A Double-minded Person is Unstable in Everything

Every individual who makes a decision for Christ in their lives has to come to a place where they choose between the old sinful patterns of behavior and this new life in Christ.

Our problem as humans is all too often we have trusted in ourselves for so long that it is hard for us to turn over our will completely to God.  So we battle within ourselves over our old desire to the pleasures of sin and this new behavior that will glorify God.  In many cases individuals make decisions in life that take them down a deep dark path that leads them to a place teetering on complete self destruction and sometimes death.

 Many people who get saved, find they still continue to struggle with the destructive thoughts and behaviors from their past, but now they have become keenly aware that this lifestyle is no longer acceptable in their new relationship with a Holy God and there lies the conflict.   And it is here that some waver between two opinions, two lifestyles, and James 1:8 calls us unstable.  We are unstable in our marriage, unstable as a parent, unstable as an employee or employer and unstable in other relationships including our relationship with God.  So why do some individuals feel pulled back into the past that they have come to despise?  Why do they struggle with a lifestyle of sin?  In Ephesians 6: 10 we are told, “we wrestle with principalities and powers of darkness.”  Could this mean that there are forces that hold us captive to decisions from our past?  In some cases, the answer is yes.

So it is here that we must look at the need to break off the powers of darkness that at some point we gave permission to come into our lives.  In this process of deliverance we need to look at what weapons God has given us for this very purpose.  Jeremiah 1:10 says that before we can plant or build, we need to “root out, pull down, destroy and overthrow “demonic strongholds.  Many times this work is not done sufficiently and we jump ahead to building on top of layers of dysfunctional behavior and lies.  If we were to build a house on a piece of land that already had a dilapidated run down building on it, we would understand that before we do anything else, we must remove the building, including the foundation of that building to make room for the plans and design of the new structure. It is the same for us.  We need to remove the old foundation of beliefs and patterns of thoughts that are rooted in sin, so that we can construct this new glorious building that will bring honor to the Lord.  Once we demolish the demonic strongholds, then we can prepare to build up the individual with the Word of God.

In scripture we learn that when the strongman is bound, the area in which he once occupied must be filled or he will return and bring his friends and the condition will be worse for the person.  So we must begin to fill this vacated area with truth.  If we simply break a person free from the grip of the enemy and never teach them how to keep themselves filled with the reservoir of God’s Word, the person will continue to be tormented and struggle with sin issues.  Our adversary is relentless, and Daniel 7:25 warns us that he will do everything he can to wear down the saints.  He wants us to give up.  But when we learn who we are in Christ, we begin to believe God’s promise of success, and the power from on high to persevere in order to win the prize.