Thinking and Beliefs – Page 3 – Hope for Complete Healing

OVERCOME UNHEALTHY FEAR WITH POWER

Are you aware of how much you are controlled by fear? Do you realize how the news and movies create fear in your mind? For example, I watched a movie called “Taken.” After watching that movie, I feared being kidnapped. The news about women being raped and killed while jogging, hiking, or going shopping reinforced my fear. I became afraid to go out of my house. Have you ever experienced that kind of fear? Some people take fear to a serious mental health level where they can’t leave their homes. Some people are afraid of the dark, dogs, spiders, or snakes, and they have an extreme reaction when they even see a picture of one. Do you know anyone like this? Some people have a fear of being around other people. Why? How do we overcome these fears?

I have been writing about mental health issues since the beginning of the year. Read my other mental health posts here. Mental health issues appear in different ways because we each have different unhealthy beliefs. Two ways to overcome fear are through courage and avoidance. For example, avoid driving on the wrong side of the road to prevent a head-on collision and death. Sometimes you need courage, like when you go into surgery or give a speech. Today, I want to explain how to overcome unhealthy fear with divine power.

Unhealthy Fear Creates Wrong Beliefs.

Healthy fear is based on truth, such as driving on the wrong side of the road will lead to a head-on collision and death. Unhealthy fear creates wrong beliefs that control your emotions and actions. Irrational fears can be traced to a bad experience or a scary movie. Maybe someone chased you with a snake, which terrified you. The truth is, snakes are more afraid of you than you are of them.

Wrong beliefs are things you think are true but are not based on reality. For example, I had an unhealthy fear of being abducted, raped, and killed that I developed from the news and a movie. This unhealthy fear was based on truth, but I had a wrong belief that it would happen to me. This wrong belief controlled my emotions and triggered anxiety. Do you see how unhealthy fears create wrong beliefs, which then influence your emotions and affect your actions?

Replace Wrong Beliefs With Truth.

Now, I replace my wrong belief with God’s truth and promises, that He is always with me and will help and protect me (Heb. 13:5b-6 and Ps. 23:4). Deuteronomy 31:6 states, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you.” He will not leave you or forsake you.” I wrote a book called “Unlocking God’s Promises,” which explains God’s truths that can replace your wrong beliefs and give you courage.

How does Divine Power Eliminate Fear?

Power has many meanings, but in the context of fear, a sense of power gives you confidence or courage to face what you fear. Power gives you the capability of doing or accomplishing something even when you are afraid. Think about electricity, where the power source is an outlet that is connected to the power lines. Until you plug a device into the power source, it will not work. God is our power source, but until we plug into Him through prayer, we will not have any power to overcome our fears. Make sure you have repented of your sins because your sin separates you from God, and He does not hear your prayers (Is. 59:2). Here is what the Bible says about His divine power.

2Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us, “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” God gives you divine power to take your thoughts of fear captive and put your trust in God by replacing your thoughts and focusing on God’s truths. The weapons of our warfare are God’s truth. Read Ephesians 6:10-18.

Who is the author of fear? Ephesians 6:10-12 states, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

2Peter 1:3 explains, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.” When you choose to trust God to help you, you have access His divine power to face all of life’s fears and challenges. His divine power helps you do every hard thing related to your life. He will also help you be godly as you grow in your knowledge of Him. You have been called to God’s glory and excellence, which does not include fear. 2Timothy 1:7 explains, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

Conclusion

Overcoming unhealthy fear is best accomplished through the divine power of God as you pray and take captive your fearful thoughts by replacing them with God’s truth. God also gave you His divine power for everything you do, even doing things you are afraid of. For example, one time I was hiking and saw a huge fresh bear paw print. I became very afraid because I know bears are known to attack humans and kill them, so I took my thoughts captive and claimed God’s protection. For good measure, I sang mixed-up praise songs to God to let the bear know I was there and that God was my protector. Proverbs 18:10 explains, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”

God’s divine power is the only way to overcome temptations and take tempting thoughts captive, and replace them with His truth.

RELATED POSTS:

HOW FEAR CONTROLS YOU!

What Controls Your Thoughts?

FREEDOM OF THOUGHTS—Post 2

POSTS on Thoughts

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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of promises relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and what the truths are. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.

Prevent Suicide and Addictions with Hope

Have you ever lost hope? How often do you feel there is no hope? Have you ever contemplated committing suicide or know someone who has? I must admit that I contemplated suicide several times. When you feel no hope, you become depressed and want to escape. Despair is the opposite of hope, and despair is the leading cause of suicide. Some people resort to drugs or alcohol. Some people are addicted to shopping or excessive exercising to escape their despair. I was a workaholic, where I used busyness and achieving goals to help me forget my problems and feel good.

You only have hope if you trust the one who made the promise. I wrote a book about God’s promises that give you hope called “Unlocking God’s Promises.” It is now available on Amazon. These promises got me through some really tough times and have helped me stay strong in my faith. I struggled with many mental health issues for most of my life. It is a constant battle to take my unhealthy thoughts captive and apply the promises of God.

Evidence of Hope is Joy and Peace.

Lasting hope is in God because He keeps all His promises. The keys to unlocking those promises are to believe, be thankful, and obey Him. All other hope fades away or disappoints us. Romans 15:13 states, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” God is hope, and only by the power of the Holy Spirit will we abound in hope and be filled with joy and peace.

