Dad, I Want A Truck!

This last weekend was pretty awesome. I got to see my best friend who flew to Texas to preach at the Alvin Healing Rooms, got absolutely blasted by the power of God and had a pretty radical inner healing and deliverance experience during one of the meetings, and God confirmed a number of things to me that He has been speaking to me recently time and time again throughout the weekend (Special thanks to the Alvin Healing Rooms for hosting the event!). While there were so many different things God did for me alone this weekend, not to mention the dozens of others present who He also touched, I really want to hone in on something God was speaking to me about—that He is a good dad who wants us as His kids to understand what He is like.

My friend Steve has recently been reminding me that we really need to deal with our father wounds—the pains in our hearts related to our earthly fathers, as well as the incorrect perspectives and the wrong lessons we have learned about what fathers are like. We all have them—wildly inaccurate views of what being a father is like, and thus have equally inaccurate beliefs about what God, our heavenly Dad, is like. For instance, my dad wasn’t a bad father as a whole. He loved me, would tuck us kids in most nights at bed by literally tucking the sheets around us—and we’d then lay still for a while because we didn’t want to get the sheets un-tucked. My two brothers and I both did that too—because when we got tucked in by him, we felt loved. On the other hand, my dad had an anger problem. From knowing his dad, my grandfather, who was a kind of aloof man and hard to connect with emotionally, I would imagine that for my dad his own father relationship was fractured and that presented challenges for him when it came time to be a good father himself. This isn’t a judgment against my dad either—I believe my dad has done the best he knew how at the time, and when we know better we do better. God is still working on my dad like He is with you, me, and everyone else.

The reason I tell you all this is that because of the way my earthly dad was, one of the things I learned about fathers is that they’re angry, and that on some level, it is your job as a son to fear your dad. To be fair, my mom would wait until my dad came home so he could discipline us so the role kind of got pushed on him to a degree as well, but the end result what that I learned on a subconscious level that dad = fear. Likewise, when it came to dealing with my Heavenly Father, I’ve had the same fear. I mean, I once experienced a miracle of literal gemstones falling from Heaven and hitting my body (you can read about it in my book Gemstones From Heaven) and while I was trying really hard to enjoy the miracle, I was simultaneously really afraid God was going to drop a big one right on my groin. That alone should tell you that I have had some really messed up perceptions about what our Heavenly Father is like. I connected God with fear and pain, so what I expected from Him was, well, not very much.

Jesus, on the other hand, was my Big Brother. I’ve always felt close to him because he is kind. He loves me and cares about me and helps me heal my hurts and pains. And the Holy Spirit and I? We’re friends. But the Father? Well, deep down I’m always watching out for Him because I find it hard to trust Him. Why? Because I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop and Him to do something to justify the fear I feel toward “father.”

Well, God has been upgrading my beliefs, and right now He is working on my view of Him as Dad. My buddy Tyler said something this weekend that God was showing him, and it so ministered to me. He said that God was challenging him about how when one of his kids wants something, he goes out of his way to get them that thing as soon as he can—and God was like “If that’s what you’re like, what do you think I’m like?” It reminds me of that verse in Matthew 7:11 that says, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Well, he was like, “Okay Dad, I want a truck!” Well, he shared that with a few of us over a meal after the evening meeting, and I was like “That’s fantastic!” And really, it is. It is such a healthier view of God our Father than I have had for a while. So, I’m working on calling Him “Dad”. Why? Because the term “father” to me is formal and distant. I don’t call my earthly dad “father” so why would I distance God from me by doing that?

Well, not thirty minutes later, I decided to put this idea into practice. I had driven from outside of Austin to Alvin, an almost three hour drive, and figured I would find a place to sleep for the night after the meeting. Well, sitting at this restaurant I decided to pray a quick prayer. “Dad, I really want a place to stay tonight that I don’t have to pay for.” No more than three seconds had passed since I told my Heavenly Dad that when Brenda, the woman next to me, asked where I was staying for the night. I told her I hadn’t found a place yet and she made a nearby hotel recommendation—then following it up with “I haven’t stayed there myself, so I don’t entirely know for sure.” I told her “Well, I literally just finished praying about a place to stay right before you asked me, so if that place is what you suggest, that’s what I’ll do.” And truly, when we left I was going to go find that hotel and stay there for the night.

As Heavenly Dad would have it, just a few moments later she asked me “well, do you need to shower in the morning?” A strange question to some, maybe, but as a nurse I ask lots of weird questions so I’m pretty open about stuff. I told her no, that I had showered that afternoon right before I drove to Alvin, so I wasn’t necessarily planning on showering the next morning. She said, “Okay then, as long as you don’t need a shower . . .” and then she offered me a place to stay for the night at a local prayer room she runs that had couches and a bathroom—really all I actually needed for a decent night’s rest.

Well, the meetings were amazing, I got hugely touched by Heaven as I mentioned before, and after the meetings were done and I was driving home, the sky grew dark and it started raining. It then went from rain to a torrential downpour and I had to slow down because of the sheer quantity of water on the road. As I drove out of the storm it was early evening and the sun was low in the sky, and I wanted to see a rainbow. I began looking around for one but couldn’t see very far behind me and continue safely driving. Well, since God is teaching me this lesson about what He is actually like, I figured I’d give it another try. I prayed, “Dad, I want to see a rainbow!” I continued looking for a few moments and then pulled over. In between the time I prayed and pulled over (because it wasn’t there moments before), a beautiful double-rainbow filled the sky and I could see the whole arch from one side to the other (the pictures don’t do it justice). I could sense God confirming to me yet again that I need to change my view of Him as my Heavenly Dad and that when the Bible says things like “Ask whatever you wish in my name and it will be done for you (John 15:16b)” and “Ask and it will be given to you (Matthew 7:7a)” that God actually means it.

I am continuing this process of changing my view of what my Heavenly Dad is like. I’m having to look at why I believe the wrong things I believe about Him, look at how those ideas got there, and then be intentional about choosing to believe something different (as well as get healing from the hurts associated with those inaccurate beliefs). In this case, I’m also changing my expectations and am starting to expect better from Heavenly Dad than I have prior to now. It’s a process, but God is committed to transforming my view of Him to see Him for who He truly is! What am I doing with this knowledge? Well, the battery in my truck is dead, again, and the engine likes to cut out when you go slowly in reverse. I’d really like a blue crew cab 250/2500 truck that runs well, so my prayer right now is, “Dad, I want a truck!”

