Binding and Loosing
· Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 tell us, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
· The basic teaching I learned illustrated the binding of the devil or evil spirits and the loosing of the Holy Spirit or a ministering spirit to a troubled person or into a troubled situation.
· I had a difficult time understanding what in the world you would possibly loose the Holy Spirit from.
· One of the reasons I began studying this topic was I could find no Scriptural record of Jesus ever binding an evil spirit or a demon. He either rebuked them or told them to get out.
I. Bind/Binding – Strongs OT 631, 2280, 7194; NT 1195, 1210, 2280
Some of the word meanings for bind are to bind, be in bonds, knit, fasten, tie, to wrap firmly and wind.
There are two kinds of binding. There is a binding which imprisons and chains and there is a wonderful, helpful binding. In the Old Testament, the positive side of binding is shown in a word which means to tie, gird, confine, compact, bind, heal, conspire, join together and knit. This is the same Hebrew word used in the following Scriptures referring to the value of God’s wisdom and truth:
· “Let not mercy and truth forsake you: bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart” (Proverbs 3:3).
· “Bind them continually upon your heart, tie them around your neck (Proverbs 6:21).
· “Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart” (Proverbs 7:3).
There is a good example of both sides of binding in Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent me to bind (heal - Strongs OT 2280) up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.”
The Hebrew word as used here for bind means heal, bind up, wrap about and hold together. We read within the very same Scripture that spiritual prison doors are to be opened to set free those the enemy has bound (Hebrew for made prisoner, held fast, girded about and kept).
Many people see only the one side of binding, having firmly connected the act with a mental image of chaining up something so it can’t hurt them. I think this stems from the Scripture in Revelation 20:1-3 where God binds Satan and throws him in the bottomless pit for 1000 years.
The word picture that was given to the author is somewhat different. Picture a parent binding a baby to their body with a cloth baby-wrap as was used in the sixties and seventies. When that little one was bound to the parent, wherever the parent went, the baby went. The baby had a distinct personality and thoughts of its own, but it was bound to and experiencing the wiser, more mature will of the parent. If the parent went into sunshine and warmth, the baby went into sunshine and felt the warmth. If the parent came into the presence of a sweet scent or a pleasant sound, the baby smelled that same sweet scent and heard the same sound. When the parent avoided dangerous situations, the baby avoided danger.
For all intents and purposes, the baby became as one with the parent even though it was still an individual entity. With this thought, think about the following:
· I bind my spirit, soul and body to the will and purposes of God in my life.
As you bind your spirit, soul and body to God’s will for your life, you will begin to feel secure in walking where you had not been able to negotiate on your own. You will begin to realize that you are aligning yourself with the words of Christ as He prayed, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” You are ensuring your will’s cooperation on earth with His will in heaven by the words of your mouth.
· I bind my mind to the mind of Christ that I may have the thoughts, feelings and purposes of His heart within me.
In Philippians 2:5 we read, “Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus,” and in 1 Corinthians 2:16, “…but we have the mind of Christ.” Binding your mind to the mind of Christ will help you line up with 1 Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down arguments (imaginations), and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
Another benefit to binding your mind to Christ’s mind could be a powerful key in situations where you do not know how to meet either the revealed or hidden expectations of others. You will begin recognizing truth and getting understanding in situations that were simply not discernible in the natural.
Let’s discuss another positive aspect of the baby being bound to its parent. That baby is, for all intents and purposes, one with its stronger and wiser parent. Whatever the parent does, wherever the parent goes, whatever the parent is exposed to…so goes the baby. The baby partakes of the same experiences. Consider this:
· “For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end”
(Hebrews 3:14).
· “For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He (the Lord) for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness (Hebrews 12:10).
· “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises; that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4).
Have you ever wondered how partaking actually occurs? The Greek word translated as partaker means participant, associate, companion, fellowship. Consider the following:
· I bind myself to God’s truth and an awareness of the power of the blood of Jesus working in my life every day.
· I bind myself to the work of the cross with all of its grace, mercy, truth, love, forgiveness, dying to self, healing, salvation, restoration and resurrection power.
As I use the keys of the kingdom to bind myself to the things of Christ I partake of His holiness, His joy, His nature and His presence!
Binding the Strong Man
Jesus does make one reference to binding evil. You can find the same basic reference in Matthew 12 and Mark 3 where He speaks of binding the strong man. Matthew records Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees who accused Him of casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, “…But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or else how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder (spoil) his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house” (Matthew 12:28-29).
Luke 11:20-22 says, “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”
If the thousands of Christians who have tried to bind Satan in chains according to their understanding of Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 had been successful, he wouldn’t still be running loose, now would he? That right is reserved for the Lord and the angel who will cast Satan into the bottomless pit and shut him up for a thousand years.
Old Testament Confirmation
There is an Old Testament confirmation that speaks of the deliverance of captives and prey from Satan’s kingdom or house. Isaiah 49:25, “But thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.”
Everything and everyone that Satan has laid claim to has been taken from God’s creation, mankind. Jesus has given us instructions on how to render the works of the enemy useless and take the stolen goods and captives back. “…For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
II. Loose/loosing - Strongs OT 6605; NT 3089
Some words for loose are dissolve, destroy, crush, shatter, let go free, break apart and disrupt.