Depression is the opposite of joy and peace. Temporary distractions do not fill you with joy or peace. Empty promises do not give you joy or peace, just more disappointment. Only the God of hope can give you the joy and peace you long for. Psalm 42:11 states, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” We have no hope without God, according to Ephesians 2:12.

God is Faithful and We Can Trust Him

Someone who is faithful is dependable, tells the truth, and can be trusted. Hebrews 10:23 states, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” For the Scriptures below, read each phrase and ponder the truth that gives you hope. For example, I will break down the phrases in Deuteronomy 7:9

“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God,

the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love

with those who love him and keep his commandments,

to a thousand generations.”

1Corinthians 1:9 states, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

1Timothy 1:2 states, “In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.”

Colossians 1:23 states, “If indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Conclusion

Unlocking God’s Promises explains over 18 categories of promises that we can trust God to keep. Sometimes we may have to wait, as Abraham and Sarah did, fifteen years for the birth of Isaac. They were not patient to wait and decided to make the promise happen on their own, which did not end well. Knowing and claiming God’s promises fights despair when you are overwhelmed by troubles. I explain how God’s promises helped me through many difficult situations.

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My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, available on Amazon.

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.

My latest book is Unlocking God’s Promises, which explains 18 categories of promises that are relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

EIGHT WAYS TO EMPATHETIC LISTENING

Are you quick to offer advice without fully understanding the underlying issue? Do you feel people don’t listen to you? Do you empathetically listen to others and seek to understand, or do you only want to be understood? Seeking to understand is an empathetic way of communicating that many people don’t know how to do.

I have been writing about mental health issues this year. Learning to understand others and practicing empathetic listening can be challenging if you are consumed by your own problems, which I was at one time. Or if you are a problem solver like me. I am quick to offer advice without fully understanding the situation first. Stephen Covey explains how to empathetically listen to people in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”

How Do You Communicate?

Listen with the intent to reply.

Speaking or preparing to speak.

Filtering everything through your paradigms or perspective.

Reading your autobiography into other people’s lives, thinking what worked for you will work for them.

Four Autobiographical Responses (Stephen Covey)

Because we listen autobiographically, we tend to respond in one of four ways.

We evaluate by either agreeing or disagreeing;

We probe by asking questions from our own frame of reference;

We advise and give counsel based on our own experience; or

We interpret and try to figure people out, to explain their motives, their behavior, based on our own motives and behavior.

What is Empathetic Listening?

Empathic (from empathy) listening gets inside another person’s frame of reference.

You look out through it; you see the world the way they see the world.

You understand their paradigm from their perspective.

You understand how they feel.

The essence of empathic listening is not that you agree with someone; it’s that you fully and deeply understand that person, both emotionally and intellectually.

Stephen Covey explains, “In addition, empathic listening is the key to making deposits in Emotional Bank Accounts, because nothing you do is a deposit unless the other person perceives it as such. You can work your fingers to the bone to make a deposit, only to have it turn into a withdrawal when a person regards your efforts as manipulative, self-serving, intimidating, or condescending because you don’t understand what really matters to him. Empathic listening is, in itself, a tremendous deposit in the Emotional Bank Account. It’s deeply therapeutic and healing because it gives a person ‘psychological air.’” To learn more about how to build a person’s emotional bank account, see my previous post, 10 Ways to Build an Emotional Bank Account.

Empathetic listening is essential for creating win-win agreements. Because if you don’t understand the thoughts and feelings of another person, it will be impossible for it to be win/win. To learn more about creating win/win agreements, read How to Build Trust with Win/Win Agreements. Empathetic listening lets the other person know you value them, which is a psychological need every person has. Once they feel you understand and value them, you can focus on influencing or problem-solving.

Most people are taught to either repeat or rephrase what someone says to show you heard them. That is not understanding them. The key is to understand how the other person feels. For example, a child says, “I hate my teacher, she is mean.” Empathetic listening will want to know why; “You sound frustrated, tell me why you think she is being mean?” “Do you feel she is being unfair?” By rephrasing and reflecting the feelings, you get the other person to open up about why they believe something is true. Then you can lead them to think with their prefrontal cortex, where logic is. Next, you can help them develop a healthier way of thinking or come up with a solution to the problem.

Eight Actions to Be an Empathetic Listener.

1. I will listen with the intent to understand and not reply.

2. I will try not to read my autobiography into other people’s lives.

3. I will get into the other person’s frame of reference, to see the world the way they see it, understand how they feel, and thus give them “psychological air.”

4. I will not evaluate by either agreeing or disagreeing.

5. I will not probe with questions from my frame of reference or perspective.

6. I will not advise or give counsel based on my own experience.

7. I will not interpret by trying to figure people out, to explain their motives, their behavior, based on my motives and behavior.

8. I will rephrase the content and reflect the feeling.

Conclusion: Then Seek to Be Understood

In the post discussing win/win agreements, Stephen Covey defined maturity as the balance between courage and consideration. Seeking to understand requires consideration; seeking to be understood takes courage. Win/Win requires a high degree of both. So it becomes important in interdependent situations for us to be understood. Being interdependent fosters rich, enduring, and highly productive relationships with others. When you can present your own ideas clearly, specifically, visually, and most importantly, contextually, in the context of a deep understanding of their paradigms and concerns, you significantly increase the credibility of your ideas.

Read Mental Health Posts

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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you will like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, available on Amazon.

Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, found on Amazon. To learn more about my book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles. I would love to hear what you think so please leave a review.

A MENTALLY HEALTHY PERSON IS PRINCIPLE-CENTERED.

