The Prisoner's Escape Manual: A Scriptural Way Out of Spiritual Bondage

By Steve Cleckler

Do you sometimes feel like a prisoner? Do you long to be free? Well, if so, you are not alone. We all feel this way from time to time. The truth is, you do not have to be incarcerated behind prison walls and bars of iron to be a prisoner. You might be a prisoner of feeling that there is a great distance between you and your Creator. You might be a prisoner of feeling that you have no purpose and wondering if God really cares and has a plan for you. You might be a prisoner of feeling that you are just living out religion without a real sense of relationship with God. The truth is, spiritual bondage comes in many forms.This book is about escaping spiritual bondage. It is designed to help you see that you were not an accident. You were created in God's image. You have a destiny designed by Him. He has made all the provisions needed to experience relationship and fellowship with Him.This book is about finding a scriptural way out of spiritual bondage. It is about finding spiritual freedom even in the grips of earthly captivity. This type of escape, this type of true freedom, can only be found in Jesus the Christ. Jesus said He came to set the captive free. Do you want to know His freedom? Read and apply The Prisoner's Escape Manual.74

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639033362

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The Prisoner's Escape Manual

A Scriptural Way Out of Spiritual Bondage

Steve Cleckler

ISBN 978-1-63903-335-5 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63903-626-4 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63903-336-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Steve Cleckler

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One

Your Divine Destiny

Chapter Two

In His Image, After His Likeness

Chapter Three

The Covenants

Chapter Four

The Narrow Way

Chapter Five

The Baptism—Christ in You

Chapter Six

Prayer

Chapter Seven

Bible Study

Chapter Eight

Meditation

Chapter Nine

Fasting

Epilogue

About the Author

I once read it said of Moses that he was educated in the palaces but found wisdom in the desert. This work is dedicated to those who have fed me, clothed me, and gave me drink during my times of captivity in the desert and to my Heavenly Father, who, each time I failed in my own strength, taught me how to stand in His.

Introduction

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

—1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

How we all long to be free. It begins with our struggle to be free from the womb and ends with our desire to be free from the grave. Freedom is the cry of every human heart, but with this innate desire comes the need for security. From the earliest days of our lives, we have one hand clinging to a point of security—a trusted hand or a favorite blanket—while continually reaching forward, testing the boundaries and stretching our wings.

Once, when spending time with our youngest grandson, this interplay of freedom and security became very evident. Out walking at the park, he was continually on the move, walking here, walking there, but every minute or so, he would look back to make sure that we were still there. Once he saw that we were still in sight and that his security was still there, he would smile and, with a reinforced sense of safety, venture on. When we saw him heading toward a hazard, we would tell him to stop. He would immediately change directions. The point? True freedom is found within the boundary of security, and that security is found in obeying the voice of the one overseeing us.

If you saw the 1995 Academy Award-winning movie Braveheart, I am sure that you will remember William Wallace's last cry: "Freedom!" William Wallace was a Scottish rebel who led an uprising against the cruel English ruler Edward Longshanks, who wished to seize the crown of Scotland for himself. When William was a young boy, his father and brother, along with many others, lost their lives trying to keep Scotland free. When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English solder, William begins his long quest to make Scotland free once and for all.

One does not have to be under the constraints of an oppressive ruler or incarcerated behind prison walls to be a prisoner. Most captives have never experienced these situations; nevertheless, they are prisoners. You may be struggling with overwhelming debt, a physical condition, a bad relationship situation, or one of many other captors. But this is not an escape manual about getting out of financial debt, being healed from a chronic sickness, or getting relationship counseling. It is an escape manual on a more fundamental level. It is about escaping the power and consequence of sin. It is about finding spiritual freedom. It is about being free even in the grips of earthly captivity. This type of escape, this type of true freedom, can only be found in Jesus the Christ. Jesus said that He came to set the captive free. Do you want to know freedom even in the grips of your situation? I once heard this rhyme: two men looked out through their bars; one saw mud, the other saw stars. Hopefully, you will find keys in the Scriptures and thoughts found in The Prisoner's Escape Manual to refocus beyond your earthly circumstances and look upward.

