Most commonly in the Christian
world, the idea of binding is
associated with immobilizing the demonic. Demons are bound and the Spirit of
God is loosed. However, in reality the kingdom works in reverse. Let me
explain.
There is one definition of the
word bind that can mean “a temporary
tying up,” but this is not a long-term solution. If you study Yeshua and His
treatment of the demonic within the gospels, He doesn’t bind. He is more concerned
with permanently destroying the works of the devil rather than entangling them
up in knots from which they can later work themselves free. The real definition
of the word bind is to tie together, knit, be in bonds; fasten
or wind together; to obligate yourself. In other words, to take
two things and make them as one.
The root of the word loose does not carry the assumed
connotations of setting free in the sense of being released from confinement.
Rather it means to cast away like a
filthy garment, to destroy it, to dance upon it until it melts away.
If this is true, the last thing
we want to do is bind demons to ourselves and send the Holy Spirit packing. So
the second part of our daily liturgy is to bind ourselves to Yeshua, to ask Him
to weave our spirits into His, to make us one.
Lord, I thank You that my spirit
is bound to the Holy Spirit. In the name of Yeshua, I bind my mind to the mind of Christ. I bind my will to the will of God. I bind my emotions to the heart of my Father. I bind my imagination to God’s imagination. I bind my physical
body to excellent health and prosperity
that I might fulfill the destiny God has for me. In other words we ask that
we can think as Yeshua thinks, feel what He feels, envision what He envisions,
draw our hearts into alignment with His will.
Then we cast away the things
designed to hinder our hearts. Yeshua, I
loose all fear, doubt, unbelief,
shame, guilt, intimidation, a spirit of religion and performance, stronghold
thinking and behaviors, distractions… the list can go on. You fill in the
blank. I love to think of throwing them out into a muddy street in the middle
of a rainstorm, of dancing on them until they are swallowed up into the earth
while the rain pours down on my upturned face to wash away any evidence of the
effects they were ever there.
In the context of answering the
Pharisees by what power He cast out demons, Yeshua describes, “When a strong
man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. But
when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away
from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. He
who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me,
scatters.” (Luke 11: 21-23)
The strong man is a spirit of self-protection.
He is guarding his own home, or in spiritual terms, his own heart. But we
weren’t designed to be our own protectors. It only causes our hearts and minds
to shut down, to build protective walls, to shut people out or lash out in
fear, something I have experienced before. But in this passage someone stronger
attacks and overpowers the strongman. Attack
is a faulty translation because in the original language it means simply to arrive. The mere presence of Yeshua, the
More Valiant One, overpowers the strongman, no battle needed. He casts the
strongman’s armor of self-protection away. He scatters it. He looses. Then to prevent the enemy from coming back into a
cleanly swept house and causing more damage than before, we bind ourselves to Yeshua, we fill the
home with His presence, with His truth. We rebuild with good things so there is
no room for the broken to come back and make its home.
