Be Free Workshop Session 1
https://www.facebook.com/befreemin/videos/238075967237266/
Video link above to go with this.
Introduction
John 8:31-32
So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
I believe we all want to know the truth. Who wants to believe a lie? The sad thing is that many people walk around believing lies all the time. Sometimes they wonder “why haven’t I got the victory yet”. But the truth is, they must be believing a lie. I know this because of the above the scripture.
My journey wasn’t an easy one. I came from a very difficult past, but today I am set free. It's not because I am someone special, but because I read the above scripture, and others and believed it. In this workshop I want to share with you my journey, and how Jesus began to set me free. I will share how;
I got out of deep deception (the process);
How to walk in faith;
How to apply truth;
How to embrace, who God made you to be;
and later, how YOU can set others free too.
The bible says in John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.
The Gospel of Jesus is the best news you will ever hear! It really is Good News. It can take someone who is a drug addict/prisoner/mentally ill and transform them into a new creation. That is what it did for me. So come on this journey with me.
Session One
Before we can know the truth sometimes, we need to know the truth about ourselves. So that means getting honest with yourself in what you actually believe. Sometimes you can even deceive yourself in what you believe. It can be that deep. But praise God, we can’t deceive Him. He knows all things and is very patient with us. That is why the Word of God is such an important part in our freedom walk. We need to abide in it daily, to get free and stay free. Jesus will reveal the truth to you.
So truth is what we need, and Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life”. So knowing His word is imperative. But there is also a flip side you need to know. Are you wondering what it is? I hope so. It’s knowing what deception is too. This was a crucial part in my freedom process. Because the moment I discovered I was deceived, that was the moment I stopped being deceived.
Interesting isn’t it? You see, many people tried telling me the truth when I was younger. But I just couldn't believe them. Why? Because I was deceived. When you're deceived, you don't know you're deceived. And that's why you're deceived.
So in the process of getting free, you need to know that you may be deceived. If you're not walking in freedom after coming to Christ. You are deceived! You say, “How can you say that”. To make it easier, it's something that I had to realise too. And the bible says in John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”.
Maybe you think “that's not true, look at my life”. Well, then you need to decide if Jesus is a liar or not. Big decision right? Hmmm. Well that is why I'm going to walk you through the process I went through. It’s not easy sometimes. I’ll tell you that now. But if many others and I can did it, you can too.
So let’s look at the definition of deception, it means;
The action of deceiving someone;
A thing that deceives.
And the definition of deceive means;
the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.
So to deceive someone, you are concealing or misrepresenting truth. Would you say that’s correct? I hope you said “yes”, because you're right. But how have you been deceived? Could that be “You too?”. Maybe. Because coming to Christ, we all have a bit of junk. And sometimes that junk needs to be sorted out.
You may have made a decision for Christ, but you don’t know all you need to know about Jesus yet. So you have to get to know him more. You do this by reading His Word and prayer. The Bible says that you have to go through the process of “renewing the mind”. (Romans 12:2 says “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”).
So it’s safe to say that you don't know him that well yet, if you're a new christian? “Yes”. So you could be believing some lies still? Maybe. But what if you have been a christians for years? Surely you can’t be deceived? Well, that all depends on you. I've met many, christians that are still deceived in areas and aren’t walking in victory. Why? Well let me explain.
We live in a world that is giving you lots of messages everyday. Not all of them are from God. And you are having to process them. Well that’s “if” you are processing them. Sometimes, life is just going a little too fast and you may be missing the little messages you are receiving all the time. Maybe you're too tired to even consider them at all.
In this case, even mature christians can get weighed down by little messages constantly and start to take on wrong belief systems about themself(or others). This is why it's so important to stay in the Word of God. (Ephesians 5:26 (niv) “to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word”).
We can all fall susceptible to lies. Especially when they come from people we know or are close to us. The bible says 2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”. There will be times we realise, we didn't know the fullness of God yet. In those moments, we were going from one Glory to the next. I share this, so you never feel condemned if you have believed a lie. We are always going, From Glory to Glory, Strength to Strength and Faith to Faith.
The Good news is, the bible says in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”. You will find Jesus. You will find the truth. Just don't give up!! He promises that you will find him, “do it with all your heart”. You may feel, your heart isn't there yet. Don't despair. There is grace for you too. You may have just believed a lie.
A lot of the time, we don't realise we have believed a lie. That's why we are deceived. I was like that for many years as a christian. I felt like there was something wrong with me. And there was!! I was living under lies the enemy had fed me.
I remember God spoke to me on new years eve of 2011. He said, something was going to happen in May this year. I doubted what I was hearing. As you do when you're deceived. But this seemed hopeful anyway.
May came and we had 2 well-known speakers come to our church to preach. I remember thinking “maybe they will give me a word”. Well they came, and it was good. I did get a word from both. But that wasn't what God was saying. Later that month I realised what God was saying.
I went through some really hard times mentally and emotionally at that time, and was on medication. The enemy was really going after my mind. But Praise God, my husband gave this book called “the Bongage Breaker” by Neil T Anderson to read. I remembered this book. I had slightly read through it before.
