Freedom in Christ Lesson 7 PodcastFreedom in Christ Lesson 7: Handling Emotions Well
Focus Verse:
1 Peter 5:7-8 (NIV2011)
7 Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you.
8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your
enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour.
Objective: To understand our emotional nature and how
it is related to what we believe.
Focus Truth: Our emotions are essentially a product
of our thoughts and our barometer of our spiritual help.
Welcome
Would you describe yourself as an emotional person? Tell the
group about an event in the past that resulted in emotional pain or joy.
Read aloud the following passages:
Psalm 139:1-24 (NKJV)
1 O LORD,
You have searched me and known me. 2 You
know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For
there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. 5 You have hedged me behind and before, And
laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain
it. 7 Where can I go from Your
Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in
hell, behold, You are there. 9 If
I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall
lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, "Surely the
darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not
hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are
both alike to You. 13 For
You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very
well. 15 My frame was not hidden
from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your
eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were
written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.
17 How precious also are Your
thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would
be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. 19 Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God!
Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. 20
For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your
name in vain.
21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe
those who rise up against You? 22 I
hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my
heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any
wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.
God is Described in Emotional Language
This session marks the start of the third section of the course,
where we're going to find out how we can break the hold that the past has on
us.
In this session we're going to consider the whole question of our
emotions. Did you know that the Bible describes God using emotional language?
He loves us so much that He is described as “jealous” (Ex 34:14).
We are told it is possible to “grieve” the Holy Spirit. (Eph 4:30).
Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:35) and when he looked
at Jerusalem (Luke 19: 41).
We Can't Directly Control How We Feel
As we saw in the first session, were made in God's image so we too
have an emotional nature.
We can't simply turn our emotions on and off with a remote control
like our TV. They aren't like our ability to walk or wave our hand, where we
just make a conscious decision to do it. They are more like the way our
heartbeats or our immune system functions. It just happens.
And right there you have a key principle concerning our emotions:
although you can't control them directly, you can change them over time, as you
make a conscious choice to change what you can control. And you can control
what you choose to believe.
Negative Emotions: Our Red Warning Light.
Your emotions are to your soul what your ability to feel pain is
to your body.
Suppose someone had the power to take away the sensation of pain
and offered it to you as a gift. Would you receive it?
It would be tempting, wouldn't it, especially if you were in
chronic pain? But it would be dangerous.
All week you've been going through a range of emotions, but none
of them were based on reality. What you believed wasn't actually true.
Let's look at a Biblical example. It's in Lamentations 3:1-11 and
Jeremiah is in complete despair because he believes that God is the cause of
all his problems.
“I am the man who had seen affliction by the rod of the Lord's
wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
Indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long. He has
made my skin and my flesh grow old and has broken my bones. He has besieged me
and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. He has made me dwell in
darkness like those long dead. He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has
waved me down with chains. Even when I call out or cry for help, He shuts out
my prayer. He has barred my way with blocks of stone; He has made my paths
crooked. Like a bear lying in wait, like a lion in hiding, he dragged me from
the path and mangled me and left me without help.
But look again at what Jeremiah believed. Is it true? Would God
really turn his hand against one of his servants again and again? Does he surround
his people with bitterness and hardship? Does he shut out our prayers? Of
course not!
What was the problem? Simply that what Jeremiah believed about God
wasn't actually true! God hadn't wall him in God wasn't like a wild animal who
had mangled him. If your hope was in God and this was your belief about what he
was like, you'd be depressed too!
Thankfully, Jeremiah doesn't leave it there. He thinks more about
it. It's like he gets up and goes for a walk. And he has a change in
perspective. The passage continues:
Lamentations 3:19- 24: I
remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the goal. I well
remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mine and
therefore I have hope: because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; Therefore I will wait
for him.”
What changed in his circumstances? Absolutely nothing. Did God change?
