FIFTEEN MINUTES TO FREEDOM

With every morn my life afresh must break
The crust of self, gathered about me fresh;
That thy wind-spirit may rush in and shake
The darkness out of me, and rend the mesh
The spider-devils spin out of the flesh –
Eager to net the soul before it wake,
That it may slumberous lie and listen to the snake.
(George MacDonald)

I was introduced to this amazing poem and prayer by John Eldredge in his book ‘Waking the Dead.’ He stated that when him and his wife, Stasi, began to wake up to the spiritual battle raging against them and those they loved, she said to him that “Quick little prayers just aren’t going to do it anymore.” How true it was for them and how true it has become for me. 

If we want to find the life that Jesus offers us, the abundant life of freedom, restoration, healing, and victory – we are going to have to fight AGGRESSIVELY for it. We must take aggressive action against the assault on our hearts. Just look what happens when you don’t!

“Aye, run and you’ll live, at least a while.”

When I began to take this battle seriously, everything began to change for me. All of our life comes from our heart (prov4:23) WE have to guard, protect and keep it in order. This is a daily battle! We’ve “to break the crust of self that’s gathered about us fresh.” This prayer is designed to help you break off every returning chain and daily enter into everything Jesus has done for us through His death, resurrection and ascension. We start by submitting ourselves to God, and then RESIST whatever has come against us or against those we love. 

Every morning we bring our lives fully back to Christ and under his lordship. It’s important that we dedicate and surrender our whole being to Christ-

Father God, I come to break the crust of self gathered about me fresh– I come to be restored in you now. Restore me to factory settings, Restore me to Your original condition for my life before any virus entered. I come to renew my place in you. I come to renew my allegiance and commitment to you. I come to claim and receive all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I honour you as my Lord, and I surrender every aspect of my life totally and completely to you. I give you my body as a living sacrifice; I give you my heart& mind, my children, relationships, finances, my past, my future, my work & church life. I LAY IT ALL DOWN. 

I ACCEPT THAT I AM WHERE I AM TODAY BECAUSE OF THE DECISIONS I’VE MADE OR THE DECISIONS I’VE FAILED TO MAKE. I ACCEPT THAT I’M RESPONSIBLE. Today, I decide to wholeheartedly and persistently apply Your instructions for my life knowing that my heights of success will be won by the daily persistent doing of what You have said. I choose to go Your way today in all areas of my life. All is well, IN YOU I CONQUER. 

After consecrating and surrendering ourselves, we claim cleansing by the blood of Christ – a very powerful weapon in this war. It washes us from our sins and the sins of others against us (1 John 1:9). 

I cover myself with your blood- my spirit, my soul, and my body. And I ask your Holy Spirit to cleanse, heal and restore me and all whom I now pray for, I include (marriage, family, etc). I pray for them and ask you to bring them under my covering, as I come under your authority and covering. Holy Spirit, apply to them all that I now pray on their behalf.

The major ways we give claim to the Enemy in our lives are through sin and through making agreements with him. Most of our sins fall under the category of pride (independence from God, self-sufficiency) and idolatry (giving our devotion or our fear or any part of the heart to something other than God). In this part of the prayer we humble ourselves by declaring God’s rightful place in our lives.

Dad, I worship You and enter into Your gates with thanksgiving and I enter Your courts with Praise. I break the crust of self and free myself from the traps and sins and failures that are binding me to earth. I snap off the returning fetters and renounce all idols& self-ties (those thoughts, sins, traps that restrict and confine me to a particular place) and give you the place in my heart and life that you truly deserve. I confess here and now that it is all about you God, and not about me and my old self. You are the Hero of this story, and I belong to you. Forgive me for my every sin. Forgive me for giving the entrance to impurity, anger, judgement, unforgiveness, strife, name calling, disobedience, fears, worry, distractions, despondency and the world in whatever form. (name whatever you have let in) Forgive me for not receiving correction and not reviewing my life as I should. Search me and reveal to me where You are working in my life, expose any agreements I’ve made with the enemy of my soul. Grant me the grace of Your healing and deliverance and a deep and true repentance. I resolve to adjust myself to Your correction and discipline myself to take regular inventory. All is well, it is good to be free.