I had a bit of time on my hands being at home with little children. So I read it. This book was like a huge eye opener for me. Let me share something from it in my own word (please by all means read the book too);
In the book he explains how the enemy works. The enemy works through giving you thoughts that are not your own. Intrusive thoughts. The battlefield is in the mind. But he also explains how the enemy works most practically. Here is how the process kinda goes in my own words;
He tries to lead you into sin;
If you accept the temptation and sin;
He then condemns you for it;
If you listen to that condemnation for long enough;
He then deceives you and then you can even get demonically oppressed or worst case demonically possessed in your soul (mind, will and emotion).
When all you had to do is confess and repent and receive forgiveness, with no condemnation and move on with your walk in God; and
The truth is- it was the enemy that instigated all the above in the first place.
The other process is;
He throws wrong thoughts at you all the time;
Tries to make you think it’s your thoughts;
So he condemns you for even thinking that way;
Throwing accusations at you for your own thoughts, that aren't even yours anyway, (but you may not know this yet);
Trying to make you think that you have a huge problem and need help;
When the bible says “you have the mind of Christ, your a new creation and you are free”;
He deceives you by making you believe that you are not free, because of what you are thinking and posible believe; and
When all the while, you just needed to know there was a battle, how to deal with it, and the truth that sets you free and keeps you free.
You see the enemies power is in deception. And what he wants to do is stay hidden so you don't deal with him. If you knew that you were free, you would never receive such thoughts or temptations. You would know that they are not coming from you. Because you are a child of God holy and dearly loved. This is our true new creation reality. John 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed”. We are free indeed!! Through the finished work of Jesus.
But if you believe lies, this may not be your reality yet. So, I’m going to give you a worksheet with many questions on it. Why? So you can start to unpack what you believe.
I remember thinking once I got free. Why didn't people ask me some real deep questions to see what I was believing? A lot of the time, people just said - “That's not true” etc. Which is good. But I realised, you need people to really walk with you and dig deep into your world of belief when you maybe deceived. Otherwise we don't know where peoples processes are coming from. To correct the lies, we need to know what people really believe deep inside. I suppose this is a part of discipleship.
I know this comes with being able to trust people too. Sometimes we don't trust, and sometimes with good reasons. The truth be told not everyone who is a christian is trustworthy either. But we have an awesome Counsellor the Holy Spirit who will help you on this journey. He really helped me, so I know he will help you too.
So let me ask you some questions, so you can dig deep into what you believe. Please don't stop with what I'm giving you. You may have some questions from yourself too. The Holy Spirit will help you with this process. Please be honest with yourself as much as possible. If you don't feel uncomfortable writing some answers down. Don’t! Just you and the Holy Spirit know the answers. That's acceptable with God because the next part is about renouncing the lie and correcting the lie with the Word of God and the truth.
So please fill out your worksheet now.
Be Free Worksheet
Session One
Here are some questions to help you see what you believe more easily. Ask the Holy Spirit to be with you and reveal the truth as you fill this out.
Do you think you are a christian?
Do you believe you are saved?
Do you believe you are going to heaven?
If your answer is “no” to question 4. Why not?
Do you believe you're going to Hell?
If your answer is “yes” to question 5. Why?
Do you struggle believing you're a child of God?
Do you believe Jesus is God?
Do you believe that Jesus came to earth in the flesh?
Do you believe Jesus is the son of God?
Do you like yourself?
Do you hate yourself?
Are you hard on yourself?
Do you think you're awesome?
Do you think you're a bad person?
Do you think you have a demon?
Do you struggle to forgive yourself?
Do you think you're forgiven by God?
Do you struggle to forgive others?
Do you believe Jesus rose from the Dead?
Do you think you have blasphemed the Holy Spirit?
Do you think you can’t be forgiven?
Do you think you will never get free?
Do you have bad thoughts about yourself regularly?
Do you struggle to believe the bible?
Do you have thoughts of doubt in God often?
Do you think negatively often?
Do you think positive often?
Are you full of faith?
Are you full of worry and fear?
Do you trust yourself?
Do you trust God?
Do you trust others?
Do you struggle with regrets?
Do you struggle with sin?
Do you struggle with the past?
Do you struggle with having a relationship with God?
Do you struggle to read the bible?
Do you think you are worthy of God’s love?
Do you believe God loves you?
If your answer is “no” to question 40. Then, Why?
Do you think God is Good?
Do you see God as a hard unloving God?
Do you think God protects and loves?
Do you think God doesn't care?
Do you struggle with bitterness?
Are there parts of the bible you don’t agree with?
If your answer is “yes” to question 47. What parts?
This is just a gauge to get you going. You can let the Holy Spirit bring up other beliefs that may need to be challenged. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit if there is anything else He wants to bring light to.
This is not to condemn if you're not in a positive place. I was there once too. This is so we can start to challenge the lies so we can apply truth.
I will post session 2 to continue soon.