Strongholds
There are many negative strongholds we have built to protect wrong concepts, opinions and beliefs currently held in our life. (I can’t do anything right; I’ll never amount to anything; I am not good enough for ______; etc.) Remember, a negative stronghold is a wall of protection we have built to prevent additional hurt, offenses, etc. These walls often prevent us from believing even the Truth.
The memories of our past do not automatically leave once we accept Jesus as our Savior. However, we can loose the power and effects of those memories and loose the strongholds guarding them. Loose wrong ideas and beliefs and any deception associated with what you remember.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Casting down arguments (imaginations), and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
The tearing down and destroying of the sources of personal strongholds can be categorized into two areas. The first area consists of eight sources of inner influence: attitudes, patterns of thinking, ideas, desires, beliefs, motivations, habits and behaviors learned from ignorance or ungodly sources. The second area consists of two outside sources of influence: generational bondages and wrong words (word curses) and ungodly vows spoken about us, to us and by us.
Internal Influences
Attitudes – The only right attitudes we should strive to convey as Christians are attitudes expressed by the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-26 – “…Love,, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”
Wrong Patterns of Thinking – One meaning of pattern is the model used to make a mold into which molten metal is poured to form a casting. Regardless what you pour in – liquid gold, molten metal, wet cement or gelatin – the end result will come out shaped exactly the same every time.
Things do happen and have happened to everyone that are definitely not right, fair and not good. Those are facts and you cannot loose facts. But the patterns of thinking, wrong behaviors and the strongholds that come from such existing facts can be loosed.
A typical pattern might be:
Something traumatic happens in your life which is a fact → which leads you to develop a wrong pattern of thinking → which helps you justify a wrong behavior → which causes you to erect a stronghold to protect your right to do so → which perpetuates your pain by keeping the trauma locked in and God locked out.
You cannot loose the fact of the original trauma or abuse, but you can begin to peel off the multiple layers and allow God’s healing and renewal as you bind your mind to the mind of Christ.
Wrong Ideas – Your ideas are the representation of your thoughts on a given subject. Interestingly, the English word “idea” is not used in the KJV Bible; the closest words used are thoughts and imaginations.
Wrong Desires – In the original Greek text, the word desire is described as (1) setting the heart upon and longing for, or (2) to intensely crave possession of something or someone.
· Desire can be a right longing for something good such as a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. A wrong desire can be covetousness, self-gratification or self-indulgence, to name a few. Wrong desires generally come from an inner drive to satisfy an unmet fleshly need for love, acceptance, worth or security.
Wrong Beliefs – A belief is the mental acceptance or conviction of something that appears to be deserving of confidence and trust. Remember – What you believe will have a greater impact on your life than the truth.
Wrong Motivations - Some inner drive that causes a person to do something or act in a certain way. Motivations are closely related to desires.
Wrong Behaviors and Habits - A behavior is anything an organism or being does involving action and response to stimulation. A habit is an acquired mode of behavior repeated so often it becomes involuntary, fixed and sometimes compulsive.
Negative motivation rarely brings about good behavior. It will only modify the bad behavior. Behavior modification does nothing other than make the outward behavior manifestation disappear. The underlying reason for the behavior will still exist and the behavior will just manifest itself under a different guise.
External Influences
Generational bondages and curses
Word curses – Spoken words do contain power that affects us. If someone has spoken evil, harsh words to you or to others about you, these words contain power to hurt. Hard, unkind words you have spoken about others or directly to them have the power to hurt them as well.
1. Job said in anguish to his “friends”, “How long will you torment and crush me with words?” (Job 19:2).
2. David prayed in Psalm 64:2-3, “Hide me from the secret plots of wicked, From the rebellion of the workers of iniquity, Who sharpen their tongue like a sword, And bend their bows to shoot their arrows-bitter words...” (NKJ)
3. In Psalm 109:3 the Psalmist said, “They compassed me about also with words of hatred…”
4. Proverbs 18:8, “The words of a talebearer are as wounds.”
5. Matthew 12:37, “For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”
Old attitudes and patterns of ungodly thinking and reacting can be defused and destroyed as you continue to bind yourself to the will of God, to the truth and to the mind of Christ. You can then loose the power and effects of any wrong words (word curses) spoken to you, by you and about you. This also includes ungodly vows.
Many people speak words containing curses and spiritual death in them without even realizing what they are saying. In James 3:9-10 (NKJV) we read, “With it (the tongue) we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”
III. Setting the Captives Free (Praying For Others)
Binding and loosing prayers are very effective not only for ourselves but also for others. What we must remember is the ultimate decision regarding spiritual warfare remains with each individual. But, let me ask you a question – why in the world would anyone want to continue to experience fear, rejection, self-hatred, accusation, unforgiveness and deception, to name a few? If they were in their right mind, no one would refuse help if they believed they could have it. They have been deceived and/or believed what was modeled for them or a lie from the devil. So as we pray and bind their mind to the mind of Christ, they will begin to get in unity with Christ.
