Stickers

We are currently at war at our house with stickers that grow on our lawn. By this time next year we shall be victorious! However, for now we accidentally track these in when we walk across the lawn.

Today I was standing on a bath mat barefoot in our bathroom and pivoted my heel just so....and felt the all too familiar sting of one of those stickers.

I spent 15 minutes kneeling there trying to find that sticker but it was so embedded in the fabric of that mat I never did find that thing.

When I was 17 I was in a relationship with a young lady. We were more intimate than we were supposed to be since we were not married. We knew it was wrong but neither of us was a Christian so we didn't care.

Not caring or even not knowing about godly principles does NOT protect us from the consequences of breaking His guidelines any more than ignorance about gravity or refusal to acknowledge it keeps us from being hurt when we fall down.

This young lady had a generational curse in her family line about which neither of us was aware. Neither did we know that the Bible teaches that when two are engaged in sexual intimacy they become cleaved as one.

When we crossed God's lines for behavior as unmarrieds something passed between us - something invisible. For the next 20 years I was plagued with an issue in my soul.

Like that sticker in that bath mat I couldn't see it or track it down but it was there nonetheless and it definitely hurt me.

Satan has always used sexual sin to gain influence in human souls and control their lives. It seems as if virtually all pagan religions have a strong sexual component.

In addition, western culture through ignorance about God's ways or active rebellion against them has foolishly embraced sexual immorality as a lifestyle. The invisible destruction being propagated in human souls boggles the minds of those who know about these things.

No matter how well hidden this is....it WILL eventually manifest. Often so much time has passed since the sins were practiced that it is difficult for the victims to connect the dots. However, those skilled in godly soul care can spot these issues and know how to deal with them.

Perhaps you are one of those who has unwittingly brought such damage into your soul. Even now God may be stirring you and is making you aware that it's time to get that sinful influence out of your soul.

In addition, it is important to note that sometimes the damage in our souls because of sexual sin is not our fault. Sometimes it is, tragically, the result of rape or molestation. In those cases the victims of the sexual sin are not guilty of anything. However, they DO carry in themselves the hurt and pain and they ARE responsible to renounce the events and ask the Lord to heal their souls.

Twenty years had passed since I was intimate with that girl when I was 17. I'm sad to say that she wasn't the last person I had sinned with like that prior to marrying my wife.

When I was 29 I was born again and 8 years later I was ministering at a conference. The lady next to me in the prayer team asked if she could pray for me. I agreed and she bound and cast off the spirit that had plagued me for 20 years even while in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit of God for the last 8 of them.

That didn't totally take care of my problem - it just freed me up a bit. Satan still had an open door to my soul. I spent some time in counseling renouncing all my previous sinful sexual relationships and breaking the soul ties (cleavings) with those people. I confessed this sexual sin all of which was forgiven when I was saved; however, confessing it (1 John 1:7) enabled me to receive that forgiveness and experience the righteousness that comes with that. That door was now closed to satan!

Often relief is rather simple and immediate when we minister freedom like I related above from my own life. Sometimes, though, deep strongholds are established in the souls of people. For these, deeper ministry is needed and the roots exposed.

"And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, 'Why could we not cast it out?' So He said to them, 'This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.' " (Mark 9:28-29)

And that's why I'll be on my bathroom floor later today searching out that sticker embedded in that bath mat. Sometimes it takes more time and focus and effort!

I hope this article has brought some clarity to things that might plague you or someone you love. Lost people have no idea about these things and much of the Body of Christ is never taught them. People in both groups suffer unnecessarily because of their past sexual sin which only gratifies our enemy. However, there is always hope in Jesus!

Pastor Mike McInerney

Mike McInerney Ministries, Inc.

Decatur, Texas

© October 19, 2013

(For use with permission)