No! The only thing that changed was in his mind: how he looked at his
circumstances. Everything changed internally for him when he said, in essence, “Come
on Jeremiah, get a grip. What's really true here?” Then he wrote, “This I call
to mine and therefore, I have hope. Great is your faithfulness.” And he had to
talk truth to himself: “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
Pause for Thought 1
Objective:
To reinforce the concept that God gave us emotions for our
own protection.
Questions:
Look at the example of Jesus in Matthew 26:37 and that of
David and 2 Samuel 6:14. What can they teach us?
“God gave us the ability to feel emotional pain for our own
protection.” Do you agree? If so, how do you think that works in practice?
Discuss this statement: “If what you believe does not
reflect what is actually true, then what you feel won't reflect reality.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
Negative Emotions Can Help Us
Things like
hormones or even the weather can play a part in producing negative emotions,
but generally speaking they are a gift from God to help us uncover something we
believe that isn't actually true. Let's consider two areas where they do that.
1.
Faulty Life-Goals
First they can help
us undercover faulty life-goals. We've seen how God created us to be accepted,
significant, and secure.
Every day as we
grew up, we saw our lives stretching out ahead of us and, whether we realized
it or not, we got up and we walked worked toward whatever we thought would give
us those things. Consciously or unconsciously we developed a set of “life-goals”.
But are those life-goals the same as the goals God has for us? Negative
emotions can help us identify those that are not.
Anger signals
a blocked life goal
If you are finding
yourself feeling angry a lot, it's usually because someone or something is
blocking a goal you have. I don't know
about you but I have a strange knack of always choosing the wrong checkout in
the supermarket. No matter how short the line, a problem develops. If you are
in a hurry to get to a meeting, that makes you angry because your goal is being
blocked.
Anxiety Signals An Uncertain
Life-Goal
It's not just anger
that highlights unhealthy life-goals: anxiety does too. Anxiety is signaling
that achieving a goal feels uncertain. You were hoping something will happen,
but you have no guarantee that it will. You can control some of the factors,
but not all of them. For example, if you have come to believe that your sense
of security depends on financial success and that has become a life goal, you
will probably suffer from anxiety. Why? Because you have no guarantee that you
can ever get enough money or, even if you feel you have enough, that it won't
be wiped out by a financial crisis.
Depressions Signals
an Impossible Life-Goal
Sometimes a life
goal that has already was already uncertain seems to slip even further away to
the point where its fulfillment begins to appear impossible: it's never going
to happen. At that point anxiety turns to depression.
Of course, the
causes of depression are complex and our hormones and other things going on in
our bodies can play up part. But if there is no overriding physical cause, then
depression is usually rooted in a sense of hopelessness or helplessness. But no
child of God is helpless, and no child of God is hopeless, whatever their
circumstances.
We will get rid of
a great deal of anger, anxiety, and depression if we ensure that our life goals
are in line with God's goals for us.
And one thing we
can be sure of is that any goal God has for us is one that will not be able to
be blocked by other people or by circumstances that we have no right or ability
to control. How can we be so sure? Because God loves us too much to set us a
goal that we couldn't reach.
1.
Uncovering Lies that Past Experiences Have Taught
Us to Believe
The other area
where negative emotions can help is in uncovering lies that past experiences
have introduced into our belief system. All of us have had traumatic
experiences that have scarred us in some way: a frightening experience, loss of
a loved one, some form of abuse.
When you suffered
that negative experience you mentally processed it at the time it happened. It
almost certainly caused you to believe some things about God and yourself: “Those
bullies told me I was trash. I guess I am.”, “My dad never has time for me. I'm
not important.” If you suffered some kind of sexual abuse as a child, at the
time it happened you probably felt dirty. If you thought God wasn't there for
you, then you probably question God's love and your salvation.
The beliefs that come
as a result of those traumatic experiences stay with you and become deeply
ingrained strongholds. We’ll look at how to demolish them in session 9 but for
now let's just recognize this: we remain in bondage to the past, not because of
the traumatic experience itself, but because of the lies it caused us to
believe.
Children of God are
not primarily products of their past. They are primarily products of Christ's
work on the cross and His resurrection. Nobody can change our past, but we can
choose to walk free of it. That's the whole point of the gospel.
