Deliver Me
I feel like the only person in the country working on Memorial Day. I'm for sure the only person working in this office building today. This morning I thought I knew the code for the alarm...but I didn't and the alarm sounded for a good 5 minutes or more. I called my boss for the right code and so far no police or Brinks security men have showed up, so I think I'm good. It's actually a blessing to be at work today, I missed 2 days of work last week and today I'll make over $130 - a big part of my income.
What I'm about to tell you makes me nervous. I guess because I know what people, especially secular and conservative Christian people, think about "spiritual" issues.
Last week I received spiritual deliverance counseling. I cannot explain it all here because it's a lengthy explanation and the ministry does a much better job of explaining it than I do. I will try to give a brief, basic explanation. The Bible says that believers are a new creation in Christ, but that we also still deal with our flesh, temptations of this world, or the old, pre-saved, version of ourselves that longs for the gratifications of this world and not of spiritual gratifications in Christ. The Bible also says that God is spirit and that we are at our core, spirit. The modern, secular world has a put a heavy emphasis on the physical world - things we can touch, taste, see, smell, hear - science. This emphasis has influenced people who claim to have faith in Christ as well. Most of Western society tends to frown upon any ideas of spiritual activity in the world. Sure, in conservative Christian realms, you'll hear the Holy Spirit mentioned as a part of the Trinity, but the "gifts of the Spirit" (tongues, etc) are strictly prohibited and even talk of spiritual warfare is only occasionally mentioned (even though the Bible talks about it frequently).
Just as the divine Holy Spirit lives in people today, this ministry believes that evil spirits (demons) can live in people as well. Whereas the Holy Spirit resides with the saved, new part of the person, the evil spirits reside with the old, fleshly part of the person.
This results in believers often feeling like they have 2 sides - one side that loves the Lord and wants to glorify Him and one side that just wants to live however it wants and have "fun", or be angry, prideful, hateful, greedy, rich and famous, or lustful. Of course feeling like you're 2 sided can lead to a lot of frustration, spiritual apathy, depression, etc. Read Romans 7 to get a good picture of this. When people feel this way, few people think it's spiritual warfare, people just believe it is their own personal problem - that they are intrinsically evil, bad, messed up, or failures.
The counseling that I received makes you aware of what is really going on within you, spiritually. It separates and organizes the different forces that are influencing the way you think, feel, and behave. It is eye opening, relieving, and possibly the oddest experience I've ever gone through. At the end of the counseling, the evil spirits are cast out and you are educated on how to resist the mindset they have instilled within you.
It's complicated and I won't go into any further detail because you probably think I'm completely nuts by now.
I can't explain it. It's kind of like being saved by Christ in the first place. I cannot prove it to you. But I know. And when you know, you know.
The Bible says we will know believers by the fruit they bear in their lives. I heard about this ministry through some friends of my brother's girlfriend. One of them, who I have never met, had severe social phobia. After her deliverance counseling, it went away. For others, the change is less dramatic. Both my brother and his girlfriend have gone through it, now I have, and my mom is planning on it soon.
I don't feel dramatically different and I surely don't look or seem too different on the outside. But there was nothing dramatically wrong with me before - I just had small hang-ups that over time added up to problems, frustration, and apathy in my relationship with God, as well as not much fruit bearing in my life. Now I know there is freedom within me and small changes that over time will add up to a passionate, joyous, steadfast relationship with my Savior and an abundance of fruit :)
I praise Him for the knowledge He has given me, His hard-to-believe faithfulness to me, that He is and always has been working in my life, and for my ever-growing realization of the extent of His love for me.
What I'm about to tell you makes me nervous. I guess because I know what people, especially secular and conservative Christian people, think about "spiritual" issues.
Last week I received spiritual deliverance counseling. I cannot explain it all here because it's a lengthy explanation and the ministry does a much better job of explaining it than I do. I will try to give a brief, basic explanation. The Bible says that believers are a new creation in Christ, but that we also still deal with our flesh, temptations of this world, or the old, pre-saved, version of ourselves that longs for the gratifications of this world and not of spiritual gratifications in Christ. The Bible also says that God is spirit and that we are at our core, spirit. The modern, secular world has a put a heavy emphasis on the physical world - things we can touch, taste, see, smell, hear - science. This emphasis has influenced people who claim to have faith in Christ as well. Most of Western society tends to frown upon any ideas of spiritual activity in the world. Sure, in conservative Christian realms, you'll hear the Holy Spirit mentioned as a part of the Trinity, but the "gifts of the Spirit" (tongues, etc) are strictly prohibited and even talk of spiritual warfare is only occasionally mentioned (even though the Bible talks about it frequently).
Just as the divine Holy Spirit lives in people today, this ministry believes that evil spirits (demons) can live in people as well. Whereas the Holy Spirit resides with the saved, new part of the person, the evil spirits reside with the old, fleshly part of the person.
This results in believers often feeling like they have 2 sides - one side that loves the Lord and wants to glorify Him and one side that just wants to live however it wants and have "fun", or be angry, prideful, hateful, greedy, rich and famous, or lustful. Of course feeling like you're 2 sided can lead to a lot of frustration, spiritual apathy, depression, etc. Read Romans 7 to get a good picture of this. When people feel this way, few people think it's spiritual warfare, people just believe it is their own personal problem - that they are intrinsically evil, bad, messed up, or failures.
The counseling that I received makes you aware of what is really going on within you, spiritually. It separates and organizes the different forces that are influencing the way you think, feel, and behave. It is eye opening, relieving, and possibly the oddest experience I've ever gone through. At the end of the counseling, the evil spirits are cast out and you are educated on how to resist the mindset they have instilled within you.
It's complicated and I won't go into any further detail because you probably think I'm completely nuts by now.
I can't explain it. It's kind of like being saved by Christ in the first place. I cannot prove it to you. But I know. And when you know, you know.
The Bible says we will know believers by the fruit they bear in their lives. I heard about this ministry through some friends of my brother's girlfriend. One of them, who I have never met, had severe social phobia. After her deliverance counseling, it went away. For others, the change is less dramatic. Both my brother and his girlfriend have gone through it, now I have, and my mom is planning on it soon.
I don't feel dramatically different and I surely don't look or seem too different on the outside. But there was nothing dramatically wrong with me before - I just had small hang-ups that over time added up to problems, frustration, and apathy in my relationship with God, as well as not much fruit bearing in my life. Now I know there is freedom within me and small changes that over time will add up to a passionate, joyous, steadfast relationship with my Savior and an abundance of fruit :)
I praise Him for the knowledge He has given me, His hard-to-believe faithfulness to me, that He is and always has been working in my life, and for my ever-growing realization of the extent of His love for me.