Living Free by Dennis and Dr
Jen Clark
This is an important book,
for your own personal emotional healing and also as a “How to” manual to teach and minister to others.
Review my recent Post Real
Help and finding Deep Relief Now
Presented here are the simple
Keys, although much is missing if you haven’t studied the entire book for yourself.
1. FIRST This is where we
invite the Lord to bring to mind some circumstance or relationship where there
is a need of healing. Focus on the first person or situation that comes to
mind. You may see a picture in your mind’s eye or a short “movie clip” of a
moment in the present or past.
Don’t dismiss or overlook any
picture or memory that seems insignificant or random. God knows what is
important— and also knows the best order in which to proceed in the process of
healing.
Most often, the issues that
seem small to us have tremendous significance in our lives. God always knows
best. Trust Him to bring to mind whatever He feels is most important to heal
first.
It may help to think of
yourself as a child who needs help. So go to your heavenly Father with
childlike faith, simply trusting that the first person or situation that comes
to mind is truly from an all-knowing, all-loving God, who is powerful enough to
communicate with you clearly and directly.
2. FEEL Next, we get in touch
with the feelings that are taking place in our gut. “What do I feel when I
think of or imagine this person or situation that just came to mind?” Every
thought has a corresponding emotion.
All thoughts are
feeling-thoughts or emo-cognitions. (forgiveness, to be complete, must be done on
an emotional level, not the thinking level.)
Pay attention to the negative
emotions you feel in your belly area. Don’t think at this point, but simply
feel what is taking place in your gut.
When you think of that person
or situation that God brings to mind, what is going on inside your belly?
We don’t even have to name
the emotion we are currently experiencing. It may be very subtle or extremely
strong, from a vague, nameless discomfort to a more obvious rage or sorrow. We
only have to feel the negative emotion momentarily.
God does not require us to
feel the full extent of our emotions in order to receive healing. There is no
reason for us to dwell on the feeling or plumb its depths. Just experiencing
“the tip of the iceberg” of an enormous feeling is sufficient— no more.
What if feeling a
particularly painful emotion seems more than you can handle at the moment? Just
remind yourself that feeling a moment of discomfort is a small price to pay for
a lifetime of peace and freedom in that area.
Give in and allow the
feelings to arise. Christ can work with whatever area of brokenness you offer
Him, no matter how small, confused, painful, or undefined. All you need is a
mustard seed of faith. As we think of the person or situation God brings to
mind, what does it feel like inside of us?
That emotion has been in us
all along, even if it was hidden. But it has been lurking beneath our conscious
awareness. Unresolved emotions are stored in the brain’s long-term memory, in
the cellular memories of the body, and the emotional memory of the heart but
God will bring to the surface what He wants to heal, and He’ll do it in the
best order possible. He has our best interests at heart.
3. FORGIVE It is important to
always start with the emotion that we’re feeling. While we continue to feel
that particular emotion, drop down to focus on our spirit and yield our will to
God, opening the door of our heart to the presence of God.
Yield to Christ within, and
allow a river of forgiveness to flow toward the person who provoked the
negative emotion (or we receive forgiveness for ourselves).
Forgiveness is complete when
the negative emotion changes to perfect peace. Christ Himself will bring
healing to the wound in our heart— and to our cellular memories and neural
pathways— with His very presence, giving us peace that transcends
understanding.
Forgiveness flowing from our
innermost being actually feels like a gentle river of love rushing from inside
our belly out toward the person needing forgiveness or the situation the Lord
wants to heal. Let His river flow until the pain, fear, or anger changes to
peace.
Then and only then has that
unforgiveness been cleansed by Christ Himself. In fact, that’s the sign of
forgiveness: pain has changed to His peace. The most important question is
whether or not we feel peace inside when we think of the person or situation
again. We never have to guess if we did it right if we focus on the peace.