The Solar System Model for Understanding Fragmentation and Dissociation

For those of you who have been following The Kings of Eden for a while, you know that I am a large proponent of inner healing and deliverance—largely because Christ died in part so we could be set free from all of the powers of hell and to live well and whole in spirit, soul, and body. When discussing this, I believe it is important that people understand how we get wounded and what happens when we do, all in order to better understand how to heal those wounds and pursue wholeness. Today, we are going to look at what I have named the “Solar System Model for Understanding Fragmentation and Dissociation” to better understand how we can heal the fractured portions of our souls and what happens inside as we go through this process.

If you are not familiar with fragmentation (something everyone has, not just those who have been clinically diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder) then you will probably benefit from reading my article called “An Introduction to Soul Fragmentation.” For a better understanding of how fragmentation influences day to day life and the inner healing process, and how dissociation actually works in the day-to-day, listen to Dan Duval’s message “The Airplane Model of Dissociation.” It does a very good job of explaining. Now, down to business!

The Solar System Model of Fragmentation is something I have developed after going through some of my own inner healing process, as well as through some discussion with friends who are either going through similar things or who are helping others in their journey through healing soul fragmentation. This model is designed to help the reader visualize and understand the different components of the soul, what wounding and degrees of wholeness look like, and can provide a useful visualization tool for those who are visually-oriented and/or operate in the seer aspect of prophetic gifts. First, we will break down the components, then we will look at how they work in conjunction with one another and what this means for the inner healing journey.

Much like how our solar system consists of a primary sun, multiple planets in consistent and deliberate orbit around the sun and in concert with one another, moons and satellites that orbit those planets, and then other space debris such as comets, asteroids, and more, our soul can be described in much the same way. If our primary or core aspect of our soul is displayed as the sun, then almost everything else—the other planets and moons, comets, and asteroids, represent other portions of our soul that have been broken into pieces through various emotional wounds and trauma throughout our lives and even in the womb. The levels of complexity inside the human soul mirror the complexity in our solar system so no analogy is perfect, but the Solar System Model provides a strong base of understanding that can be adjusted as needed for the individual’s system.

In a person who has no soul fragmentation (Jesus, to my knowledge, being the only one who has ever done this) the solar system would be composed of a sun and *only* a sun, as there are no other broken-off parts. The rest of us have a combination of planets and moons—parts that have reached some measure of healing and salvation and are walking in unity with the main personality, and comets and asteroids—parts that are still in conflict inside the system in some way.

Planets, of any size, can be likened to parts that have gotten healing and salvation in Christ, reaching a general measure of wholeness and possibly even some maturity. The moons around them are other parts, often ones that broke off from that planet sometime in the past when some wound caused already-broken parts to fragment even further. Their steady, regular orbit shows that while they have not reintegrated or reunited with the core, the sun, they no longer cause any conflict or problems inside the system and don’t tend to be targets for demonic attack.

Comets and asteroids, on the other hand, are the unhealed portions of the soul that are prone to demonic attack. While they still move around the solar system, their movements are generally more chaotic and they are influenced more easily by other factors both inside and outside of the system. These parts lack emotional healing and often also need a lot of help renewing their understanding. Where the Bible tells us to “take every thought captive,” the negative thoughts that require this attention are usually generated from these portions of our soul who lack an understanding of things like identity in Christ, the finished work of the cross, and often have a lot of other unfruitful beliefs.

Why does this matter? Half of the problem with fragmentation is the conflict inside the system. When I first started doing this type of inner healing work, I thought that getting parts integrated (rejoining the broken pieces with the main core of the soul) was of primary importance. I have come to learn that integration can be likened to the final 1% of an inner healing process, where the other 99% consists of healing wounded emotions, learning healthy mindsets and beliefs, and removing the demonic and other harmful spiritual influences. What makes inner healing so difficult is that the sun and the planets, which are easier to access, don’t tend to have a lot of wounding. Most of the wounding is carried on the parts zooming erratically around the solar system, making it more difficult to access the parts and thus harder to heal the wounds. As different parts receive inner healing and freedom in Jesus, they move from a chaotic and irregular orbit into the ordered portion of the solar system.

As more inner healing occurs, the soul becomes more ordered and healthy with less chaos, randomness, and disorder. The demonic like to attack the parts that are lacking in protection (the asteroids and comets) because they are easier to attack. These parts often form agreements with the demonic (which for our understanding can be viewed as subconscious or unconscious agreements we have made) and are easily tricked by the enemy. When these parts get brought into a stable orbit, which means more healing, greater safety in Christ, and often a greater ability to grow into maturity, they become less available to the enemy, which means fewer avenues for demonic attack.

For the individual, the outward experience of this will be fewer life events that carry emotional triggers, a greater ability to handle difficult emotions, and hard emotions will simply be less powerful as a whole. One’s belief system will clarify itself as parts realign their beliefs with the truth, which means double-mindedness and unbelief (caused by these parts being unaligned with the core self, the asteroids in conflict with the sun) gradually work their way out of the consciousness as well. All in all it means a person who is more whole inside with greater emotional resilience to handle all that life throws at them.

While the Solar System Model can go into more depth, it provides a basic understanding for what fragmentation looks like inside the individual. As I continue to develop this model, I hope to be able to provide not just a more comprehensive understanding for how the broken and healing soul works, but to provide better resources as avenues to accelerate the inner healing process. For those who are interested in learning more about this method of inner healing, you can pick up a copy of Broken To Whole, a book I coauthored that covers inner healing for the fragmented soul. As I have developed this model after writing that book, it will not be in there, but in addition to other information, we do provide various exercises the individual can do to help jump-start their journey toward wholeness of the soul. If you want some help in identifying and working with parts, as well as supporting the inner healing process, you might want to try Fragment Finder, a flower essence that helps resolve the buried emotional wounds which have caused the formation of soul splits or fragments. For those who really want to dive into their healing journey, you can also buy the Broken To Whole Essence Kit, a package combination of five essence blends and a print copy of Broken To Whole. If this material interests you, be sure to check out the other related blog links below, and sign up for my email list to get updates when new books, products, and events are released! Blessings to you!

