Trauma fastens us the past so that we are stuck in time. Think of a spear pinning someone to that traumatic moment on their timeline. Removing the spear and praying for the Lord to bring the person into the present is a well-known prayer strategy practiced by many prayer ministers. What is less understood is the need to find and remove ties to the future. Here are a few common ways we become tied to the future.
- Prophetic words that you are waiting to come true. Prophetic words about the future can keep you from living today. AND they can cause you to feel distress when your present life doesn’t look anything like that word. Something I have learned as the years have rolled by is that prophetic words are easily misunderstood, easily misapplied, and sometimes wrong.
- Teachings about fulfilling your destiny may also act as an unholy tie to a future. How easy is it for enemy spirits to constantly remind you that you have messed up your destiny? How easy is it to live waiting on a supposed destiny and miss living in the day?
- Fear of what the future holds can pull you into a constant state of anxiety.
- Placing your hope in the future – believing that one day your dreams will come true or it will magically get better – is misplacing hope that belong to Christ. Hoping in the future can lead to denying a difficult reality and cause you to avoid doing what God is asking you to do.
Now, let me clarify. A wise person plans for the future. But it is not good to live there or hope there. It is not good to fear the future. Instead, let us try to face our reality and live in the present. The Lord has your future well in hand.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:32
Let’s pray. In the name of Jesus, by His blood and by His Word, I choose to be cut free from all unholy ties to the future. My future belongs exclusively to the Lord. He is fully capable of managing it. Lord God, please bring all of me into the present where I am supposed to live. Please bring to death any habits I have of living in the future. Amen.
God bless,
Susan
