Soul ties, and how to be free of the unhealthy ones

God created humanity with the ability to form soul ties, intending for them to be healthy and life-promoting. The deep connections we develop with parents, siblings, friends, spouses and many others root themselves down in the depths of our beings and create seemingly unbreakable bonds. The profound and mysterious links may even be to a belief system, a group or a community.

The strongest ties form when a couple engages in sexual activity, especially the ‘Adam knew Eve’ kind.  They unite each individual’s body of course, but also each spirit and each soul (mind/conscience, will and emotions). The more we discover how profound those bonds can be, the more absolute and eternal God’s idea of ‘sex only within the bounds of marriage’ makes unshakable sense. These and any other kind of soul ties can too easily turn sour when, for example, abuse, abandonment, hurt of any kind—including of course divorce—happen.

In today’s communicative, connective, and hypersexual society, forging unhealthy soul connections with others is crazy easy.  Few realize the widespread havoc this causes for individuals, families, groups and communities. A look around, however, provides abundant evidence of exactly that. Soon after toxic bonds form, disorder then too easily moves out in concentric, yet connected, circles.

Obviously no one solution can fit all, but a remarkably simple prayer will, I promise you, help. From my own and countless others’ experiences with this prayer strategy, huge burdens and entanglements can be broken and lifted off forever, and incredible freedom found and continually walked in.

So here’s how I and many others have found a true way out and forward. As a preamble, I would like to explain the way this prayer developed. It goes far deeper and further than most ‘prayers to break soul ties’ in that we take into account the bonafide TRUTH existing in what is often said about AIDS: “When you sleep with someone, you sleep with every other individual that person has slept with.”  The creation of the bond means a sharing of each party’s being with the other, a giving of one to the other, and a taking from that other.

To experience the greatest freedom, then, unhealthy soul ties must be broken not only from between the person wanting healing and the one they have direct soul ties with, but also from between that person and every other individual the other has ‘slept with’—all the ‘indirect’ soul connections. You then need to pray for the return to yourself (or the individual being prayed for) all that has been taken,  as well as for the return to all the others what has been taken from them.

While it sounds complicated, the following suggested prayer succinctly and powerfully wraps it all up. It can be easily altered when you’re praying for someone else.

PRAYER

“Dear Lord, I confess to unhealthy connections with __________________ .  Please forgive me and help me be free. In the name of Jesus and by the power of his blood, I take the sword of the Spirit and I cut through all unhealthy soul ties between myself and   __________________, and between myself and all the people, places, systems, world systems, organizations, belief structures and demonic architectures that  __________________ has soul ties with, and that they (all the others) have soul ties with.  Please cauterize these severance points with Your Love, Lord.  I pray now that You would return to me what is mine, to __________________ what is his/hers, and to all the others what is theirs. In Jesus’ mighty name, thank-you and amen.”

Holy Chutzpah! Viewing Israel from the inside with the movie 'Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference'

A poll spanning 22 countries done recently for BBC’s World Service suggests people view North Korea and Israel equally negatively. The utterly cool movie Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference (link below) may change some naysayers’ minds … then again, maybe not. Closed minds are just that.

Narrated by New York Times bestselling author and former Harvard lecturer, Dr. Tal Ben Shahar, the film uncovers how despite incredible challenges, Israeli creativity, innovation and chutzpah have triumphed over adversities ranging from geographic to unspeakable.

Hundreds of TV networks and programs have profiled the brilliant, personable PhD and family man, including 60 Minutes and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He now consults and lectures around the world to executives in multinational corporations, Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and for the general public. His topics include leadership, education, ethics, happiness, self-esteem, resilience, goal-setting, and mindfulness.

Israeli-born and American-raised, Dr. Tal taught Harvard’s most popular course ever, 'Positive Psychology', and his international best sellers Being Happy and Happier have been translated into 25 languages.

You can view a ten-minute version of the movie here: Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference. 

Why are kids so happy?

When you are changing and learning, 

it's the happiest time of life.

Something to learn there, no?

Story behind THIS Somebody Else’s Story

Tired of the ‘me’ culture most of western society has become, I’ve always, for one, been enchanted by the seeming selflessness of Japanese society. Even their language reflects this. As an example, the word a Japanese person would use for his/her own house would be different from that for your house. Something like ‘my little shack’ and ‘your wonderful mansion’ (I exaggerate but only slightly).

The title for this blog has been borrowed from a song that still grips me: Somebody Else’s Story, by John Waller.  Stay tuned!