Overcoming Your Past: Part 1

After teaching people about their identity in Christ, we turn to areas where they are apt to have strongholds of wrong thinking (a false belief system) that get in the way of their healing and freedom. The question becomes, “Where in their life are major access points (doors) for demonic oppression?” I believe that disease and brokenness are often linked to doors left open in the following areas.

OPEN DOORS FOR OPPRESSION AND DISEASE:

  • Unforgiveness and mother/father wounds

  • Shame, guilt, and willful sin

  • Generational iniquities

  • Judgments and inner vows

  • Unrighteous soul ties

  • Hurts and traumas

KEY VERSE FOR THIS ENTIRE SESSION:

“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14  

In Paul’s admonition, he tells us to “forget” what lies behind.  The word for forget does not mean to ignore or to blot from your memory.  It means to neglect the past in a way that it loses its power to hold you back.  There is a right way to deal with your past so you can move forward.  Freedom Ministry enables and empowers you to deal with your past. 

Objectives in this session:

To understand the impact unforgiveness has on people and how to be set free by forgiving others. 

  • To activate the forgiveness of those God shows me, I need to forgive.

  • To understand the impact that guilt and shame have had on me

  • To fully receive the forgiveness of God toward me and to be freed from shame

Something that is important for people to understand is what forgiveness is, and what it isn’t!

Unforgiveness is defined as the inability, failure or unwillingness to release, let go of, or resolve an offense, debt, wrong suffered, betrayal, or hurt.  It is also a prevalent access point for demonic oppression.

It is important to understand what forgiveness is not.  It is not:

  • Denial (pretending it is okay)

  • Repression (burying the hurt caused by sin)

  • Letting the offender off the hook

  • Forgetting

  • Allowing abuse to continue by acceptance of bad behavior

Gary Chapman puts it similarly:

  • Forgiveness does not wipe our memory

  • Forgiveness does not remove all the consequences of wrongdoing.

  • Forgiveness does not rebuild trust

  • Forgiveness does not always result in reconciliation.

By the way, who you are IN CHRIST can forgive. In the flesh, good luck!

Next, we talk about

  • The consequences of unforgiveness

  • Mother/Father wounds

  • How to identify and break the power of shame.

Finally, I assign participants a powerful at-home exercise of self-forgiveness as well as a deep conversation with Jesus about their worth and His forgiveness of their sins.

Tim Johnson