God is Trinity, and we must learn to relate to him as such. Part of the way the saints overcome the Evil One in Revelation 12:11 is by “the word of their testimony.” It’s so powerful to declare against what is true, what God is to us, and what he has done on our behalf.

Heavenly Father, thank you for loving me and choosing me. You are my true Father- I give myself over to You to be one with You as Jesus is one with You. I worship You and seek to walk worthily of You, fully pleasing You, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You. I praise You for calling me to be (add the names God had given you personally). I receive Your NEW NAMES for my life and I FULLY ACCEPT myself and don’t seek the approval, validation or affirmation from others; AS I’VE RECEIVED IT FROM YOU,  I ACCEPT MYSELF AND LIVE OUT OF MY TRUE NAME. I REFUSE TO GIVE OTHERS POWER OVER ME. I receive Your affirmation with thanks and determine to live out of MY TRUE IDENTITY knowing it completes me & causes me to be upright, secure and whole.

Now we turn to the Son and to his three great works on our behalf, starting with the Cross. There is so much more that the Cross has accomplished than our forgiveness, but the constant barrage of the Enemy’s lies wears us down over time, and we forget what is true. By entering into the work of Christ daily, we appropriate in a fresh way all he has already done for us. After all, Christ told us to take up our cross daily, for we must “put to death the misdeeds” of the flesh (Luke 9:23; Rom. 8:13).

Jesus, thank you for coming for me, for ransoming me with your own life. I honour you as my Lord; and appropriate afresh all Your crucifixion means for me this day. I praise You that I have been delivered out of the control and the dominion of darkness and transferred into Your kingdom, my old sin/self-nature is removed, my heart is circumcised to God, and every accusation& claim being made against me is cancelled and disarmed. I praise You that I am crucified with Christ; I now bring the cross of Christ between me and all people, all spirits, all things. I Put Off the Old Man and I crucify my flesh/self-life with all its passion and desires, and its anger and angry outbursts, name calling, cursing, judgment and harsh criticism, violence, rejection, insecurity, fear, pride, anxiety, control, competitiveness, jealousy, unbelief, impurity, uncleanness, unkindness, bitterness, resentments, unforgiveness, hurts and the unnecessary weights and burdens I carry, my sense of failure, my disappointment in myself and others, my gloom and despondency, intimidation& procrastination, self-doubt, worthlessness, ANYTHING THAT IS HINDERING MY PROGRESS AND JOY, AND PREVENTING THE FLOW THROUGH MY BEING OF GOD’S INVIGORATING LIFE AND SPIRIT. (name anything you’re currently struggling with). Holy Spirit, I appropriate all the work of the Crucifixion for me and my family and I command these effects to take place now. ALL IS WELL. IN YOU I WIN.

Having put off the old man, we are told to put on the new (Eph. 4:24). The Resurrection astounded the first several centuries of the church; they saw it as central to living the Christian life. It’s life that he promised, and it’s life that we need. The Resurrection gives us that life. How awesome to begin to discover that through the power of the life of Christ in you, we are saved by his life (Rom. 5:10).

Jesus, I receive you as my new life. I loosen my hold on earth with all its care, worries, and all thought of the past and the future. I Relax and LET ALL GO that I may be filled with this NEW LIFE. I die with You to self- to the human life- that I may know the JOY of RISEN LIFE. I ENTER INTO the TRIUMPH of your resurrection, through which You have conquered sin, death, judgement and the evil one. I HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR, all that depresses me, all that I fear are powerless to harm me. You have conquered them all and I’ve been raised with You to a new life. I am dead to sin and alive to God, it’s no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I now take my place in your resurrection and in Your life. I RISE TO NEWNESS OF LIFE AS I FREE MYSELF FROM THE SELF-TIES THAT BIND ME TO EARTH. So, I conquer my faults with Your strength Now and I ARISE to VICTORY & restoration, transformation & freedom, Joy &appreciation, breakthrough, success, clarity, & vision, to deliverance, faith, hope & LOVE, to peace and beauty, boldness and courage, to compassion and goodness, to Spirit power and strength, to direct Divine guidance and inspiration, to increase and prosperity. Holy Spirit, I appropriate these things now and forcibly pull them from the realm of the spirit into the material realm. I declare these things are so and persist in prayer until it is so in Jesus mighty name. 

