SPIRITUAL FREEDOM MANUAL

User's Guide  

Spiritual freedom refers to the process by which we become more and more like Jesus in our character, and less and less like we were when we were dead in our transgressions and sins and followed the ways of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2).[1] This manual is a guide for working through some of the more common spiritual freedom issues that people tend to have.

For any of you who are familiar with Neil Anderson’s writings, especially The Bondage Breaker, which contains what he calls the Seven Steps to Freedom in Christ, you will recognize that this manual contains those seven steps. But it also contains material dealing with other areas of bondage commonly found in people’s lives.

You can work through the material on your own or with a friend or mentor. The material may be covered in one session, or you may choose to spread it over several shorter sessions. If you take more than one session to complete the material, it is recommended that you repeat the “Covering prayer” on pages 4-5 at the start of each session.

There is explanatory material throughout the manual. If you are working with another person, the italicized material should be read by the other person, and the rest by you. Do all prayers and declarations out loud, as it is controversial whether or not Satan can read our thoughts, and much of what is said is for his hearing as well as God’s since the manual is designed to break Satan’s hold on your life.

There are two very important things to keep in mind as you work through the manual. The first is that you want to be confessing and renouncing only those things God gives you. In other words, although there are checklists and you will be asked to create other lists on your own, first impressions are what you are going to go with – those things the Lord communicates to you in your spirit. Do not spend time thinking hard or trying to remember things. It is God who is going to set you free, and your hard thinking is usually pretty much irrelevant to that process. So relax and let Him do the job of calling things to your mind. On the other hand, when something does occur to you, don’t dismiss it as not being right, or as being insignificant, or as being something you have already got over or dealt with – you get the idea. Satan will try to keep you from taking action on God’s list. Just receive what God gives you and deal with it, whether you understand why He has shown it to you or not.

Secondly, the manual deals with areas of sin and bondage in your life. We all have them, and we all need to deal with them. But do not make the mistake of thinking that these things of darkness are who you are. They are not who you are. Who you really are, in your deepest essence, is who you are in Christ. A few Scriptures will tell you what kind of person that is:

·              You are perfect: “. . . because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:15).

·              You are the righteousness of God because His righteousness was given to you as a gift, and you rule in life because of that righteousness: “. . . how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5: 17).

·              You are a new creation: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corithians 5:17).

·              Sin lives in the members of your body but is not part of your identity: “. . . but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members . . . Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:23, 20).

·              You deal with your sin, but sin is not what counts as far as the value of your life is concerned - the only thing that counts is your perfect, righteous, good new self: “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).

·              You have a new heart that Jesus gave you, and that heart is good: “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh”; “In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ” (Ezekiel 11:19; Colossians 2:11).

·              You are dead to sin and alive to God: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

·              You have the same glory as God does because Jesus has given it to you: [Jesus, praying for all believers]: “I have given them the glory that you [God the Father] gave me” (John 17:22).

So stay convinced, as you work through this material, that you are just fine - because Jesus has recreated you to be just fine, and that is your true identity.

As with all tools, this one is open to improvement. Any suggestions for change can be submitted to the Circle of Hope email address.

God bless you as you now proceed into the freedom which Christ died to give you. 

Sharon Currens