Over the past three decades, it has been my passion to learn about the wounds we’ve all suffered during our youth and formative years.
It’s not what will happen to you, which will change your life, I spoke out one night of lecturing… but rather what has happened long ago, which has already changed your life.
While young and innocent, most of us knowingly or unknowingly have made life-changing vows or agreements amid abuse or emotional, psychological, or physical harm and pain. These past hurts or wounds, while eliciting powerful emotions of hate, anger, bitterness, or rage, have conjured dark agreements with the Father of Lies.
John 8:44 says that all lies come from the Father of Lies, who is the Devil.
His strategy has been to get us to make these dark vows and live from them. He uses the most important people in our lives to originate these lies: that I’m no good, or unlovable, or I’m too ugly, too fat, or too skinny; I’m stupid, a loser, or a failure. Nobody is going to want me.
The list can be pretty long, and the voices of others soon become our voices, echoing self-deprecating and ugly curses over our hearts and minds.
Since these curses and lies were spoken over us at such a time when we were mythical, fanciful, and magical at heart, that is, our ability to believe the unbelievable; the curses and lies became part of our identity and belief system. We end up living them out like prophecies written in ancient manuscripts.
These “prophecies” end up directing our lives and careers, our relationships, and associations.
To bring healing to these past wounds and nullify the agreements is a path only a few have taken. Even though freedom and wholeness are possible, many of us prefer to live out our lives in the seclusion and cover of darkness and duplicity. We’ve come too far or lived too long with our false personas; the mere thought of dismissing or exposing our poser-selves is frightening.
So, we play hide and seek at work, home, and church. The longer we play this nightmarish game, the more hardened and sadistic we become to our wounded hearts and souls. This process continues until we become addicted to sex, drugs, alcohol, or lies.
Or, perhaps our drug of choice is our reputation or religiosity. Maybe you’ve masqueraded for so long and many years at church, home, and work that you are even lost to yourself. This is as deadly as a heart attack and a silent killer, just as hypertension and high blood pressure can kill you. Why, we’re simply a walking time bomb of contradiction, lies, and hypocrisy.
Oh, but my dear friend, there is such hope. This is why I’m writing to you. Please read on…
…Isaiah has said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20.
Jesus said, “…And if you think your darkness is light, oh, how deep that darkness is!” Matthew 6:23.
I know all about this. This was and is my life. It is both my past and my journey. There is a redeemer and a healer. He is in pursuit of you, not to judge you, but to redeem you, heal you, and restore you to who you were meant to be.
Your True Father wants you back. As the late Brennen Manning has so often quoted:
“God accepts you as you are, not as you should be. Because you’re never going to be as you should be.”
The Good News is, it’s God’s responsibility to transform you as you should be.
This is not your wife’s job, your boss’s job, or your best friend’s job; it’s not your pastor’s or priest’s job or any self-help guru to change you. It is the job of a loving God who’s waiting for you to call out to him, “Abba,” “Papa,” “Daddy,” or even “Father-God.”
The only way to the Father is through the Son. And it is the Son, Jesus Christ, who’s taken upon himself all the curses and dark vows ever spoken in any language and tongue against us so that we may be loved rather than destroyed.
Do you see this?
Do you see how exceptional actual living and loving can be; if all the crap, hurts, wounds, and pain can be taken away?
Oh, and it can be taken away. All the guilt, shame, and self-loathing; all the self-hatred and hatred of others can be removed. All the self-doubts and doubting of others, all the lost trust of self and others, and the cynical and diabolic distrust and suspicion can and will be gone.
Just say this prayer out loud or even in a whisper:
Dear Jesus Christ, I stand before you, exposed, scared, ashamed, and afraid. I have lived a sinful life and have hurt myself and others. I confess to you my wrongdoings, my mistakes, and my faults. I acknowledge my need for forgiveness from you and my need to forgive others. I also forgive myself for the harm I’ve done to myself. I believe in your Word of Truth, and that you lived a sinless life and died on a cross of suffering because you took upon yourself all my sin, all the curses are spoken over me, and all my wrongdoings.
You were buried in a tomb and were raised to live on the third day, making it possible for me to be forgiven and to have a new life, new hope, and a future. I believe these things in my heart, and I confess and acknowledge them with my mouth so that I am saved and redeemed.
I am now your true son or daughter, and I can now call you my Abba, as you have put your Spirit into my purified heart forever and ever. Thank you for my salvation and healing in the Name of Jesus Christ. Help me to turn away from all my sins. Amen.
Now, live a new life and understand that you now belong to God as his child, and you’ve become his responsibility. God is no dead-beat-dad. He is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father; he’s the Wonderful Counselor and a Prince of Peace. All authority is upon his shoulders, and his Kingdom shall know no end.
Welcome home to a loving God and a wonderful savior!
Do something bold and courageous with your new life, and truly live! No longer agree with the dark voices in the back of your mind; instead, reject their curses and evil thoughts in the Name and Authority of Jesus Christ.
Give the Father of Lies an Eviction Notice and have all your curses canceled!
Call To Courage 