2.7.2016 UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONAL HEALING by steve, jacob lapp

Chapter 9 - STEPS TO OVERCOMING

175  every situation in our life has the potential to be a stumbling block or a stepping stone. we make the choice to either stumble over the challenges of life or to step up onto them. we can only step up..by trusting God and allowing Him to direct our path. proverbs 3.5-6

it can be very helpful in our life, if we understand some of the steps that we can take to overcome the challenges of life.
these steps can be like climbing a ladder. if we miss a step, it can be very difficult or even impossible to move forward in life.
176  REPENTANCE AND SALVATION

true repentance comes form a love for God and a sincere desire to obey His commandments. it is when a person makes a radical turn from one way of life to another. true repentance is a summons to a personal, absolute and unconditional surrender to God as sovereign in our life. it requires taking on a whole new point of view and looking at things God's way.
true repentance is a change of the mind and the heart, that brings a fresh attitude toward God, oneself and life in general. Repentance implies that a person turns away from evil and turns his heart and will to God, submitting to God's commandments. it means to totally and completely forsake sin.
when we repent to (note: before?) God and surrender our life to Him, we can receive forgiveness for our sins, through the blood of Jesus, that was shed for us at the cross at Calvary.
when we become born again, we are now born from above, instead of living from below in the flesh. because of being born from above, we are now in Christ and we become a new creature.  II corinthians 5.17)
our spirit gets instantly brand new when we become born again. however, our soul has to go through a transformation (romans 12.2) process and sanctification (john 17.19) through the
177  truth, for us to be able to operate, and function, the way God designed for us to function.
so in reality what happens is, our spirit is brand new, but our soul still has issues. our soul needs to be transformed by the renewing of our mind and our body will prosper, and be in health, even as our soul prospers.
for us to flow with God, through the Holy Spirit, our spirit needs to be in charge of our soul and our physical body. we then can surrender our spirit to the Holy Spirit, which allows us to live and function in the power of God.
for us to manifest the spirit of God here on earth, our soul has to be in alignment with the spirit, so that we can manifest the spiritual realm realities on a physical level.
we are to manifest the character of God in the physical realm. the things of the spirit cannot be naturally discerned (I corinthians 2.14), because the natural person cannot see the things of the spirit.
for us to make a difference to the people around us, we have to manifest in the natural, the things that we receive in the spirit. we can only do this by aligning the spirit, the soul and the body in Divine order.
ACTIVATING OUR WILL AND TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

178  many people have passively laid down their will or have had events happen in their life that broke their will.
for us to find freedom, it is necessary for us to take responsibility for our life, which means to pick up our will where we had left it or where it was damaged or broken.
when we take responsibility for our life, we stand in the authority that we have in Christ, and we do something about our situation.
only after picking up our will and repenting for the areas where we have misused our will, can we surrender our will to God.
when we fully surrender our will to God, it is no longer us that are living, but it is now Christ (galatians 2.20) that is living in us.
imagine that you go to a fast food restaurant and you order a sandwich and french fries. after you have driven away and check you  bag, you notice there are only a few french fries in your bag. you may get upset that you did not get what you paid for.
the question to ask ourselves is this, when Jesus died on the cross for me, did He get what He paid for? am I being all that He created me to be?
179  God needs two things from us. He needs our willingness and obedience. if we are willing and obedient, God can take us where He wants us to go.
CLOSING DOORS

many times when people are not experiencing healing, it can be because of an open door in their life in the spirit realm.
if this is not fully understood, we may be trying to receive healing, without dealing with the issues that were allowing the sickness to occur in the first place.
if we don't deal with the real reason that this sickness occurred, we may only be dealing with the symptoms instead of removing the root that caused the open door in the first place.
when we only focus on the symptoms, to deal with the problem it is  like having a low oil light coming on in a vehicle and instead of adding oil, we cut the wire to the low oil light.
it is better to find out why we have the symptoms and to deal with the root causes, than to focus on managing the symptoms.
if we do not deal with the root cause of the issue, it is like taking a weed eater and trimming the weeds, instead of pulling the weeds out by the roots.
if we only trim the weeds, they will grow back very quickly. if we pull them out by the roots, it completely removes them and they will not grow again.
180  if we would come home and the neighbor's dog was in our house, what would we do? would we not chase it out? what would we do if it came back in? would it not make sense to look for open doors where the dog was coming in ?
many people have allowed the enemy to build strongholds in their lives. these strongholds are allowing open doors for the enemy to have continued access to their lives.
these strongholds may even include generational strongholds that were passed down from the generations before them. these open doors are allowing the enemy to work and cause havoc in people's lives.
we can experience true freedom when we take responsibility and repent for any and all open doors and ask God to close the doors and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
TAKING EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE

