I have heard it said that doing the same thing every day and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. Have you ever felt like you were losing your mind? I have had many times where I did not feel like myself at all. I wondered "What is wrong with me?" I even had moments where I didn't like myself very much. I had felt these things not because they were actually true but because I wasn't living in my true identity. I was living in a watered-down version, living according to an order or pattern that I had learned as a young child. Most often, it is the wounds of childhood that open the door to negative thought patterns and behaviors in our lives. The lies we believe about ourselves as a result of those wounds have a profound negative effect on us as we walk through life unhealed. They also have a negative effect on those around us, especially anyone we have authority over. Wounds from those in authority have the greatest impact on us, whether they come from parents, teachers, ministry leaders, a spouse, etc... It helps to realize that it is wounded people who wound other people. The words from people in authority actually carry weight in the realm of the spirit, that the enemy uses against us. We must break agreement with those words that wounded us and ask for the blood of Jesus to speak on our behalf and also repent if there is anything out of order in our own hearts. We free ourselves from the power of those words and actions when we forgive. The blood always speaks a better word!!
I have lived with angry people for a good part of my life. I had become accustomed to doing whatever it takes to keep angry people from becoming angry at me. Now I can see what a false burden that is! You can't actually keep an angry person from being angry. You can't keep an unhappy person from being unhappy, at least not for very long. You can't keep a critical person from being critical and you can't keep a wounded person from wounding others. They are going to be angry, unhappy, critical, etc... no matter what you do or don't do. Don't let the devil that is affecting them, tormenting them, and operating through them keep you from being who you truly are! It's not about the person (we wrestle not with flesh and blood) but the darkness that affects them. That darkness will affect you if you let it. You will lose your own identity begin acting and thinking like them if you hang around them long enough. That devil tormenting them hates the image of God that is in you! They have nothing to offer you because they need healing. They need Jesus. Only God can change the heart. It is foolish to think we can change another person by adapting ourselves to their demands and negative behavioral patterns. The reason we do that is to protect ourselves but instead we end up imprisoning ourselves. I had denied myself to the point that at times, I felt trapped inside. I longed to break free but I had no idea what freedom looked like! Life had become about what I "should do" or what I am "supposed to do". Instead of a flow, life had become a formula that I had better do right so others would not be angry, unhappy, or disappointed in me. It's no wonder I felt burdened and weighed down!! That is what you call a spirit of false responsibility.
You aren't responsible for what other people do, don't do, think, feel or say. What you are responsible for is to be the very best version of yourself that you can be! In order to do that you must ask yourself, "What does that look like?" Well, you were created in the image of God so what does God look like? Does God look angry all the time? Does God look sad or depressed? Is God lacking anything? Of course not!! He is none of those things. The real you is like Him! Once you grab a hold of that, you begin to realize that you can no longer keep doing the same thing and expect your life to change. It's actually not even about doing but simply being; being His. Once you grasp that, you can no longer be like the man in Bethesda, who every day waited for someone else to carry him to the pool. Do you remember that story in John chapter 5? It is interesting that the pool was near the Sheep gate. Think Psalm 23, the Lord is my Shepherd, and John 10:27: My sheep hear my voice. Jesus asked the man if he truly wanted to be healed. He is asking you and me today: "Do you truly want to be healed?"
We must be intentional about our healing. Then Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your sleeping mat and you will walk!” Those words required action for the man and for us today. By faith, the man at the pool had to do something that he had not done before. He had to stop waiting on someone else to carry him to the pool. He had to take action. For me, "Living Authentically" is one step in creating a new narrative for my life. We can't afford to wait on someone else day in and day out when life cripples us. You and I have our source. That source is not in a man (or woman), a ministry, or a method. Our source is Jesus. He is the living water! He gave us the Holy Spirit. We can cry out "Holy Spirit, come and fill me now, permeate my every being!" For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! We are free indeed!
To the level that you are bound, you will keep those around you bound. Only to the level you are free, will you be able to bring freedom to those around you. Your freedom is not just for you. Your healing is not just for you. It is so important in this time and season we are living in to be healed and free! All creation is waiting for the sons and daughters of God to be manifest! What does the healed you look like? What does the free you feel like? Take some time, make a list, picture it in your mind!! The healed you and the free you...that is the real you, created in the very image of God! It feels like waking up and it feels like coming home. - learning to live authentically!!
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