LOST AND FOUND WEEK 3:
CHAINS BREAK
In a youth group that I used to lead, some of the boys were having a conversation about the ability of duct tape to hold a person to a pole. As is normal in any conversation, there was a group that was convinced that it absolutely would work…and there were some that didn’t believe it would. One of the young men (who was quite a character himself) decided that it might be fun to allow the rest of them to duct tape him to a pole. Now, I’m not sure what his thinking was regarding what he would or would not be able to do, but he decided to let them do it. The boys began to wrap him with the tape to the pole. Quickly, he found out that it really would work, and he found himself attached to the pole, unable to set himself free from the tape he was wrapped in. Boys being boys, once they realized that he was indeed attached to the pole and he couldn’t get away, the activity shifted from just taping him to the pole to “what else can we do to him while he can’t defend himself?” Suddenly, what had begun as fun was no longer fun for the one taped to the pole.
Life can be a like that sometimes. We start out with one thing in mind that seems fun, beneficial, or at least non-harmful, but if we’re not careful, we can find ourselves in a situation where what seemed fun or innocent is now controlling us. And like being taped to that pole, we can’t do anything to get ourselves free. Maybe it’s a habit you can’t break. You started out thinking you could handle it, but now it controls your life. Maybe it’s a thought process that you can’t break away from, but whatever it is, it has a hold on your life that you can’t seem to be free of.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 states, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” This is telling us that, when life feels controlled by forces stronger than (and outside of) our power, Jesus steps into the chaos to bring freedom, peace, and a new future. You see, Jesus has authority over what has authority over you. We simply must invite Jesus into the chaos. Then we must release what we hold on to into his hands. Receive the freedom that only he can give, then live free in your new identity.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What are some of the most common strongholds we face today in 21st century America?
How have those strongholds infiltrated the Church?
Read Luke 8:26-39. What can we learn about strongholds by looking at this possessed man? How does it parallel our culture today?
Many times, the strongholds we struggle with are not so much what has hold of us, but rather what we hold on to. Why do you think we are so quick to hold on to things that can be so destructive to our lives?
What are practical steps we can take every day to keep strongholds at bay in our lives?