Liberty Savard and The Keys to the Kingdom

Liberty Savard and the Keys to the Kingdom

During my time at Kensington Temple, I saw a book in the church’s bookstore that caught my attention: Shattering Your Strongholds by Liberty Savard. I was struggling with the flesh nature quite a lot during this time, so I just bought it on impulse. It must have been 1992, the year I left Kensington Temple, because that was the year the book was published.

I started reading this book around about the same time that I began studying my own unredeemed nature. Liberty Savard’s books cover this area really well. Up until this point, I had been studying Word of Faith, as taught by Kenneth E. Hagin.

I quickly became a staunch advocate of Liberty’s teaching. I thought her writing style was superb and her understanding of the scriptures was excellent. Something that struck me as rather amazing was the way that Liberty would use the word “the soul”, instead of saying “you” or “I”; like the unredeemed soul was a distinct, separate entity. I liked this because it made the distinction between the spirit, which is the real “you” – and your unredeemed nature. It comes back to that saying that we are a spirit, with a soul, that lives in a body.

Another thing I learned from Liberty Savard that has changed my thinking dramatically is the revelation that the operation of the unredeemed nature, the full spectrum of sin you could say, is: wrong beliefs, desires, motives, behaviours and patterns of thinking. Liberty would also cite the dysfunction of man’s nature as coming from unmet needs, unhealed hurts and unresolved issues.

Liberty debunked the traditional beliefs surrounding spiritual warfare tactics, arguing that although the devil and his cohorts are very real, and the biggest threat to maintaining a godly, Christian lifestyle lies with our own unredeemed nature.

This was along the same lines as what Kenneth E. Hagin taught, in that when a believer gives his life to Jesus, his spirit is saved and born-again (re-created). However, the soul (mind, will and emotions) still need to be brought into submission to God. There are several verses of scripture that seem to support this belief.

Liberty focused on the need to deal with the unredeemed nature through prayers based on a new revelation of Matthew 16:19, as a means of being able to fully surrender the soul to God, so that we can allow the Holy Spirit to move freely in our lives.

The commonly held understanding of Matthew 16:19 are that believers are to bind the work of the devil and loose the Holy Spirit on the earth. However, Liberty discovered that there were no instances of this mentioned in the Bible. Jesus would not bind evil spirits – He would rebuke them instead. Neither were there any instances of Jesus or the disciples, loosing the Holy Spirit or ministering spirits in the Bible.

Another Look at Strongholds in the Bible

2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that we are to use spiritual weapons in order to pull down strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:5 then continues by saying that we should cast down arguments, every “high thing” and finally, bring every thought into captivity to Christ. From this text we can conclude that Paul was referring to our beliefs when it comes to pulling down strongholds.
More modern translations, such as The Message, help to bring out the meaning of this text. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 MSG

The word translated stronghold in verse 4 is the Greek word ochurōma, which according to Thayer’s Greek Definitions, means:
1) a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness
2) anything on which one relies
2a) of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent

Therefore, when Paul said to pull down strongholds, he was talking about destroying the arguments and reasonings, the human logic, which people rely on. This logical reasoning creates belief systems that are so strong, they are likened to a stronghold or castle.

A Wrong Focus on Behaviour

The church has been programmed for years to believe that it is obvious, sinful behaviours that rob believers of their blessings: fornication, adultery, excessive drinking, smoking and so on. But in actual fact, it is the seemingly innocent, yet wrong, mindsets and patterns of thinking that we cling onto, which affect our behaviour and keep the grace of God locked-out of our lives. We therefore end-up trying to control the symptoms instead of the cause of the symptoms. In her book, Breaking the Power, Liberty Savard likened this to dealing with the runny nose of a patient who is suffering from double pneumonia. It is these mindsets, or strongholds, that loosing and binding prayers seek to dispense with.

A New Biblical Understanding of Binding

Liberty Savard discovered that the Greek word deo, translated bind in the New Testament, means a whole lot more than binding evil spirits. According to Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary, this Greek word means:
A primary verb; to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively): - bind, be in bonds, knit, tie, wind. See also G1163, G1189.

This Greek word is also related to the word deomai, which according to Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary means:
Middle voice of G1210; to beg (as binding oneself), that is, petition: - beseech, pray (to), make request. Compare G4441.

The word “bind” suggests obligating yourself to someone. This is useful when bringing your soul into submission to God.

A New Biblical Understanding of Loosing

Liberty Savard revealed that the Greek word luo, translated loose in the New Testament, actually means to destroy, as well as meaning to un-tie and set free. According to Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary, this Greek word means:
A primary verb; to “loosen” (literally or figuratively): - break (up), destroy, dissolve, (un-) loose, melt, put off. Compare G4486.

