Be Free Workshop Session 3
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Introduction
By now you would have completed Session 2 and 3. But if you're new with this session. There will be so many tips here that will bless you even if you haven't done the other sessions. But I encourage you to check out the previous Sessions as well.
It would've been a little confronting the last 2 sessions. But it was absolutely necessary because we all need a good foundation, and one based on God's truth. Without a good foundation we can't build anything else. Our foundations hold everything together.
A definition for foundation is; an underlying basis or principle.
So before we can move on to anything else we need the right foundation. Everything else flows from that. That's the underlying basis or principle.( Which is the Word of God)
I hope by going through the worksheets you have come to understand the truth. If by any chance you are lost a bit on what you have just done. Please contact me via my facebook page or website. I would love to help you make sense of it all.
You may have come to realise that this is just the beginning of stepping into all God has for you. As I have shared before, there will be a fight for your faith. So the last session was about bringing an awareness to you that you need to know the truth to be set free. Now you have gone through scriptures to counteract the lies and renounce them and choose to walk in faith. Now it's about daily walking out this process.
Last Session may have been key for you and you're now feeling so much freedom. Or you may find that you need to walk this out more. Don't worry, I had to do the latter too. Read the below again.
Romans 12:1-2 says Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Firstly in the above scripture you see God is saying that you need to live for him by offering your bodies to him. Now this is not going to be an easy thing for some of you. As it's going to take a lot of work and commitment to Jesus and His word. After all this is what a disciple of Christ does. We get the word disciple from the word discipline. So reading His word daily and surrendering to Him is something we all have to do as Christians and as a discipline.
I will say though, that the above will become a delight to you and won't be a chore. You have been running your own show for a while in your mind and life, so it may feel like your flesh is fighting you. But you will conquer it. All discipline is hard at first. Hebrews 12:11 says “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it”. Now I'm sure you want that righteousness and peace this scripture is talking about.
I had gotten so bad that I was willing to pray all day if I had to and read the word everyday. Many days that's exactly what i did. I want to encourage you, that it didn't take too long before God really began to speak to me through His word everyday. So then it became a delight to do. So I encourage you, offer your time and body to God.
Secondly with Romans 12:1-2, You need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is the process that never stops. Even after repenting, renouncing and knowing the truth. We are always going from Glory to Glory and faith to faith until we are in heaven. So be encouraged if you're still struggling with your thoughts because you're in a process. Meaning you are making progress even if you don't feel it.
I want to talk about 3 subjects in this session which were so important on my freedom journey. Without any of these processes I wouldn't have made it I believe. The Holy Spirit helped me apply these as needed. They were;
Prayer (in tongues);
Filling the mind; and
Dealing with anxiety and fear.
Also another subject which was important was deliverance. But I’ll keep that for a whole session by itself.
Filling your mind
Let me start with filling the mind. This section was very pivotal for my process. The bible says in 2 Corinthian 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. This is a very important scripture in learning to refuse to let the wrong belief systems come back. This is what we did in the last session. We replaced the lies with truth.
But what if, you can't stop your thoughts from going negative still? Well, that only shows you that you need to retrain your thoughts still(renewing the mind). Hopefully by the last session you have got free from deceptions but now you have to retrain the mind. This may seem like an overwhelming job like it did for me. But like i've said many times, “He did it for me, so He will for you too”.
This didn't happen overnight. In fact, I read the word daily still, to keep myself in Him and the truth. When I was in the process, I thought I would never change. My own thoughts overwhelmed me. (I will make a video to explain to the degree of how toxic my thoughts were at times so you can have hope. The enemy really tried to kill me, but it didn't work)
But God was faithful to me in this process, I was reading through Job and I came across this scripture;
Job 11:12
An empty-headed person won’t become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear a human child.
A light bulb came on for me! I had been keeping my head empty all the time! And that was not the way to wisdom. This scripture was like a savior to me. From that moment, I needed to work on keeping my mind filled. And God reminded me of this scripture in this process;
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.