many of life's problems are caused by the thoughts that we think. the enemy is constantly bombarding us with negative thoughts, tempting thoughts and destructive thoughts.
this can even include thoughts that seem positive such as, telling us how good we are at something that we do, in an attempt to get us to stumble because of pride.
we can even have thoughts of fear that will come against us, attack us and try to disable us. when fear first comes to us, it comes in the form of a thought.
181  the Bible talks about taking EVERY thought captive (II corinthians 10.5) and bringing it to the obedience of Christ. it is helpful to see ourselves as a policeman who is handcuffing the thoughts and bringing them to Jesus.
can we visualize that? can we see ourselves running after the thoughts, jumping on them, wrestling them down and handcuffing them?  after they are handcuffed, can we visualize taking the handcuffed thoughts and bringing them to Jesus?
many people try to pray against the thoughts, push the thoughts away, dodge the thoughts or hide from them. this never works for them, because it is not the way god designed it to work. God designed it for us to take the thoughts captive. 
if we do not take the thoughts captive, they will take us captive and control us.
feelings are caused by the perception of what we believe, which comes from what we think and believe. when we take our thoughts captive, 9it will also change the way we feel.
FEELINGS BURIED ALIVE NEVER DIE

people use many different strategies in an effort to bury their past and hid it behind walls of self preservation in their heart.
the problem with this is, Jesus came and died for our
182  problems, our hurts, our past,  our disappointments and all the negative in our life.
when we bury our negative experiences and other issues of the past, these feelings that are buried alive will just stay under the surface and will fester until something happens to trigger them.
when they get triggered, these buried negative feelings will pop up and take control of the person and the situation.
when we are grateful for our past, we do not allow these negative feelings to stay buried, but instead we become willing to face them and surrender them to God.
when our past is surrendered to God, even when something comes up that needs to be dealt with, it does not have the ability to take control of us.
when we give our past to God, He will take our past and exchange it for true freedom.
TURN ON THE LIGHT

light will always expel darkness. darkness can never cast out light.
if somebody has a gun pointed at me, they cannot pull that trigger unless they have fear. (note ?) if I have perfect love they can't access their fear to pull the trigger, because perfect love casts out fear.
183  fear does not cast out perfect love and darkness never ever casts out light.
when you are in your home, you can curse the darkness all night and command it to leave in the name of Jesus and it won't happen. or you can just flip on the light switch and the darkness will leave immediately.
there are too many people trying to cast out demons, instead of just turning on the light. when the light comes in, the darkness leaves immediately.
we are not saying we never cast out demons. what we are saying is, when the light comes into the person, there is no more room for darkness.
Jesus said that we are the light (matthew 5.14) of the world.  He tells us to let our light shine (v16). how are we doing with letting our light shine?
TRADING

when we join God's Kingdom, we have an opportunity to bring all our problems, our trash, our hurts and everything from our past, to God through the cross.  (II corinthinans 5.21)
184  UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONAL HEALING

when we bring these things to Him, God will trade (isaiah 61.3) our trash for His treasures. He tells us that He will give us beauty for ashes, oil of Joy for our mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Wow! what a trade!
it is very important for us to remember, that in order to trade-in our trash, we must let go of the trash that we were holding on to, so that the trade can be completed  and we can receive the treasures that God has for us.
when we bring our past to God, the things that happened in our past will now work together for good. (romans 8.28) and not get sick in the first place.
for example, if we receive physical healing, but we continue to eat at fast food restaurants every single day, we can expect to reap the consequences of our poor choices.
another example is, if we have a cluttered up car and we decide one day to clean it up, that would be like a healing. even
185  though the car is clean, if we do not change our habits, it will not take long for the car to be cluttered up again.
when we change our habits and clean up after ourselves, we can experience Divine health.
UNITY IN DIVERSITY

unity (ephesians4.3) in diversity is when we flow together with one (ephesians 4.4-6) heart, one faith, one baptism, one body and one Lord, even though there are different callings, cultures and opinions. the word university comes from unity in diversity.