What does a principle-centered person look like? What principles do you live by? This post continues “Habit 2: Begin With The End In Mind,” by Stephen Covey. In the post ACHIEVE HEALTHY GOALS IN 12 WAYS,I explained how to achieve your goals by cultivating thoughts to achieve a desired outcome. I also shared my mission statement for my life and the goals to achieve my mission. In the post Three Ways to Unlock Your Potential: Achieving Goals Continued, I explained how to rewrite defeating scripts written by unhealthy beliefs. Unhealthy beliefs develop from painful experiences. You can write a new script by exchanging unhealthy beliefs with true or positive beliefs.

Of the 12 ways to achieve healthy goals, this post will explain the following two ways:

I will be principle-centered, not spouse-centered, family-centered, money-centered, work-centered, possession-centered, pleasure-centered, friend-centered, enemy-centered, church-centered, or self-centered. I will be Christ-centered, showing love to everyone.
As a principle-centered person, I will try to separate myself from the emotion of the situation and from other factors that might affect me and evaluate the options.

In his book, Stephan Covey explains each of the other ways to be centered in number 8 above. The decisions you make depend on what your life is centered around. In this post, I will only share what he says about being principle-centered. Though Stephan’s book is not a Christian book, the principles are applicable. So when you read about being principle-centered, think about the truths of God’s word.

Excerpts from Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Principles are deep, fundamental truths and classic truths. (e.g., truths found in the Bible.)

Security

1. Your security is based on correct principles that do not change, regardless of external conditions or circumstances.

2. You know that true principles can repeatedly be validated in your own life, through your own experiences.

3. Correct principles help you understand your development, giving you the confidence to learn more, thereby increasing your knowledge and understanding.

4. Your source of security provides you with an immovable, unchanging, unfailing core, enabling you to see change as an exciting adventure and opportunity to make significant contributions.

Guidance

1. You are guided by a compass, which enables you to see where you want to go and how you will get there.

2. You use accurate data, which makes your decisions both implementable and meaningful.

3. You stand apart from life’s situations, emotions, and circumstances, and look at the balanced whole. Your decisions and actions reflect both short- and long-term considerations and implications.

4. In every situation, you consciously, proactively determine the best alternative, basing decisions on conscience educated by principles.

Wisdom

1. Your judgment encompasses a broad spectrum of long-term consequences and reflects a wise balance and quiet assurance.

2. You see things differently and thus you think and act differently from the largely reactive world.

3. You see the world in terms of what you can do for the world and its people.

4. You adopt a proactive lifestyle, seeking to serve and build others.

5. You interpret life’s experiences in terms of opportunities for learning and contribution.

Power

1. Your power is limited only by your understanding and observance of natural law and correct principles and by the natural consequences of the principles themselves.

2. You become a self-aware, knowledgeable, proactive individual, largely unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviors, or actions of others.

3. Your ability to act reaches far beyond your own resources and encourages highly developed levels of interdependency.

4. Your decisions and actions are not driven by your current financial or circumstantial limitations. You experience an interdependent freedom.

Remember that your paradigm (biblical concepts) is the source from which your attitudes and behaviors flow. A paradigm is like a pair of glasses; it affects the way you see everything in your life. …As a principle-centered person, you try to stand apart from the emotion of the situation and from other factors that would act on you, and evaluate the options. Looking at the balanced whole–the work needs, the family needs, other needs that may be involved and the possible implications of the various alternative decisions–you’ll try to come up with the best solution, considering all factors.

Writing and Using a Personal Mission Statement

Personal responsibility, or proactivity, is fundamental to the first creation. Returning to the computer metaphor, Habit 1 says, “You are the programmer.” Habit 2, then says, “Write the program.” Until you accept the idea that you are responsible, that you are the programmer, you won’t really invest in writing the program. …As proactive people, we can begin to give expression to what we want to be and to do in our lives. We can write a personal mission statement, a personal constitution.

Writing or reviewing a mission statement changes you because it forces you to think through your priorities deeply, carefully, and to align your behavior with your beliefs.

Using Your Whole Brain

Our self-awareness empowers us to examine our own thoughts. This is particularly helpful in creating a personal mission statement because the two unique human endowments that enable us to practice Habit 2–imagination and conscience–are primarily functions of the right side of the brain. Two Ways To Tap The Right Brain: Through the powers of your imagination, you can visualize your own funeral, as we did at the beginning of this chapter. Write your own eulogy. Actually write it out. Be specific. What would you like your family to say about you. What would you like your friends to say about you. What would you like your co-workers to say about you.

Suppose I am a parent who really deeply loves my children. Suppose I identify that as one of my fundamental values in my personal mission statement. But suppose, on a daily basis, I have trouble overreacting. I can use my right brain power of visualization to write an “affirmation” that will help me become more congruent with my deeper values in my daily life. A good affirmation has five basic ingredients: it’s personal, it’s positive, it’s present tense, it’s visual, and it’s emotional. So I might write something like this: “It is deeply satisfying (emotional) that I (personal) respond (present tense) with wisdom, love, firmness, and self-control (positive) when my children misbehave.”