My mind had still been all over the shop but now I had something to work with. I broke down this scripture and began to apply it. I began to remind myself of these things and chose to meditate on the lovely etc. You can do the same too. Maybe right now you need to write down a “go to” list of things to meditate on when your mind is all over the shop. This may help you a lot. Do it now if you like. Write down things that are;
True
Noble
Right
Pure
Lovely
Admirable
excellent
praiseworthy
Some of the things I chose to think on were, I had beautiful children, a husband, God had definitely got my attention, He had answered many of my prayers etc. But there were times in the middle of fear, anxiety and panic that I couldn't think of anything good. In those times I would begin to thank him for everything I could see like the blue sky etc.
An empty mind is not good. So you will need to fill it. When I had trouble trying to fill my mind, I would speak out loud scriptures, sing them or just thank God for the good. I would encourage you to do the same. Try and remember a number of scripture you can quote whenever you need. Use some of the scripture from session 2 worksheet if you like. If you read the word daily, God will begin to give you more and more scripture as you go along too. This is what I want you to work on as part of this session. This won't be a quick fix but it will begin to give you peace.
Also i would encourage you to get a good bible reading plan you can do daily. That has been a life saver for me. In fact, about 8 years ago (2011) I had a dream of a lady called Wendy giving me a book with 365 on it. I asked God what this meant. The name Wendy means Friend, and I felt God said to me “if you will read through my word in 365 day we will become good friends”. Wow! This amazed me. But it took me a few more years to apply that word, but now i’m more than 5 years into it and i'll never stop. And God has become my friend and so much more.
You can see here the sovereignty of God to get you free. All along the way He gives us dreams, signs, wonders, encouragement for the process. He will do the same for you. He is so for you to win!
Dealing with anxiety and fear.
A lot of an unrenewed mind can be based in anxiety and fears. Hopefully doing Session 2 helped you identify most of your fears and anxieties so you can refuse to think that way anymore. Many anxieties and fears we don't alway know where they are coming from. Some are just outright attacks from the pit of hell and actually most are! But Praise God we know how to deal with them in Christ.
This was a very big thing I had to learn. Especially not allowing fears and anxieties to rule my life. But God helped me very simply. Let me explain.
I had to realise that fear was not my inheritance as a child of God. (2 Timothy 1:7 says ‘For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”).
The bible says, Do not fear many times. So if God commands that I shouldn't fear, then that must mean I can do it. (he wouldn't ask me to do something i couldn't do)
I then decided to make a decision not to fear. Sometimes quoting scripture to do this too.
I have a free will, so God made it clear to me that I could choose to obey him with my free will, by not choosing fear. This brought a lot of confidence once I made this decision and applied it many times. It settled me down in many overwhelming situations too. It was like a clarity to me. “I don't have to fear right now” was a comfort when the attacks on the mind came.
But this alone didn't always solve the problem for me. Next God spoke to me about Philipians 4:6-7;
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”.
This scripture I read slowly to see what it meant and broke it down. This was how i processed it;
Firstly “Be anxious for nothing”. So God is saying, I can choose not to be anxious. So I began to make a decision to not be anxious. When anxiety came on, I decided not to do it. He assured me that I can do this, that I have a free will to choose. This was my first step when fear and anxiety hit, then I did the second step.
Secondly, “But in everything by prayers and supplication”. This was very important, because I found this took away a large amount of anxiety in asking God for help. I probably didn't realise, but I hardly ever asked God to help in times of anxiety and fear. I used to try and be strong. But what i didn’t realise is that i was my strongest when i was my weakest. What do you mean, you say? Well in 2 Corinthians 10:9 it says; But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
What do you mean? Well God’s grace works on your behalf with his power to overcome, when you admit your weak and need Him. So being dependent on Him makes you strong because He comes through with His power and grace. Also when you pray about your problems, anxiety and fears, you are giving your cares to God so he can carry your burdens and yours now, become lighter.(1 Peter 5:7 and Matthew 11:30) He is helping you now. Isn’t this wonderful. It was great not to feel alone in this. He was our Helper. (John 14:26)
I often asked the Holy Spirit to help me do the above, and even asked Him to help me ignore the enemy so I could focus on Jesus. As I knew I couldn't do anything in my own strength. I knew the Holy Spirit wanted to help me as my helper, so I lent into Him a lot. Especially in my weakest times. I would say, “Holy Spirit, i can't do this, can you please help me etc” I would even get specific on what to help with, like strength, peace, joy, love etc. This was life and peace for me. But the third step was probably the most important.