the Bible talks about the members (I corinthians 12.14) of the body (v20) all flowing together. God might have a different purpose for different denominations, cultures and people groups, but they need to be open and flow together with each other and with God.
in our physical body the common denominator is the blood. the blood touches all the organs, muscles, tissues, and cells.
the common denominator in the body of Christ is the blood of Jesus. we cut ourselves off from the flow of God, when we
186  compare (II corinthians 10.12) ourselves one to another and decide if we are better or worse than the other person.
if we compare ourselves, then we need to come up with an answer on whether we are superior or inferior. when we look to Jesus, then we can compare it to what Jesus says and we don't have to worry about comparing it to other people.
if everybody looks to Jesus, we can all come together in unity, in the spirit realm, in Jesus. then we can all flow together and quit trying to control and change each other.
for example, if I  move my arm, two different muscles in my arm may need to move in two opposite directions, in order to work together.
it is possible for God to tell one person to pull and another person to release, in the same day, and they both heart God. if we get stuck on, 'I heard this', 'you heard that', so one of us must not be hearing from God, then we may be completely missing what God is developing in our lives.
God might have two people hearing completely opposite things and they could both be right.
if we have strongholds we need to hammer through, one person may hear God say, 'Hit it hard' and another person may hear God say 'Retreat'. that can flow together if we understand what God is doing.
187  however, if we argue about it, we might both miss the point, if we can expand our mind, so that we can see the bigger picture, from God's perspective, we can be free.
LAYING UP TREASURES IN HEAVEN

when we look over our life, we can determine how much of it was focused on laying up treasures (matthew 6.19-21) in earth, and who much is focused on laying up treasures in heaven.
when we lay up treasures in earth, we are focusing on self and self protection. when we lay up treasure in heaven, we are focused on helping others, being grateful to God and advancing the kingdom of God.
when we spend money, we either spend it on ourselves or we spend it on advancing God's kingdom.
when we focus on the earth realm, we look at the dollar as the currency that we value things to. when we focus on the spirit realm, we focus on favor, influence and faith, as the currency of heaven.
are we focusing on spending our talents to advance ourselves or are we focusing on investing our talents to advance God's Kingdom?

Chapter 10 - PROCESS OF MATURITY

189  there is a process to maturity, which will lead us to the fullness of who we are in Christ. 
when we were a little child, our parents did everything for us. as we grew up, we started doing things for ourselves. later in life we started doing things for others.
when we got married, we took responsibility for doing things for our spouse and children. as the children grew, we took responsibility to teach them how to live for God, for themselves and for others. 
as we walk through life, we study things that are in our own maturity level and we only know that we are advancing, when we see that we are passing the tests. as we pass the tests and move forward in the next levels of maturity, we can now safely move forward with more responsibility and be a blessing to others.
190  when the children of Israel took over the promised land, God told them that He will only give them the land little by little (exodus 23.29-30) .
if He would have given them all the land at once, they could not have occupied it. the land would have become desolate and the beasts of the field would have taken it over again.
there is a principle of taking back ground from the enemy and there is a principle of occupying and keeping what we took back. if we do not occupy or keep what we took back, the enemy will claim it again.
when the disciples started walking with Jesus, Jesus did the work and the disciples watched. as the disciples matured, Jesus did the work and the disciples helped. later on, the disciples were sent out and Jesus helped them. finally, the disciples did the work and Jesus left.
MEMORIES

memories do not hold us in bondage. our past does not hold us in bondage. it is our perception of the memories and the perception of the past, that holds us in bondage.

