Did you know that celebrating the Feast of Passover brings healing to the strongholds of your heart? There are so many themes in Passover that you can apply to your life right now for healing and experiencing greater intimacy with God, but for now, let’s focus on the overall theme of Passover, which is freedom.
For the Israelites, it meant freedom from the bondage of slavery to the Egyptians through the blood of the lamb; and for us, it means freedom from sin, death and the enemy’s reign in our lives through the blood of Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb.
Now that Passover has come to a close, you have a choice to either continue walking in that freedom, or to live in bondage to sin that brings death! You need to be aware that this includes negative emotions that often we don’t “label” as sin, such as: fear, stress, insecurity, worthlessness, self-condemnation, inferiority, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, blame, criticism, shame, rejection and so forth.
We tend to excuse those emotions we allow in our hearts as just our personalities, issues or the results of being from a dysfunctional family. However, they are sin because, at their root, we are believing lies about ourselves or about God. When we believe these lies, we align ourselves with the enemy who is the father of lies (John 8:44) instead of with God and His Word, and Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever is not of faith is sin!
Jesus came to bring you life here and now, not just eternally. Remember, death passes over the blood, so when Jesus’ blood is over the doorposts of your heart, you don’t have to take into your heart anything that brings death! These negative emotions bring death to your bodies, your relationships with others, and your intimacy with God. However, it’s up to you to ask Him to show you what lies you’re believing about yourself or about Him that are causing you to continue to live in bondage, even though you’ve already been freed!
For example, when you are feeling:
Rejected or Unwanted
The lies you are believing might be: “I’m not good enough, I’m not as valuable as others, I have nothing to offer, I deserve to be rejected, God is disappointed in me or mad at me, I can’t live up to God’s expectations, He just wants perfect people” and so on.
Stressed
The lies might be: “I’m on my own, I have to hold everything together, I’m not protected, I have to figure it out, God’s not in the picture, He’s not involved in these details of my life, the pressure is from Him, He’s a task master, He wants me to do everything” and so on.
Fearful of Exposing Weakness
The lies you’re believing might be: “I have to be perfect, I won’t be loved/accepted if I’m not perfect, I’ll be punished if I show any weakness, my worth is dependent upon my performance, God expects me to be perfect” and the like.
It’s so critical, especially in these end times when the spiritual battle is heating up more and more every day, that you stop excusing these negative emotions in your heart as issues, your personality, or with “anyone would feel that way,” and start seeing them as tools that the enemy uses to rob you of life! Remember, he comes to kill, steal and destroy!
It’s a life or death matter that you wake up to the fact that with every thought, emotion, word, attitude and action—you have the power to either increase Satan’s reign or Jesus’ reign over your heart and in this world.
When you call sin for what it is—sin—then you will experience lasting healing in your heart. That’s because when you have an accurate diagnosis, then you can identify and use the right tools to address the problem. In the case of sin, the “right tools” are spiritual, not physical, weapons of warfare.
First, recognize the sin you’ve allowed into your heart by holding onto these negative emotions, ask God to show you the lies at the root of the emotions. Use spiritual weapons of warfare to “cut the ropes” that you’ve given the enemy by believing the lies. For example: Confess the lies as sin, forgive those who have wronged you, cancel the authority that you’ve given the enemy by believing his lies in your heart. Once you’ve “cut the ropes,” then your heart will be able to hear from God when you ask Him to “show you His truth about the situation, about who He is and about how He sees you.”
If you truly want to be a light in the darkness, if you want to see revival in this turbulent, messed-up world—it needs to start first with you, in your own heart!
When you wake up to the spiritual battle being waged over your heart—how the enemy is trying to increase His reign over your heart—and when you get serious about using spiritual weapons of warfare all throughout the day whenever you are thinking, feeling, speaking or acting in alignment or agreement with the enemy’s thoughts, feelings, words or actions … then you will experience the freedom of Passover every day of the year!
I pray this blog is a blessing to you, please let me know how it impacts your life. I’d love to hear from you! Either comment below or email me at [email protected]. {eoa}
Jeanne Nigro is a seasoned teacher, speaking at conferences, churches and retreats around the world and through her television and radio programs, Facets of the Stone. Her messages are relevant, practical and life-transforming whether she is bringing Old Testament truths to life, healing strongholds of the heart, or preparing believers for Jesus’ return. Jeanne is passionate about leading her audiences to experience greater intimacy with God, mobilizing them out of fear, stress, apathy, and frustration and into action and purpose, as powerfully communicated in her latest book, Unshaken: Standing Strong in Uncertain Times, to be released by Destiny Image in October of 2016. All of Jeanne’s teachings and blogs are available on her website at jeannenigro.com.
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