Then I can visualize it. I can spend a few minutes each day and totally relax my mind and body. I can think about situations in which my children might misbehave. The more clearly and vividly I can imagine the detail, the more deeply I will experience it, the less I will see it as a spectator. Then I can see her do something very specific which normally makes my heart pound and my temper start to flare. But instead of seeing my normal response, I can see myself handle the situation with all the love, the power, the self-control I have captured in my affirmation. I can write the program, write the script, in harmony with my values, with my personal mission statement. And if I do this, day after day my behavior will change. Instead of living out of the scripts given to me by my own parents or by society or by genetics or my environment, I will be living out of the script I have written from my own self-selected value system. …all the world-class athletes and other peak performers are visualizers. They see it; they feel it; they experience it before they actually do it. They begin with the end in mind.

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I pray you are inspired to read your Bible to learn more about developing Christ-centered principles. For the sake of time, I will write about Christ-centered principles in the next post.

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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com, and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.

Three ways to Unlock Your Potential: Achieving Goals Continued

Do you ever say you can’t do that, or that I am not good enough? You may think you can’t do something, but why do you believe that? Often, our unhealthy beliefs cripple our ability to achieve great goals. I had a goal of being a Data Processing Instructor. When I told my mother I wanted to go to college, she said I was too stupid. That could have ended my teaching ambitions.

What Prevents You From Achieving Your Goals?

In my previous post, “Twelve Ways to Achieve Healthy Goals,” I explained how to write a mission statement and the goals to achieve your mission in life. In this post, I aim to help you overcome the unhealthy beliefs that hinder your ability to achieve your desired goals. The following three statements outline how we often get stuck and fail to achieve goals, and how to think differently.

I will use my unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience to examine old scripts and write new ones.
I will live out of my imagination instead of my memory.
I will tie myself to my limitless potential, rather than my limiting past.

What keeps us from achieving our goals? Living out of old scripts from memories where people limited your abilities. When you were a child, you may not remember exactly what people said or how they limited you, but the actions created an unhealthy belief that you internalized. These unhealthy beliefs dictate scripts that control your thoughts and ultimately your destiny.

How I Overcame My Limiting Past.

I grew up in an abusive, dysfunctional home and in poverty. The house was built in 1890 and was full of lead and asbestos. All these factors limited my brain’s ability to grow in intelligence. I knew I could be smart because both my parents were very intelligent. I strongly believed my environment restricted my ability to achieve and be mentally healthy. I dissociated for several years to cope with the abuse. I struggled to learn and had to take remedial reading classes in 7^th and 8^th grade.

It is a good thing I am goal oriented because I could have believed my mother’s words and adopted that mentality, but I didn’t. In my post called HOW TO BE PROACTIVE: cont. I explained why I pursued an education degree to become a Computer Science teacher.

About 30 years later, God put it in my heart to continue my education. I didn’t know what subject. He led me to pursue a master’s degree in Adult Education and developing distance education courses. I loved designing curriculum, so I felt that it was a good fit. But I still had the unhealthy belief that I was stupid and couldn’t learn, and it had been 30 years since I was in school. God led me to read the book “Switching on Your Brain” by Dr. Caroline Leaf. In that book, she explained neuroplasticity and how the brain can grow, and how we limit our potential. She stated that we have the mind of Christ (1Cor. 2:16). If I possess the mind of Christ, I am exceptionally intelligent as He created the Universe and everything known and unknown in our world. I changed my unhealthy belief to the truth of God’s word. I used my unique human capacities of self-awareness, imagination, and conscience to examine old scripts and write new ones. I applied to graduate school, was accepted, and got straight As. I completed a post-baccalaureate certificate in distance education because my university’s layoff removed my tuition benefit.

How to Change Old Scripts and Unleash Limitless Potential.

I asked God what He wanted me to do after I am laid off, and He said, “Write a book.” I thought, “No way. I can’t write. I have no idea what to write. Who would read something I would write?” These and many other unhealthy beliefs kept me from obeying God. When I shared what God told me and my thoughts with a godly old man, he said, “Be like Gideon.” Those words were so powerful and life-giving. If you haven’t read the story about Gideon or it’s been a while, I encourage you to read it (Judges 6-7). Words have power, which I explain in the posts WORDS HAVE POWER—Part I: Overcoming The Destruction of Offensive Words and WORDS HAVE POWER—PART II: Words Produce Death or Life Energy.

I discovered later why God wanted me to take writing-intensive graduate classes. These classes forced me to learn how to write, and in the process, I read many grammar books. I also discovered Grammarly.com. When I asked God what He wanted me to write about, and He said, “You already wrote it.” I was like “What?” He showed me that He wanted me to turn my prison Bible Study notes and my testimony of Complete Healing into a published book. I ended up writing two books, which I list at the end of this post. That was when God told me to create a website to write blogs and share my testimony book “Hope for Complete Healing” with anyone who wanted to read it. Take inventory of what you believe about your abilities, then look for scriptures to rewrite those scripts.

Conclusion

Many people have taken their limits and turned them around when they believed in God’s ability to help them, and having people around who encouraged them. Check out Joni Eareckson Tada’s story and marvel at how she allowed God to use her paraplegic body. You can read about her in Joni Eareckson Tada Shares Her New Resolve After 55 Years in a Wheelchair. Also research the achievements of Helen Keller, who was born blind and deaf. You may have physical limits, but you don’t have to live according to old scripts and unhealthy beliefs.

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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book, Unlocking God’s Promises, explains 18 categories of relevant promises to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

Freedom from All Forms of Poverty—Post 6

Have you ever considered the access we have to God’s riches and blessings? Poverty is not only being poor materially, but it also means being deficient spiritually, emotionally, or physically. How would you describe your emotional or spiritual condition? A Bible verse that encourages me is Psalms 50:10, which states, “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.” This verse reminds me that God owns everything. He is very rich. All I need to do is ask because He is my loving Father and He promises in James 1:17; “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Do you have a testimony of how you trusted God to meet your needs, and that He was faithful to you?