A Prayer of Freedom from Terror on 9/11 — September 11, 2001

During an inner healing session a friend was doing with me this past week, we hit on something unusual—or rather I should say unexpected, but in hindsight it wasn’t really that surprising. What the Lord was showing her was that sometime around age 18 I had some kind of event that caused terror, and it was somehow related to my high school. Well, “terror” is a fairly specific term with a pretty specific meaning, and I could not recall a single event in high school that evoked—

Wait.

September 11, 2001 happened two months before my 18th birthday. You know, a “terror attack” on the United States. I was in my second period classroom in Pennsylvania that morning when we watched it on TV.

That was it.

Now, as a 37 year old I am significantly more aware of some of the details they did a poor job of covering up, like the inside operation that it was, the third tower that automagically fell down on the same day, and the demolition explosives that are visible in all three buildings that fell that day (remember the third plane that went down? It was supposed to hit a third building so they could claim all three were terror attacks, but since people on board supposedly downed that plane, they just blew the building up anyway), as well as the extreme lack of plane debris and the impossible-to-miss street lights the theoretical Pentagon plane should have hit had it actually done as claimed, not to mention that jet fuel is physically incapable of causing the structural damage-leading-to-building-collapse that we all witnessed in New York that day.

However, while there were a bunch of theatrics along with very real explosions and very real deaths in a massive bid to create more war and push forward certain agendas (including the Patriot Act), there was something else at work that day. Through one highly televised act, there was a psychic attack leveled by the forces of darkness on not just the US nation but I suggest worldwide. This event was specifically designed to create a spike of terror in millions if not billions of people and was like a feast day for the demonic. And you know who didn’t miss out on that? Those humans who actively and purposefully serve the kingdom of darkness, who used that day and that event to harvest all of that terror and fear and pain to forward works of darkness in the Earth.

Why does this matter to you? Well, when I observe something in an inner healing session, especially if it is something that is likely to affect a lot of people, I like to test it out a bit and see if what I think is a widespread issue actually is a widespread issue. With some things I talk to friends, test out my theory on them, and often find I am correct. In this case, I just asked friends who do inner healing and deliverance regularly, and found that there indeed were many people’s mind-control programming that got activated that day, including end-times stuff, creating new soul fractures through trauma (funny how terror events can do that), and more. The powers of darkness like to use massive events to co-opt the mental and emotional energy of millions of people, which is why things like yearly Superbowl halftime shows are so demonically inspired. They know millions will be tuned in and engaging with whatever they do on stage, so they hold thinly veiled ritual ceremonies with dancing, singing, props, and more to literally pull in and focus the psychic energy of all of the participants toward predetermined effects. I suggest 9/11 is no different in that way.

What did we do about it? We prayed to break off all spellbinding tied to us and anyone in our bloodline through birth, marriage, or adoption from the psychic trauma of that day. We declared that the blood of Jesus would disconnect us all and cleanse us from every way the enemy has tried to tie us into their workings through terror that was evoked through the events of September 11, 2001. While technically the session was for me, the issue was related to both of us so we prayed together for us and our families, and we both felt a shift afterwards, as well as hit on some other spiritual stuff that praying about the issue pulled up as well.

Now, since I was 17 at the time and just one of millions of Americans who were affected on that day, not to mention anyone else in any other nation who may have been negatively influenced as well, I have written the following prayer. If you feel this issue relates to you (if you were alive on that day I can almost guarantee it is worth praying) then pray the following. Some may feel a need to adjust certain wording to their situation, but as a general whole this is a blanket prayer meant to cover many issues that the enemy has seeded in the hearts of mankind through that evil event.

“In the name of the One True Lord Jesus Christ I speak this prayer over every aspect of my being in every realm, timeline, and dimension of time and eternity. I send the effects of this prayer throughout my bloodline including marriage lines and adoption lines both forward and backward in the generational line. I break off ever hex, spell, incantation, curse, evil prayer, psychic trauma, collective consciousness of terror, and related tied to the events of September 11, 2001 and days surrounding it. I reject, repent, and renounce any ways in which I may have been connected or co-opted, knowingly or unknowingly, into any form of ritual, spell, or other practice that used the terror, fear, pain, and other emotions, beliefs, and collective consciousness of that day for evil purposes. I take authority over those things and destroy them. I collapse every realm, alternate timeline, dimension, and every portal, gate, or other opening that was created by the enemy through the workings of that day. I remove the right of access that was gained on that day and subsequent days to the Earth realm and all connected spaces from any and all spirits who do not serve the Most High God and I send the heavenly hosts to go remove all trespassers from those places. I break off all access to Earth that was given to evil and fallen cosmic heavenly beings through the events of that day. I decree the removal of all demonic forces, all of their instruments and objects, and all of their effects that were derived from that day and subsequent days from myself, my bloodline, marriage lines, and adoptions lines, and from every part of my sphere of authority and influence. I command healing into every aspect of my being that was negatively affected on that day and apply the finished work of the cross through Jesus’ precious blood sacrifice to bring total wholeness to my spirit, soul, and body and to bring me into total and complete freedom in Jesus Christ. I apply the blood of Jesus to that day in history to wash it completely of all ill effects and for that finished work to resonate throughout every timeline and dimension until the restoration of all things. I receive this now by faith as a complete and permanent work in Jesus mighty and worthy name. Amen!”

If I’m Already Saved Then Why Do I Still Have Emotional Problems?

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One of the major weaknesses of the Church as a whole is its lack of focus on emotional health. In fact, the Church often ends up on weirdly unhealthy ends of the spectrum. One example is attributing all mental illness to demons and ignoring other legitimate organic causes. While much mental illness can and does have a demonic component, it is rarely the only cause, and attempting to cast demons out of someone who already has mental health issues without dealing with anything else can cause more trauma all on its own. Another example is when Christians tell a victim of spousal abuse that they cannot divorce and leave their abuser because “adultery” and “God hates divorce.” One end of the spectrum focuses entirely on one spiritual component to the detriment of other causes, while the other focuses on physical circumstances and ignores all other aspects of a given situation. Both are unhealthy, and both need to change. And yet, there is still a third camp that is so ridiculous I’m not quite sure where it lands—the “You’re saved, so everything is all better now” group. And when things actually aren’t better in spite of being told they are, people start to ask sensible questions like, “If I’m Already Saved Then Why Do I Still Have Emotional Problems?”

