Break Free From Spiritual Captivity in King Jesus

Let’s break free!

Neither prison itself or the clothes prisoners must sport appeal to this girl. And no doubt the entire experience proves undesirable. 

Like confinement to a small space, lack of freedom, prison food or no food, missing my family and friends, and dreaming of a future.

Likewise, Jeremiah 52 recounts this kind of story with an evil king of Jerusalem, Zedekiah, who rebelled against God, and also rebelled against the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar (don’t see those names listed in baby-name books).

So, as a result, Nebuchadnezzar sieged Jerusalem; its king, city, and people fell to this utter destruction and despair:

• Imprisoned King Zedekiah until his death.
• Burned down houses and the house of the Lord.
• Broke down all the walls of Jerusalem.
• Plundered items from the temple.
• Killed the chief priest, keepers of the threshold, and men from the king’s council.
• Took thousands of captives from Jerusalem as exiles to Babylon (seventh and eighteenth years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign). Then, hundreds of captives from Judah (twenty-third year of his reign).

Yet, when we arrive at the final four verses of this last chapter of Jeremiah, we meet Jehoiachin, king of Judah. Exiled to Babylon and imprisoned when he was a young (Matthew Henry Commentary suggests at eighteen-years-old).

Break Free – Captivity Turned to Freedom

But here’s the rest of the story in God’s Word when despair turned to joy and captivity turned to freedom. It’s also my story.

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10 Things I Wish I’d Known on My Wedding Day

A floral veil cascaded past my waist.

Lace sleeves extended in a V-shape across my hands.

My neckline sported a delicate strand of pearls from my maternal grandmother. 

I walked down the aisle to the hope of always and forever. 

Altough our pastor completed pre-marriage counseling with us, nothing really prepared us for marriage struggles. 

So come along as I take a look back to discuss what I wish I’d known the day I said, “I do.”

And see if any of these resonate with you or offer you hope.

(1.) I wish I’d known to communicate in an authentic and vulnerable way. 

Men and women communicate differently. And our temperaments and past relationships have shaped us.

Learning all the differences is key. But I wish I’d also realized the importance of learning to be authentic by showing a vulnerable side.

After “I do”: Share how you are vulnerable at work, in other relationships, online and with your marriage. Get it all out in the open and be the real you.

(2.) Ask for and give forgiveness. 

I wish I’d known how forgiveness releases us from the shackles unforgiveness places on us. “Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Colossians 3:13 (ESV)

In Jesus, forgiveness has been freely extended to us for our sins and missteps against God.

After “I do”: We ask our spouse to forgive us for our missteps and freely offer it when our heart bears wounds.

In Jesus, forgiveness has been freely extended to us for our sins and missteps against God. After "I do": We ask our spouse to forgive us for our missteps and freely offer it when our heart bears wounds. Share on X

(3.) Pray over my marriage. 

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Fully Trusting God Without Hesitation

Is trusting God difficult for you? Or, would you prefer to place your trust in yourself or others? And have you ever wondered:

How will I get through this?

Where do I turn?

What are we going to do?

Several times in my life, it felt as if I were free-falling. Like an amusement park ride, the bottom fell out from under me.

Such as the times my husband or I lost a job, our livelihood. And when I miscarried our second baby and hoped to have another child. Also, when my father passed away. In all those cases, insecurity locked arms with me as my unwelcome companion.

Because I not only panicked about our financial situation with a job loss, but I also wondered: what do we do now?

And honestly, I struggled to believe and trust God would get us through this and bring about our good in some way. Even though my trust waned in the past, we had indeed made it through the same hardship before.

After the miscarriage, the Lord blessed us with another child. But, if I never carried another baby to full term, would trusting God seem futile? When a loved one passes away instead of receiving a healing, is trusting God still possible?

While we may desire to place our full trust in God’s care, power, control, purpose, plan, and believe He has our best interest at heart, it’s not an easy thing. In fact, it’s super hard.

So is it possible to fully trust our heavenly Father, without hesitation, no matter our circumstances?

Oh, sure, I trust God when life is going along without a hitch. But what about when life isn’t good?

I’m realizing the Lord grows my faith and trust in Him more when life seems unknown than when things are going as planned. He’s growing in me a trust without hesitation.

I’m realizing the Lord grows my faith and trust in Him more when life seems unknown than when things are going as planned. He’s growing in me a trust without hesitation. Share on X

Here’s what I’m learning.

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4 Ways to Free Our Heart From Difficult People

Above all else, guard your heart….

At some point in life, we all deal with difficult people. Perhaps it’s in the workplace, neighborhood, church or community.

Or, difficult people in our family.

And our hearts, oh our hearts, they take a beating. Seriously, don’t difficult people make your heart ache?

Often, a difficult person carries a troubled soul. They are hard to reason with and deal with, sometimes on any level, and especially on an emotional level.

So when I’m around difficult people, I strap myself in and try to prepare for a ride where my heart turns flips, plummets from soaring heights, and comes to a screeching halt.

And if I interact with this person on a regular basis or even on occasion, I pray to just make it through. 

Still, the most troubling difficult person is a family member who makes our lives miserable since they are miserable within. Because this is someone who is supposed to love and care about us and our heart, we wish things were different.

Then, we second guess ourselves about our part in causing it, question what we did to deserve this treatment, try to change them, and wonder if our heart can experience real freedom.

To cope with these people, I learned to hold back tears and swallow sighs. Or, I’d attempt to get myself together and shake it off for the sake of the occasion.

But a few years ago, I experienced a breakthrough in dealing with the difficult people in my life. So, I want you to know, I found a glimmer of hope. And that’s all it took to move forward in freeing my heart.

Here are the steps I took for my breakthrough that I hope encourage you. 

(1.) Change How and Who Prepares Your Heart.

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