God promises to provide for our material needs.

When I was a single mother with no money, I would claim the promise in Philippians 4:19; “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” When God says, “I will”, that is a promise we can trust. Then He said, “supply every need of yours” Every means just that, material, emotional, spiritual, and physical needs. “According to his riches in glory” our Father in Heaven owns everything, and “in glory” references Heaven (Col. 3:4 and 1Tim 3:16). Heaven is made of gold, its foundation is made of gems, and each gate is made of one pearl (Rev. 21:18-21). We can’t access God’s riches in heaven except “in Christ Jesus.” Do you have Christ Jesus in your heart?

It never occurred to me to get financial assistance from the government. I automatically went to God first, and He provided for all my needs and kept me and my children safe from all harm. Instead of despairing about my situation, I trusted God. So often we forget that our heavenly Father is very rich. He said in Malachi 3:10; “to tithe…put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” As a single mother, I tithed every source of income, and yes, God blessed me immensely. I share this story in the post called Trust God to Keep His Promises.

God’s provision is not the prosperity gospel. God does not spoil us with our self-centered, vain wants. So, don’t put a picture of a beautiful car or house on your mirror and claim it, then expect God to provide it. No, God provides for our needs. But our priorities need to be in alignment with God’s priorities. Matthew 6:31-33 states, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” God knows what you need. The condition is to look up and seek God’s blessings of righteousness, joy, and peace. Romans 14:17 states, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” How are you seeking God’s righteousness, peace, and joy?

God provides for our future needs. When the Israelites were leaving Egypt after being slaves for 400 years, God caused the Egyptians to favor the Israelites so they would not leave empty-handed. God told them to ask for silver and gold jewelry and clothing from the Egyptian women, and they were given all that they asked for (Exodus 3:21-22).

Personally, God provided for a future need I did not know I would need. God said I was to go to graduate school. I was not thrilled because I was working full time, so when would I have time to study? I did not know what subject I should study, and it had been 30 years since I graduated from college. I obeyed and learned later that God wanted me to learn how to write. I received a post-baccalaureate certificate in Distance Education, and it was writing intensive. When I finished, I was laid off from my job. Then God called me to write a book during my layoff. I began with one long book that I broke into the two books, which are described at the end of this post. It was five years from the time I started writing to publishing the first book. God provided for every need. Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Let God lead you as He prepares you for the good work He has planned for you. It may not make sense and you may not want to obey, but trust God and obey.

God promises to provide for our spiritual needs.

Spiritual needs cover many areas, so I will provide an overview here. Ephesians 1:3 tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” We are already blessed because of Christ in us; and through Him, we have access to every spiritual blessing of heaven. It is hard to wrap my mind around this truth. What spiritual blessings have you received?

So many of us live in spiritual poverty because we don’t seek what is already ours. Would you rather have temporary worldly pleasure that leaves you hurt and unhappy, or do you want heavenly blessings that give you joy and peace? Proverbs 10:22 states, “The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” “Every spiritual blessing” is countless, here are a few: strength (Phil. 4:13), peace, joy, hope (Rom. 15:13), grace (Eph. 2:7), salvation, forgiveness, power, love, and self-control (2 Tim. 1:7), and so on. To receive spiritual blessings, you need to seek God and draw near to Him. If you are not receiving spiritual blessings, please read Freedom in Our Spirit – Part 3.

God promises to meet our physical and emotional needs.

The very first thought that comes to my mind is how sin causes physical and emotional poverty. Psalm 38:3 states, “There is no soundness in my flesh because of your [God’s] indignation; there is no health in my bones because of my sin.” Proverbs 3:7-8 states, “Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. ⁸It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.” Before God can meet our physical and emotional needs, we must first repent of our sins, especially of pride. For example, I was a very anxious person. The sin of anxiety affected my digestion and made me emotionally depressed. I explain how I became free in Why, What, and How to Submit to God and be FREE. Also, read How to be Free from Sin’s Control – Post 4.

I also discovered how our emotional health affects our physical health. If you have poor emotional health through painful experiences and resentments, it will cause poor physical health. I explain why and how our emotions affect our physical bodies in 4–Transforming Heart Issues Heals You Physically.

Conclusion

Our Heavenly Father is very rich, and He wants to supply all our needs. What would happen if you went to another person instead of your parents and asked them for the things you need? They may help you, but would they provide for your every need? No. Someone, who is not your family, doesn’t have a love relationship with you. Your heavenly Father loves you and He wants you to love Him and ask Him for His help. I am not against getting assistance from our government, but they can’t provide your every need like God can. You have limited yourself to what the government thinks you should get. God will meet your needs according to His riches. Hebrews 11:6 states, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Faith unlocks God’s riches, but the condition is to draw near to Him and believe He exists, seek Him, then He will reward you.

I pray that God will bless you richly in the coming year.

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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book is Unlocking God’s Promises, which explains 18 categories of promises that are relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.

Freedom from Negative Influence—Post 5

Do you realize how much negative influence is in your life? Negative influence has a different connotation for each of us. From a Christian perspective, a negative influence can be a spoken word or picture that entices you to do evil and sin in thought, word, or deed. You may work or live with someone or be friends with someone who is a negative influence. What are your options?

