Be Free

As soon as I realized that my being overweight was a spiritual matter, I began to watch the times I would seem to lose control. I realized there were many different reasons I would run to food. Food had become my COMFORT. I have been trying to figure out for years why I run to food for comfort instead of God. I LOVE Him! I know He loves me! I trust Him! I want to please Him! I love His Word! So WHY can’t I come to Him in difficult times but instead I choose to indulge in food? Why have I been so out of control in this area? Well...Let me share with you some points on what I have realized concerning myself, and maybe it will give some of you insight on YOUR situation.

1. Some do not believe this, but I realized that a Holy Ghost filled person CAN have an evil spirit (demon) resident in them, co-habitating. (Spiritual Co-habitation) If there is something in your life that controls you and you can’t seem to overcome it, then there is most likely a “demon” that has taken up resident within. I like to call it “a stronghold”. It sounds better. For me...it was OVEREATING or the spirit of gluttony.

2. There is a door through which “strongholds” gain access, which is the ROOT cause. Offenses, Bitterness, Unforgiveness Rejection and Shame. For me...It was pretty much all of these but REJECTION and SHAME were the big ones.

3. We must identify the SOURCE...generally unforgiveness or bitterness. If you have been hurt and you are carrying around the offense, it needs to be gotten rid of. It has to be FORGIVEN. You must forgive the person and ask God to forgive them and bless them in every area of their life. God will begin healing within you.

4. The “demons” need to be cast out. For me...spirit of gluttony, perhaps slothfulness too. God will reveal. A person CAN perform a deliverance on self BUT there may be some “spirits” that they may not see that others gifted in this area CAN. So it is good to have those others there. Casting them out takes care of the demons. To take care of the ROOT cause, the door of access must be closed, so they cannot reenter.

5. Shutting the door so the “demon” cannot enter, is “renewing of the mind” through the Word of God. Our battles begin in the mind. This is usually where we allow offenses, bitterness, shame and unforgiveness to start...our thought patterns. We must immediately “bring into captivity every thought...” (Read 2 Cor. 10:4-5)

Did you know that harboring unforgiveness in your heart can also be a hindrance to receiving a healing?  FORGIVE the offense and the offender, whether it be yourself or someone else, then have the "spirit of infirmity" and any other spirits that God reveals, cast out and begin to renew your mind with the Word of God, that by His Stripes you WERE healed, and that He sent His Word to HEAL YOU!  

I want to share a few portions of Scripture that God led me to, concerning my situation:

First in Joshua 7:12-13 about the Sin of Achan. God had told Joshua that Israel could not resist their enemy because of the accursed thing in the midst of them.

Joshua 7:12-13 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. (13) Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.

Numbers 33:51-55 The Children of Israel were told that once they passed over Jordan into the Land of Canaan, they were to drive out all the inhabitants. And if they didn’t, those which they allowed to remain would be “pricks in their eyes” and “thorns in their sides” and would vex (afflict, bind, distress) them. Sounds pretty painful, doesn’t it? There before them was Jericho, a fortified walled city, shut up tight. But God told them the city was theirs and for them to go and possess it.

Most of us may have finally “crossed over” but now we face the “giants”. Here we stand now before “our Jericho” and we find “enemies” that are still living in our “land”. We have simply learned to live with certain characteristics because we’ve never found a way to permanently drive them out of our lives. But just like God did for the Israelites, He will give us the strategy needed to tear down the walls (strongholds, habits, fleshly desires) or “demons” that shouldn’t be there. He will reveal them to us. We must drive them out! Cast them out!

In Genesis 2 and 3, there is a Bible event that opened my eyes to my situation and helped me reveal the Source of my problem. This was so simple yet brought such freedom to me. First, if you notice in Genesis 2:25 it says ..."they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed".

But then when Adam and Eve sinned and God asked why they were hiding, their reply was, because they were afraid. They hid from GOD and were afraid to go to Him and face Him because NOW they were ashamed of what they did. They had sinned.

This made me realize that because of SHAME in my life, I would run to food for COMFORT instead of GOD, because I was ashamed to go to Him. Offenses against oneself results in Shame.

God does NOT want anything controlling us. He wants us to be free. But because of hurts and offenses, we end up carrying things we shouldn’t and believing the lies of the devil that he quickly places in our thoughts, and unforgiveness, bitterness, shame, and offenses fester up within us, and opens the door for the “spirits” that enter and cause us problems which only lead to bondage and even death (physical and spiritual).

BEGIN TO SEEK GOD on this matter. Ask Him to REVEAL the source of your problem. Then TAKE AUTHORITY over the “demon” and CAST IT OUT IN JESUS NAME! God will begin revealing to you the events, individuals, etc. that happened causing offense. God will reveal to you the events that brought you shame. And He will give you the strategy to tear the walls down that keep you bound. Every person or event that God reveals to you, PRAY for them.

FORGIVE OTHERS, FORGIVE GOD (anything you seem to be holding against God) and FORGIVE SELF.

YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO FREEDOM.

Connie J. Schmoll