The fifth item on the Freedom Guide, is to bind up the lies of the enemy. Easier said than done sometimes! But, the first four items in this guide should help you begin to discern what is you, what is God, and what is the enemy.
Any thing that you are worried about or have fear and anxiety over is under the influence of a lie from the enemy in some way. His job description is to steal, kill, and destroy. Most of the things we worry about, are afraid of, or are anxious about are rooted in lies we learned very early on.
I have another chart that I give out to my clients that helps identify the lies and the entities that are probably involved with them. We don’t really know the names of most entities, but we refer to them by their function. For example: shame. Some of the lies that shame might tell us are, “I’m so stupid, I shouldn’t have done that.”, “I’ve gained weight and everyone will think I’m lazy.”, or “I should be a better ___, I’m worthless.”
The biggest difficulty is to discover what the lie is, which is what an inner healing session can help with (get more information about a session with me here). Or if you have a friend discerning, bold, and courageous enough, they might tell you. But, one technique anyone can do that I find successful, is to ask God to show or tell me what it is. Sometimes, He gives me a picture, or I’ll have a dream, or He will whisper it softly to me. He always does so with kindness, gentleness, and great love. He wants us to get rid of these lies so that we can experience the freedom that Jesus died to give us.
Once we discover what the lie is, it’s a simple process to break it off: repent, rebuke, kick the enemy out, and declare the truth. So, let’s take something obvious as an example, and I’ll show you how to break off those lies. Let’s say that I believed the lie that “I’m stupid.” The base emotion for that would be shame, and so that’s how we’ll identify the enemy involved. I would pray something like this:
Father, forgive me for believing the lie that I’m stupid. I repent of believing that lie, and I revoke all agreement with the spirit of shame. I gather up this spirit of shame, and any others with it, and I cast them to the cross of Jesus. I place the blood of Jesus between all of them and me, and declare that I have the mind of Christ. I am intelligent and able to learn and make good decisions. Father, help me to believe this truth.
Repeat as needed.
Sometimes, one round of such a prayer is enough, and the lie doesn’t bother us again. For sure we have kicked out that spirit of shame, because of the authority we have in Christ, but there are others. Sometimes, we need to continue to break off the lies and declare the truth because we have a habit of that thought pattern. So, if the lie rears its head again, just pray the prayer again, and keep on doing so until the lie no longer troubles you. Declaring the truth out loud, often, is another good way to shift those thought patterns.
And, here’s a key: Do NOT get into guilt and condemnation because it wasn’t “fixed” instantly. You’ve probably believed these lies for a long time, it may take time to rewire that part of your brain with the truth! The Bible says that God counts up our righteousness and forgets our sins. Let’s be more like Him and make note of the times that we succeed…and by succeed, I mean make any sort of progress. If that lie used to cross your mind 1000 times a day, you are winning if it only does so 500 times! If you focus on that win, soon it will be 100, then 50, then 10, then 5 and then, suddenly, you will find that you rarely, if ever, hear it!
And this, my friend, is freedom indeed!
If you would like more information on this and the rest of the items on the Freedom Guide, I expanded this content into a book and workbook that you can purchase from me in the office, at my online shop or other retailers here.