Jesus didn't just
come to give you a way to cope with the effects of the past. He came to help
you resolve those effects completely. It takes time and it's a struggle. But He
is with you every step and He's already given you everything you need.
Pause for Thought 2
Objective: To help people understand how emotions can
highlight faulty beliefs we may hold and that we can resolve past issues in
Christ.
Questions:
Describe a life goal you have had that you thought would
make you feel significant, secure, and accepted that ended up being blocked.
How can traumatic experiences lead us to believe a lie about
ourselves, God, or Satan?
Discuss this statement: “Children of God are not primarily
products of their past. They are primarily products of Christ's work on the
cross in His resurrection.
Nobody can change our past, but we can choose to walk free
of it. That's the whole point of the gospel.
The Dangers
We saw in the last session how the emotion of anger can give
the enemy of foothold in our lives if we don't quickly resolve an offense.
Anxiety has similar dangers.
Here's a verse you probably know: “Cast all your anxiety on
him because he cares for you.” And here's another one: “Be alert and of sober
mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for
someone to devour.”
What you may not know is that these verses directly follow
each other in 1 Peter 5: 7-8. They are both part of the same idea. Peter is
telling us to be self-controlled and not let anxiety take hold of us. If we
don't, he warns that the devil, like a roaring lion, is prowling around looking
to devour us.
Three Keys to Emotional Health
Let's look at three keys to being emotionally healthy:
Know Who You Are In Christ
If you know your true identity in Christ: in your heart, not
just your head, you won't go looking for acceptance, significance, and security
in those faulty life-goals.
And those who have suffered trauma in the past, you can
learn to remove re-evaluate your past experiences from the perspective of who
you now are in Christ.
The truth is you are a complete, clean, holy child of God
with unlimited potential in Him. You might be thinking, “But I had awful things
done to me that make me feel dirty”. That doesn't change who you are now. You
may feel dirty but you are not actually dirty because you are a new
creation in Christ. As you understand and believe this truth, and forgive those
who have hurt you from your heart, you can walk in your freedom and Christ.
What once might have seemed like a huge mountain that was
impossible to move can become something that actually makes you stronger as you
climb and conquer it in Jesus.
Be Honest
The second thing we can do to guarantee that we are
emotionally healthy is to be honest about how we feel, rather than try to bury
our feelings or thoughtlessly express them. And that starts with being honest
with God.
Let me read you a prayer from David who was described as a
man after God's heart. Maybe you can use this passage as a model when you pray
for people.
Psalm 109: 6- 15:
Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy; let an accuser
stand at his right hand. When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his
prayers condemn him. May his days be few; may another take his place of
leadership. May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his
children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. Maya
creditor sees all he has; May strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no
one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children. May his
descendants be cut off, their names blotted out from the next generation. May
the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord; May the sin of his
mother never be blotted out. May their sin always remain before the Lord that
he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
In the name of Jesus. Amen!
What on earth is that doing in the Bible? Well, have you
ever felt like that? Have you ever prayed like that? Would it be right to pray
like that?
Well, David prayed like that, and God inspired him to write
it down.
Does God already know you feel that way? Of course He does.
God knows the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. So the question is, if God
already knows it, why can't we be honest with Him? Would He still love us if we
were totally honest with Him about how we feel? Absolutely!
The problem with this Psalm is that it sounds like it's OK
to ask God to wipe someone out. But finished the Psalm. Once David had his
emotional eruption, after he had been honest with God about how he was really
feeling he returns to praising God. You can be completely honest with God. He
is your closest friend. As a matter of fact, you can't be right with God
without first being real with Him. God may use the circumstances of your life
to make you real in order that you can be right with Him.
Commit to Believing the Truth
The third thing we need to do to guarantee that we are
emotionally healthy is to embrace the truth. We've seen that behind those wrong
life goals are lies. And those traumatic experiences we had continue to affect
us because they made us believe lies. Our freedom comes from knowing the truth.