our perception is what we believe about something that happened. when we believe that what happened in our life was all bad, it is always, always, always because of believing that God was not in control or that God somehow got this one wrong, and 'I' have to step in and do something about it.
191  these mindsets can get programmed into us at a young age (I corinthians 13.11), and then these patterns continue to work in us, even as adults, if these lies are not dealt with and replaced with truth.
if we do not base our life on the word of God and God's truth, then we will continue to react out of the patterns of lies.
if we continue to believe the lies we will get triggered and in those triggers we will operate from our default system that was programmed into us by those lies.
there are many people living in adult bodies, but inside of themselves, they are living and acting like children. the reason for this may be that things have happened when they were small and they got stuck there because of lies or trauma.
it is like we have a CD player and we hit the pause button. it will just sit there and spin, not moving forward, until we hit the play button again.
when things happened to us as a small child, we may not have understood what was happening and therefore believed the lies. these lies will then hold us in bondage until we replace them with the truth.
when we embrace the Truth, we can begin to know the Truth, which means to have an intimate relationship with the Truth. when we know the Truth, the Truth will make us free. (john 8.32)
TRIGGERS

192  we get triggered, we flip back into our old default system and we act out of that system that might have been installed when we were only a few years old.
now, as adults, we might still be going back to  the default system that was operating in us at a very young age.
when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. but when I became a man, I  put away childish things (I corinthians 13.11) this means that I now have a new default system and I can now do what God wants me to do.
if we understand how this works and can change our default program, then we can start responding to people and situations, instead of reacting to them.
if we react, we allow some demonic influence to take over for awhile, (maybe only for a short period of time), because we don't trust God.
if we recognize the reaction and what is happening, then we can repent and bring it to the light and receive healing from God.
the key is to bring it to the light, because Jesus did not die for the garbage that we bury. He died for the things that we reveal. so if we can bring it to the light the darkness leaves.
193  we bring it to the light by confessing (james 5.16) our faults one to another and praying one for another.
if we keep things hidden it means that we don't trust God to heal it and we are still trying to deal with it ourselves. if we bring it to the light, God will take it and heal it.
WEANING

as we mature in God's Kingdom, God will begin to remove our dependency from man, in order to turn it unto Him.
if a baby is not being weaned, is it the baby's fault or is it the mother's fault? is it not the mother's responsibility to wean the child?
in the church today it seems like many people want to continue to breast-feed as baby christians, instead of maturing into God's plan for their life.
many people are stuck because they refuse to be weaned and move on with God. it is time to move beyond breast feeding. it is time to move beyond the milk.
there is a special grace for baby christians to act up and act goofy. however, when it comes time to wean and they still act like a baby, it becomes obnoxious.
194  as time goes on we pick up more s. we will begin to mature and take on a more active role in advancing God's Kingdom.
if we give our children a chore such as washing the dishes, we don't just say to them, 'go wash the dishes'.  at that time we don't want them asking if they should wash the plates first, if they should wash the cups first or if they should was the spoons first.
because of the training, they already know what washing the dishes means.
the time comes when we might say, 'for the next whole week, every day at lunch time, it is your job to do the dishes'.
we don't want them asking every day if they have to do the dishes again today, because we had already given them the assignment, in the beginning of the week, that they are on duty for the whole week.
later the time will come when it is their regular job and they do it without being told.
there are certain things God expects us to do, whether He's telling us to do them or not, because He has already trained us that way.
195  Jesus said, 'I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught. (john 8.28b)
we know that to help people, pleases God. we don't have to hear God to know if we should be kind to people or help people. we don't have to hear God to know if we should be respectful today.
there are things that we can do because we know that's how God does it. we can do it because that's what we see the Father doing.
if we are waiting on God and God is waiting on us, we have a problem.
MATURITY

