Hi there,
So Jesus said "no-one plunders the strong man's things, when he is at peace in his house; but first you must bind the strongman and then you can plunder his things" (gospels, from memory). The question is: when do you do this?
In one sense, you do this when you come to faith. You pray or pledge something to the Lord, and from then on you bind your life to Christ and Christ reveals things about you, that you would never have known if you hadn't surrendered. This is binding the strongman within.
The point is, that if you are living at home, you are living under your parents - what is the rule which determines whether you are obeying your parents successfully or not? It is the question of whether you are binding the strongman, or not! Once you leave home, the strongman should be properly bound. How do you know the strongman is bound? As Jesus said "when you are able to plunder him".
I'm not sure how obscure this concept is to you, its basically praying that the flesh would be subject to the Holy Spirit. When we go out into the world, it is a lot harder to bind the strongman, because we have all sorts of distractions and the paths we take can lead us astray. If the strongman is bound and we go out into the world, then nothing that comes against us can take us off guard. A ready spirit, takes on many challenges (selah).
I guess what I am saying is that we should have a relationship where we can talk to our parents and they can say "I can see you are developing character, I can see that you are watching your words, keep doing that!" And they can encourage us "son, I understand you want influence, but remember what the Bible said 'you should say "if the Lord is willing, we will do this or that"' - that way the Bible is manifest in our binding the strongman.
In time, if you have bound the strongman within, you will be grateful that you took the time to discern the right spirit and the right direction, for your life. You will have command in your soul, your essence will be pure, your spirit strong. These are things to pray for - to God - that God equip you for every good work, as the letters say (from memory). Regular prayer will reveal this.
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
So Jesus said "no-one plunders the strong man's things, when he is at peace in his house; but first you must bind the strongman and then you can plunder his things" (gospels, from memory). The question is: when do you do this?
In one sense, you do this when you come to faith. You pray or pledge something to the Lord, and from then on you bind your life to Christ and Christ reveals things about you, that you would never have known if you hadn't surrendered. This is binding the strongman within.
The point is, that if you are living at home, you are living under your parents - what is the rule which determines whether you are obeying your parents successfully or not? It is the question of whether you are binding the strongman, or not! Once you leave home, the strongman should be properly bound. How do you know the strongman is bound? As Jesus said "when you are able to plunder him".
I'm not sure how obscure this concept is to you, its basically praying that the flesh would be subject to the Holy Spirit. When we go out into the world, it is a lot harder to bind the strongman, because we have all sorts of distractions and the paths we take can lead us astray. If the strongman is bound and we go out into the world, then nothing that comes against us can take us off guard. A ready spirit, takes on many challenges (selah).
I guess what I am saying is that we should have a relationship where we can talk to our parents and they can say "I can see you are developing character, I can see that you are watching your words, keep doing that!" And they can encourage us "son, I understand you want influence, but remember what the Bible said 'you should say "if the Lord is willing, we will do this or that"' - that way the Bible is manifest in our binding the strongman.
In time, if you have bound the strongman within, you will be grateful that you took the time to discern the right spirit and the right direction, for your life. You will have command in your soul, your essence will be pure, your spirit strong. These are things to pray for - to God - that God equip you for every good work, as the letters say (from memory). Regular prayer will reveal this.
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