Thirdly “with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. This was the knock out punch! Seriously, I wouldn't stop thanking God until peace came. So know no matter how long this step takes, God promises that peace will come. So I would sometimes thank Him for everything I could think of literally! Sometimes fear, panic, anxiety would be hitting hard, and in those moments I would find it hard to think of anything to thank Him for. So I would begin by thanking Him for everything I could see around me, roof over my head, blue sky, breath in my lungs etc. Soon I would be able to thank him for so many other things, especially things He had done for me. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding would guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
This was the process I applied to this scripture. It worked every time, but sometimes I really had to thank Him a lot. But I pushed through all the feelings until I got His peace. He always showed Himself faithful. I'll show you a example of how you would apply this to your life;
Example;
I'm in fear of my children etc.
I make a decision not to be anxious;
I say to God, I give you all my burdens right now for the children.
I ask God to give me peace;
I ask God to protect, meet their needs or fix the problem;
Then I would then begin to thank God for every time he had come through for me, one by one, until peace completely came.
Sometimes I was also in fear of my own thoughts and anxious about being anxious. So I would talk to the Holy Spirit about this and ask for help with that as well. My fears were not always rational fears but irrational. I was learning to walk out of deception so not all my fears I had learnt were real. I had to retrain my mind. But God help me process them, cast them down and renew my thought patterns. And make new thought patterns.
This may take some time applying to your life. Please offer your bodies as a living sacrifice to Him. It will get easier one day. I've never been the same after breaking through. It really does get easier. And if you feel you are really struggling with no progress. I suggest you hold on, to the session on deliverance and fasting. This will definitely help amazingly. It did with me. Let's talk more about one of the most powerful secret weapons I believe.
Praying (in Tongues)
By now you have learnt a little about prayer(talking to God). But we are going to go deeper. At this point, I encourage you, if you have not received the gift of praying in tongues. Seek it out! Seriously, this was a gift to me. Read Acts 2 and then ask God for the Gift. If you like, contact your pastor or myself and we will pray with you for the Gift. I've seen many people receive this gift. It’s a delight to see this.
Why do I say the above? Because read below;
Romans 8:26-27
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
I hope you understood that? It's saying, when we don't know what to pray, the spirit prays through us, according to the perfect will of God. In other words, Gods praying through us the perfect prayer that needs to be prayed, even when we don't know what that is. Does that sound hopeful? I hope it does to you. It does for me, because sometimes nobody knows what to pray or how to pray but the Holy Spirit through tongues and groaning does.
Have you ever wondered why someone can get so much counselling done yet still be in bondage? Well the truth is, sometimes humans do not know the roots to many things because God is the only one who knows what's in our hearts.
Acts 15:8
And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;
Psalms 139:1-7
You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
Read Psalms 139 in full yourself it says so beautifully, that God is the one who created us and knows all about us. So no matter how deep someone tries to dig into your world, sometimes it's only God that knows what’s really going on. So that is why the Gift of praying in tongues will help you immensely.
I was fortunate enough to get filled with the Holy Spirit very early on in my salvation. It was God’s protection for me, I believe. He knew the battle I was going to go through and He knew I was going to need this gift to help me through. (Hence, the Holy Spirit knowing what to pray through me to help me get free)
I listened to a few good teachings of praying in tongues and I also listened to an encouraging word about Resistance Training. At the time it seemed so timely for me. What it showed me was that the battles I was going through were kinda like building muscles. You don't see the rewards in life unless you're prepared to pay the price. But you need to just look at it as if you're getting stronger. When you do weights you don't see the rewards in your body unless you go through the pain, consistency and dedication. So this encouraged me to pray lots and not give up when it was hard.