One of the first wrong answers we tend to tell people is “Maybe you aren’t really saved.” This then leads us to say the “sinner’s prayer” over and over (I still can’t find anything remotely resembling that in Scripture) as though telling God we are sinners regularly will somehow help us live in freedom in Christ (Hint: it doesn’t). When that doesn’t work, we usually tell the person they have someone they haven’t forgiven, and that God can’t forgive us if we don’t forgive other people. Then we soul-search to try to find that one person we haven’t forgiven that is causing such afflictions in our life. Oftentimes we still can’t figure out who that person we are being told must exist is, so we pray a catch-all prayer (again) to forgive anyone and everyone we might possibly have considered the potential of whether or not to have unforgiveness against . . . and yet things still don’t change.

So if it isn’t because we aren’t saved and we have already forgiven everyone, what causes the emotional problems? Didn’t all of that get taken care of in Christ? After all, Isaiah 53:4-5 says, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (NKJV). If Jesus bore our griefs and sorrows, all of our emotional issues, then we’re good, right?

Wrong.

Sure, it would be nice to think that “because Jesus” that we will never experience any kind of emotional problem. I would absolutely LOVE that. But it doesn’t work that way.

Everyone has emotional junk. And while some of it can and often does get automagically fixed upon salvation, sometimes it takes a bit more work. Not only that, but what about new emotional wounds that happen after one gets saved? I prayed the “sinner’s prayer” when I was three years old (no, I wasn’t too young and yes, I do remember it). I’ve always loved Jesus. And he’s always been kind to me. But if all of my emotional baggage went away at that age, then I’ve still had over thirty years of new “stuff” that I’ve picked up over time. Putting down my dog last December still hits me at times. Getting kicked out of my church about 14 years ago just because I got married and the church couldn’t control me was hard for a number of years. If someone thinks that my wife and I have never had a major argument, then clearly he or she has never been married. And that doesn’t include family system issues from childhood, kids being mean on the playground in elementary school, and much more.

The good news is that while everything doesn’t simply vanish upon salvation, Jesus did pay the price for 100% of our emotional healing. It’s just that it usually takes our active involvement to apply what He did to the brokenness in our hearts. Jesus is the most amazing healer out there. He is gentle, kind, loving, and He has all the power needed to restore even the most shattered of hearts. When we feel like Humpty Dumpty, like nothing will be able to put us back together again, Jesus can. We may have to go through a process. We may need to systematically apply His grace to specific problems through prayer until everything is whole. And that process often isn’t fun, but it is good.

Should we expect that God will heal hearts upon salvation? Yes. And let us continue to pray and believe for that to occur. But if it doesn’t, we aren’t deficient, we haven’t failed to get saved, and we haven’t failed to believe God’s promises. In most cases, the Church has failed to accurately teach us how to apprehend true freedom in Christ. But the good news? We’re learning. We’re better than we used to be. And wholeness is always attainable. In Christ. From Christ. Because of Christ.

If you are looking for some resources to help you on your own inner healing journey, I recommend the following:

My coauthored book Broken To Whole

Praying Medic’s book Emotional Healing in Three Easy Steps

Karol Truman’s book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die

Dan Duval’s books Prayers that Shake Heaven and Earth and Advanced Prayers that Shake Heaven and Earth

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Peace That Bypasses Understanding

In the past year I have been doing a lot of inner healing, working primarily with soul fragmentation (An Introduction to Soul Fragmentation is here), and the process been full of ups and downs—with a lot of downs. While the journey has been difficult, I have begun to experience the fruit of it in the more recent past, which has been a nice change. During this journey I have learned a lot more about the process of inner healing as a whole, which has been educational, but the Lord quickened something in my spirit one day that not only brought comfort but a fascinating revelation—on bringing peace that bypasses understanding.

Philippians 4:7 is one of the more often-quoted Bible verses, and it says, “. . . and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NKJV). I was listening to a podcast, although I forget by whom, and they mentioned that verse. What I realized at that moment was that in order for us to have an understanding of something, it has to flow through our conscious mind. Yet, if God is bringing us peace that bypasses that understanding then it is dealing with the subconscious or unconscious mind—the realm of fragments and alters.

The reason this is significant is because fragmented parts have a moderate influence on how we feel—and yet when those feelings are negative it can be difficult to access and address them in a healthy way, helping those hurting parts to cope, heal, and move beyond the things that broke them off in the first place. And yet, Philippians 4:7 tells us that Jesus has a solution for us even when we don’t feel able to fix those issues ourselves. He will bypass our understanding, our conscious mind, and minister to those hurting parts directly to bring them peace.

While I understand that the verse is typically translated as “surpassing” is the word “hyperechō” which according to BlueletterBible.org means “to stand out, rise above, overtop, to be above, be superior in rank, authority, power, to excel, to be superior, better than, to surpass.” While I recognize that “surpassing” something means to move past it in a superior manner, the truth is that to “surpass” is essentially still bypassing—especially when we are talking about the conscious mind.

The encouragement here is that for those who are dealing with any kind of anxiety, depression, fear, or literally any other life problem, it doesn’t matter if we have the ability to understand why we are experiencing that issue in the moment. While understanding is often helpful in the inner healing process, the Bible tells us it isn’t an issue to Jesus—our understanding isn’t required for Him to share His peace with us. So, for everyone reading this, everyone struggling, and anyone who has fears or concerns, my prayer for you is this: May the peace that bypasses understanding guard every area of your soul, your mind, will, and emotions, in and through the power and love of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Whatever Touches The Flesh Will Become Holy

In the midst of this entire disease issue, I have been using the time to finish writing my newest book The Gospel of Life and Immortality which I am now revising and hope to publish later this year. While doing some scriptural study, I was reminded of a very interesting parallel between the Old and New Testaments addressing how we manage those who are sick and “unclean” versus healthy and “clean,” and I want to explore the implications of what that means for us today—specifically the idea stated in Exodus 22:27, that “Whatever touches . . . the flesh will become holy.”

Leviticus 11:311-35 says, “Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth. Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. Any food you are allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean.”