there is a process to maturity and as we grow and mature, we start taking responsibility for more and more things.
we believe there are people in the body of Christ that God is training to do certain missions and assignments. when He says, 'God do it', they will know exactly what He means, without needing the details every single time.
a lot of christians won't obey God because God didn't give them specific details. He gave them a command but instead of obeying immediately, they are waiting on God for the details that they already know.
196  while they are waiting on God, He is waiting on them to obey His commands. they know what the next steps are to do and they have been trained how to do it, but because they don't see all the steps, they refuse to get started.
if we are at a traffic light in town and the light is green, do we wait to go until all the other lights are green? no, we go through the light that is green and if we get to a red light, we stop.
in the same way, when God gives us a green light, we go. if we come to a red light, we stop and wait until it turns green.
another example is, when we have a young child, we will not give them the keys to a car. there are certain maturity levels and certain tests that need to be passed in order for someone to get a driver's license.
if a father gives a young child the keys to a car and the child has a car wreck, whose fault is it? would it not be the father's fault, because he gave the child the keys before he was responsible enough to handle the responsibility of the job?
we believe there are many christians who would love to have responsibility in the Kingdom of god, but they have not reached certain maturity levels and have not passed certain tests (galatians 4.1-5) that are needed in order for God to trust them to do those very things.
197  if we want to have more responsibility in the Kingdom of God, we need to be willing to be weaned of our old mindsets and comfort levels. we need to quit whining and complaining when things don't go our way and instead make a decision to trust God.
DISCIPLESHIP

a disciple is one who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another. it is a person who is a pupil, supporter or follower of the doctrines or beliefs of another.
Jesus seemed to think discipleship was a big deal, putting it as the heart of the great commission, to teach all nations. (matthew28.19-20)
Jesus was always consistent in His relationship to God. a christian must be consistent in his relationship to the life of Jesus in him.
many christians are compromising their relationship with God to strict unyielding lacking the power of God.
may people pour themselves into their own doctrines and  God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas, before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.
true discipleship is to be more like Jesus, where Christ-like transformation is the goal, by putting on the mind of Christ.
198  the point of discipleship is not about information, but of Christ-like transformation. that means it is not about knowledge in general, but about knowing Jesus better.
trying to be like Jesus, without the power of Jesus, dishonors Jesus.
in the Bible we can find four levels of discipleship.
first, Jesus called them to be disciples and they watched Him as He did the work.
second, Jesus did the work and the disciples helped  (mark 16.20) Him.
third, the disciples did the work and Jesus worked with (acts 1.9) them.
fourth, Jesus left (acts 1.9), and the disciples did the work.
SONSHIP

the Bible calls us to be sons (romans 8.14) of God. in the jewish culture, to be a son meant that the father would put the son in a position of authority.
if we have a business and put somebody in charge of a certain division of that business, we don't want him calling us for every little detail.
199  we put him in charge to take care of the details. his job is to get the materials that are needed and do what he was trained to do.
there's an element of delegation that God wants to do, where He puts us in charge of certain situations and we do them without needing to ask about every detail.
i was in charge of a division at a company where i  was not the owner, but i was the manager of that division. if the owner walked into the shop he would ask me how things were going.
however, since he had made me the manager of the division, if he came into the shop, he did not automatically take over, because he had given me the authority to run the shop.
in the beginning, God gave adam and eve the power and authority, to have dominion on earth, and to subdue (genesis 1.28) it.
the devil tricked them out of their dominion. Jesus bought it back by dying on the cross and paying for the curse. Jesus then gave the authority back to us. (note: scripture?)
we now have the opportunity to be ambassodors (II corinthians 5.20) for Christ here on earth and bring alignment to earth, (scripture?) to earth, through our prayers and obedience.
COMMUNITY

200we know in part and we prophesy in part (I corinthians 13.9-10). that is the reason why it is so important to work together, because we all have a part.
if we understand that, we can bring our parts together and see an even bigger picture, where everyone can move forward in greater power and victory, as  a community, in God.s kingdom.
the enemy tries to get us to believe that we have all the answers and everybody else should do things our way.  if we are not careful we can get into the thought pattern that we have it all together and other people are wrong.
when we realize that everyone has had their own experiences and we all have the opportunity to put our experiences together, than we can see an even greater picture the way God sees things. 
when we all come together and we focus on finding the heart of God in the matter, we will all get a bigger picture as a community.
for a community to prosper, it is important to empower everyone in their God-given callings.
 BODY OF CHRIST

