Deliverance isn’t just for the demon possessed, the drug addict or the alcoholic. The Bible teaches we all need deliverance from at least three things: ungodly thinking, ungodly actions and ungodly attitudes. In this post we’ll cover how to find freedom from ungodly attitudes.
We all need deliverance from ungodly attitudes (Exodus 15:24, 16:2, Numbers 11:1,5).
Even once the Israelites were up and out of Egypt, the ungodly Egyptian attitude wasn’t up and out of them! They had such bad attitudes! They constantly grumbled and complained. And they were super ungrateful too! God not only saved them from Egypt, He also provided all their groceries free of charge. Every morning when they walked out of their tents, Panera bagels were all over the ground (back then they called it manna). Were the Israelites grateful? No! Instead, they began to complain that they preferred the food of Egypt more the food from God!
This reminds me of the time I served food at a homeless shelter with my kids. As we served the food some were grateful, but some were very ungrateful. Some of them were picky complaining about the ripeness of the fruit. Some didn’t even look at me but instead would shoo me away with their hand without looking up from their card game. Talk about ungrateful!
Well this is how the Israelites were treating God! The Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians and God set them free! They should’ve woke up everyday rejoicing, not complaining! And the same is true for us! Because God has saved us we should have an attitude of gratitude but instead we complain just like the Egyptians. Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Paul wouldn’t have written this unless the Christians he was writing to needed deliverance from ungodly attitudes. Well they needed it and so do we!
So God gave us church to help us find freedom from ungodly attitudes (Exodus 25:8-9).
After saving the Israelites from Egypt, God first gave the nation His laws. Next God organized the nation by tribe. Finally, God gave the nation the Tabernacle – a place for corporate worship – to help them find freedom from ungodly attitudes. God’s cure for the Israelites’ complaining and grumbling and ungratefulness, was to have them gather together to worship. As they praised and thanked God for all He had done for them, they would be reminded of all they had to be thankful for, and this would take care of their complaining and ungratefulness.
When Kristin and I first got a home we were so thankful and thanked God every day for our home for probably the first year. But when things starting breaking our thankfulness turned to forgetfulness. We forgot how the landlord wouldn’t let us paint how we wanted, how the landlord would run over our kids toys as he mowed the lawn, how we would give our money away to someone else vs build equity in a place of our own, how the teenagers on the other side of the duplex would loudly run up and down the stairs late at night, etc. We started complaining so much we about talked ourselves into selling and moving somewhere else! But then we had a talk and we started to remember. We started talking about how bad it was before and how much better is was now. As we did this forgetfulness turned back into thankfulness.
Isn’t it true that it’s so easy to forget all the blessings in our lives? It’s so easy to focus on the two or three things going wrong in life to the point they totally eclipse all the good that’s happening at the same time. When this happens we start complaining. Well God has a solution to this tendency of ours to complain. To counter this tendency God gave us church – a weekly time to remember all we have to be grateful for. This is how we find freedom from an ungodly attitude of complaining, grumbling and ungratefulness. Ephesians 4:23 says that we need to be made new in the attitude of our mind. How does this happen? Well, it happens as we worship! When we worship we find freedom from an ungodly attitude of ingratitude. It’s so important that we’re faithful in church attendance – not because if we don’t we won’t go to heaven – rather because if we don’t we’ll slip back into old habits of having a bad attitude, being ungrateful, complaining and grumbling.