Chains Fall, Trees Rise: Freeing Faith From The Religious Nazis
2026-02-05 Good morning. I woke early today and the Lord woke something inside me—an image, a charge, and a simple invitation: be planted, bear fruit, rise. I want to speak plainly to you now as one who has walked this path, wrestled with religion, and learned that obedience begins with small acts. This is a word for those who feel bound, for the ones feeling stifled in places that should have released them.
The vision: from chains to trees
Picture a foggy graveyard just after midnight. Opaque figures stand there, heavy iron chains clinging to them. One by one the chains shatter and fall. When each chain hits the ground, the figure becomes a mighty tree planted beside a river — strong, rooted, producing fruit in every season.
This is not abstract poetry. It is a prophetic picture tied to Scripture: the threatened soul set free becomes stability, fruit, and influence. Chains represent religious control, fear, judgment & hurt and systems that keep people small. Trees represent life, fruitfulness, and an anchored people who prosper no matter the season.
Psalm 1: a map for becoming a tree
Psalm 1 lays it out simply. The blessed person avoids the counsel of the wicked, delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates on it day and night. The result? They are like a tree planted by streams of water: leaves that do not wither and fruit in every season.
- Avoid wicked counsel: Be careful where you drink spiritual advice. Too much prophecy that is opinionated or sensational becomes junk food that rots your guts. Come back to the Word that formed you.
- Delight in the law of the Lord: Delight is not duty. It is the heart learning to love what made it. Meditation brings roots.
- Daily practice: Small, consistent acts of obedience are the way trees grow. Do not despise small beginnings.
Luke 6: the kingdom ethic above religion
Luke 6 shows Jesus exposing religious control and prioritizing life over rules. When the Pharisees criticized his disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus pointed to human need and mercy. When he healed a man with a deformed hand on the Sabbath, he confronted religious hypocrisy eye to eye. He asked, "Is this a day to do good or to do evil?" and then he healed.
Jesus’ posture toward religion was not to destroy faith but to free it from the religious nazis. He called out leaders who used rules to control rather than love. When you are planted like a tree by the river, your life will make that kind of common-sense mercy easy: you will heal, liberate, and bring life even when it irritates the religious police.
When church becomes a cage: a personal snapshot
I spent years in a large church where I served in many ways—greeter, cleaner, leader. I loved the place. I was loyal. But as God grew something inside me—gifts to heal fear, call out bondage, lead prophetic prayer—I found a limit. The leadership valued order and image more than permitting the gifts God was bringing to life. When I asked to steward a ministry to break fear and depression, the response was subtle but clear: "That's not your lane."
That moment was the day I knew I had to move. Not in rebellion, but in obedience. I took a four-week sabbatical. I followed a series of small obediences. God kept opening doors. A daily call began with 12 minutes. It grew. The small yeses expanded the field. Chains fell.
Practical steps: how to get planted
If you feel bound, here are practical, obedient steps that will get your roots into the river:
- Return to the Word. Let Scripture saturate you more than any sensational prophecy feed. Slow-read passages. Chew them. Let them ferment in your soul.
- Do one small act of obedience today. Speak a simple decree, pray for one person, give one offering of kindness. Small seeds become trees.
- Resist religious pressure that chokes growth. If your environment quashes the gifts God is maturing in you, be brave enough to step into a new season.
- Practice daily worship. Praise is your high value weapon. It clears atmospheres and sends spirits of heaviness fleeing.
- Find companions. Roots that interweave with other trees prevent you from toppling when storms come. Do life with people who will grow with you, not hold you small.
Kingdom people for a tectonic season
We are entering — or already in — a season of shifting. Nations will shake, systems will be exposed, and many will reject religion because they have never seen what God truly is. That creates an opportunity. Kingdom people who are planted will demonstrate signs, wonders, and the practical love of God. The lost are not won only by argument. They are drawn by an experience of life that cannot be explained away.
God is looking for people who will say yes and then do the small things until the big things become possible. You will not be fully equipped at once. You will be equipped by faithfulness in square one until you are ready for square two. Keep saying yes.
What to do if you’re trapped by religion
- Recognize it: religion often controls through fear, shame, and performance.
- Refuse its authority over your obedience to God.
- Step into communities that value healing and freedom over image management.
- Practice ministry in your backyard—neighbors, workplace, people you meet. Start small. Do the thing.
Final invitation
Chains are shattering. I saw it this morning. The Lord has shown me graveyards being transformed into forests. You are not meant to be stuck. You are meant to be a planted tree beside the river: leaves green, fruit abundant, roots deep, standing through every storm.
If you are unsure where to begin, begin where David began: play your harp in the presence of the one who hears. Praise will change atmospheres. A single act of obedience will start the unrolling of the scroll of your life. Keep showing up. Keep saying yes. Keep growing until the small becomes mighty.