Freedom in Christ Presenter, Daryl Fitzgerald shares a
testimony of his childhood that relates to this.
His parents were really into sports, and they pushed him to
be the best he could be when he played. But when they pushed him it didn't come
out very affirming but actually very critical period that led him to believe
that God was harsh, critical, and distant.
None of us had perfect fathers, and we often have come to
believe lies about our Heavenly Father because of our experience with our
earthly fathers. To finish this session, we have another list of biblical
truths. It's the truth about our Heavenly Father.
Let's say these words together to our amazing and loving Father
God to remind ourselves what is really true: (My Father God)
I renounce the lie that you, Father God, are distant and
uninterested in me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
always personally present with me, have plans to give me a hope and a future,
and have prepared works in advance specifically for me to do.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are insensitive and
don't know me or care for me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are kind
and compassionate and know every single thing about me.
I renounced the lie that You, Father God, are stern and have
placed unrealistic expectations on me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, have
accepted me and are joyfully supportive of me.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are passive and cold
toward me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are warm
and affectionate toward me.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are absent or too
busy for me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
always present and eager to be with me and enable me to be all that You created
me to be.
I renounced the lie that you, Father God, are impatient or
angry with me or have rejected me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
patient and slow to anger, and that when You discipline me, it is a proof of Your
love, and not rejection.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, have been mean,
cruel, or abusive to me.
I choose to believe the truth that Satan is mean, cruel, and
abusive, but You, Father God, are loving, gentle, and protective.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are denying me the
pleasures of life.
I choose to believe the truth that you, Father God, are the
author of life and will lead me into love, joy, and peace when I choose to be
filled with Your Spirit.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are trying to
control and manipulate me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, set me
free and gave me the freedom to make choices and grow in Your grace.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, have condemned me
and no longer forgive me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, have
forgiven all my sins and will never use them against me in the future.
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, reject me when I
fail to live a perfect or sinless life.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
patient toward me and cleanse me when I fail.
I AM THE APPLE OF
YOUR EYE!
If you realize that
you have had a faulty understanding of God, reading this list out loud every
day for six weeks or so can dramatically help heal your emotional pain.
Reflection
Objective: To give opportunity to
take the “My Father God” truth statements to a deeper level.
How easy do you find it to tell God
exactly how you feel?
Read the “My Father God” truth
statements one at a time and pause after each one to let it sink in.
How does understanding the truth
about Him make it easier to be emotionally honest with Him?
__________________________________________________________________________________
Witness – If you are feeling angry, anxious,
or depressed, do you think it would be better not to let that show to not-yet
Christians around you? Why? Why not?
___________________________________________________________________________________
In the Coming Week – Consider the emotional
nature of the Apostle Peter. First, have a look at some occasions where he let
his emotions run away him and acted or spoke too hastily:
Matthew 16:21-23
(NKJV)
21 From that time Jesus began
to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things
from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the
third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside
and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not
happen to You!"
23 But He turned and said to
Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to
Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
Matthew 17:1-5 (NKJV)
1 Now after six days Jesus
took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by
themselves;
2 and He was transfigured
before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as
the light.
3 And behold, Moses and
Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
4 Then Peter answered and
said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us
make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah."
5 While he was still
speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came
out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased. Hear Him!"
John 18:1-11 (NKJV)
1 When Jesus had spoken these
words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a
garden, which He and His disciples entered.
2 And Judas, who betrayed
Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.
3 Then Judas, having received
a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and
Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
4 Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, "Whom
are you seeking?"
5 They answered Him,
"Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am He."
And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them.
6 Now when He said to them, "I
am He," they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 Then He asked them again, "Whom
are you seeking?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."
8 Jesus answered, "I
have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go
their way,"
9 that the saying might be
fulfilled which He spoke, "Of those whom You gave Me I have lost
none."
10 Then Simon Peter, having a
sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear.
The servant's name was Malchus.
11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put
your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given
Me?"