Finally, we turn to the ascension of Christ, whereby he has given all authority in heaven and earth. By the grace of God, we share that authority with Jesus. It was Adam who gave it away, and it was Christ who won it back. Satan and his emissaries bank an awful lot of their work on the fact that Christians don’t know the power and authority we now have in Christ. When we begin to exercise that fierce mastery, everything begins to change.

Jesus, I receive you as my authority and rule, my everlasting victory over Satan and his kingdom, and my ability to bring Your kingdom at all times and in every way. I receive the triumph of your ascension, whereby Satan has been judged and cast down, his rulers and authorities disarmed, all authority in heaven and on earth given to you, Jesus, and I have been given authority in you, the Head over all. I take my place in your ascension, whereby I have been raised with you to the right hand of the Father and established with you in all authority. 

And now I bring the authority, rule and dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ and the full work of Christ over my life today; over my inner life, thoughts& feelings and body, my relationships& family, my finances, home, work and my domain. I bring the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and the full work of Christ against every evil power coming against me—against every foul spirit, every foul power and device. [Name them—what has been attacking you? SHAME, Doubt, Despair, FEAR, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, Anxiety etc] I attack them and cut them off in the name of the Lord; I bind and banish them from me and from my kingdom now, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. I COMMAND THIS WIMP TO FLEE AND HE MUST OBEY ME. I also bring the full work of Christ between me and every person, and I allow only the love of God and only the Spirit of God between us. I claim perfect freedom; freedom from care, fear, strife, anxiety, doubt, worry, trouble, hatred & bitterness and I claim that authority now over and against every enemy, and COMMAND THEM TO GO. Holy Spirit, I thank You for guarding and keeping my heart and mind with the Peace of God as I Resist my enemy.

Now we turn to the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. For as the Bible says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17). We want all of the freedom that the Spirit of God gives to us, and we want all of his work in our lives. So we honour him as Lord, and choose to walk in step with him at all times. You don’t have to be Pentecostal to appreciate all that the Holy Spirit was meant to be towards us.

Holy Spirit, thank you for coming. I receive all the work and triumph in Pentecost, through which you have come, you have clothed me with power from on high, sealed me in Christ, become my union with the Father and the Son, the Spirit of truth in me, the life of God in me, my counsellor, comforter, strength, and guide. I honour you as Lord, and I fully give to you every aspect and dimension of my spirit, soul, and body, marriage, family, finances—to be filled with you, to walk in step with you in all things. I ACT SLOWLY WITH SANCTIFIED CAUTION AND DELIBERATELY DO ONE THING AT A TIME AND GIVE EACH ACTION MY FULL ATTENTION. I WALK IN YOUR REST, RESTING AND PRAYING IN BETWEEN EACH TASK. SEEKING YOUR GUIDANCE IN ALL THINGS Holy Spirit. Lead me into all truth, anoint me for all of my life and walk and calling, and lead me deeper into Jesus today. I receive you with thanks, and I give you total claim to my life.

Having given the triune God his rightful place in our lives, and having received all that God has done for us, we turn now to some final preparations for the day:

Heavenly Father, thank you for granting to me every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. I claim and take by force the riches in Christ Jesus over my life today. I put on the full armour of God: the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, the Good News shoes of Peace, the helmet of salvation that guards my psyche from hopelessness or defeatism; I take up the shield of faith to quench every shot that Satan fires at my mind and I use the spoken word of God (the sword of the Spirit), to overcome every temptation and every fear and I choose to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of your might, to pray at all times in the Spirit.

Jesus, thank you for your angels. I summon them in the name of Jesus Christ and instruct them to destroy all that is raised against me, to establish your Kingdom over me, to guard me day and night. I ask you to send forth your Spirit to raise up prayer and intercession for me. I now call forth the kingdom of God throughout my home, my household, my kingdom, and domain in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving all glory and honour and thanks to him. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

I COMMIT TO LIVING OUT MY RESOLUTIONS THIS DAY; I WILL WALK IN PURITY AND SELF CONTROL IN MY SEXUAL DESIRES AND CONDUCT. I WILL CONTROL MY TONGUE AND MY TEMPER AND REACTIONS WHEN RESONDING TO OTHERS. I WILL BE PRUDENT AND REMOVE MYSELF FROM DANGEROUS SITUATIONS AND NOT PASS ON AND BE PUNISHED. I RESOLVE NOT TO TAKE OTHERS MOODS AND CRITISISM PERSONALLY AND FIGHT BACK WITH THE WEAPONS OF THE WORLD. I RESOLVE TO FIGHT BACK WITH THE WEAPONS OF GOD’S KINGDOM; PRAYER, LOVE, PEACE, FORGIVENESS, HUMILITY, GENTLENESS, PATIENCE, SELF-CONTROL; THAT GIVE ME A GOD-CONQUERING STRENGTH. All is well, it’s good to be free. 

