ROOTED RENEGADE

The term “Ungodly Tethering” is a new concept to me as the Holy Spirit gave it to me the other day when I was processing quite a bit as it related to my family, exes, and spiritual baggage in my mind. I didn’t understand why either. I had broken deep soul ties with people, yet my mind would still go back to places that I knew God had delivered me from. When praying and asking for guidance I received the words “Ungodly Tethering” and an image that if you have seen the movie “Avatar” you will recognize. It is the image of the Avatar character Jake Sully sitting on the alien horse and using his tether to connect to the horse mentally. When the tethering connection is made, the character is mentally and emotionally connected to the animal and it responds to Jake Sully in a way that is, well in our terms rather ungodly. There is another image I was given this morning as I was searching for the pictures of the characters Neytiri and Jake Sully in the movie who also use there tethers to emotionally and spiritually connect to one another in a scene where they are with “the spirits” in the movie. It is yet another depiction of how two people connect on a soul and spirit level through ungodly tethering that I didn’t realize for years. Let’s break this down further.

Ungodly Tethering is similar to a soul tie.  It is a spiritual tether that keeps you connected to a person mentally.  In many ways people think they have broken soul ties but still feel a connection to that person.  Often they show up in dreams, thoughts, etc.  This is because of ungodly tethering.  There is something deep in the subconscious that is keeping the connection open spiritually. You see, similar to the example from the movie, we connect with people not just on a soul level, but on a mental and emotional level. While our soul connects so does our mind. This is where people who are narcissistic and emotionally abusive are able to reframe the mind of another person and become controlling, while those who are not so manipulated by that person don’t understand the power they hold over the mind. There is a mental tethering that is deep in the recess of the subconscious that must be broken.

Another example of this, is the Israelites when they were freed from Egypt. Actually they can provide several examples for us. The first is when they left Egypt and wanted to go back. Within the first three days they complained shortly after signing songs of praise to The Lord in Exodus 15, because they came to a place in the wilderness with water that was bitter (Exodus 15:24 “And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”). It was in this first moment after release from 400 years of captivity that the mind went back to captive thinking. What shall we do when our thoughts return to the place of bondage? The Israelites complained to Moses who physically led them out, instead of crying out to God in their distress. So Moses, as he did, cried out on their behalf. He carried their burdens. While the Lord God provided a way out with sweet water, their mental state did not change. It remained tethered to Egypt in a most ungodly way.

The last example I will use from the Israelites is when they told Aaron and Moses two months after being set free from Egypt in Exodus 16, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly in hunger.” This particular passage of scripture is another example of how the mind reminisces on the bondage both consciously and subconsciously. While they’re complaining because of empty stomachs based on past fulfilling of captive food, their minds were still trapped in a land of slavery and strongholds. They were still ungodly tethered to the land, the food, the brokenness, the emptiness, the lack, the poverty, the abuse, and so forth. They didn’t experience great wealth or accommodations that satisfied their souls. NO. They experienced torment and abuse that their minds were minimizing because walking in a wilderness forces you to face yourself and get right with God or walk away. There is no in between. It is an experience like no other and they were in thick of it.

Just like many of us are today. We are in the thick of the wilderness pushing past insecurities, doubt, pain, betrayal and heartache. Many are ungodly tethered to people even though they have broken soul ties, in part because of a lack of understanding. It takes getting before the Father and really being honest with where you are, how you feel, and what you are experiencing in this season. Is there someone who is still on your mind, in your dreams? Have you really broken free from your bondage and strongholds? Do you still think it is better to be back in the slavery you were once in or would you rather be free forever? Getting real and raw is a place of vulnerability that far too often people would rather not go…it has in the past been met with hurt. The heart of the matter is that we project onto our Heavenly Father what people here on Earth do to us. He isn’t them and won’t treat us that way. We just need to come to that understanding by allowing our minds to be free from it all.

Romans 12:2, a familiar passage to many of us and most often overlooked, quoted without a second thought. When you read this, it is my prayer that you sit with it and allow it wash through your mind, penetrating it to bring up the ungodly tethers that may still exist for you. There is no shame or condemnation – only FREEDOM.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.“

You do not have to conform to the patterns of this world. It is not a requirement. You do not have to choose what someone else chooses that aligns with worldly standards. You are not called to that as a Child of God. You are called to a higher standard and there is so much freedom in not following after worldly principles and precepts. God’s will for your life is better than anything you can imagine – yet you have to first be willing to renew your mind and let go of all the baggage that is holding you back. I know. The process is not easy. If it was everyone would do it and few people would mock it. Anything worth having takes hard work. I know you can do it. I believe that the mind can be renewed and restored and untethered from ungodly things.

Just remember: You can free your soul from ungodly soul ties, but you also have to free your mind from the ungodly tethering.

Praying that on your walk with Jesus you are open to a move of the Holy Spirit that allows for a renewing of your mind each day. May the Lord bless you and keep you and may His face shine upon you.

Love, Faythe