in this space. I would encourage you to write it down and keep it in places you will see it all the time.
What it Means to be a New Creation
First, I need to say that just because we don’t have the sinner identity doesn’t mean that we won’t sin. From the moment you believed in Jesus on there will most likely be instances of sin in your life.
Here’s the thing, we don’t sin because it's our nature, we sin because we choose to do it. While so often we think that sin is out of our control, in almost any situation we have the ultimate power: choice.
That’s the difference between being a new creation and being stuck in the sinner's identity.
What I have learned over the last few years is that my choices are influenced by unbelief, evil spirits, and other outside sources. These don’t make us sin, but they influence our decisions. In the end, we choose to sin.
So, if this is the case, we now have the power in our hands to sin or not. The reason I bring this to us is that we know that sin can separate us from God. When this happens, our faith begins to get dry, boring, and often lacking.
Why this matters for us and how we live our lives
However, when we live in light of being the new creation, we have power over our choices and can choose to sin much less often. Especially because we know it is not in our nature to sin.
As we choose Jesus over sin, our lives begin to change. We start to see the world differently and we begin to unlock a faith that is vibrant, miraculous, and truly transformed.
Most of all, we experience God’s presence in such real ways that our decisions and choices become easier and easier to make. The struggles of past or habitual sin begin to fade away or stop altogether at once. And we start to become who we were created to be.
Final Thoughts
Breaking souls ties and removing this lie from our lives is the first step of living a transformed faith. There are other ways that can help us draw closer to God and begin to experience the fullness of faith we were created to experience.
Here are three other articles that can help you do this:
Check out these articles and learn some practical ways to experience a transformed faith that will take you into deeper waters or higher heights with Jesus.
Try out my prayer and meditation guides: Download these free prayer and mediation guides today!
