“The anointing shall break the yoke.” Although the prophecy of Isaiah 10:27 was fulfilled historically in the defeat of the Assyrians, it foreshadowed the power of God’s anointing to break all yokes of bondage on His people. The word “anointing” in this verse is better translated “fatness” (as in the NIV and other bible translations).
The word “fatness” is descriptive of a nation, group or person that is blessed. Picture the rippling muscles and shine of a well-toned human body, or the sleek coat of a healthy animal. The verse could be translated: “The bondage shall be broken because of the blessing.” Back in my dairy-farming days we attached a collar with a stick that hung vertically to the neck of a heifer that had a habit of pushing its way through wire fences. The stick prevented the animal from slipping through horizontally strung wire fences (yet did not prevent it from grazing).
The yokes of spiritual or cultural bondage on us work much the same way. We learn to live with limiting restrictions that become a problem when we try to break through into a new area of spiritual power and development
But imagine a heifer that grows to become so healthy that by its very strength no collar is strong enough to remain attached, leaving it free to break through any fence. Likewise, the Lord has used me to break off bondages from people in the Name of Jesus by the power of the Spirit of God. But if the spiritual health of the believer that wore the yoke did not improve, either the old bondage would come back, or it would be replaced by one harder to break.
So, the answer is not so much to break off bondages in the first instance but rather to develop so well and strong in the blessings of God that we become so spiritually healthy that we are beyond restraint and so able to break off or through any limitation.
How to become that healthy? Love God completely. Read the Bible devotionally. Pray fervently! Follow Jesus fully. Allow the Spirit of God to lead daily. God’s favour is His face. In ancient times, when an emperor or king turned his face toward a person and looked at him or her with favour, that person had gained acceptance.
If you don’t feel quite so strong, then read the first chapter of the New Testament book of Ephesians. Then read it again. And again. Read it until you know the chapter’s every meaning.
The really good thing about Ephesians — the thing that lifts us to the highest level spiritually — is that only after the apostle informs us of Who we are, What we are, and Where we are in our ascended Lord Jesus in heavenly places does he deal with our down-to-earth problems.
If we were to put Paul’s words into farming terms — into Isaiah 10:27 terms — Paul does not inform us only as to how to break off yokes of bondage, but how to become so strong in the Lord that any bondage the enemy tries to impose on us does not fit — much less remain! Our unrestricted freedom enables us to break through any limit into new ‘fields’ of spiritual authority and power. Bondage? Don’t even try, devil, because the anointing in me will enable me to reject it without having to break it!