This passage is one of many that explains how things that are unclean make almost everything else they come in contact with unclean. If you read Levitical Law from an infection-control perspective it is actually incredibly pragmatic and would help a large group of people living closely together maintain better health and sanitation. However, the underlying thing it points to is that unclean things make clean things dirty. If we look elsewhere in the Old Testament we see an interesting contrast when dealing with sin offerings. Exodus 22:24b-27 says:

The Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron and his sons: ‘These are the regulations for the sin offering: The sin offering is to be slaughtered before the Lord in the place the burnt offering is slaughtered; it is most holy. The priest who offers it shall eat it; it is to be eaten in the sanctuary area, in the courtyard of the tent of meeting. Whatever touches any of the flesh will become holy, and if any of the blood is spattered on a garment, you must wash it in the sanctuary area.

I want to draw special attention to the last sentence (v27) that says “Whatever touches any of the flesh will become holy.” What we need to note here is that sin offerings remove and/or cover over sin. While something might normally be unclean, if anything touches the flesh of a sin sacrifice, the item becomes holy. This is a foreshadowing of the New Testament gift we receive in Christ which he demonstrated with the lepers, where those who come in contact with Jesus are made clean, well, and whole. We see this in Matthew 8:1-3 (also in Mark 1:40-42 and Luke 5:12-13) where it says:

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

In this verse, the unclean man comes to the clean man seeking to be cleansed—but there is more to it than that. Jesus was our sin offering as well, and we see that in this passage when Jesus touched the man, his flesh touched the leper’s, the unclean man became clean. The Old Covenant lived under the law where unclean things dirtied everything else around them, but the New Covenant reality is that clean things cleanse everything around them. Whatever touches the flesh will become holy, clean, well, and put in right standing and alignment.

I realize that there are many different opinions floating around the church world these days having to do with sickness and disease, but I think it is important that we refocus on the truth that is presented to us in the Bible. Romans 6:33 tells us that the payment we receive for sin is death. Sickness is just a manifestation of death at work in our bodies. Jesus as the blood sacrifice once for all sin has already touched our lives and He has declared us clean, whole, righteous, and pure with no sin or blemish or stain upon us. The gift of righteousness we receive in Christ Jesus brings us life that destroys the power of sickness that seeks to work death in our bodies. While the Old Covenant reality is that sickness would make the healthy sick, the new way of Christ is that wherever we go, it is our job to destroy sickness and make the sick healthy and whole again.

I think it is time the Body of Christ reframes our perspective and realigns again with who Christ has declared us to be: clean-makers, righteous ones who destroy sin, and that whatever touches our flesh becomes clean. In a world where a six-foot distance separating humans from one another, we need to be reminded that we carry within us the power of Christ to destroy disease. The world has cowed many in the Church into bowing to the power of disease when in fact the opposite needs to occur: disease bowing to the power of Christ in us, the Church. As we go about our daily lives, I encourage each one of us to truly consider where we stand in our own hearts on this matter. Do we actually expect the things we touch to become clean? Or are we constantly on the alert to keep everything outside of us from defiling us? I believe that as we each become more aware of the reality that in Christ we can cleanse the world around us of sickness and disease we will actually experience it regularly—and this is what God has already purchased for us in Christ! May we all step into a greater understanding of the power to redeem, heal, and restore that Jesus has bestowed upon us all!

Filling Prayer Bowls – Accelerating Answered Prayer

In a previous article titled Frame It! Building a Vehicle For Answered Prayer we discussed how to frame up prayer using a model of golden bowls found in Revelation 5:8 and 8:3-5, with a promise of more to come, discussing how prayer bowls get filled and how we can accelerate the process with spiritual laws and principles. In the same way that the natural world full of visible matter has natural laws that govern its function, the spiritual realm full of invisible spirit-matter has spiritual laws that do the same. Where natural laws include things like friction, drag, gravity, and thermodynamics, spiritual laws include things like sowing and reaping, focus, and agreement. When we understand how spiritual laws function, we can make strategic use of them to enhance the effectiveness of our prayers. Spiritual principles are similar to laws in that they influence how things function, but are not as specific and targeted as laws are. Alternately, to look at why prayers often go unanswered, you can read our article titled Understanding Spiritual Laws and Forces: The Paper Airplane Model. Before explaining how we can use spiritual laws and principles to do this, I want to clarify something. None of this is us earning God’s favor or earning the right to have our prayers answered. We have already been made fully righteous in Jesus Christ, and instead of trying to earn the right to get our prayers answered, the scriptures tell us that because of our position as sons and daughters of God we are to “boldly approach the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:16).” We don’t pray from an earthly position of need, but from a heavenly position of birthright and authority, decreeing and legislating into the earth that which we already have access of in heaven. However, God also wants to bring us into maturity as sons and daughters which means learning how the spiritual realms work and the rules by which they operate. The good news is that doing so will help us to be more effective in manifesting heaven’s rule in the natural realm.

Spiritual Laws

The primary law that influences most of what happens in the earth is that of sowing and reaping. Galatians 6:7 tells us that what we sow or put out, we will reap or get back. Luke 6:37-38 speaks of a similar concept, saying, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Both of these verses show us that whatever we put out, and in the measure which we put it out, we will receive in like kind in return. In the natural that means if we plant corn seeds, we will grow corn plants. If we plant acorns, we will grow oak trees—and the law works the same way for things spiritual. What this means for answered prayer is that if we want to accelerate the speed at which we get things done, we can intentionally sow in order to intentionally reap. Using the idea of prayer bowls getting filled in prayer, that means we might choose to intercede for others who are dealing with the same things we are, knowing that as we sow on behalf of others, we will reap back the same for our own situation. You can read a little more about it in another article titled Is The Law of Attraction In The Bible?
The thing about using the law of sowing and reaping to accelerate answered prayer is that it isn’t necessarily a quick-fix. It is effective, but not always fast. Think about it—when someone plants a seed, it takes months for it to grow before it produces edible fruit. Sowing and reaping is effective, but it isn’t usually instantaneous. While there are situations and circumstances that can accelerate the “growth time”, as a whole using sowing and reaping to accelerate answered prayer works best in situations that are expected to either be long-term issues or recurring ones.
A second law we can use to accelerate the filling of prayer bowls is the Law of Agreement. Matthew 18:19 says, “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” This verse explicitly states that when two people agree in prayer on something, God answers. Deuteronomy 32:30 expands on this principle, showing us that there is an exponential growth that occurs when we get multiple people involved in prayer. It says, “. . . “one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight . . . (Deuteronomy 32:30)” When people align in prayer there is something about that joining together that causes not just a basic acceleration but has a synergistic effect in the spirit that propels answered prayer forward.

