Let Go and Let God (Prov 3:5-6)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

“Let Go and Let God” has become a popular mantra in spiritual circles, especially those of 12-step recovery programs.  It is a very simple concept, but a very difficult one to put into practice.  Human nature is tuned to sing “I Did It My Way”.  As a result, our spirituality becomes a tug-of-war between our desire to let God’s will be done and our desire to control the people, places, and things in our life.

The ultimate goal is to let go of all expectations, all resentments, and all negative thoughts and memories.  In short, we need to detach from all things that can stand in the way of our relationship with God and leave us feeling restless, irritable, and/or discontent.

Simply put, our human nature is programmed for self-delusion.  The delusions all of us must face obscure the way we see the world, including our relationship with God.  Some of the more common delusions we must face include (Presence 22.4):

·         I would be more spiritual if my circumstances were different

·         My lack of serenity is due to my circumstances

·         I expect certain outcomes from our spiritual practices

·         My spiritual goals need to be based on my external beliefs

We will discuss each of these delusions in more detail in future posts.  For the time being, suffice it to say, anyone feeling called and/or longing to experience the fullness of a spiritual relationship with God must break the cycle of self-delusion and begin to empty yourself and turn your life and your will to the care of God.  It will likely be an uncomfortable process at first; however, the more the principles are practiced, the more happiness, joyfulness, and freedom will be experienced.

I’ll close this installment with a quote from Meister Eckhart’s ‘The Talk of Instruction’, “Whoever has all his will and what he wants is joyful.  No one has that but he whose will and God's will are one. God grant us this oneness.”  That is letting go and letting God.

Entry Point Number 8: Sexual Intercourse Outside of Marriage

Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. (Hebrews 13:14)

Pope Leo XIII had a vision of Satan boasting to God that he could destroy the Church.  We know Satan looks for our weak points to exploit and uses a number of weapon on us to pull us a way from Christ…often without us even realizing it.  Of the weapons at Satan’s disposal, I believe our sexuality is among the most effective.  If fact, part of the revelation at Fatima was that souls are falling into hell like snowflakes due to sins of the flesh.

There are statistical facts to support this type of spiritual warfare is occurring.  It is estimated that 3%-5% of the U.S. population.  Roughly 25% of all search engine requests are pornography related.  Even more people suffer from relationship addictions.  Addiction is first and foremost a spiritual malady.  Therefore, we must acknowledge and accept the risks of spiritual bondage that comes with sexual intercourse outside of marriage and take back what the evil spirits have been able to take from us.

The explanation for why this is such a powerful weapon for Satan actually comes from Genesis 2:24.  Two becomes one doesn’t simply refer to sharing one mailing address.  Marriage in and of itself is a sacrament (a visible representation of an invisible reality) of what occurs during intercourse.  But, what is this reality? 

When two people have sex, there is a very real metaphysical and spiritual exchange that is designed to create connectivity in a relationship like no other relationship.  Once that connection is made, simply parting ways (even in a civil divorce) does not break the spiritual connection that was created during intercourse. 

They say you never forget your first love.  Despite the whole host of reasons psychology uses to try to explain this phenomenon, the real reason is the existence of this spiritual connection between the partners.  That connection remains after the relationship has ended.  Both partners are left with a sense of longing and a sense of loss since the connection is strained by the parting of ways.  This is the perfect weak moment for Satan to exploit to create a spiritual bondage situation.  To complicate matters, the ongoing rejection of the connection continues to increase the risk of additional exposure as the person longs to “fill the gap”.

A spiritual director can help you work through your past and identify past relationship where this spiritual connection (also known as soul ties) may exist, renounce the connection, establish the authority to take back the spiritual essence  that that was given in that relationship, and renounce any spirits that may have created spiritual bondage.  It can be a pain process to search through ones past in this nature (especially if you think you have already moved on from it), but it is a healing and freeing experience.