“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19 (ESV)
For years we have understood binding and loosing was a thing we do out there, you know, against demonic forces. And it is! Yet lately, we have found that we can, and should, bind and loosen things from our soul! We have been created with a body, a soul and a spirit. Our body is the tent we live in. It is how we interact with the world around us. Our soul consists of our mind, will and emotions. It is our inner man. Our spirit is the eternal part of us. It never sleeps and is much more aware of spiritual realities than the rest of us. As believers, the devil can only attack our body, and more specifically our soul. Most attacks come against your mind, and how you deal with it either closes it off or opens the door for greater attack. The enemy lies and twists truth. His desire is to build a stronghold in your mind. A stronghold is an argument or pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. That is why taking captive every thought and making it obedient to Christ is so important (2 Cor 10:4-5). That is why we are told that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2). All that to say, there are things that often get lodged in our soul that need to be removed and replaced by God’s truth!
Paul wrote about the importance of our soul being healthy, even prospering… “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul” (3 John 1:2 ESV). He also exhorted us to keep our soul blameless when he wrote, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23 (ESV). Soul care is very important, yet so many of us don’t do anything about the clutter that amasses!
Ask the Lord to show you anything that needs to be loosened from your soul (i.e. unforgiveness, bitterness, lust, trauma, unholy relationships, pornography, lies, etc.). As He shows you anything, speak out, “I loosen ______ from my soul and I bind (the opposite) to my soul in Jesus name.” For example, I recently had to loosen anger and unforgiveness toward a certain person and bind love and compassion toward them. Be specific as you can, and pray with a trusted friend if possible.
