Silas
Beloved
Your prayer reveals the weight of a deep oppression, and I hear the cry for freedom beneath it. But I want you to see something about the freedom you already possess in Jesus Christ. You are standing on John 8:36, and rightly so: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Yet the kind of freedom He gives is often different from what we first imagine. It is not merely the freedom to escape someone else’s actions or to see them held accountable in the way we demand; it is, even more, the freedom not to be ruled by what they have done. It is the power not to let their sin become a chain around your own soul.
When Paul wrote that “all things are lawful for me,” he immediately added, “but I will not be brought under the power of any.” He cherished his liberty so much that he refused to exercise it in any way that would enslave him. That is a guarding of freedom. Right now, the very real pain placed on you threatens to bring you under a different kind of power, the power of ongoing torment, rehearsed injustice, and a heart bound up in their trespass. But Christ’s freedom is greater. He has already spoiled the principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them through the cross. No spiritual ranking, no dark strategy from the enemy, can separate you from His love or override His triumph. The principality working behind your oppressor was disarmed at Calvary; Colossians 2:15 is not a plea for future victory, but a declaration of a finished one. You stand in that victory now.
So do not let the enemy twist your rightful desire for deliverance into a new bondage. Bitterness, even righteous-seeming bitterness, is a prison. When we rehearse the debt others owe, we give that debt power over our peace. True freedom is the freedom not to have to keep revisiting the wound. I am not minimizing what was done, it was profoundly wrong, and God Himself hates oppression. But you have been given the freedom not to let their actions dictate the condition of your spirit. You are not under their power unless you permit yourself to remain locked in that struggle.
I join you in praying for their salvation; that is a godly desire. And I agree that unrepentant persons cannot claim the promises reserved for those who turn from sin. But hand them over to the Lord and leave them there. Your own liberty is found in releasing the demand to be the instrument of their accountability. God’s justice is far more thorough than anything we can engineer, and His mercy is deeper than we imagine. Meanwhile, you must walk in the freedom already purchased for you. That means you can wake up tomorrow without the oppression of their shadow, not because they have changed, but because you are held in the life of the risen Son.
So here is my prayer with you: Lord Jesus, You have set this beloved child free indeed. Tear down any mental or spiritual fortress that would keep the memory of this wrong alive as a weapon against their peace. Let them taste the freedom not to be consumed by what was done. By Your Spirit, quiet the inner cry for retaliation and replace it with the steady confidence that no principality can undo Your finished work. Shield them from every foul spirit that would capitalize on this hurt. And for those who brought the harm, grant deep repentance, but do not allow their hardened condition to chain this one any longer. May they step forward, not because every question is answered, but because the Son has made them free, and they are free not to be bound. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
When Paul wrote that “all things are lawful for me,” he immediately added, “but I will not be brought under the power of any.” He cherished his liberty so much that he refused to exercise it in any way that would enslave him. That is a guarding of freedom. Right now, the very real pain placed on you threatens to bring you under a different kind of power, the power of ongoing torment, rehearsed injustice, and a heart bound up in their trespass. But Christ’s freedom is greater. He has already spoiled the principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them through the cross. No spiritual ranking, no dark strategy from the enemy, can separate you from His love or override His triumph. The principality working behind your oppressor was disarmed at Calvary; Colossians 2:15 is not a plea for future victory, but a declaration of a finished one. You stand in that victory now.
So do not let the enemy twist your rightful desire for deliverance into a new bondage. Bitterness, even righteous-seeming bitterness, is a prison. When we rehearse the debt others owe, we give that debt power over our peace. True freedom is the freedom not to have to keep revisiting the wound. I am not minimizing what was done, it was profoundly wrong, and God Himself hates oppression. But you have been given the freedom not to let their actions dictate the condition of your spirit. You are not under their power unless you permit yourself to remain locked in that struggle.
I join you in praying for their salvation; that is a godly desire. And I agree that unrepentant persons cannot claim the promises reserved for those who turn from sin. But hand them over to the Lord and leave them there. Your own liberty is found in releasing the demand to be the instrument of their accountability. God’s justice is far more thorough than anything we can engineer, and His mercy is deeper than we imagine. Meanwhile, you must walk in the freedom already purchased for you. That means you can wake up tomorrow without the oppression of their shadow, not because they have changed, but because you are held in the life of the risen Son.
So here is my prayer with you: Lord Jesus, You have set this beloved child free indeed. Tear down any mental or spiritual fortress that would keep the memory of this wrong alive as a weapon against their peace. Let them taste the freedom not to be consumed by what was done. By Your Spirit, quiet the inner cry for retaliation and replace it with the steady confidence that no principality can undo Your finished work. Shield them from every foul spirit that would capitalize on this hurt. And for those who brought the harm, grant deep repentance, but do not allow their hardened condition to chain this one any longer. May they step forward, not because every question is answered, but because the Son has made them free, and they are free not to be bound. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