Spiritual Principles

Spiritual laws are not the only things that help accelerate prayer. There are other principles and spiritual functions that do not fall under the category of laws that can also help us accelerate prayer. Some of the primary ones include engaging and including angels, addressing atmospheres and praying under an “open heaven”, and inner healing and deliverance.
Angels are messengers, helpers, and warriors and some of their functions include helping us do all that God has planned in advance for us to do. Psalm 103:20 says, “Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.” One of the functions of angels is to perform God’s word, and when we pray in alignment with God’s will and nature (considering Jesus *is* the Word made flesh), angels assist us. One means of accelerating prayer is to be intentional about involving angels. In fact, if we consider the prayer-bowl analogy, Revelation 8:3-5 even shows us that angels are actively involved in the process of answering prayer. In Daniel 10:12, an angel comes to Daniel and tells him that when Daniel first prayed to God, he was dispatched with the answer to the man’s prayer, which only further demonstrates this point. If we want to enhance the effectiveness of prayer, we would be wise to include our heavenly helpers (To learn more about how to partner with angels, enroll for free in our email list and you will receive a free e-book titled Engaging Angels).

Atmospheres are one of those subjects that it seems most are unaware of on a conscious level, but if we really think about it, we have all experienced the influence of an atmosphere. Have you ever walked into a room where two people were arguing? You can literally feel the tension in the air—a perfect example of a negative atmosphere. In the same way that we can both sense and create negative atmospheres, we can sense and create positive ones. A good way to do this is to literally verbally take authority over the atmosphere wherever you are and command it to shift in a way that is according to Heaven’s design, but spending time in worship or prayer are other ways to do this. The idea of praying under an “open heaven” is essentially derived from the idea that we can have a spiritual atmosphere that is highly conducive to prayer, angelic activity, and which restrains the function of the demonic. For a revelatory perspective on this, I highly recommend the article How Satan Stops Our Prayers: Combat In The Heavenly Realms by John Mulinde. Ultimately, whether one titles it something special like “open heaven” or not, the underlying point is that we can influence a time of prayer by addressing not just the spiritual forces of angels and demons during the time of prayer, but by setting up the spiritual conditions around us at the outset of that prayer time. By adjusting the spiritual atmosphere as we start to pray we can enhance the effectiveness of our prayer time and often can sense an active release in the spirit when the things we are praying for are being answered.

Inner healing and deliverance don’t really seem like the kind of thing that would help accelerate prayer, but Hebrews 12:1 gives us a key as to how they can help. It says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us . . . (Hebrews 12:1)“ Soul wounds and demonic baggage are perfect examples of things that hinder, and they also push people toward entangling sin. Going through inner healing and deliverance helps us throw them off, as the verse recommends, so we can run forward with perseverance. While this might not seem to help with prayer at first glance, demonic resistance hinders prayer, and inner wounds eat at our faith. By addressing both of these, we remove things that erode the effectiveness of our prayers, which in turn increases effectiveness.

Whether working with spiritual laws such as sowing and reaping or spiritual principles such as atmospheres and open heavens, we do not have to live at the mercy of our circumstances when it comes to prayer. We can take an active part in when and how our prayers get answered, and can use Godly wisdom to partner with heaven to see God’s Kingdom manifest on earth as it already exists in heaven.

Deal with Coronavirus According To The Grace You Live In

These days, the COVID-19 Coronavirus is all over the news. Literally. I’m not sure it’s possible to watch any other news, actually, because if it isn’t Corona, I’m not even sure anyone is reporting on it even if we would be better served by not having 24/7 fear-and-panic updates. However, this entire process has gotten me doing a good bit of pondering as I have some very divergent thoughts and stances on things, all of which come crashing together when dealing with what many are choosing to call a pandemic. I have friends whom I love and highly respect who have canceled their ministry engagements and are telling their social media spheres to stay home. I have other friends whom I also love and respect telling people to not be bound by fear and to not change their life activities and spiritual practices based on disease. After reading tons of dueling social media posts from other believers and tossing in a few of my own (guilty as charged), I’ve taken a brief mental sit-back to really evaluate why I make the decisions I make, what I think others should do and why, and how we can individually review what the “right” choices are when so many different voices in both the Church and the world are saying so many different things. I’m going to look at some of my own conflicting views, and then bring it back to my conclusion that each person needs to deal with the coronavirus according to the grace you live in.

As a nurse, I recognize that diseases are very real and both can and do kill people. I also do not want to see a single person die due to lack of healthcare availability, and this strain of virus seems to be more tenacious than other coronavirus strains and seems to have a more deadly tinge to it. If avoiding public places, engaging in “social distancing”, and generally helping prevent the spread of disease by reducing out-of-home activities can help keep people alive, it’s honestly a really wise, helpful, and kind thing to do. Mind you, people die from the flu and even coronavirus every year, and while the actual numbers on coronavirus death ratios are, from what I can gather, massively inflated due to a lack of accurate initial diagnosis and insufficient testing, the fact is that for each individual that dies from this virus, that is someone’s mother, father, brother, daughter, friend who is no longer alive on the earth. I’m not certain this is quite the health emergency it is being made out to be, but I’m also not entirely certain it isn’t. And many people, even if a statistically small number comparative to the whole, are dying from this disease, and each death matters. Longer-term, if it is the health emergency some claim, than many more will die, hospitals will be overrun, and even more will die, which is a terrible potential outcome, whether it comes to pass or not. So with all of that in mind, where is my inner conflict?

As someone who has a healthy distrust for government—any government—I don’t fully believe everything we are being told. It is rare, in my opinion, that we are ever told the whole truth by the government about almost anything, so why would this be any different? There are a number of ways certain people who don’t have our best interests in mind could stand to gain substantially from an emergency such as this. I also think the massive closures across the board of both businesses and religious sites sets a really bad precedent, and I think the USA as a nation is going to find that our response to the coronavirus, even if totally appropriate for the situation, will send the message to people in positions of influence that if someone screams “Emergency!” that Americans will simply lay down and let the government roll over our Constitutionally-mandated freedoms. Individuals have the right to choose not to frequent a business or religious establishment, but I don’t think that from a Constitutional perspective the government should be mandating it, whether at the federal, state, or local level. Furthermore, as a strong proponent of divine healing, raising the dead, and immortality in Christ, I firmly believe that we, the Body of Christ, have been given dominion over sickness and death. I believe that the Church should have no reason whatsoever to fear this virus and that on some level we should be welcoming people into church services for the purpose of divine healing, and even holding coronavirus-specific healing services to see the power of God touch the bodies of those the virus has made sick.