201  in the physical body, every part of the body gets their commands from the head. there are many different organs, tissues and muscles. there are trillions of cells and every cell gets it's command from the head.
there is a certain DNA in every cell, that tells each spoecific cell what to do and be.
every organ in our body is formed by a cluster of cells that are obedientg to the DNO commands that God gave them.
as the spiritual body, which is the body of Christ (I corinthians 12.12), which is Jesus Christ.
there are many different ministries, churches, functions and groups and they all get their commands from the Head.(ephesians 4.15)
the different ministries and churches, in the body of Christ, are groups of people that are obedient to the commands that God is giving them, to do specific projects.
when the people in the body of Christ are disobedient to the instructions from the head, Jesus Christ, we call this spiritual cancer.
202  in our opinion, the body of Christ has a form of cancer, but we believe it will be healed. if we can see the truth and what is actually happening, we will be able to come into alignment with what God is doing.

Chapter 11 - HOW TO HELP PEOPLE WITH EMOTIONAL ISSUSES

203  if we want to help people with emotional issues, we really need to car about them as a person. they will be able to detect if we really care about them or if we just want to fix them.
when they are talking, they will be checking to see if we are listening with our heart. they want to know if we really care about their heart. does our heart care about their heart?
when a hurting person is testing the listener, they are not trying to make it difficult for the sake of being difficult. they are trying to determine if the listener has the capacity to handle the hurt.
when we are helping a hurting person, we may need to pass some tests. these tests will be in the specific area where others have hurt them.
204  to really know what a person is ctually saying we need to listen very intently. we need to make sure we hear what they are really saying. we also need to know what they are trying to say that they are not saying.
many times people are not quite saying what they are trying to say. they may be trying to say something behind what they are saying. it often helps to repeat back to them what you think you heard them say, and ask them if that is what they are trying to say.
in order to effectively help people ,  it is important to meet them where they are and not where you want them to be.
THE POSITION AND PROCESS

there is a difference in the position and the process. the position is a state of being, according to God's design. the process is coming into alignment and agreement with who we already are. 
as we walk through life, we either believe that we are an OVERCOMER, or we believe that we are a VICTIM. it depends on which position we believe we are in. we will process according to what we believe, and our life will manifest what we believe.
many people are declaring that they are standing on a position.  however, they are having difficulty to know how to walk out the process of the declaration that they are standing on.
other people are focusing on the process. however, they may not understand that it is important to first stand on the position.
205  when a princess is born, she is a princess the day she is born. she may cry at night, need to be fed or need her diaper changed, but she is still a princess.
later on she might roll in the mud, but she is still a princess. as she grows up, she may need some training to learn how to be the princess that she already is.
in the same way, a child of God may some need some training to learn how to be the christian that they already are.
THE POWER OF ASKING QUESTIONS

many people have been told all their lives how to live, what to do, etc. they may not even have been taught how to think for themselves or how to PICK UP their own will.
asking questions gets people to talk. when they hear themselves talk, many times they will hear their own answers.
asking questions gets people to think for themselves and then they learn. it also helps to draw out the person's heart.
when a person's heart opens up, whatever is in the heart will begin to come forth.
there are many different types of questions such as:
-safe questions
-closed questions
-reflective questions
-open questions
206  -hypothetical questions
-interview questions
-harmonious questions

SAFE QUESTIONS will RELAX and DRAW OUT the other person.
are easy to answer. they are effortless, which makes the person feel comfortable. responses to safe questions do not require deep thought.
examples of safe questions would be::
-how's the weather?
-isn't this a beautiful day?

CLOSED QUESTIONS are like true or false, yes or no, or multiple choice requests of one or two word responses. closed questions are valuable for obtaining SPECIFIC FACTS. if..used too much, people may feel as if they are being interrogated.
suggested beginnings for closed questions would be:
-are you willing...
-do you want...

REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS are used to reflect back what you think a person meant by what they said....can CHECK IF YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND what they are saying.... useful in dealing with ANGRY PEOPLE or difficult people...useful in CONFLICT SITUATIONS.
suggested beginnings...would be:
-so are you saying...
-so is this what i'm hearing you say...