While watching TV or a Movie, are you aware of the negative influence of what you are watching? Words and images have power over your mind, and the greater the emotion, the deeper they imprint your memories, which continue to influence you negatively. For example, I watched a movie about girls being abducted and sold as sex slaves. Those negative images were imprinted as memories that were so clear that they caused me to be fearful. Likewise, immoral and traumatic scenes will affect you for years. How are you freed from these negative images and their influence on your mind and spirit?

The ultimate negative influence on your mind and spirit.

Satan does not want us to be free in our thoughts or spirit. He wants to keep us in bondage to our sinful flesh. Rate how aware from 1 (least) to 10 (most) you are of Satan’s negative influence in your life. Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, we have the authority over the devil. Jesus said in Luke 10:18-19, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions [demons], and over all the power of the enemy [Satan], and nothing shall hurt you.” The only time the enemy hurts us is when we allow him to. From this time forward, stop all sources of negative influence in your life so you can live free in your thoughts and spirit. King David made this vow in Psalms 101:3a; “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.”

Becoming free from the negative influence of trauma memories.

How to become free from the negative images in your memories controlling your thoughts and spirit. Our negative memories will make us a negative influence on the people around us. Jesus gave us the authority to take every negative, evil thought and evil spirit captive in Jesus’ name and command them to be gone. I did this with the crippling fear of being abducted from the images of that movie. I commanded the wrong thoughts and negative influences of that movie and all demonic spirit attachments to those images to be gone in Jesus’ name. Then, I transformed the unhealthy belief with the truth that God holds my hand, is with me as a shield, and will protect me from all evil. To learn more, please read my transformation story on my website, hopeforcompletehealing.com.

Beware of False Teachers Who Want to Steal Your Freedom

The devil wants to keep us in bondage to sin and resentment, so beware of people who do not follow the path of love and holiness. Galatians 2:4 states, “Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus so that they might bring us into slavery.” Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is truly born again and renewed. Many Christians are a negative influence through gossip, being judgmental, legalism, and complaining. John 13:35 explains what an authentic Christian is, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.” An authentic Christian will show love (kindness, patience, humility, goodness, and so on) and will not enslave you in sinful behavior.

Fake “Christian” leaders continue to allow demonic spirits to control their lives. In 2 Peter 2:19, it says, “They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” Corruption is having a moral perversion or decadence. Pornography is a moral decadence that leads to sexual bondage. For example, do you remember how Jimmy Swagart would preach against sexual sin and cry like a baby? I knew he struggled with sexual sin. Then he was caught with a prostitute twice, that I know of. This corruption in his life destroyed his ministry. Too many pastors and priests have sexually molested children. This is a corruption that leads people into a bondage of resentment and pain.

The Apostle Paul teaches Timothy what to do with people in your family or church who are a negative influence. In 2 Timothy 2:24-26 he states, “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” This is a hard passage to comprehend because no one wants to think they are being held captive by the devil to do his will. Another phrase I don’t like is “patiently enduring evil,” no one wants to endure evil. Evil is a sinful, harmful action that causes pain.

For example, I was held captive by the devil to do his will because of the resentment in my heart toward those who did evil to me. Resentment is the feeling of displeasure or indignation at some act, remark, person, etc., regarded as causing injury or insult. (Dictionary.com, 2023). As I forgave those who hurt me, which is ongoing because we are exposed to hurtful people, I became free from the devil’s control. In the meantime, I acted out in anger at anyone who triggered those unforgiven resentments, and I became hurtful. My husband and children had to endure the evil I was subjecting them to. Our teenagers subject us to evil words and actions that we need to patiently endure and lovingly discipline. As a servant of the Lord, we need to be kind and gently speak the truth to hurtful people or messy Christians. It is easy to quarrel when we feel hurt or offended. Romans 14:1 explains, “As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.” 2Timothy 2:14 states, “Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.”

Conclusion

Negative influences can come from many sources, from what you watch on TV or the internet or social media to what you read, and the people around you. Negative influence can come from the church as well. Are you a negative influence in people’s lives because of your negative experiences? We can easily control the negative influence that we watch or read, but we can’t always control the negative influence from the people we live and work with. Many times, you have no control over the negative people in your life. To be free from the influence of negative people is to kindly and gently set boundaries and speak truth into their lives. If setting boundaries does not work then you may have to patiently endure it, hold your boundaries, and pray for them. Remember, you are the light of Jesus to the world around you. Philippians 2:14-15 tells us, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Let the love of Jesus show to the difficult, negative people in your life.

If you have any other ideas, please leave a comment, I would love to know them.

FREEDOM POSTS

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All verses are from the English Standard Bible. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family; hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

Check out my latest book Breaking Mental Strongholds, which you can order on Amazon. To learn more about it, read my post called Breaking Mental Strongholds Book. Also, check out Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. To learn more about this book, read: How to Fight Unseen Battles.

How to be Free from Sin’s Control – Post 4

Do you think you know the permanent solution to the most common problem we all have? When I ask inmates about sin and forgiveness, most do not know what sin or forgiveness is. I explain sin as anything we think, say, or do that breaks God’s heart (Good News Club definition). Some think God is disappointed with them when they sin. He is not disappointed. His heart is broken because He created us to be one with Him, but our sin separates us from Him. We sin when we disobey God’s royal law to love Him and others. Ecclesiastes 7:20 states, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” And Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If no one is good and we all sin, then how can we be liberated (Luke 4:18)?

