There’s this thing about me – sometimes it’s good and other times it can get me into trouble. I hate injustice. I hate watching innocent people be wronged, hurt, betrayed, beaten down. It turns out God hates those things, too.
Sometimes it’s hard for me not to take justice into my own hands when I see those I love being hurt. There are times I fight back through the power of prayer, and other times, unfortunately, I try to take justice into my own hands. The outcome is usually better if I allow God to fight the battle.
My first memory of life is watching my dad beat my mom. I watched him do it again after she divorced him, and I felt so helpless not being able to protect her. I remember nights my step-mom would wake me up with a bloody nose and take me to a safe place because my dad had beaten her after another drinking binge. I can feel the injustice rising in me again as I type, desiring to protect every woman who’s ever been in that awful place.
As I’ve walked through life with some Freedom Finders atEsther’s House, hearing their stories of heartbreak and tragedy, my heart breaks for them.
And as I’ve dug deeper into the healing journey with a friend who spent years in an abusive relationship – in every way you could imagine – the injustice rises in me again. She wrote a poem several years ago of her experience that breaks my heart every time I read it. The aftermath of what’s left after abuse makes my blood boil. I hate the devil and his stupid schemes.
I write this letter today to every man who thinks he’s strong because of his control over women. I write this letter as a reminder that though he may have women convinced he’s powerful, in all reality he isn’t. He’s just a coward pretending to be strong. Sounds a lot like Satan himself, doesn’t it?
Dear Abuser…
I don’t know you, but I know enough about you. What I do know is that you are a deeply broken man whose life shows no good fruit. I know that you prey upon weak and vulnerable women, taking advantage of their fears, screaming lies into their minds, holding them captive in their weaknesses until they have nothing left in them to fight back with. You desire to control your surroundings and you’ll hurt anyone at any cost to protect yourself. That makes me sad for you. Sad you choose to live your life that way.
I don’t know what you believe about God, but I know by your fruits and the way you destroy others, that you have no relationship with Christ, and you have no idea how much God loves you. I hope someday you grasp onto that truth. I really do.
You are an evil man, living an evil life, being used by the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy others, particularly women. (See John 10:10) You are a thief seeking to fulfill your own desires and steal the lives of women. You may not kill them physically, but you still leave them lifeless.
Unfortunately, you’re doing exactly what the devil does – prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ( 1 Peter 5:8) You are serving your father, the devil, carrying out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) How long are you going to choose that life?
Here’s the thing about sin: it’s all the same in God’s eyes. Though our actions were different, I once served the devil because I didn’t grasp God’s love for me. My destination was the same as yours. But one day I made a choice to live for God, not the world. You can do the same. I don’t get right every day. But God has forgiven me because He loves me enough to wash me with His grace. His grace is available to you, too.
Ever heard of the word “misogynist?” It’s a person who hates women. Satan has hated women since the beginning of time, and he’s set out to destroy them. He’s using you as a tool to carry out that plan. You don’t have to let him.
You don’t have to beat women, mentally abuse them, verbally berate them, and sexually violate them. God didn’t design you for that. He didn’t design you to live full of hate.
My heart hurts for ALL the women you have set out to destroy in your lifetime. I pray for freedom for each of them. And I pray that you don’t get your claws into another one.
Let me tell you about the woman you’ve spent years trying to control. She is strong, beautiful, and courageous. God has an amazing destiny planned for her life, and you don’t get to put yourself in the way of that destiny any longer. When she speaks, people listen, because she is wise. She has a servants heart. She brings a smile to the face of those around her, and her laugh is contagious. Anyone who gets to call her friend is blessed.
I’m sorry you were too busy beating her down and trying to leave her lifeless to get to know how amazing she is. You spent years and years stealing her voice, but you don’t get to do that anymore. She’s found her own voice, her own opinion, her own life. You don’t get to steal her identity anymore because she knows who she is in Christ. She’s not defined by you – she’s defined by Jesus Christ, and He says she is loved, cherished, accepted, chosen, and redeemed. God says he will restore what the locusts have eaten – repaying us for those years. For everything you stole from her when you beat her down in every way possible, God is repaying back to her. (Joel 2:25) That means you don’t get to control her anymore.
