BREAKING THE YOKE OF SLAVERY
Is 50: 1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away. 2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. 3 I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. 4 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. 8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. 10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. 11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
Heb 2: 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. 13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Is 53: 1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
The key word in the last text is tender plant out of a dry ground. There are ways of breaking out of a slave mentality. There are so many of us in church who have been saved but we are still functioning with a slave mentality. There are things that come our way that we are not prepared to deal with, and we crumble at the smallest sign of pressure. It is the biggest tragedy that we face in the body today and it needs to be dealt with. It is time for the true believers to stand and answer to their calling. Do you really want to be a believer, or do you want to look like a believer? We have received the gift of salvation and we have failed to understand the true purpose of our calling. Where purpose is not known, abuse will take place. That is why the land is filled with too many dysfunctional churches and there is no real impact on the land.
Our pews are filled with believers who have this ‘bless me’ mentality and live our entire lives waiting for one miracle or the other. We have become enslaved to material things and we assume that when we do not have miracles it implies the absence of God in our lives. So people come out to give outlandish testimonies in the churches just to give the impression that they are great people and so anointed. It has become the easiest way to be popular in church these days, and we pastors identify with this because it shows that we are anointed.
Everyone appears to be a winner, except the man who has been going through a lot and has not been able to give any testimonies. We have developed our own gospel that fails to accommodate any form of challenge or contradiction in the life of a believer. We assume that because things are very tough in Nigeria today, it will never get better. But one thing that no one can deny is that of all the nations in the world, Nigeria is one of the most spiritual nations; God is mighty in this country. It then means that God is involved in the trauma of this nation, and something must be in the offing.
Is 50 starts by telling us that God has not sold us into slavery, but we are the ones that have sold ourselves by our iniquity. We are the ones that got ourselves to where we are today, and God is not in trouble. God’s commitment to us is steadfast and there is a word in season for someone that is weary. The reason why we have not yet experienced the full dimensions of God’s power is because we have not completely yielded to His instruction. As long as I am obedient to God, no matter what I’m going through presently, I will ultimately come out of it. In your walk with God there will be smiters and those who pluck your hair. There will also be things that will bring you to shame and there will be spitting on your face. People who you trusted and placed so much trust in will stab you at your back. But in all these God will help you and you shall not be confounded. You need to set your face like a flint and know that you shall not be ashamed. There are battles in your life that God will fight for you in manners that will amaze you. If anyone would be in trouble, it would be the one that would offend you and tries to condemn you.
Whilst all these are going on, those that would see you would think that you are a lamb being taken to the slaughter. That is the way the nations of the world see Nigeria today. But God is with us in the nation, and we shall arise from these ruins and desolation. What we fail to appreciate is that there is a pattern in the life of a believer that breaks the yoke of slavery. Until Israel went through this process, they saw themselves as grasshoppers. You need to go through what you are going through now for you to discover your authority in practical terms and recognise the awesome power of God in your life. You need to pass through this path for you to appreciate the purpose of your calling. If not you would assume that you are just a special breed that is legally entitled to all the goodies in this world, and when you see anyone going through you would look down on him as if he was a lesser being. You would not understand the place of the mercy and the grace of God in your life.
If the church is all about being blessed and about status which are the symbols of the blessing, then we have missed our purpose. So you expect to be treated differently because of the car that you drive and the kind of clothes that you wear. You now reduce your life to the outward impression that you can make to people who come in contact with you. We fail to realise that it is not about the container, it is all about the content. These days it is all about appearance, and no one talks about adding value to eternity and leaving something behind wherever you go.
