LEAD April 2022 | Page 14

Breaking Free from

We live in a day where so many things are demanding our attention and time . For most of us , life moves at a very fast pace . If we don ’ t invest time in our spiritual growth and development the challenges of life will wear us down and we will become vulnerable to the wrong influences . This can leave us trapped in behavioral patterns that hinder our spiritual progress and cause us to miss out on fulfilling God ’ s plan for our life . How do we avoid the pitfalls that would lead us into this state ? How do we get free if we are already in this condition ?
You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ . No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life , that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier . 2 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV
As believers in Jesus , we live in continual spiritual
warfare . Satan , our adversary , does not want us to succeed and he will do everything he can to stop us from fulfilling what God has called each of us to do . Some of his most lethal attacks are very subtle . If we are not spiritually prepared , we will not even be aware of what he is doing and we will become entangled with things restrain us spiritually to the point where we can ’ t seem to move forward in the plan of God for our lives .
You may ask , “ How do I know if I ’ m entangled ?” In order to recognize the entanglements of life that are in us , we have to examine ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to help identify them . In the Parable of the Sower , Jesus made it clear that we can experience the blessing of receiving the word of God and have thorns growing up in hearts at the same time ( Mark 4:18-19 ). The thorns choke the word that we received and it becomes unfruitful . The thorns represent the
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