Bob was a very successful manager who really had it all together. He had a beautiful
family, he was very active in this church, gifted in music, and could do so many things well. He was the model Christian who had made it well financially and he even gave his money away to help others. Everything was in order for Bob until the lights came on in his world.
Bob called me one day and asked, “Are you the bondage breaker guy I heard about?” I did not know Bob and had never talked to him, his opening question took me by surprise. He continued, “I started reading the Bondage Breaker and I could not get through the first chapter, I need help. Can we meet and talk?” I few days later I met with Bob and we had one of those talks where the lights really came on for this man.
Bob went way back to his childhood and shared about his relationship with his father and how he wanted so badly to be accepted by his father. He talked about his deep insecurities and how he wanted people to just love him. He discussed his music, but he was only on the worship team so people would like him more. But what got my attention the most was when Bob took out a photo of his little girls and said, “I want to get free for them.”
The lights really came on for this father. At that moment it did not matter how successful he had been as a manager or as a gifted singer. It did not matter to him what he had done at church and what others thought about him. He was broken and Bob was ready to find healing. There comes a time in all of us when the lights come on, when we “see” our lives and for what they are: broken and in need of true purpose.
Bob is like us all, in need of something to meet our needs of acceptance and belonging. We try to find it in our careers, our family, our money and our gifts, yet that will never totally fulfill us. So we live a “normal” Christian life with our hurts and our loneliness and even anger. We even try harder and develop good behavior so our emotions will go away. But that will never work, Bob can tell you that.
In the following weeks as I met with Bob we looked closely at how much he is accepted and loved and how he belongs to God. Bob really began to experience freedom, not by doing something else, but by embracing his true identity in Christ. He allowed the Holy Spirit to come and show him just how significant he is to God.
Have the lights come on for you? Are you like Bob wondering how you can have joy, freedom, peace, and complete purpose? Do fears and deep insecurities control your life? Ask God to turn the lights on and show you what you need to see.
Mark Keyes
Vice President of Infusion Ministries
Mark Keyes
