How To Break Soul Ties In Christianity

Soul ties are emotional bonds that connect you to another person. In Christianity, harmful soul ties should be broken so your relationship with God can grow. If you feel chained to someone or something preventing your spiritual growth, there are biblical steps you can take to cut these unhealthy ties.

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: According to the Bible, you can break unhealthy soul ties through confession, repentance, forgiveness, and deliverance through Jesus Christ.

What Are Soul Ties?

Soul ties are deep emotional connections formed between people, often occurring in romantic relationships or friendships. While soul ties can be positive, binding two people together in love and intimacy, they can also be unhealthy attachments that prevent believers from wholly devoting themselves to God.

Emotional Connections to Others

When two people share an intensely emotional experience or bond very closely, whether physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually, a soul tie forms. This tie connects their souls, binding them together on a deep level.

Soul ties can form between friends, romantic partners, and even with abusers or manipulators. They create a pathway for two people’s souls to connect, often in unconscious ways.

Common ways soul ties form include:

• Sexual intimacy
• Very close friendships
• Deep communication, sharing secrets
• Traumatic experiences
• Abusive or manipulative relationships

Soul ties can create feelings like another person understands you completely or you can’t imagine living without someone. They make people feel connected, bound together, but can also manifest through feelings of obligation, guilt, or emotional dependence.

Can Be Healthy or Unhealthy

Soul ties themselves are neutral – they can be positive or negative depending on the relationship. Ties formed in healthy marriages or friendships can bring partners closer together through genuine intimacy.

However, unhealthy soul ties can control believers’ thoughts, decisions, and lives if they put devotion to another person over God.

Signs of an unhealthy soul tie include:

• Obsessive thoughts about the person
• Feeling like you can’t live without them
• Compromising your values, boundaries, or priorities to maintain the relationship
• Feeling guilt, anger, or resentment when setting boundaries
• Unable to let go of romantic feelings, even when married or committed to another

Though even healthy soul ties require wise boundaries, toxic ties demand deliverance through God. As 1 Corinthians 6:16 states, “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.'”

This verse illustrates sexual soul ties, but the same principle applies for unhealthy emotional attachments.

Prevent Total Devotion to God

The greatest danger of unhealthy soul ties is they prevent believers from wholly devoting themselves to God. When obsessed over a person, it’s impossible to place God first in your heart and mind. Destructive relationships keep Christians trapped in cycles of manipulation or codependency.

Romans 6:16 states, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.”

Unhealthy soul ties enslave believers to other people, rather than living in the freedom of the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, our highest call is loving devotion to God above all else, including romantic love. As Jesus says in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”

Our soul ties should always align under the lordship of Christ.

Signs of Unhealthy Soul Ties

Unable to Let Go of a Relationship

One major sign of an unhealthy soul tie is the inability to let go of a past romantic relationship, even after the relationship has clearly ended. A person may continue pineing for their ex, constantly thinking about them, and hoping to reconnect.

According to relationship experts, this indicates an unhealthy emotional dependency that binds two people together.As Focus on the Family explains, soul ties can create obsessive fixation on an ex. Breaking free requires hard work to regain self-identity and independence.

Losing Identity in Another

People in co-dependent relationships often struggle with soul ties because they start losing their own identity and sense of self. Rather than two separate individuals choosing to be together, the relationship becomes enmeshed, with the couple functioning as one unit.

Without personal boundaries, individuals give up their own interests, values, and connections to mainly focus on their partner and relationship needs. As Peaceful Wives discusses, this lack of separateness makes it extremely difficult to break free from an unhealthy soul tie after a breakup.

Addictively Obsessed

Unhealthy soul ties can lead to obsessive thoughts about a person and addictive behaviors regarding the relationship. A Baylor University study on divorced adults found that 30% experienced obsessive yearning and emotional dependency on their ex post-divorce.