As Liberty points out – these are the kind of words that can be applied by a prayer warrior. But instead of going to battle with a foe that has already been defeated, Liberty suggested that prayers of loosing should be applied to the destroying of wrong beliefs, desires, motives and patterns of thinking – tearing down the strongholds that keep people bound. An example of this type of prayer would be, “I loose, crush, smash and destroy all negative patterns of thinking from me in Jesus Name.”

My Initial Experiences with Loosing and Binding

I read in one of Kenneth E. Hagin’s books that he would rebuke fear as if it was an evil spirit. I therefore applied my new-found knowledge of loosing and binding prayers to my emotions. I found to my delight that I could loose fear, anger, lust and the like. When I did this, I would experience a sense of lightness and relief from the negative emotions. However, these prayers failed to bring me complete freedom, as their effects in my life only seemed to be temporary.

The Lord revealed a lot to me along these lines which enabled me to attribute this type of prayer to the application of remission of sin. Again, the subject of remission of sin, let alone its practical application through faith, seems to have been neglected in the church.

I had struggled with my flesh nature, just as many other Christians do. Before I cam across the work of Liberty Savard, I tried to apply my faith teaching to the concept of sin. I reasoned that if Jesus had already bore our sicknesses on the cross, as a means of attaining the healing that was already ours in Him - then why couldn't I apply the same principal to freedom from sin? To facilitate this concept, I printed-out the whole of Romans 6 in The Living Bible and recited it to myself each day. I gave-up after a short while because it didn't seem to make any difference.

It took me some time to get started with loosing and binding and to see some results from my efforts. I suppose that the main reason for this was that I needed to understand more about the concept. I also had to learn more about what it was that I really needed to loose and bind.

When I read Liberty’s books, I felt that the typically quick prayers that she would pray just seemed to be like a mantra, something to recite parrot-fashion. I suppose that I just needed to learn more about this subject and to establish my own style of prayer that worked for me.

Liberty would often write that she would loose deception, bind her mind to the mind of Christ and bind herself to the will of God. This method, she would state, would work for her every time. She, and others, would pray this way in a variety of everyday situations in order to bring a state of clarity and peace to the situation.

In using these keys, you signal your intention to the Holy Spirit so that He can neutralize your sinful beliefs, attitudes, desires and motives - bringing peace, clarity, wisdom and love right there and then.

Teething Problems with Loosing and Binding Prayers

I felt that the power of these keys was dependent on faith, which is basically what you know, understand and believe – according to what is true. So I just considered the possibility that I did not have enough spiritual knowledge at that time.

I also found that my initial approach to loosing and binding was also hampered by my insistence on identifying the wrong causes of my problems, how they came about and the specific effects they had on my life.

I had become tangled-up in little details such as semantics and whether I should pray the prayers over and over again in one sitting, whether I should pray the same prayer everyday or just once a week and so on.

I used to get rather confused about what, exactly, I should loose and bind. Liberty Savard just seemed to know precisely what to loose and bind in the prayers she included in her books. She included “training-wheel” prayers that were tuned specifically for a particular purpose, such as overeating and dealing with “soul-ties”.

When I read the “training wheel” prayers in Liberty Savard’s books, I struggled to work out how she knew what to loose and what to bind. It all seemed rather fanciful and creative to me and I wondered how I could come to that place whereby I knew exactly what to loose and bind, in accordance with my own life’s requirements, rather than having to be “spoon-fed” from a book.
I could appreciate that some Christians just go through the motions of reciting pre-written prayers with hardly any understanding of what they mean and what they are meant to achieve; then they wonder why they do not bring about positive changes.

Another problem that arises is that Christians often pray selfish, soulish prayers out of hurting and needy souls. Because of this, many Christians have prayed amiss, resulting in unanswered prayer. This has left Christians seeking after the “secret” that will unlock the power of God in their life: reading the Bible more, memorising scripture, doing good works, behaviour modification, confessing scripture all day long and so on. But just a simple acknowledgement before the Lord regarding something that is truly important to Him, can bring about fast, even instantaneous, results.

Being able to receive from God is not just about confessing scripture promises and declaring that they are true and applicable to your own life. Being able to receive from God also requires that you surrender your will to the will of God as well as letting go of your own preconceived wrong beliefs, attitudes, motives, agendas and desires.

Otherwise, you are likely to ask for the wrong things or perhaps the right things but with the wrong motive and timing. It is these things that form the original sin that leads to disobedience and wrong behavioural patterns. This is why the loosing and binding prayers seem to be so important and why they seem to work so well.

