What Forces Keep You in Bondage?

Do you realize there are persons and forces actively working against your freedom in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? These persons and forces attack your relationship with God, your identity, what you take into yourself, and what you do. They lob bombs, shoot flaming arrows, attempt to sneak in, and operate in deceit and subtlety. The goal is the same: to steal, kill, and destroy you and your relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You need to know these sources so that you can become free and live free.

The three sources of bondage are our sin, the world, and Satan. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1–2). These three form an unholy trinity aggressively fighting to keep you from God’s complete restoration.

These are not nebulous or ambiguous forces. Each of these is intensely powerful and ultimately destructive. Let’s take a quick look at these forces (I go into more detail in my book, Fortified: From Fear, Anxiety, and Bondage to Freedom and Power in Jesus). 

Sin is rebellion against God and His will for your life. It is internal rebellion. Sin is the killer as it tears you down, laughs at your mistakes, and corrupts your actions and thinking. So sinister and destructive is sin that the only solution is the sacrificial death of the Son of God. Please, do not minimize or trifle with sin.

The world presses down on us. While sin works in us, the world is the actions, beliefs, and practices of others. It is collective rebellion. The world is comprised of the institutions, systems, philosophies, religions, cultures, and practices of large groups of people. Every message of the world is a lie.

No matter what the lie is, the intent is to lead you away from some facet of God’s truth and teachings of Jesus. The following passage from the apostle Paul helps us understand the world:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).

Worldly messages will differ according to a variety of factors. However, all worldly messages are lies. They all deny the sufficiency of Jesus and His word for life.

The final person that wars against your freedom is Satan and his demonic army. This is demonic rebellion. Jesus spent a lot of time in His life fighting against the demonic. The gospels are filled with story after story of Jesus being demonically tempted, dealing with demonically possessed people, and training His disciples to fight a spiritual war.

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:16, “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” The enemy is seen as one who is firing arrows at his targets. He often lobs the arrows at the same target. We feel like it’s an unwinnable battle.

It is essential to understand that while followers of Jesus can be tempted, oppressed, and have demons attached to their lives, Satan and his minions cannot possess them. Once a person gives their life to the Lord, the Holy Spirit enters into their life. The new believer is born again and unable to be possessed. This covering does not mean, however, that demons cannot do significantly debilitating damage to Christians. They can, and they do. It simply means that a demon cannot take over a Christian.

Sin, the world, and Satan are powerful forces working in our lives to keep us from the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Understanding these will help you discern the various attacks you endure and position you to walk in God’s promised freedom.

This blog article is a partial excerpt from my book, Fortified: From Fear, Anxiety, and Bondage to Freedom and Power in Jesus. You can get your copy from our ministry website, Trexol.org, or Amazon.com.