Spiritually Kidnapping

When God begins to draw us to our Lord and Savior Jesus, we are so overjoyed with the experience that we may find ourselves anxious to tell the good news. But do you notice that most of the people we tell our experiences to, do not react the way that we'd hoped? Most people hear about your new found faith and shrug it off as just another conversation. Who really celebrates with you? Who is really intrigued to know more...not about you but about God?

Coming into our "promised lands"(New lives in Christ) we desire to share that experience with our loved ones. We want to share our testimonies, share our new found wisdom, and share our blessings. We overcome by our testimonies. We edify others by sharing the Wisdom of God. We can use our blessings to be a blessing. So the problem is not that we shouldn't share but that we should be mindful of when we share it, how we share it, and whom we share it with.

God is teaching me, ever so slowly, that we cannot take people where they are not willing to go or where they are not meant to go. We cannot spiritually kidnap others. In the natural, kidnapping is taking someone against their will. Spiritually kidnapping is similar. Spiritually kidnapping is trying to take someone to a spiritual place that they are not willing (interested) to go. We can do this in several different ways. Trying to force them to desire God, trying to force them to receive God's blessings, trying to force them praise God, trying to force them to worship God, and just ultimately trying to force them to see/know God how we see/know him.

Our Father is not searching for people who have to be forced into praising him...forced to give him thanks...forced to worship...forced to seek him. He wants a willing heart. A heart that truly desires HIM...not for what he can do but to be connected to who he IS! I remember years before I got saved, I attended my great aunt's church. When it came time for the altar call, she literally grabbed my hand and made me go up front. This was the same aunt who came to the house and tried to preach to everybody and point out everything everybody was doing wrong. In her forcefulness, we began to run and hide in our rooms every time we saw her coming and it certainly didn't intrigue us to be interested in God. If anything, we knew that if that is what being saved was about, we didn't want a part. She prematurely tried to take me to a place in the Lord that I was not willing to go at that time.

Sometimes God isn't ready to reveal himself to them as he has to you. When we look at the moment when Jesus took 3 of his 12 disciples with him at the top of the mountain and revealed himself to them, we can conclude that because God is a God of reason and purpose he intentionally chose those 3 disciples. Yet there came a time where all of the disciples were able to witness Jesus' true form.

Telling the wrong person the right thing at the wrong time can cause more issues for that person. For example telling the wrong person, that God blessed you with a new home, at the wrong time can provoke them to envy you, to be covetous (desire strongly what does not belong to them), or to seek God as a "genie" rather than their creator, their God, their Savior, their source of life.

Instead of trying to force someone to accept Christ, pray that God will touch their hearts and draw them unto himself. We all have free will. We get to choose. We do not have the right to rob someone of their choice, even if it is the wrong one. Avoid spiritually kidnapping people. Stop trying to take people to a spiritual place that they are 1) not willing to go or 2) not approved by God to go. Enter into your "promised land" with thanksgiving, joy, praise, worship, and prayer. Let God use your growth to light the way for others that in their proper season, God may escort them too into their "promised land". A land where their praise will be authentic, their worship will be real, their faith will be pure, and they will truly desire God for who he is and not what he can do. Release them into the hands of God. Release yourself, of the extra weight, to walk rightfully into your promise. It is my prayer that we will free those whom we've spiritually kidnapped and allow God to be...God for them just as he is for us. Who have you spiritually kidnapped? Are you willing to release them or are you willing to waste another year wandering in the wilderness being delayed by someone who refuses to go? #Free them #Free your promise #Free yourself