In Matt 14:16 Jesus told the disciples, give ye them to eat. When there was need, the only way the disciples could relate with it was to tell him to send the people away. Meanwhile, God wants us to be the ones that is giving the people to eat. We should be moving from the place of lack to the place where we are distributors. We are still operating under the mentality of a slave as long as we are still carried away by symbols of blessings. That was the state of the children of Israel when they were first sent to spy into the Promised Land. They saw the blessings in the land, they concluded that it was out of their reach because the people who possessed them were giants, and we were like grasshoppers before them and so were we to them. They took their eyes away from God and they looked only at the things. Suddenly you will start seeing those who possess them as extraordinary people. Is that not how we see white men who have wonderful countries and constant power? We think that Nigeria can never get there, but God will surprise all of us. You will wake up one morning and see that things have changed.
God will enter your life, bless you, break you, and then bring you into our purpose. That is how God works in the life of his people and nations. So when you are going through the challenge you will remember what He had done in your life and you will praise Him for that. If you lose your praise, you will lose your testimony. We all get to the point of breaking in our lives. Jesus got there on the cross, and he said it is finished. Job got there and he got to understand God more. I like what Job said in Job 14:14. He said, if a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come.
Job 19: 25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
In the case of Paul in 2 Cor 12:7 he said, lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. He said, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me, but God told him, my grace is sufficient for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Verse 10 says, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
It is only when you get here that you can defeat the bondage that comes through the fear of death. That is how you destroy the yoke of slavery because slavery is enforced by fear, especially the fear of death. This ‘bless me’ mentality cannot take us anywhere. It produces fear and we are restrained from taking steps that will bring us into the fullness of our inheritance. Rather what we have done is to turn to motivation as an alternative to the infallible and errorless word of God. Is 50:11 says we have kindling a fire and producing sparks. These are bright ideas without any contact with God. They will ultimately perish. When you build your life with it you would not go far. Is 52:3 says that you have sold yourself for naught. All over the place, even among believers we see people who have sold their birthrights and kindle fires, and take destructive decisions because they want to appear blessed. They want to break into an exclusive circle even in the church. You will be amazed how hard believers try to be accepted within exclusive cliques in the church. We try to create our own definition of success when the real inheritance can only be defined by God.
God is speaking to the church, but many have strayed so far away that we do not listen. Our pews are filled by people who analyse messages and give the man of God pass mark based on our myopic understanding.
Is 52:4,5 says that God’s people went down to Egypt and the Assyrians oppressed them without cause. God’s people were taken away for naught and they that rule them make them howl, and my name continually is blasphemed. But verse 6 says therefore my people shall know my name and they shall know that I am he that doth speak. There are dimensions of God that you would never have known if not for the challenges that you are presently going through. Verse 8 says the watchmen shall lift up the voice and they shall sing; for the Lord has comforted his people. Those who are looking would see you like a lamb being taken to the slaughter; they will not know that something is happening in your inside. That is why you just cannot but praise God. Even though it appears as if God is taking you lower, yet you can still praise him. You have an understanding that God who brought you thus far will still deliver you. This was why Abraham could give up his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. He had been called upon once to give up Ishmael and he obeyed. We do not want to go through this kind of experience, but we fail to realise that the grave does not accept praisers. If you can still praise God in the midst of your affliction, then you will truly experience the power of God.
Is 52:11, 12 says to us not to be in hurry to leave the situation. Familiarise yourself with the challenge, you will see God even there. If the three Hebrew youths did not get into the fire, they would not have seen the fourth man. When you get here, you will learn to detach yourself from men and things and be focused fully on God. Don’t be in a hurry to come out until you get the message right. Once you get it, the rest is easy. In the fire, the Hebrew youths lost all the last vestiges of their slavery. They had convinced everyone that was there on that day that they could never be enslaved again. Israel was on its path to restoration.
In the cross, Christ lost all his humanity and all the ability to help himself. On the cross, expertise failed and everything that you had previously held dear to you will fail. At this stage you will have no option to look upon God. You have become tender plant on a dry ground. Your only hope will be who you are connected with and you have no intention to do anything for yourself. You do not even intend to look good or acceptable to others. It is than that we can say that the yoke of slavery has truly been broken.
Is 53: 1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him
