We shared in the last post two diagrams that can help us deal with our behaviours, so that we can change. Here is one more, and listed down the right hand side are the basic steps we take.
Forgive and release
Whatever it is that troubles us, we forgive and release it. We do not hold on to anything, or we end up in the torture chamber, being tortured by the enemy. If we do that, we will not only feel much worse, we will also continue to repeat the same patterns of behaviour.
Own it
We cannot change unless we own our behaviour. It does not mean that we take our identity from it, it means we recognise the issue and that we want to change.
Confess it
If it is sin, we confess it as sin. We do not dress it up as ‘my little problem’ or ‘this weakness I sometimes have’. We call it what it is, repent of it and renounce it, and God will change us. If we try to pretend, nothing will change.
Renounce it
“I am not going to act like this any more. I am not going to operate in this way of thinking any more. I renounce that: I am going to operate according to the ways of God.”
Repent of it
Remember, this is nothing to do with feeling sorry or doing penance. Metanoia is a change of mind so that we begin to think about something the way God thinks about it. Focusing on the problem only makes it seem bigger: we turn instead and look at Jesus. He is the solution, and He will enable us to change.
Meditate on the truth
We may have believed a whole load of lies because of our past. At Freedom we have often taught about ‘getting the lies out of our truth drawer’. More recently we have come across LieBusters and we wholeheartedly recommend and endorse that ministry.
We need to know the truth. Ultimately, Jesus is the Truth, and He will lead us into all truth. We can use some of the declarations of truth we know about who we are, and meditate on scriptures declaring the truth of our identity in Christ. We need to introduce the truth into our hearts and be led by the Spirit to get that truth firmly established there.
Hammer Familiars
If familiar spirits are present, we have to hammer them. Every time we hear a whisper in our head that is not God, we absolutely hammer it with the truth. We beat it up, take it into the heavens, and destroy it. We do not want to be listening to the enemy whispering in our ear, agreeing with him, and then living out of that agreement. We have to get rid of it: it takes some effort, but we can destroy those things.
Positive Confession
We speak according to our future, not our past. We positively confess (say the same thing as) the truth of what God says to us and about us. We confess our identity, who we are as a child of God. As we become confident in that identity, we begin to choose how we frame our reality. That is what God desires.
Deliverance, Healing
We may need deliverance, we may need healing: we are not ashamed to ask for help. We do not have to fight this all on our own. Some things we can overcome alone, but we can always ask someone to stand with us. If we are struggling to overcome a particular issue, we make ourselves accountable to someone.
Yes, that is scary, and it means we have to own it, admit it, talk about some of the things we have managed to keep hidden in our lives, but we find someone we can trust, someone who loves us, who is willing to support us, and we make ourselves accountable to them in the process we are going through.
Restoration
God wants to restore all of us. He desires that we become like Jesus, reflecting the image of God, demonstrating His kingdom on earth, but we have to be willing to surrender to Him, and deal with our own heart.
Changed priorities ahead
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4).
Now, you have a choice to make. Next time you are confronted, or experience feelings of rejection, what are you going to do? Are you going to do the same thing you have always done, or address it and become different by overcoming it? Treat the trial as joy, because joy will bring the strength of God into your life. If instead you oppose what God is doing, you will be fighting against God – and that is never a good idea.
We must embrace what God is doing, change, and grow through it. We will have to examine ourselves, and it may not be all that comfortable, but let’s not sail through life unaware of what is on the inside of us. It is not about navel-gazing, trying to find a problem where none exists; it is that when a problem arises, when a situation happens, when we know we have a problem in a certain area of our thinking, emotions or behaviour, we have the tools to deal with it and we can change.
It takes practice. Lasting change will not happen just by doing it once. We have to be consistent in applying this: Hebrews 5:14 says that it is because of practice that we have trained our senses to discern good and evil.
So are you content to carry on as you are? Or will you pursue transformation?