Second,
look at how Jesus was able to look beyond these emotional outbursts and see his
potential:
Matthew 16:17-19 (NKJV)
17 Jesus answered and said to
him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh
and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 And
I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church,
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed
in heaven."
Finally, see how that came true when
Peter, under the power of the Holy Spirit, became the spokesperson of the early
church:
Acts 2:14-41 (NKJV)
14 But Peter, standing up
with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, "Men of Judea and all
who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words.
15 For these are not drunk,
as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
16 But this is what was
spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to
pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on
all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your
young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants
and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And
they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in
heaven above And signs in the earth beneath: Blood and fire and
vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned
into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the
great and awesome day of the LORD.
21 And it shall come to
pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved.'
22 "Men of Israel, hear
these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles,
wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves
also know--
23 Him, being delivered by
the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless
hands, have crucified, and put to death;
24 whom God raised up, having
loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held
by it.
25 For David says concerning
Him: 'I foresaw the LORD always
before my face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26 Therefore my heart
rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in
hope.
27 For You will not leave
my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to
me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.'
29 "Men and
brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit
of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his
throne,
31 he, foreseeing this, spoke
concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades,
nor did His flesh see corruption.
32 This Jesus God has raised
up, of which we are all witnesses.
33 Therefore being exalted to
the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the
Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.
34 For David did not ascend
into the heavens, but he says himself: 'The LORD
said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand,
35 Till I make Your
enemies Your footstool." '
36 "Therefore let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you
crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37 Now when they heard this,
they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles,
"Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
38 Then Peter said to them,
"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you
and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God
will call."
40 And with many other words
he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse
generation."
41 Then those who gladly
received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were
added to them.
__________________________________________________________________________________
We are Reproducing the "My Father God" List at the end of this outline for easy of use:
My Father God
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are distant and
uninterested in me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
always personally present with me, have plans to give me a hope and a future,
and have prepared works in advance specifically for me to do. (Psalm 139:1-18;
Matthew 28:20, Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 2:10).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are insensitive and
don't know me or care for me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are kind
and compassionate and know every single thing about me. (Psalm 103:8-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Hebrews 4:12-13).
I renounced the lie that You, Father God, are stern and have
placed unrealistic expectations on me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, have
accepted me and are joyfully supportive of me. (Romans 5:8-11; 15:17).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are passive and
cold toward me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are warm
and affectionate toward me. (Isaiah 40:11; Hosea 11:3-4).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are absent or too
busy for me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
always present and eager to be with me and enable me to be all that You created
me to be. (Phil 1:6; Hebrews 13:5).
I renounced the lie that you, Father God, are impatient or
angry with me or have rejected me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
patient and slow to anger, and that when You discipline me, it is a proof of Your
love, and not rejection. (Ex 34:6; Romans 2:4; Hebrews 12:5-11).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, have been mean,
cruel, or abusive to me.
I choose to believe the truth that Satan is mean, cruel, and
abusive, but You, Father God, are loving, gentle, and protective. (Ps 18:2;
Matt 11:28-30; Eph 6:10-18).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are denying me the
pleasures of life.
I choose to believe the truth that you, Father God, are the
author of life and will lead me into love, joy, and peace when I choose to be
filled with Your Spirit. (Lam 3:22- 23; Gal 5:22-24).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, are trying to
control and manipulate me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, set me
free and gave me the freedom to make choices and grow in Your grace. (Gal 5:1;
Heb 4:15-16).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, have condemned me
and no longer forgive me.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, have forgiven
all my sins and will never use them against me in the future. (Jeremiah 31: 31-
34; Romans 8:1).
I renounce the lie that You, Father God, reject me when I
fail to live a perfect or sinless life.
I choose to believe the truth that You, Father God, are
patient toward me and cleanse me when I fail. (Proverbs 24:16; 1 John 1:7- 2:2).
I AM THE APPLE OF
YOUR EYE! (Deuteronomy 32:9-10).
If you realize that you have had a faulty understanding of God,
reading this list out loud every day for six weeks or so can dramatically help
heal your emotional pain.