207  OPEN QUESTIONS..like essay questions..ALLOW the individual TO ELABORATE..cause a person to continue to share because of the interest that they sense coming form you.
..will UNCOVER A PERSON'S PASSION.  it discovers what makes a person come to life.
suggested beginnings..would be
-what do you love about...
-how do you feel about...
-in what way do you think this will..
-what is your biggest challenge in life..
sometimes they are statements such as:
-tell me about...
-give me an example of...

HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS...OPEN a person's IMAGINATION TO THE FUTURE. this can be very helpful if a person HAS LOST HOPE. .can cause a person to think of a similar situation. they also can be used to find out how the person would do with a NEW SITUATION.
...are used to WIN THE BATTLE AHEAD OF TIME, so that when a situation arises, the person already has overcome the difficulty in the spirit realm.
suggested beginnings..would be:
-what would you do if..
-how would you cope with...
-how would you deal with..

208  INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ZERO IN ON A PARTICULAR AREA...are more in depth and allow you to GET CLOSER to the person...cause VALUES to emerge and they are more INTELLECTUAL than feeling.
suggested beginnings..would be
-what do you think about...
-how do you feel about...

listen to what the person is saying and FORMan interview question USING THE PERSON'S WORDS...example, if a person uses the word icky, do not change it to yucky, when you ask your next question.

HARMONIOUS QUESTIONS involve the FEELINGS and BRING ABOUT HARMONY between you and the other person...usually will reveal the CORE BELIEF system and EXPOSE the LIES, that are keeping the person in bondage.
suggested beginnings...would be:
-when did you decide to...
-what would need to exist in order for...
-so when this happened, how did you feel about..

THE ABILITY TO LISTEN

many people struggle with emotional baggage because they FEEL LIKE they have NEVER BEEN HEARD. if we have the ability to
209  listen to them they will suddenly feel like they have been heard. this will help them to be willing to take an honest look at their own heart.
to really hear a person's heart, we have to stay present to them in the moment. it does not work to listen half heartedly and be distracted at the same time.
the ability to listen means first of all to really hear what the person is saying. it also means to hear what the person is saying that they are not saying. what do they mean by what they say or don't say.
when we are listening to somebody, it is important that we do not jump ahead of them, to where we think they are going. if we try to jump to where we think they are going, we may completely miss what the are trying to say.
it is also important to NOT INTERRUPT the person when they are trying to verbalize or communicate a thought. when we interrupt a person to try to help them say what we think they are trying to say, they may go with what we are saying instead of what they were starting to say.
however that may not be what they were trying to bring out. it may be easier for them to agree with what they think we were  trying to say, than actually say what they were going to say.
if a person is struggling with trying to put into words what hey are feeling, do not rescue them by providing words for them. (note: james 1.19..wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath...?)
210  if we rescue them when they are trying to express themselves, it can hinder the process and keep us from hearing their heart.
when we truly listen to what they are saying we may be able to hear some key information that will bring clarity to their situation.
CHANGING OUR PERCEPTIONS

if we are on an escalator and the escalator stops, does that mean that we are stuck?
if the escalator stops, we can stand there defeated, waiting for somebody to come to rescue us. or we can take the next step and walk right out of our situation. we are only stuck if we believe the escalator is responsible to get us all the way to the top or bottom.
the reason we GET STUCK in our life is because we are FOCUSing ON OUR OWN INABILITY, INSTEAD OF FOCUSING ON GOD'S ABILITY to bring us through our problems.
it is OUR PERCEPTION that keeps us stuck. our perception is what we believe about something that happened in our life, which may or may not be the truth.
for example, if we were hurt when we were in third grade in school and now years later we remember it, the pain that we feel actually comes from the perception of the memory, not from the memory itself. the perception that we have determines the emotions that we feel.
211  here is an example of how quickly our perceptions can be changed.
a man was working late on a friday night. he came home from a business meeting about 3 o'clock in the morning and was planning to sleep in on saturday morning, because he had nothing planned for the day.
for an ongoing period of time before this, his children had the habit of screaming while they were playing. he had een working with them to play quietly instead of screaming.
he woke up early on saturday morning to the screams of his child. at this point he is very upset. he gets out of bed, goes into the kitchen where the screams are coming from, ready  to bring the rod of correction on this child.
as he enters the kitchen, he sees his child with a hand stuck in the door. how long do you think it took his feeling to change?  even though nothing changed other than his perception, his feelings changed instantly.
nothing changed in his environment except his perception of what was going on, but immediately he changed from anger to compassion.
when we change our perception, we can go from begging and pleading with God to do things for us, to seeing ourselves seated (ephesians 2.6) with Christ in the heavenly realm, far above our problems.
we can then speak to the problems from our position of authority and COMMAND THE PROBLEMS TO BOW TO THE PLANS AND PURPOSES OF GOD.

