A pastor uses the carnival elephant story to explain how Christians stay spiritually trapped. The elephant was chained as a calf and never breaks free even when strong enough, because it believes it can't. The real prison is the lie that you're powerless; freedom comes from understanding who you are in Christ.
Many Christians are stuck in spiritual bondage because they think like elephants. At the town carnival, a man was observing an elephant held captive by a short rope and a stake in the ground. Wondering how such a weak device could bind the large, strong animal, he turned to the elephant's keeper, saying, surely this elephant could free itself with even just a fractional use of its strength. How do you keep it bound in this way? The keeper explained, ever since this elephant was young and small, it was tied in place by a stake and a rope. When it was weaker, the rope was strong enough to hold it. Now that it's stronger, it stays in place simply because it doesn't know it could break the rope and go free. The only power the enemy can have over you is the power he can deceive you into giving to him. I don't mean that one can simply think themselves into freedom. I mean that when a believer knows who they are in Christ and lives accordingly, they live in freedom.
