The tropical afternoon rains were thundering down onto the corrugated roof of our little rented rainforest cottage. We watched in gobsmacked amazement as the water poured off the roof in torrents unlike anything we had seen before – and that says a lot for someone who had grown up in North Vancouver, and experienced the power of prairie rainstorms as well.
This was rainy season in the Costa Rican rainforest.
Every day sometime between 1:00 and 2:00 the rains would come. And oh, would they come. Any outdoor activities would need to cease as we would scurry inside to hunker down for the afternoon until the rains stopped.
It was wonderfully relaxing. We had to be inside doing very little. No pressure to be outside conquering creation and adamantly adventuring. Nope. We would simply chill as a family and enjoy our time together. It was during these quiet and simple afternoons that the Lord helped me to understand some profound truth about getting free from the spiritual opposition that stalks us.
Earlier in our Costa Rican holiday the Lord had used the Strangler Fig as a powerful metaphor to show me the strategy of the enemy to plant lies into our hearts that then begin to choke the life out of us if we do not take them captive with the Truth. I have written about this in my visional called “The Lies That Bind”.
However, how do we get free from the lies that have been planted in our hearts over the course of decades of life?
This is what the Lord showed me during those rainy Costa Rican afternoons…
We have 5 tools of truth we need to utilize to get free from the lies of the enemy:
1. We repent from believing the lies instead of the truth. Lies like: “I can’t trust God”, “I am all alone”, “I have nothing to offer”, “I am insignificant”, “God doesn’t care”, “No one cares”, “I’ll never be enough, have enough, do enough”, etc., etc., etc. We have chosen to believe the lies that the enemy has planted into our hearts in the midst of wounding. We need to confess that and ask the Lord to forgive us.
2. We renounce the agreements we made with those lies. Basically we agreed with what the enemy was saying. We need to tear up those spiritual agreements – they are no longer valid, we don’t believe them anymore.
3. We rebuke the enemy and tell him to leave. Scripture tells us to submit to God, then yell a loud “no” to the enemy and watch him scamper. This is no time for being ‘nice’ – be vehement and violent in commanding him to leave.
4. We receive the truth of God into our heart – His rema Word and His logos Word. In other words, His spoken Word and His written Word. We need to begin to believe the Truth and not the lies of the enemy.
5. We rejoice. Rejoicing in the Truth of who we are in God, who He is to us and the freedom we have in Christ. To rejoice is a choice. We have been given the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness.
Amidst the glory and splendor of the Costa Rican rainforest, trapped inside our little cottage by the afternoon rains and graciously bound by the cords of stillness and quiet, the Lord was able to reveal these simple tools of truth to help set us free from the lies of the enemy. When you see a lie that has taken root in your heart – sent from the one who wants to steal, kill and destroy the life Jesus has for you – walk through the 5 tools of truth to appropriate the freedom and life Jesus purchased for you.
This is a profound and powerful way to live and pull out the roots of the spiritual strangler fig sent to choke the life out of us, the life that Jesus gave His life to purchase for us.
Practice the 5 tools of Truth to set and then keep yourself free. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free.
John 1:9
“If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
James 4:7
“So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud “No!” to the devil and watch him scamper. (The Message)
Philippians 4:4
“Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again – rejoice!”