Frequently, when God delivers someone from spiritual bondage, they experience "relapses" or "re-occurrences" of the bondage.
I'll speak of depression and/anxiety specifically.
Say a person has been suffering from depression for a long time. The depression has robbed him or her of many experiences and daily pleasures that most people think of as commonplace. He or she can't even go to the grocery store because it brings on panic attacks. Before very long the person has become a prisoner in his or her own home with only the briefest, unpredictable breaks of normalcy.
This is a pure joy to the devil. Satan was one of the highest angels in heaven. His pride was so great that he believed that he could be greater than God. Take a moment and think about how much pride would be necessary for Satan, in the PRESENCE of God, to think that he could be greater. Then think about how he would feel to be rejected and kicked out. H. U. M. I. L. I. A. T. I. O. N.
Satan knows his fate. He knows that there is nothing he can do about it. He HATES God, and because God loves us, Satan HATES us too. We are the only avenue of revenge that Satan has.
The Bible tells us that God loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son for us (John 3:16). It also says that he cares for us so much that He saves our tears (Psalm 56:8 NLT).
So, in revenge, Satan wants us to suffer, to fail, to perish. He knows he is going to hell and wants to take as many of us with him as he can.
A person suffering from depression is a symbol of hopelessness. The bondage and suffering is something that the devil delights in.
God can and does break the bondage of this trap. (My wife is one who has walked free of it, and I have another friend who has recently been set free.)
The devil hates this even more because the person who is delivered from depression is suddenly free to be with people again, and, what do you think that person would talk about? Of course! "God loves me! He heal me!" If you were trying to lead people away from God, would you want this? A person that everyone knows has been bound up in depression is now running around free. And God did this?
The answer to this is to lie to the redeemed. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). He will step into a moment where the person is exploring his or her new freedom.
"John walks into the store. He suddenly remembers how he used to panic when he was here. He has flash-back emotions and believes that he is panicking again. He leaves and fears that he has NOT be set free. He is afraid to try again and falls back into the old patterns again."
In this illustration, "John" had a memory and the devil attacked him and disguised the spiritual attack as a panic attack. He put on the pressure and "John" believed the lie and it became his reality. "John" was still free, he just didn't know it, so he couldn't benefit from it.
In training elephants, when the elephant is a baby, they chain it to a tree or a large post. Over time, as the elephant consistently tries and fails to pull loose, the elephant becomes convinced that the collar and line mean the boundary of what is possible. By the time the elephant is grown, the trainer has reduced the chain to a cord and the post to a small stake. The trainer will even have the elephant pick up the stake and move it, but the elephant will still not move beyond the reach of the cord. He believes that he cannot go beyond that point, so, he no longer tries.
Like the elephant, "John" believed the lie and did not push beyond the limit of his experience. Because of this, he did not exercise his strength nor did he realize his freedom.
For those who may say that this is all well and good for me to say, but . . .
I recently went with a "John" to the grocery store and he experienced the panic. I helped him deal with it and he pushed through. We talked recently and I asked him, "If that had really been like it was before, would it have mattered if I had helped?"
He responded, "NO. I would have just walked out the door and waited in the car."
This particular "John" went back to that store the next day without me and was successful.
Anyone can be successful. Just push through the lies and march into the truth. And DON'T give up if you aren't always successful. That doesn't mean that you haven't been set free; it means that you haven't learned HOW to be free yet. Look at the Israelites. The book of Exodus starts off getting them out of slavery and then the rest of Exodus and the following three books are dedicated to teaching them how to BE free. Like us, they too tried to slip back into their old lives/lifestyles.
God LOVES you. Satan HATES you.
Push through to the promises!
Be blessed; Be FREE, Know the Father!
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