Even though I was a Christian for many years, went to church, and read my Bible, I continued to be controlled by the sin of anger, worry, and a need to control. I read many self-help books, sought counseling, memorized scripture, rebuked demons, and went to the altar all the time. If you read my book on my website, you learn how God healed my painful memories, so my past no longer controlled my soul, which is my will, emotions, and thoughts that influence sinful actions. I briefly summarized how to free in your thoughts in Post 2. In the last post, I explained how to free your spirit and the role of your spirit to the Spirit of God. I realized lasting liberation from habitual sin is submitting my spirit to God’s control and keeping my mind on His truths.

How do we submit our spirits to God?

Remind yourself every day about the truth in Colossians 3:1-3, “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Our lives are hidden with Christ in heaven, so our minds should be focused on what Jesus thinks. For example, when I become irritated with my husband, I have made it a habit of being thankful and thinking of things that are praiseworthy (Phil. 4:6-8). If I did not set my mind on this truth, then my negative thoughts would control my emotions, which would lead to unkind words and an avoidable fight. Another truth I set my mind on is serving others as Jesus did, not expecting to be served (Matt. 20:28). And, Galatians 5:13 states, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.“

I also remind myself of 2 Corinthians 5:10; “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” The Apostle Paul said that we should “make it our aim to please him [God] (2Cor 5:9b).” If we are pleasing God by doing His will, loving Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving others, then sin will not control our soul (mind, will, and emotions). When we do sin, since none is good, we must confess our sins daily. In 1 John 1:9 it explains, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Verse 24 of Romans 3 gives us hope, “And [we] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Jesus died on the cross to take our punishment for our sins, which would be like you taking your children’s punishment for their wrongdoing. When we are justified, it means our sin is removed and God redeemed (restored, saved) us and made us new (2 Cor. 5:17).

Who helps us and gives us hope?

Because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we are forgiven and reconciled back to God (2 Cor. 5:20). Remember, sin separates us from God. Colossians 1:21-22 states, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²²he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him [God].” We need to see ourselves as holy and blameless, free from our sinful nature, and one with Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:6-7 states, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For one who has died has been set free from sin.” As I work with inmates, they struggle with this verse, and they don’t see themselves as free so they remain in bondage to old patterns of behavior. I understand that painful memories control our thoughts and emotions, which is why I wrote the book on this website. Trauma needs to be healed but when they are healed you must look in the mirror and say, I am no longer controlled by (whatever), I live my life through Christ and His strength (Phil. 4:13).

And Galatians 2:20 states, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Every day, tell yourself that Christ lives in and through you and Christ is perfect. Tell your mind, will, and emotions that you are controlled by Christ’s love (2Cor. 5:14).

It is hard to crucify (put to death) our fleshly desires, but giving in to our flesh will lead to death. Setting our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace (Rom. 8:6). So, do you want death or life, misery or peace? When you submit to God and obey Him, you will experience liberation from the control of sin in your life.

What is the source of our sinful nature?

So much can be said about the source of our sinful nature. One source is recorded in James 1:14-15, “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” Temptation is not a sin. When you are tempted, take the thought captive and command it to be gone, and then replace it with God’s truth (2Cor. 10:3-5).

When I am tempted to sin and say something unkind and snide, it comes out of my self-centered pride because I had unmet expectations or desires (Ps. 59:12). Another source is being directly tempted by the devil just as he tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, then Jesus in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:26; “And they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” The only way to become free from the devil’s captivity is to submit to God. James 4:7 states, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

Conclusion

Sin breaks God’s heart because He loves us and wants us to obey Him because we love Him. Just as a parent loves their children and wants their children to obey them because they love the parent. So, out of love, Christ reconciled us to God through His blood on the cross so that we can be friends with Him and have our sins forgiven and made holy and blameless.

When we submit our lives to Jesus Christ and desire to please God through obedience, we will be free from the penalty of death brought by sin. Submitting our lives to God is setting our minds on the things that please God. So, read your Bible every day and do what it says. If you are not excited about these truths, please ask God to examine your heart to show you why. So many people don’t see their sin because they don’t read their Bibles, or they justify their actions because of their pride.

Which sin camp are you in?

Are you excited to be free from sin’s control?
Don’t know what sin is? Read Galatians 5:16-25.
Justify your actions as righteous and don’t acknowledge your sin? Read Jeremiah 17:9-10.

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Freedom in Our Spirit – Part 3

How can we experience peace and joy when our world is falling apart? How does our spirit help us love someone who mistreats us? It is so easy to focus on our problems and how people are mistreating us. So, how does our spirit show the evidence that we are free from worry and resentment? In Part 2, we learned how our thoughts from painful memories prevent us from purely loving others. In Part 1, we discovered how Jesus Christ came in the flesh to set us free from the two kinds of bondages revealed in the introduction post.

How Does Our Spirit, Soul, and Body Interact?

We are spirit beings constrained by our physical bodies and controlled by our souls. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This verse verifies we have three parts that God sanctifies (set apart as holy). No one is sure what the soul is exactly, but the consensus is that it is a combination of the mind, emotions, and will. Some say it is our conscience. Our sinful desires are generated from our souls when our minds and will are set on worldly desires. And worldly desires keep us in bondage to the evils of the world. To learn more read: Four Realities of the Spirit World.

Difference between the Flesh and Spirit?