She is free from your trap and I realize that’s hard for you to grasp, since you desire so much control. Just as she has been freed from you, you can be freedom from the trap you’re living in.
[ctt template=”5″ link=”C8_vf” via=”yes” ]Dear Abuser, this is who you really are.[/ctt]
Someday she will be loved by a man who loves Christ with all his heart, who reminds her what God says about her. A man who sees her value and never seeks to harm her. What an exciting day that will be. She deserves to be loved the way God desires her to be loved.
I don’t’ know what your bottom looks like, but I pray you find it before it’s too late. When Moses was fleeing Egypt with God’s people, he was constantly battling Pharaoh, whose heart was so hard and evil. His heart never changed, despite God trying numerous times to open his eyes. As God parted the red sea to rescue His people, once they all crossed, He brought waters back down and Pharaoh and his men were destroyed. They died evil while fulfilling evil intentions. God took him out because he had no desire to live life worthy of loving others – only to destroy them. Which life are you going to keep choosing?
My flesh wants to fight for those I love by taking justice into my own hands. But instead of fighting in the flesh for every woman you’ve controlled, I will fight in prayer and the authority of Jesus Christ.
Winning the Battle through Prayer…
In Jesus’ name, you and all of the devil’s cohorts who are using you, have no power and authority over any woman. I bind the spirit of manipulation, fear, and victimization in Jesus’ name. I pray a hedge of protection around every area of her life and say in Jesus’ name, you have the lost the power to intrude in those areas.
She is delivered from you and the forces of evil using you in Jesus’ name. Satan has lost the battle over her life. She has the neck of you, her enemy. You and the evil forces using her are under her feet. I bind and cast out any spirit trying to use you to destroy others. Let the hands of the wicked be broken. Let the walls of the wicked be broken in Jesus’ name.
I speak against the spirit of Jezebel, Ahab, Leviathan, Athaliah, Delilah, Whoredom, Marine spirits, and all working for them, working in you, in Jesus’ name.
You and your cohorts have no power in her life or the lives of others you seek to steal, kill and destroy, in Jesus’ name.
Satan, in the name of Jesus, I bind your perverse, violent, spirit according to Matthew 18:18, which tells me, “Whatsoever I bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” You no longer have an open door in her life using this man, in Jesus’ name.
I loose a spirit of conviction over him and every area of his life in Jesus’ name. I bind those evil spirits using him as a tool in Jesus’ name and tell you to flee and return to the swines where you belong.
She is protected by the blood of the lamb and he and those evil spirits Satan is using, you are not allowed to penetrate the protective bubble protecting her. She has the mind of Christ and holds the thoughts, feelings, and purposes of his heart. You no longer have control over her thoughts. She takes every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ and you have lost your power.
Whom the sun sets free is free indeed. She is free from you, Satan, and free from the words you use man to speak to her. She is freed from the hands of him and you. She is strong in the Lord and the power of his might.
She is strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. She puts on the full armor of God against him and the evil spirits using him, and she stands firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Those evil spirits using him as a tool.
She puts on every piece of God’s armor and she resists him and the enemy in this time of evil. She stands firm in this battle. She puts on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, she puts on the peace that comes from the Good News so she is fully prepared. She holds up the shield of faith which stops ALL the fiery arrows of the devil. She puts on salvation as her helmet, and she takes the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
You, Devil and all your cohorts, are no longer allowed to use man to bring her or anyone else destruction. The evil one cannot touch her, for she is protected by Christ. I call you back to the gates of hell where you belong for Jesus to do with you what he will.
Release him from the chains of the devil and bring his darkness to light. Stop using him as your puppet in Jesus’ name.
She is free. All those who have been harmed by you are free, in Jesus’ mighty name, amen!