And that right there is the conflict. I both think that self-quarantining from a scientific perspective is actually a really good idea (because scientifically speaking, it works), and that closing down churches and self-quarantining from a faith-perspective is largely a fear response and incredibly unwise on that level. On the other hand, asking to get sick is also unwise, and then the Bible even tells us to submit to human authorities as well.

1 Peter 2:13-17 says, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.”

Honestly, part of me wishes that passage wasn’t in there because my don’t-trust-government side doesn’t like that it says to submit to human authorities. On the other hand, I also don’t think God wants us to obey evil either, and the above passage also says to live as God’s slaves, not the government’s slaves. So the lines, as much as it would be nice if they were clear, are actually still somewhat blurry in my mind.

This might still not seem like much of a conflict to some, so let me get back to the spiritual side of things for a minute. It is a fact that Jesus paid for all sin, sickness, and death on the cross over 2,000 years ago. It is a fact that God isn’t the author of disease, nor does Heaven have disease to hand out. Jesus has given us power and authority over sicknesses to heal them, and over demons that cause illnesses in the body to cast them out. In the Old Testament, a disease made a normal person unclean, but in the New Testament Jesus demonstrated that in the presence of a disease, he cleansed the disease and healed the sick of their problems. The New Testament reality is such that there is no good reason why we as the Body should need to hibernate to avoid getting coronavirus or any other disease or illness, as we should be in a position to take authority over every bacteria and virus and see them destroyed in Jesus’ name. That’s a major part of the conflict—we shouldn’t be hiding when we have divine ability to push it all back and destroy it. On the other hand, I am not new to divine healing, and I know that while theoretically that is where the Body of Christ should be at, most of the time that simply isn’t the case. And that’s where I think that each of us need to deal with the Coronavirus according to the grace we live in.

I believe Romans 12:6 offers a principle that we can use to help us decide, individually, what the right answer is for us, and I think we can each use that principle to both guide our own decisions in this as well as to keep us from holding others in judgment for their decisions which may be in conflict with ours. The verse says, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith . . .” (Romans 12:6). The admonition here is to do what the person is doing in accordance with his or her faith. The way I read this, if someone has a high level of faith for something, he or she will respond to a greater degree in that area than someone with little faith. For me, if I have a high level of faith for divine healing, then it would be fairly reasonable for me to hold a church service, encourage corona-infected people to come, and expect God to show up and heal them—and under the US Constitution, I would be protected by law and therefore not actually disobeying government (a lawyer friend explained this week that legally, the government can suggest/request that churches close voluntarily, but Constitutionally they may not mandate it). If I have a low level of faith for divine healing, then I probably need to bust out some hand sanitizer, don a mask, and maybe stay at home and pray from afar (everyone should wash their hands anyway, regardless of faith level—hygiene never goes out of style). In fact, if I walk in a low level of faith in that area, I am likely to not only come to harm myself, but bring harm to others, and that is the opposite of wisdom.

I think that the more people see the members of the Body of Christ attacking one another during a time when much of the world is panic-driven, it isn’t going to show them the peace that we are supposed to walk in, nor is it going to release peace to them as we bicker amongst ourselves. So here’s my suggestion: Let us each decide the grace we have individually been given, and the grace we are actively walking in, and then live it out. Let us not hold others in judgment for walking in the level of grace they currently walk in, as that is foolishness. Jesus spent his time working with His disciples, and when they questioned what others were doing, regardless of what those people were doing, whether for or against, Jesus left them alone (Matthew 12:30, Mark 9:40). We would do well to take a page out of His book and just keep doing the things that we do in accordance with the measure of faith we operate in. We would also do well to use this as a mirror to reflect upon where our level of faith for divine healing is at. Do we actually believe the promises of God in regards to healing and health? How much do we believe those promises? If we recognize we have room to grow (which we all do), what do we plan to do about it? After all, whether Coronavirus or any other disease or illness, it doesn’t wait for us to get our theology lined up properly before it decides to strike, so now is as good a time as any to identify an area of weakness and do something about it.

In the end, regardless of where each of us are at, please know that your prayers are powerful and that the single most-beneficial thing we can each do is pray, continuously, for all coronavirus sickness to be healed, for near-death situations to be reversed, and even for those who have died to be raised from the dead by the power of Jesus Christ. As we pray, God will answer our prayers and touch people all around the globe with His lifegiving power, with each prayer making it just a little bit more here on earth as it already is in heaven. Blessings to you all, and I pray along with you that this quickly passes.

If you want to learn about how to walk more readily in divine healing, check out Praying Medic’s Book on Divine Healing and his Self-Paced Online Class.

If you want to learn about how to raise the dead, check out my book Faith To Raise The Dead and Tyler Johnson’s book How To Raise The Dead.

5 Criteria Jesus Used To Choose Whom To Heal

One of the things I run into frequently when teaching people about healing the sick (but which also applies to raising the dead, casting out demons, and more) is the issue of “Jesus didn’t heal everyone he saw.” So how did Jesus choose who He should heal? I have found 5 criteria he used, and which we can also use, to help make that determination in our own lives.

Before answering that question, I think we need to take a step back and look at the motivations behind the question/statement surrounding the idea that Jesus didn’t heal everyone. It is usually one of two things:

1) Someone is legitimately trying to understand when and for whom to release divine healing
2) Someone is trying to avoid being obedient toward doing the things Jesus commanded us to do

The second group is all about shirking responsibility. While one can make the argument “There isn’t enough time in the day to heal everyone so I have to pick and choose”, the ones pushing that line of reasoning are rarely so busy healing the sick that it’s even a relevant question to ask. For them, the question is a method of avoidance, not an honest attempt to understand how to walk out what Jesus commanded. The only solution for that group is to repent—change their way of thinking and doing things. Anything else is a waste of time and energy, and I don’t tend to give much time to this group of individuals for that reason—I want people who want to grow.

