Every one of us is born with a deep need. No one is exempt. Until that need is met, you are shackled to the chains that bind and lead to death and destruction. You may take a close look at your arms and legs and come to the conclusion that you are in no way bound, but it is not always a binding you can see or feel. Some people’s lives may seem perfect to them.
Other people may know they have a problem because of an addiction or sorry state of their life. But they keep hoping that they can defeat it. Many feel emptiness and hope that the lottery or luck will come their way. Others choose to permanently sedate it so they do not have to live in a real world. Then there are the tragic ones who just plain give up and commit suicide. Those around them are stunned because the despair was so well hidden.
But the root of this deep down need is not physical nor can it be met by anything in this lost world. It is so deep down, because it is a spiritual problem, and there is only one answer in the universe. That answer is only in Jesus Christ and it only comes with complete surrender to Him. He is the only one that can break every chain.
The late David Wilkerson preached a beautiful sermon entitled The Need In You and How To Meet It. A concise version of it is as follows:
“This message is for anyone carrying a need right now. It is especially for those who have been afraid to express their need. On the outside it looks as if everything is okay in their lives, but inside they feel like death.
There is in each of us some deep question, some deep hurt, some unhealed pain. It could have to do with anything — family, children, marriage, job or simply loneliness. Try as we might, we can’t hide our need in the presence of God. The Holy Spirit is a hound from heaven who comes to us to open up the love of Jesus. The Spirit manifests this love not just in words but in deeds, showing us the way to meet our deep needs.
We can’t do anything physically to meet our need. No doctor or psychologist can provide it. And we can’t do it by looking for some emotional answer. No pastor or friend, not even a mate, can meet this inner need. No one can get to the root of it because they don’t have the ability.
It amazes me how many young people continue to give themselves over to the party life to try to meet their great need. For many in this country, every night is a party. They’re binge drinking and smoking pot in larger numbers than ever. It’s all an attempt to stave off emptiness and ease their fears as they consider their future.
I asked a preacher’s son recently why he was running with the pot crowd. He answered, “I’ve never felt my life was worth anything.” Whenever I talk to him, he reveals he has gone deeper and deeper into pot smoking — and he’s finding less and less peace in it.
The Bible doesn’t hide the fact that the pleasures of this world seem to give relief for a while. Yet there is a problem with sins of pleasure: The relief they bring diminishes over time. In fact, these sins keep subtracting relief until finally your soul has a negative balance. The things that once brought pleasure now take you deeper and deeper into despair.
Some people reading this message have been caught in that trap. You can’t find help for your need anywhere else in the world but Christ.
There are three things the Holy Spirit wants you to know:
First, your only hope is to recognize that your need is spiritual.
Second, you can’t just hear the truth; you have to do the truth. Your great need will never be met if you still say in your heart of hearts, “I love what I’m doing. I can’t give it up.”
Third, that Jesus is praying to the Father for all that believe in Him. Jesus says this: “I pray…that thou shouldest keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
Know that as Jesus prays for you, God has never turned down the prayers of his Son. Right now, it is all up to you. I say the following in love but with the responsibility given me as a minister of the Lord: It is a serious matter to shake off the loving grace of God.
There is a tendency to harden your heart over time. The more you hear about Jesus, the less you want to hear it — and the harder your heart becomes. So, dear one, this is the day for you. This is the time God has set for you to hear him. He hasn’t brought these words before you by mere accident. You are reading this in his perfect, divine will.
He has heard the deep cry of your soul. Ask him now to meet you in his Son, Jesus. Christ is the way to meet every need you have. Everything you need is in him. Amen.”
Anything short of total surrender to the Lord only brings temporary relief. King Saul was a perfect example of this. The music David played on his harp only gave him a temporary relief as we learn in 1 Samuel 16. King Saul kept sinking deeper and deeper until he lost everything including his son and his life.
Even after Jesus unshackles us from the chains of sin and death, the world and the satanic forces will try their best to bind us again. Read the following Scripture:
And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. (Acts 12:6-7 NKJV)
There is a powerful song entitled Break Every Chain. Just click on it to listen to it.
https://app.box.com/s/59s2rf5tglovef0wtlzqji09fv54wccq
Jesus is waiting to break every chain in your life. But first you must admit your need. Then all you have to do is yield totally and let Him!
Annointing 