We can just close our eyes,
drop down focusing on our spirit, picture the exact situation or person again,
and we should now feel peace— a permanent and lasting peace. If we can see that
person who offended us or return to the memory and feel peace instead of pain
or bitterness, then forgiveness is complete.
If, on the other hand, we
picture the person or situation and feel even a twinge of negative emotion,
then we need to return to the process of dropping down, yielding our will, and
releasing Christ the forgiver once again. It’s imperative we keep releasing
love until the emotion turns to peace.
Christ the forgiver is the
One who does the forgiving. There is nothing for us to do but yield to Him and
let His river of love flow through us. It should only take seconds.
It is extremely important
that we pray through only one situation at a time, and pray through each
emotion associated with that memory, releasing Christ the forgiver until we
feel His peace displace the negative emotion. We must be patient with whatever
God presents to us, in whatever order, no matter how “random” it seems.
Sequence is important, so we always go in God’s order, according to His
leading.
He is aware of the larger
structures of our soul and understands how to dismantle strongholds, wound by
wound, in the most effective sequence.
Forgive in Three
Directions. Often we have to forgive in
more than one direction. Forgiveness may be directed toward another person or
situation, but it can also be directed toward God or ourselves.
Why? Perhaps we’ve held onto
regrets from the past or held judgments against others. We need to let Christ
cleanse us of those regrets and accusations. When we hold onto unforgiveness;
it is a sin.
Maybe we feel guilt and shame
about things we’ve done or haven’t done, sins of omission or commission. We
simply open our heart, yield our will, and let Christ the forgiver flow toward
us, cleansing us of sin.
We need to forgive ourselves
for judging ourselves too harshly. People are frequently much harder on
themselves than on other people.
But sometimes we need to
forgive God— not that He has done anything wrong, but we blame Him for things
done to us. Even though He has never done anything wrong or sinned in any way,
people often get mad at Him anyway. He’s accused of withholding blessings from
us, or maybe we’ve grown bitter and disappointed by hopes that were deferred.
Once again, we open our heart
and yield our will to Christ. We allow forgiveness to flow out, toward God
Himself. We also receive forgiveness for holding a grudge against the Lord.
Forgiving God gets our heart right toward Him. At other times we need to
forgive others for what has been done to us. A person who was abused, for
example, might be angry with the perpetrator, blame themselves for not stopping
it somehow, and feel hurt by God because it was allowed to happen.
That person can open their
heart, yield their will, and let the forgiveness of Christ flow in all three
directions— first to the perpetrator, then to themselves, and then to God. If
in doubt, we should forgive in all three directions because we can’t forgive
too much or love too much.
REVIEW
Once again, just follow these
easy steps to experience supernatural forgiveness:
First
First person or situation.
What is the first person or situation God brings to mind in an image or memory?
"Feel" the feeling. What is the emotion you feel in your gut?
Forgive
Forgive. Yield your will and
let Christ the forgiver flow out toward the person or situation, yourself, or
to God.
Fact
Fact. After forgiving and
getting peace, if there is a lie, renounce it out loud. Next, ask the Lord for
the truth (scriptural fact) and receive it.
Fill
Fill. Forgive first, then
release the demands on people to give you what you needed. Then receive filling
from Christ within.
3 comments:
The toughest job is forgiveness. After a deep hurt, moving forward will require lots of forgiveness. Being a Christian isn't easy but to live free is to live a life of forgiveness. That is where I peace lies. Choosing forgiveness over and over again.
Thank you for recommending these articles on my blog. I came over to read them.
God Bless Aunt Hazel
This sounds like such a wonderful book. The points here really helped me. I have never been able to put into words how it feels "in the gut" when I think of certain people who have inflicted hurt into the lives of my family members and me. Sometimes, it has been hard to even know how to forgive, but I love the steps you shared here. Thank you so much, Hazel. :)
Great review of a valuable resource. I love how you summarized this process breaking it down into doable steps. Thanks for sharing on Literacy Musing Mondays. I hope you will bless us with your insights and reviews often. ;)
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