At first praying in tongues, my mind felt like it was getting worse. This discouraged me at first until I hit rock bottom. When I hit rock bottom, I didn't know what else to do but pray non stop in tongues. I thought “what have I got to lose?’. I'm not sure when the shift happened, but maybe a week or 2 etc I began to feel lighter in myself and stronger in spirit. A joy was coming back and a hope. I later realized that, my thoughts getting worse in the beginning, was just the enemy coming on stronger to stop me praying in tongues. I had found a secret weapon and it was God now praying through me, the perfect prayers for myself and others. Not only that, but I found it helped my mind stay stead too.
This Gift at times has helped me clean myself up too. It brought offenses or hurts to the surface so I could acknowledge them, repent and forgive. It is truly a gift to help us. In much warfare this has been my go to strategy because often we don't see what's going on in the spiritual realm. But the Holy Spirit does. This also activates another gift of intercession in your life.
Praying in tongues will set you up for destiny, many miracles, divine appointments. The bible says in Jude to build yourself up in this gift. It also helps keep you in the love of God. Here are some more scripture to confirm what I said.
Jude 20-22
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
2 Corinthian 14:4
Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church.
I often had sleepless nights, weird oppressions and difficulties but I set myself to pray in tongues all day if I had to. One time I didn't really sleep the night before. That morning I had our children to look after and I had a really bad pain in my kidney area. I decided I needed to pray in tongues all day just to get through. I was always concerned about my sleep and my husband as well, but I refused to let fear get on me. Through that day the pain got worse and worse. I thought to God, it's not my time yet. As i had a strong evil presence saying i was going to die, mixed with a lot of fear as well.
I figure this is all a lie, God's got stuff for me to do yet, so ignore it without telling my husband or anyone. I was absolutely exhausted and tired by around-about 8pm. I was mentally exhausted too. Praying in tongues all day took a lot of denying myself. I would think “this is too hard”, but I would just keep pushing through.
At bed time I flopped on the bed in even more pain. I really had anxiety hitting hard and fear. My husband was in bed already so I couldn't talk to God out loud. So I began in my head with Philipians 4:6-7. Be anxious for nothing etc. I went through the process of applying this scripture. Asking God to take away my pain, help me with all the lies the enemy was screaming at me etc. I did the process and then began to start thanking him for everything etc. And after a little while a miracle happened. All of a sudden a massive white glow came into the room like it was filling the room. This light had no beginning and no end; it was everywhere and was Jesus. In that instant the pain miraculously disappeared and I went to sleep instantly. After Jesus appeared all I remembered was waking up in the morning with the pain completely gone. And It never came back again.
Was this the tongues or was this the application of scripture that did this? Neither, this was Jesus. And applying His word is what gives us access to Him because we are His children. That's why we must obey and believe His word. So all the above is about being a disciple of Jesus. I encourage you to do all the above with the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit wants to pray through you, what you can’t pray for you and others. The more I am in ministry the more I realise we don't have a clue what we are doing. Lets understand and admit God knows all things and sometimes we get things wrong. The worst thing we can do as children of God is put issues and labels on people that are not true. And a lot of well meaning christians do that. I don't think they mean to, but ive seen a lot of people stay in bondgage because christian thought they knew what the problem was, when they didn't. I've also seen a lot of people get hurt because of these wrong assumptions and even new teachings. We need to have the fear of the Lord when disciple people. And we need to point them to Jesus and teach them to go to Jesus and not ourselves. I’ll share more on that in the session about setting others free.
Things to apply in this session;
Fill your mind with the right thoughts (use that list you made if need be);
Read the word daily, get a good bible plan, journal if that helps with remembering more;
Go through the process in dealing with fear and anxiety as explained (You can do it); and
Created a habit of praying in tongues, don't be afraid to pray non stop if needed. As the word of God says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray without ceasing”
Looking forward to our next session.