Take a moment and analyze the focus of your mind, will, and emotions (our soul). Romans 8:5-8 describes the differences and consequences of where we set our minds. Romans 8:5 states, “For those who live according to the flesh [self-centered, carnal, sensual] set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” Our bodies are made of flesh, and we naturally seek to please our flesh and sexual desires. We set our minds on the Spirit by seeking to please God (Col. 3:1-3). Romans 8:6-8 asserts, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death [spiritual, relational], but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Have you noticed that people who seek to please their flesh are self-centered and do not love God or others? God wants us to love Him and love others, which we learned is all the law (Rom. 13:8,10; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8).

Role of Our Spirit

So, what is the role of our spirits? Since God is an almighty Spirit, and we are made in the image of God, therefore, He put His spirit in us (John 4:24; Rom. 8:11; Gen. 1:26). Genesis 6:3 states, Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” And Proverbs 20:27 states, “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts.” When our bodies die, our spirits will either go to heaven or hell, depending on whether we turned our spirits for or against God (Job 15:13).

We experience freedom when our spirit is one with God. 1 Corinthians 6:17 states, “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” And “where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). We become one spirit with God when we believe and confess Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord of our lives. That He died to take our punishment for our sins, was buried and on the third day was raised up (Rom. 10:9-10; Col. 2:14). Romans 8:9 states, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

Conclusion

Freedom not doing whatever your heart desires to please your flesh. We have freedom when we have peace and joy amid hardship and difficult people. Freedom is expressed through our spirits when we set our minds on the love of God. What do you set your mind on? Do you think about the troubles going on in the world or in your life? Do you think about all the injustices in your life? Do you think about watching the next ball game? What do you set your mind on? We live in the world, but we are not to be of the world (John 17:16). 1 John 2:15 states, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

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How to Be Free – Post 1

When you think about freedom, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Are we ever truly free? If you have no job requirements and no obligations to anyone, you are still confined by time. You look forward to being retired, but now you have physical limitations and doctor appointments that keep you restricted. So physical freedom is not realistic. Can we find true freedom and what does that look like?

I explained in the last post (click the link to read) about two kinds of bondages that oppress everyone who allows it. In this post, I will explain how to be free from those two kinds of oppression. In subsequent posts, I will address common bondages and the truth that will set you free. Despite your circumstances, the following true story is a good example of spiritual freedom and how it helps you overcome physical constraints.

A True Story of The Power of Hope

In 1942, Frankl and his parents, wife, and brother were arrested and sent to the Thereisienstadt concentration camp; Frankl’s father died there within six months. Over the course of three years, Frankl was moved between four concentration camps, including Auschwitz where his brother died and his mother was killed. Frankl’s wife died at Bergen-Belsen. When Frankl’s camp was liberated in 1945, he learned of the death of all his immediate family members, except for his sister who had emigrated to Australia. In the camps, Frankl and fellow prisoners made an effort to address the despondency they observed in other inmates. In an effort to prevent suicide attempts, Frankl and others tried to help other inmates facing severe depression by encouraging them to reflect on positive memories, scenes, and thoughts. Frankl thought that during extreme physical circumstances, a person could escape through his or her spiritual self as a means to survive seemingly unbearable conditions. He believed the spiritual self could not be affected by external forces. (https://www.goodtherapy.org/famous-psychologists/viktor-frankl.html)

How Our Spirits Become Free from The Captivity of Sin and Resentment

It is in our spirits that we can attain true freedom. In 2 Corinthians 3:17, it says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Have you invited the Spirit of the Lord into your life to rule your mind and reactions? Isaiah 61:1 states, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted [those who are deeply afflicted and distressed], to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus read this verse in the synagogue and said in Luke 4:21, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Let us study the meaning of this verse.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” The Holy Spirit came down from heaven in the appearance of a dove and rested on Jesus when He was baptized by John the Baptist. The Spirit of the Lord gives divine inspiration and power.

“Because he has anointed me.” Jesus is saying that he is set apart to do God’s work. Act 10:38 states, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”

“To proclaim good news to the poor.” Some versions use meek instead of poor. Jesus came to preach the good news of freedom from sin to the humble and needy. In Jesus’s first sermon, He said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“He [God] has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives.” The Messiah came in human form to set free those in bondage to sin. Hebrews 2:17-18 states, “Therefore he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation [pay the penalty] for the sins of the people. For because he [Jesus] himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” He also releases us from the captivity of resentment through forgiveness. Colossians 3:13 tells us, “Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Jesus came to break off all the chains of slavery to fleshly desires. Romans 6:22 states, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

“Recovering of sight to the blind.” Jesus heals the spiritually blind, though He did physically heal the physically blind. Act 26:18 states, “To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

“To set at liberty those who are oppressed [bruised; bound].” It means those who are “pressed down” by great calamity, or whose hearts are “pressed” or “bruised” by painful events or the consciousness of sin. Romans 8:21 states, “That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Sin oppresses us through guilt and shame. Jesus came to set us free from oppression if we believe in His name and receive Him into our lives. Have you done that?

Conclusion

Jesus Christ is the only one who sets us free spiritually when you receive Him into your life to be your Lord! The next path to freedom is aligning your thoughts with God’s thoughts. Your thoughts are directed by fleshly desires that keep you in bondage to sin and resentment. In the next post, we will explore how to keep our minds on Christ Jesus and be free in our minds. Before we can be mentally free, we need to first be spiritually free. Have you received Jesus into your life to be your Lord, so you can be sanctified from your sinful nature, and have the hope of eternal life?

May God bless you richly as you become free in Christ Jesus.

All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.

My latest book is Unlocking God’s Promises, which explains 18 categories of promises that are relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.

If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.