The Scriptures reveal that the one true living God is a triune being consisting of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (1+1+1=1). The individual, like his Creator, is a triune being consisting of the human spirit, the human soul, and the human body (1+1+1=1). The desire of Paul's prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 is that the God of peace set our entire being (our spirit, our soul, and our body) apart for Himself to be wholly dedicated to Him. It is only in the submission of our entirety to God that true peace with God is found, and it is only through this peace with God that the true peace from God is experienced.

Psalm 51:5 states, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. David is reflecting on the fact that every individual born is born a servant, a captive, or a slave to sin. Jesus said that He came to set the captive free. This was what He was referring to in Luke 4:18 when He quoted and referred to Himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

How does Jesus set the captive free? In John 8:31–32, 36, Jesus makes it clear: So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

True freedom can only be found in Jesus the Christ. This truth is even declared by His name. The name Yeshua is of Aramaic and Hebrew origin. The meaning of Yeshua, the Hebrew form of the name Jesus, is a compound name. It is a combination of Yah, a short version of the personal name of God, and Shua, which means salvation.¹ Thus, the name Jesus translates to God is salvation or the salvation of God.

Unfortunately, many have missed the fullness of what the salvation of God encompasses. We all too often focus on a relationship with God to the detriment of fellowship with God. We have focused on repenting and believing with baptism being the finish line: respond to an invitation, walk the isle, take the pastor's hand, repeat a sinner's prayer, and get baptized—eternal security. Instead of being a facilitator in their spiritual growth and maturity, we get individuals saved only to let them die in the crib.

Using an analogy of a chair, a chair with only two legs is unstable and requires constant balancing. For the new convert, and even old veterans of the faith, it is common to struggle with our old man: the allure of the flesh and thoughts of doubt. The one exhausted by this constant struggle often gives up and resigns to a posture of easy believeism: I believe in Jesus, have been baptized, and have my ticket to heaven; and that is all that really matters. But when we add the third leg of the chair of following Him—fellowship—the chair balances us. We live daily with the Master. We learn daily from the Master. We live our life focused Godward daily. Our belief is transformed into trust daily.

On the necessary foundation of divine relationship, divine fellowship is necessary for spiritual growth. We begin growing in Christ when we realize that God has a specific plan for our life. We are made in His image and after His likeness, He has made a covenant with us, the narrow way to God is found through relation and not religion, and it is Christ in us who is our hope of glory. Intimate fellowship with God is expedited through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and fasting.

In our opening verse, Paul refers to the spirit, soul, and body. The Prisoner's Escape Manual hopes to point out that salvation not only relates to our spirit but also our soul and body. Do you desire to be free, truly free? Pan from the streams of these pages the gold nuggets; read them, mediate on them, and apply the truths of God's Word to your life and be set free!

Chapter One

Your Divine Destiny

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare [peace] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

—Jeremiah 29:11

Thank God for today's GPS devices. Before GPS, it never ceased to amaze me how often I would get lost going to a place I had not ventured to before. It was extremely easy for me to become captive to a wrong road. Even with directions written out or a map clearly marked, if I was not careful and failed to follow the instructions exactly, I would often miss a landmark, miss a sign, or make a wrong turn, and be off course before I realized it. I am sure we can all relate to this predicament.

I remember when I purchased my first GPS device. On the way to an evangelistic conference in Lakeland, Florida, I only used it for the times I thought I needed it. Coming home, I decided to simply follow the GPS directives. It took me ways I would not necessarily have gone, and in one incident, I encountered road construction, where I could not go as directed. It recalculated and directed me another way. Lesson learned: if I followed the GPS directives, I would be on the path home and would make it, even though it took me on roads I would not have chosen.

According to a general internet search, GPS, or the Global Positioning System, is a satellite-based radio navigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. It is a network of many satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of over twelve thousand miles. This global navigation satellite system provides geolocation and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. From anywhere you are on the planet, at least four GPS satellites are overhead at any given time. Each transmits information about its position and the current time at regular intervals. These signals are traveling at the speed of light and are intercepted by your GPS device, which calculates how far away each satellite is based on how long it took for the message to arrive. Once it has information on how far away at least three satellites are, your GPS receiver can pinpoint your exact position.²

"But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are