I Was Immobilized
by Page Prewitt

Believing wrong about yourself will immobilize you.

If you are a believer, to even “see” yourself as an “alone-I” who has the ability to operate yourself— even that seeing is sin. The Scripture says when we find sin present in us to confess it. So the remedy is just to confess it. Call it sin and confess it. By confession I don’t mean “sackcloth and ashes.” Confession is no more than agreeing with God. It’s as if God says, “Look what you have been doing. You have let the enemy get you confused and mixed up. See it. Confess it.” It’s as simple as that.

The worst sin you will ever find out you have committed is the sin of wrong believing about yourself. And in doing that, you have allowed Satan to misuse you. That is what is wrong with every non-believing person, and with every bornagain person who commits sins, minor or major— small ones that just “mess up” your life or blatant Biblical sins. Serious sins like theft, murder and adultery always stem from wrong seeing about ourselves as believers.

The result of living like this is not a life of sinconsciousness, but a life of true liberation. Bondage lies in wrong believing…to not see yourself as who you really are, one with Him. Wrong believing about yourself will immobilize you.

Wrong believing about yourself can cause conflict in a marriage, in the work place, with your children and in other situations. Satan in your “independent self” believing manages to get his hooks into your “members.” The Bible talks as believers in these terms: “sin in my members” (Romans 7:23). “Members” means your soul and body (your “flesh”), not your spirit. Satan gets his hooks in there and he is the confusion. He is the cause of the confusion. I’m not talking about the feeling of confusion, but the confusion that results from the conflicts caused by wrong believing.

Let me give you an example of how something seemingly small and insignificant in your life can be completely immobilizing to you. This past summer when my husband and I were in North Carolina, his car needed washing. Being in a very small resort center, there was no automatic wash place like I am used to back home. The place I took the car to was one of those where you plug the money in and then squirt off your own car. The coin slot was one of those flat things you lay quarters in and then slide in, where some mechanism picks up the change and deposits it, and then you have access to the hoses and water.

I put in the required three quarters and the machine only took two of them; the other was left in the slot. Of course it would not operate without the full amount, and I did not have another quarter. The way the machine is made, there is a small hole beneath the quarters. So I decided to reach in and just pop my quarter out. Well, I got my quarter, but my finger got stuck. It was the same kind of situation as when you’re having trouble with getting a ring off.

I said to myself, “This will come out in just a second.” But then I realized my finger was not coming out. It was stuck! You know sometimes you can get a stick caught underneath your automobile, and if you pull hard, you can just jerk it out? So I thought, “Just jerk it out. It doesn’t matter if it hurts a little.” Then I re-thought: “That is your human finger! You can’t just jerk it out!”

I could not go anywhere to get help. Nothing but the tip of my finger was caught and yet I could go nowhere. I was immobilized. All kinds of redeeming thoughts went through my mind: “If only I had some soap; there’s a restaurant nearby— I can scream and maybe they’ll hear; maybe someone else will come in for a car wash.

Finally, I said very meaningfully, “God, you have got to get my finger out.” I gave a soft jerk, and out it came. Later that week I realized what a great illustration this was of how one little sin thing in my life can completely immobilize me.

–Taken from
Alphabet Soup