This addiction to love and inability to move forward often indicates a strong but damaging soul tie. Counseling and inner healing prayer can help break this tie over time. As Hebrews 12:15 states, we must guard our hearts to avoid “a root of bitterness” poisoning us.

Steps to Break Toxic Soul Ties

Confess and repent

The first step to breaking unhealthy soul ties is to confess and repent before God for entering into the relationship (1 John 1:9). This requires humbly admitting wrongdoing and asking God for forgiveness. Once repentance occurs, God’s grace can cover the sin.

Forgive others

Additionally, we must forgive the other people involved and release them from offense. Forgiveness frees us emotionally so we can move forward. As Christ forgave us, we must also forgive others (Colossians 3:13). This can be challenging but is vital for healing.

Pray for deliverance through Jesus

After confession and forgiveness, focused prayer helps break soul ties. We can pray openly from the heart or use pre-written deliverance prayers. Calling on Jesus’ power and authority is key. As we pray, visualizing cutting the spiritual tie is helpful.

Some report feeling an emotional or physical release when the tie breaks.

Replace with Godly ties

The final step is replacing ungodly ties with pure ones centered on God. We can redeem the relationship loss through increased prayer, Scripture reading, worship, Christian fellowship, and service. God promises relationships where we feel loved, valued and empowered for Kingdom purpose.

Breaking toxic ties requires honesty, courage and persevering faith. With God’s help, we can sever unhealthy bonds and connect in new ways. While challenging at first, this liberates us to live fully aligned with Christ’s best for our relationships and destiny.

To learn more, visit the resource page at Soul Ties Ministry.

Developing Godly Soul Ties

Build relationship with God

Developing a close relationship with God is the foundation for forming healthy soul ties as a Christian. Here are some tips to build your bond with the Lord:

• Spend time daily in prayer and Bible reading. Set aside quiet time to speak with God and let His Word transform you. Start with 15 minutes a day.
• Attend church regularly to worship God and hear biblical teaching. Being part of a faith community will strengthen your walk.
• Participate in church ministries to serve others. This allows you to live out your faith and be the hands and feet of Jesus.
• Obey God’s commands and follow Jesus’ example. As you become more Christlike, your connection with God grows.
• Develop the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These qualities please God.

As you pursue an intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father, He will guide you toward relationships that honor Him.

Join a Christian community

Finding community with other believers is a vital way to develop godly soul ties. Here are some suggestions:

• Join a small group Bible study to discuss Scripture and pray together. Share struggles and victories together.
• Find a trustworthy mentor in the faith. Their wisdom can help you avoid poor choices.
• Make friendships with other Christians committed to spiritual growth. Encourage each other in love.
• Attend a solid Bible-based church. Fall in love with the people of God.
• Look for ministry teams and volunteer groups to serve with at church. Unity in purpose builds bonds.
• Participate in church retreats, conferences or short-term mission trips. Immersive experiences unite hearts.

Surrounding yourself with other believers who lift you up in Christ will help you form connections that honor God rather than hurt you.

Serve others in Christ

One of the best ways to develop healthy bonds is to serve others together in Jesus’ name. Consider these ideas:

• Do local outreach as a church like feeding the homeless, visiting prisons or comforting the elderly. Sharing God’s love unites you.
• Go on an overseas mission trip to spread the gospel and help those in need. Working alongside other Christians in the field bonds you together.
• Use your gifts and talents to volunteer on the church worship team, tech crew, hospitality team, or childcare. Serving unites you.
• Lead a small group, Bible study, or discipleship group to spiritually invest in others. Discipling and mentoring creates ties.
• Organize a neighborhood bible study or prayer group. Reaching out together builds relationships.

As iron sharpens iron, Christians grow stronger united in service and outreach. Partnering with other believers to share the gospel forges ties that honor God.

Conclusion

Clinging onto unhealthy relationships can hinder your faith. Through prayer, repentance, and deliverance in Jesus, you can break harmful soul ties. Replace them by nurturing your relationship with God and devoting your life to serving Him and others. This will help you form strong, godly soul ties.