I realised that God did not necessarily require for me to repeat verses of scripture verbatim. I felt that all that God wanted, a lot of the time, was for me to make a simple acknowledgement before Him. I think we have become conditioned to believe that in order to make God do anything on your behalf; you have to pray long-winded, arduous prayers for weeks on end – which is simply not the case. When it comes to prayer: it is all about quality - not quantity.

I found that my initial enthusiasm with loosing and binding began to wane, as I did not see the permanent results that I was seeking after.

Contrasting Faith Teaching with the Kingdom Keys

If I could of, I would have just stuck with the teaching of Kenneth E. Hagin and tried to implement his teaching directly into my life. However, it was not quite that simple, as I had a very well-established flesh nature which, through years of negative thinking, had created highly fortified strongholds in my consciousness.

During this time, most of the Christian books that I had on my bookshelves were written by these three authors, whom I trust a great deal: E.W. Kenyon, Kenneth E. Hagin and Liberty Savard.

I felt during this time that my work seemed to focus upon integrating the teaching of these three great Bible teachers, into my life. You may notice when you compare the works of Hagin and Kenyon, that there is some similarity in that they are Word of Faith teachers.

At first, it may seem that there is some disparity between the teaching of Hagin and Kenyon, with that of Liberty Savard. It seemed to be difficult to see where loosing and binding fitted in with the message of faith. It also seemed that Liberty Savard did not allude towards the message of faith as written in the books of Kenyon and Hagin.

I think what bothered me the most was that the loosing and binding prayers seemed to be an
ongoing process, something that one would do for the rest of your life. Liberty Savard would write that she had been praying these prayers for several years. Whereas, prayers of faith were declarations that you would make, just once, in order to obtain the answer.

The way I saw it was that the teaching of Liberty Savard provided the means whereby the believer who is struggling to implement the message of faith in his life, due to negative thinking and a troublesome and stubborn flesh nature, can use the Keys of the Kingdom to make the message of faith work for them. I believe that the message of loosing and binding is also mirrored, in a sense, in the teaching of Kenneth E. Hagin in the form of repentance and consecration.

Liberty Savard Online

I read on Liberty Savard’s Q&A website that some people had prayed these “training wheel” prayers and had experienced no results. I just felt that the reason for this was because people were praying these prayers with wrong understanding, attitudes and motives – reducing the prayers to a formula. Perhaps they were just praying these prayers to they could be blessed by God, how they want and when they want – something that will not work.

Liberty Savard operates a Q&A section of her ministry website http://www.libertysavard.com/. I can personally vouch for the fact that although she has a busy schedule, she takes the time and effort to answer questions that people might have. I sent her a message on the website and she got back to me quite quickly.

Liberty also distributes a monthly newsletter via her website. She also organises training for people to teach the Kingdom Keys principles.

I am, however, rather dismayed to find that there appear to be no user forums available on the internet; there seem to be no social networking websites that have established a community of people who pray these prayers. I struggle to understand why this is the case, because apparently, over a quarter of a million copies of Shattering Your Strongholds have been sold. Liberty’s books quote the testimonies of people around the world who have experienced significant results through praying these prayers.

Returning To the Kingdom Keys

It wasn’t until about three or four years after reading Liberty’s first book, that I read her second book, Breaking the Power, that my enthusiasm for the kingdom keys was renewed. After just a third of the way through that amazing book, I felt that I gained a profound new understanding of the workings of my unredeemed nature. I was then able to see more clearly that my attitudes and motives had been wrong.

I had refined my understanding of the divine nature and the unredeemed nature. My attitudes and motives had also gained a thorough overhaul. I put this refinement of my way of thinking, down to the understanding I had gained through the teaching of others and through my own studies. During that time, I had hardly prayed at all, not because I didn’t want to, but because I felt that I simply could not do it.

I still wonder to this day if my refined understanding could have been facilitated by simple loosing and binding prayers. But I knew from reading Liberty Savard’s books, that it is not just about giving people a brief introduction to loosing and binding, followed by a series of example prayers. If that was the case, then the three books which formed the Keys to the Kingdom Trilogy - could have been reduced to a single pamphlet!

I knew that the content of Liberty’s books was geared towards correct praying and to correct understanding as well. It is important to expose yourself to good Biblical teaching that will challenge the way you think and to get your attitudes and motives straightened-out.
Up to that point, I had not really tried the loosing and binding prayers, with a great deal of seriousness. But now I felt motivated to pray these prayers again in earnest.

I was once again astonished that my efforts produced immediate results. I did not pray the “training wheel” prayers out of the book, but I quickly got going again with the kingdom key principles of loosing and binding, especially loosing, to dispense with negative emotions and wrong patterns of thinking in order to bring about immediate relief.