Every time we do it’s like a fog lifting – the clouds break, and suddenly, faith is obvious. God is near, we see again, and we can breathe. Give it a week or two – you’ll see. Walking in the stream of Warfare will draw you close to Christ, for there is no other safe place to abide. It will make you holy because you’ll find that the Enemy will try to seize any open door – sort of like a presidential campaign. They look for “dirt” on you, go through old files. As the attack comes, it causes you to sanctify yourself even more deeply, close the doors, and break those agreements. And it will deepen your appreciation for the work of Christ on your behalf. He has not left you on your own; he did come through. Mightily.
In the second film of The Lord of the Rings trilogy – The Two Towers – there is a king who is reluctant to go to war. Theoden, lord of the horse warriors of Rohan, is fearful and timid. An army is marching through his lands, an army bred for a single purpose: to destroy the world of men. Villages fall; women and children are slain. Still Théoden balks: “I will not risk open war.” “Open war is upon you” says Aragorn, “whether you would risk it or not.” As I watched this scene I could not help thinking of the church. It made me so sad. I love the Bride of Christ. I hate to see her captive in any way. The primary reason most people do not know the freedom and life Christ promised is that they won’t fight for it, or they have been told not to fight for it.

PRAYER FOR SEXUAL HEALING

Lord Jesus Christ, I confess here and now that you are my Creator (John 1:3) and therefore the creator of my sexuality. I have been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ, my life and my body belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Jesus I present myself to you now to be made whole and in every way, including my sexuality. You ask us to present our bodies as instruments of righteousness (Rom. 6:13). I do this now. I present my body, my sexuality as a man, and my sexual nature to you.

Jesus, I ask your Holy Spirit to help me to now remember, confess and renounce my sexual sins. (Pause. Listen. Remember. Confess and renounce.) Lord Jesus, I ask you to forgive every act of sexual sin. You promised that if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). I ask you to cleanse me of my sexual sins now, cleanse my body, soul, and spirit, cleanse my heart and mind and will, cleanse my sexuality. Thank you for forgiving me and cleansing me. I receive your forgiveness and cleansing. I renounce every claim I have given Satan to my life or sexuality through my sexual sins. Those claims are now broken by the cross and blood of Jesus Christ (Col 2:13-15).

Lord Jesus, I thank you for offering me total and complete forgiveness. I receive that forgiveness now. I choose to forgive myself for all of my sexual wrongdoing. I also choose to forgive those who have harmed me sexually. (Be specific here, name those people and forgive them). I release them to you. I release all my anger and judgement toward them. Come, Lord Jesus, into the pain they caused me, and heal me with your love.

I now bring the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ between me and every person with whom I have been sexually intimate. (Name them specifically whenever possible. Also, name those who have abused you sexually). I break all sexual, emotional and spiritual bonds with (name if possible) I keep the cross of Christ between us.

I renounce (name what the struggle is – or “this lingering shame” or “the hatred of my body”). I bring the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ against this (guilt or shame, every negative consequence). Lord Jesus, I also ask you to reveal to me any agreements I have made about my sexuality or this specific struggle. Pause and let Jesus reveal those agreements to you. Then break them. I break this agreement (name it) in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, and I renounce every claim I have given it in my life.

Lord Jesus, I now consecrate my sexuality to you in every way. I consecrate my sexual intimacy with my spouse to you. I ask you to cleanse and heal my sexuality and our sexual intimacy in every way. I ask your healing grace to come and free me from all consequences of sexual sin. I ask you to fill my sexuality with your healing love and goodness. Restore my sexuality in wholeness. Let me and my spouse both experience all of the intimacy and pleasure you intended a man and woman to enjoy in marriage. I pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen!