You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars. So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you." (Exodus 23:24-25 & 33)

For years my mind was bound with negative thoughts. It had become a bondage that Jesus delivered me from. Entertaining negative thoughts toward yourself or others causes all kinds of destruction. Evil cannot make Christians commit evil, but it can try to take our wounds, weakness and hurts and make them fester until we are destroyed by it. Instead of going to Jesus to help me forgive those who had hurt me, I hated them even more. I was so caught up in unforgiveness, I stopped serving the Lord altogether. I blamed others for my unhappiness when it was my own sin that caused me to fall.

Each time we think negative thoughts we are making the enemy's pillar stronger and he will put stone after stone upon them until the weight of it crushes us. The Word says that we are to demolish them and completely break down their sacred pillars. The sacred pillar that I had to break was to stop the negative thought patterns. I had to know and claim the promises of God. When I began to do this, at first, the negative thoughts and behaviors came back, but it wasn’t long before they slowed down. Soon, they were gone completely. When we entertain  negative thoughts and behaviors, we are serving the evil that ensnares us. Go to the Lord with whatever has ensnared you and place it in His hands. It makes no difference to Him what it is. Day by day He will untangle it for you until you are free. Use God’s Word for guidance and a shield. In God's time, He will set you free.

They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you." (Exodus 23:33)

Jesus wants us to be free from things that ensnare us. He wants us to recognize them, go to Him for deliverance and move forward. Life is far too short to be held back because of things in our past that have continued to wreck havoc in our life today.

Unforgiveness is a big snare (pillar) the enemy uses for his purpose and for our destruction. The hardest thing to do sometimes, is to do what God says. Our 'flesh' really wars against it. It is our 'will' that needs to take over and make a decision about whether or not we follow the Lord or we go our own way.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

Copyright Cheryl Taul
June 29, 2007