Steps to Freedom

          Returning and rest in 8 easy steps:  MAIN HEALING LESSON 7

This teaching on the process of restoration is just one of the 24 lessons in our workbook for personal transformation, "Matters of the Heart."  All 24 lessons will be helpful to the person seeking restoration and freedom and have been posted on this web site. They are available as a complete set in our workbook which can be purchased as a download or ordered through the mail. The lessons are also available on CD and DVD as 24, 1/2 hour teachings. All scriptures are from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
 

Introduction

In the last lesson we showed you the 7 steps down the pathway into sin (see The Pathway of Temptation (Main Healing Lesson 6)). Here we have 8 steps to freedom to help you return to walking in the light! It only seemed fair. On the other hand you don’t have to be consciously aware of these steps at all. God sees the heart (1 John 3:20) and He unfailingly knows when any of us are ready to turn or actually do turn one of our bent ways back ‘round to His.

Repentance includes turning from the wrong thing (which causes sorrow) and re-turning to God (a cause for joy). God works easily and readily to help us find His way (Ro 2:4). The Father is not a legalist! But if you are stuck in a pattern and want to get free of it, you just may need to break up what is now for you a harder work of repentance into these easier to understand steps. For more scriptures and a free download see Repentance and Conversion.
 

Teaching summary

Based on Be In Health, teaching and materials; Pastor Henry Wright

Restoration is a process
Give yourself grace and work through it little by little. Let God reveal to you what you need to deal with and let Him set the pace. Be gentle on yourself. Be a friend to yourself. But be very courageous about facing the truth (John 8:32)!   

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan… with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved… that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness… But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.   2 Thessalonians 2:9-13 

1) Recognize
Learn to discern the presence of sinful heart attitudes in you—as God turns on the lights. Separate yourself from what is not you. The good is Christ in you. The evil comes from the enemy. If it is not of God, it is not the real you (Christ in you is the new creation—see Our True Identity (Main Healing Lesson 9)). That wrong thing in you (fearfulness, jealousy, bitterness, shyness, impatience, etc.) is not you. Notice what it sounds like (its message) and what it feels like (its pressure) when it goes off inside you.

This first step to freedom isn't as easy as it seems. It may have been “a part” of you for so long, it seems like it is just the way you are, so you don't even stop to question what you are feeling or challenge the grip of the negative emtions. It feels like the normal, natural you, but it isn’t. Somewhere along the way, it came inside from the outside, usually though events that were painful or frightening at the time. You don’t have to have memories of the originating traumas to get free of their effects, but you do have to have disagreement with the spirits that are the legacy of past events and any sinful reactions to them you may have had. Rightly recognizing sin as sin (that it is not good, not you, and that it has to go) is half the battle.

Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.   Romans 7:20 

…but when he [the prodigal son] came to himself he said I will arise…   Luke 15:21

…in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.   2 Timothy 2:25-26

2) Responsibility
Own your part in it. Others may have sinned against you, but it was your choice in how you acted or reacted, in what you allowed to enter your heart and become a part of your ways. Allow yourself no excuses, no avoidance and no denial. True maturity is accepting and taking responsibility for what you recognize in you that is not of God. Don’t look for a way out—face it. Taking responsibility enables you to confess and repent honestly to God—and to acknowledge that He is right, rather than seek to vindicate your ways.

For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight — that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge.    Psalms 51:3-4

I…will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you…”   Luke 15:18 

Taking responsibility restores you to being the true sovereign over your own heart and will. Your emotional reactions are the result of your own deeply held beliefs about right and wrong ways of responding to what is going on around you. If you try to make other people responsible for what you feel and do, you will always be ruled over by their words and actions.

But you are the head and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:13) when it comes to your emotional life: you can carry any present thought or emotion captive to Christ and you can repent of your ways and choose to believe in God’s ways. Eventually this change in believing (when it goes deep enough) will bring about a shift in your emotional reactions in the future (Proverbs 23:7; Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21). By submitting your emotional life to Christ He enables you to rule over it!
 
3) Return
Change your mind about it; stop agreeing with the sin; and make a quick return to the Father. Reconnect with His grace (James 4:7). Somewhere back there some wrong turns were made away from being fully trusting of His love or fully surrendered to His ways. Turn back to God and His ways now—don’t delay like the prodigal son did, fearful that he wouldn’t be received back in love. There is a refreshing promised for repentance. It leads to freedom—if we “convert” (agree with God; return to God).

I will arise and go to my father…But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.   Luke 15:18

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.   Acts 3:19

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.   Hebrews 4:16

4) Renounce
Fall totally out of agreement with all it represents. Confess God’s truth that counteracts the lies behind the sin you have been walking in. Have a perfect hatred for the sin (Psalm 97:10). Make sin the enemy, not any person. Fall out of agreement with anything that excuses or condones the sin. Renounce the hidden lie the sin uses to entice and confess the truth that God’s Word declares. Carry every thought about it captive to Christ.

You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.   Psalms 97:10

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.   2 Corinthians 10:4-5

5) Remove
If need be, have someone cast out any spirit that is not removed through repentance (Luke 11:20-26). Get rid of the things in your life that are causing you to sin (Acts 19:19). “Spiritual radar” works two ways: If you want God, the Holy Spirit alerts you to dangers. If you want the sin, the enemy puts people and temptations in your path. Separate from “friends” who pull you down.

But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.  But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.   Luke 11:20-23 

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.   Ephesians 4:20-24

6) Resist
It will try to come back, so you have to go on a journey of resisting it (Psalm 84:5). Give it to God. Draw near to Him first, and then through His power and support, resist the temptations (James 4:7-8). It takes time to break an old habit and start a new one. Don’t try to strong arm it in your own strength. Break the power of it in your memories by carrying returning thoughts to the Lord. Stop running. Decide to deal with it. Run to Jesus instead. Persevere (James 5:11)!

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.   James 4:7-8 

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.   Ephesians 6:13
 
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.   Hebrews 12:1-2

7) Rejoice
Be filled with the Holy Spirit and refocus on Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Make a list of all the things God has helped you with. Cultivate thanksgiving. Grow eyes to see that your glass is half full and vigorously reject self-pity (the super glue of hell) and the torment it brings. As Jesus warned us there is a need to keep our “house” filled—not left empty and unguarded.

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.  Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.   Matthew 12:43-45

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.   1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.   Philippians 4:8-9

8) Restore
Help others. Lead others to freedom; share what you have received. Living for self is what led us into a life apart from God and His blessings in the first place. Jesus would lead us into serving others for the love of Him. JOY = Jesus, Others, Self (in that order). As one woman said, “My true healing began when I began ministering to others.”

Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily… Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.   Isaiah 58:6-10

Walking by faith is when you exercise faith to believe for freedom and keep taking the steps to freedom, even under attack and keep pressing forward. Emotional freedom is the ability to know with confidence that God loves you, is present with you and is eager to help you—no matter what you are feeling or going through.

Keep taking the steps!
 

Interested in going deeper?

Don't just give these truths a "head bob"!
For further study and for help working these truths into your heart and life, see Steps to Freedom part 2 (Head to Heart Guide 7) and "work out" with exercises, discussion questions, review of main points, digging deeper, more scriptures, model prayers, renunciations/affirmations and practical steps of life application.

Or better yet, let us minister to you in person
     --at one of our Savannah Seminars...