The right mind:
Receives the Word and its promises with all readiness (Acts 17:11).
Is capable of serving the law of God (Romans 7:25)
Is a renewed mind capable of transforming a person (Romans 12:2)
Is a willing mind (2 Corinthians 8:12,19)
Is a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7)
Has a renewed attitude (Ephesians 4:23)
Is the same mind which is in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5)
It is not as difficult to reach those who are broken and crying out for help. The harder cases are the ones who are apathetic, in denial, self-sufficient or full of rebellion. These poor souls have been deceived and have all understanding blocked from their blinded minds. “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
Those who are under this blindness do not recognize truth any longer or never knew it in the first place. They are not in their right mind. They cannot see, believe or understand God’s help. So as you bind them to the truth and loose their wrong ungodly patterns of thinking and beliefs they will be able to receive God’s Truth.
Do not be confused by the positive and negative sides of binding. Anything filled with power can be used positively or negatively. It’s all in knowing how to use the power. Extremely important to remember that you can only accomplish a total binding and loosing in your own life. You can definitely and powerfully impact someone else’s old nature, but you cannot override their right to choose – even God will not do that!
The following prayers are only suggestions and can be changed as you desire.
Personal Prayer for Binding and Loosing
Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I bind my sport, body, soul, mind, will and emotions to Your will and purposes for my life. I bind myself to Your truth and to an awareness of the power of the blood of Jesus working in my life. I bind my mind to the mind of Christ that I can have the thoughts, feelings and purposes of His heart within me. I bind my feet to the paths of righteousness You have ordained for me to walk. I bind myself to the work of the cross with all of its grace, mercy, truth, love, forgiveness, dying to self, healing, salvation, restoration and resurrection power.
In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I bind the strong one, Satan, that I may spoil his household taking back every bit of joy, peace, blessing, freedom and every material and spiritual possession he has ever stolen from me as it is my rightful inheritance. I rebuke his works and loose the power and effect of every deception, device and influence he wants to bring against me.
Father, I repent of having wrong attitudes and thoughts. I renounce them now and ask Your forgiveness. I loose every old, wrong, ungodly pattern of thinking, attitude, idea, desire, belief, motivation, habit and behavior that may still be working in me. I tear down, crush, smash and destroy every stronghold I have erected to protect them. Father, I loose any stronghold in my life justifying and protecting wrong feelings I have against anyone. I forgive all those who have caused me pain, loss or grief and I ask for Your forgiveness. I loose any desire for retribution or redress. I loose the power and effects of any harsh or hard words (word curses) or ungodly vows spoken to me, about me or by me. I loose any strongholds connected with them. I loose all generational bondages and their strongholds from myself.
Father God, I bind myself to the attitudes and patterns of Jesus Christ and the overcoming behavior and Spiritual desires that line up with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that you have given me the keys, power and authority to bind and loose these things in Jesus name.
Prayer of Binding and Loosing for Others
Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I lift up to You ____(name)____ I bind his/her/their spirit, soul, body, mind, will and emotions to Your will and purposes for his/her/their life. I bind him/her/them to Your truth and to the blood of Jesus. I bind his/her/their mind to the mind of Christ that he/she/they can have the thoughts, feelings and purposes of His heart within him/her/them. I bind his/her/their feet to the paths of righteousness You have ordained for him/her/them to walk. I bind his/her/them to the work of the cross with all of its grace, mercy, truth, love, forgiveness, dying to self, healing, salvation, restoration and resurrection power.
I loose every old, wrong, ungodly pattern of thinking, attitude, idea, desire, belief, motivation, habit and behavior from him/her/them. I tear down, crush, smash and destroy every stronghold associated with these things. I loose any stronghold in his/her/their life that has been justifying and protecting hard feelings against anyone. I loose the strongholds of bitterness, unforgiveness, fear and distrust from him/her/them.
I loose the power and effects of deceptions and lies and the confusion and blindness of the god of this world from his/her/their mind that has kept him/her/them from seeing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I call forth every precious Word of Scripture that has ever entered into his/her/their heart and mind that it would rise up in power within him/her/them.
In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I loose the power and effects of any harsh or hard words (word curses) or ungodly vows spoken to, about or by him/her/them. I loose all generational bondages and associated strongholds from him/her/them. I loose all effects and bondages from him/her/them that may have been caused by mistakes his/her/their parents or stepparents have made. I crush, smash and destroy generational bondages of any kind from mistakes made at any point throughout every generation on both sides of his/her/their family all the way back to the cross.
In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, I bind the strong one, Satan, that I may spoil his household taking back every bit of joy, peace, blessing, freedom and every material and spiritual possession he has ever stolen from him/her/them as it is his/hers/their rightfulness inheritance. I rebuke his works and loose the power and effect of every deception, device and influence he wants to bring against him/her/them. I loose the enemy’s influence over every part of his/her/their body, soul and spirit.
I bind him/her/them to the attitudes and patterns of Jesus Christ and the overcoming behavior and spiritual desires that line up with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Father, thank you that you have given me the keys, power and authority to bind and loose these things in Jesus precious name.