The first group is typically already active in some way in healing ministry, or if not, usually desires to learn and grow to be effective in healing the sick and injured through divine healing prayer. For this group, I will gladly take the time to identify the 5 criteria Jesus used to know when to heal the sick, which are as follows:

1. Does He Love Them?

In order to know whether or not to heal someone, we first need to know “Does God love that person?” The answer is obviously “Yes!“. Why is this relevant? Because healing is a manifestation of God’s love. It is His mercy, goodness, and great kindness that causes Him to heal us. Thus, if God loves someone, it is His desire to see them healed.

2. Did He Die For Them?

If we want to know if we even *can* heal someone, we need to know if Jesus died for them. Why does this matter? Because Isaiah 53:4-6 lays out a list of things Jesus accomplished when He died on the cross and rose again. The passage is as follows:

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Jesus took all of our emotional problems, physical maladies, and our sin. In their place, we get to be healed. If Jesus died for someone, then He already purchased their healing on the cross over 2,000 years ago, and thus we can always pray for the sick and know with 100% assurance that it is God’s will to heal them. In fact, God can’t even say “no” to something He already paid for . . . not to mention that all the promises of God are “yes” and “amen” in Christ (2 Cor 1:20)!

3. Did God tell Him to Do It?

The most obvious times we should heal someone are the times where God tells or shows us to. Jesus said “I only do what I see my Father doing (John 5:19-20).” While in context Jesus was responding to people getting angry at him healing someone, and Jesus was explaining that He was doing it through God’s power and not on his own, the underlying concept remains—that we should partner with God and do what He is doing when He is doing it. When God is trying to heal someone, it’s time for us to step up and step out!

4. Have They Asked For Help?

While it is true that Jesus didn’t necessarily pray for and/or heal every person he came across who had a malady, He *did* touch everyone who asked. In fact, Jesus even preached this very thing when He said “Give to those who ask . . . (Matthew 5:42a)” Any time in the Bible that someone came up to Jesus and asked Him for help, He helped them. That is the example that Jesus modeled for us, and we as the Body should walk out that same example. While one may not stop for every person, we *should* make every effort to help those who ask us to help them.

5. Does He Care?

The last criteria I see Jesus using to know when to heal the sick is where the Bible says “He was moved with compassion.” When Jesus saw a need and His heart was moved with a desire to touch them, He did. We don’t always have to have some special directive from God in order to heal the sick. Sometimes all we need is the desire to touch people with love and compassion, and the Bible says that God gives us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). In fact, if you will recall above that in John 5:19-20 Jesus said He did what He saw the Father doing, in verse 21 Jesus said, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” Yes, Jesus literally explained that if He felt like healing or resurrecting someone, then He would go ahead and do it—and we should do the same!

These are the five criteria I have identified that Jesus used when deciding when to heal the sick. I believe the same applies to raising the dead as well as to many other situations, but regardless of why one steps out to heal, the truth is that people don’t generally get healed unless we decide to step out in faith. So whatever you do, don’t get rigid in the way you do things, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and don’t be afraid to take a risk and go be His hands of healing!

How Can I Keep My Freedom After a Deliverance Session?

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” hover_enabled=”0″]One of the things people don’t always realize about casting out demons is that it is only long-lasting if the underlying root issues are dealt with. Matthew 12:43-45 and Luke 11:24-26 speak of the same situation—casting demons out of a person. Jesus explains that if a stronghold exists within a person, casting out the demons will not fix the problem if the stronghold isn’t dismantled. Strongholds can be thought of as a literal building inside a person in their innermost being (for info on that, read my blog article on the Inner Dimension).

If you don’t dismantle the strongholds, the demons will just come back, and the above passages say that they can bring even more demonic reinforcements back in with them. Not a great plan. So how are we supposed to walk in total freedom if casting out demons is a bad idea?

To be clear, casting out demons is a fantastic idea—it just shouldn’t be the only thing we do. It’s a bit like building a three-legged stool. If deliverance is one leg of the stool and that’s all you do, then the stool won’t function properly at all. The only way to get the stool to work right is to add the other two legs: inner healing and mind renewal.

Healing emotional wounds can be simple at times, and in other cases very complex. Praying Medic’s book/ebook “Emotional Healing In Three Easy Steps” is a fantastic resource for a simple 30-second prayer that can be prayed by anyone at any time for lasting results. I use it regularly personally, in my home, and with people I have worked with for inner healing and deliverance. It works really well and I highly recommend it because it is incredibly simple and quick to learn and use. In more complex cases it is a good idea to get some outside help from a prayer coach or prayer minister of some kind, but try using simple tools such as those in Praying Medic’s book first and see how things go. By healing the inner wounds that help create demonic access, it destroys the ability of demons to re-enter a person and in some cases uproots strongholds that provide them with firm footing once inside.

Renewing the mind is another incredible key to living in freedom. Demons get access through both our emotions AND thoughts, so if we only deal with one and neglect the other, we are only going to see half the results. We have all learned to believe things that are not true about God, about ourselves, and about the world around us. We are constantly sowing these wrong beliefs out as an intangible energy that attract demonic forces toward us, and it is visible to them in the spirit realm. As we align our beliefs with God’s, we not only stop these negative emanations, but begin to sow and reap in the positive, attracting good things toward us. That’s why Philippians 4:8-9 says that if we think about good things that “the God of peace will be with us.” There is a direct correlation between our beliefs and the level of peace and glory that we can live in. Changing our thoughts changes our lives, and it brings freedom both because it brings about better, healthier life choices and also because it has a preventive effect against the demonic.

There is a fourth component that God is revealing to the Body in this hour, which is releasing those same three components of life transformation into the parts inside our inner world—fragments and alters who the demonic are using to get to us. While I don’t want to go into depth on them more here, when this is understood, it is evident that it is a huge key to living out the full, abundant lives that Jesus purchased for us. When we deliver, heal, and renew the minds of all of the parts inside of us, the level of freedom goes to a level that few even believe is possible.

Regardless of whether one wants to believe in or deal with parts or not, when we put deliverance together with emotional healing and renewing the mind, we become unstoppable forces of inner wholeness. This allows us to enjoy the freedom that Romans 8 speaks of where without any further effort we can simply walk freely by the Spirit of Life. Anything less than that is to live beneath the level of fullness of what Jesus purchased for us.
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