COUNSELING SESSIONS VS. RELATIONSHIPS

many people who are helping others with emotional issues will find themselves in a struggle... understanding the difference between relationships and counseling sessions.
if we don't understand the difference...it can go either way.
the people that are hurting can violate relationships by demanding individual time, from a person who has a heart to help, when they are in a relational setting.
the person who has a heart to help can damage the relationship by turning a relational moment into a counseling session.
counseling deals with issues and situations while relationships deal with the people themselves. it is important to have specific times for counseling and also to have separate times for relationships.
the key to overcoming this struggle is to recognize the difference between the people and their issues.

Chapter 12 - ALIGNING THE SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY

213  when we repent to God and surrender our life to Him, we can receive forgiveness for our sins, through the blood of Jesus, that was shed for us on the cross at calvary.
when we become born again, we are now born from above, instead of living from below in the flesh. because of being born from above we are now in Christ and we become a new creature (II corinthians 5.17).
our spirit is instantly brand new when we get born again.  however, our soul has to go through a transformation (romans 12.2) process and sanctification (john 17.19) through the truth, for us to be able
214  to operate and function the way God designed for us to function.

so in reality what happens is, our spirit is brand neew, but our soul still has issues. our soul needs to be transformed by the renewing of our mind and our body will prosper  and be in health, even as our soul prospers. (III john 1.2)
for us to flow with God, through the Holy Spirit, our spirit needs to be in charge of our soul and our physical body. we then can surrender our spirit to the Holy Spirit, which allows us to live and function in the power of God.
for us to manifest the spirit of God here on earth, our soul has to be in alignment with the spirit, so that we can manifest the spiritual realm realities on a physical level.
we are to manifest the character of God in the physical realm. the things of the spirit cannot be naturally discerned (I corinthians 2.14), because the natural person cannot see the things of the spirit.
for us to make a difference to the people around us, we have to manifest in the natural, the things that we receive in the spirit. we can only do this by aligning the spirit, the soul and the body in Divine order.
as we surrender to God, He will show us the issues that we need to deal with.
FEEDING THE SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY

we are a three part being. we are a spirit, a soul and a physical body.  actually we could say, 'I am a spirit, I have a soul, and I live in this motor home'.  (physical body)
the spirit is who we actually are and we live in the physical body. the soul is our communication system between the spirit and the physical.
if we would compare it to an airplane, we would say that our spirit is the pilot, our soul is the instrument panels and the communication equipment, and our physical body would be the actual aircraft.
each part of our being feeds in a different way. our physical body feeds on the food that we eat. the physical well being of our body is affected by the quality of food that we eat.
if we just eat junk food, it will affect our physical being. it is much better for us to eat quality food and watch what we eat for our physical well being.
what does our spirit feed on? OUR SPIRIT IS FED WHEN WE GET REVELATION. many people believe that our spirit is fed by the Word of God, which is not completely false.
however, when we read the Word of God and do not get a revelation of the Word, we do not get fed by the Word until it becomes a revelation to us. this does not mean that we should not read the Word of God, but instead it means that we ask God to make His Word a revelation to us.
216  many times we may read God's word and later it becomes revelation to us. at the time that it becomes revelation to us, is when we got fed with that revelation.
it is still beneficial to read God's Word and to store it inside of us until such a time that it becomes revelation to us.
it is also possible for us to get revelation in other ways in which God is speaking to us. it is very important that the revelation is actually coming from God and is not a deception that can hinder our spiritual growth.
what does our soul feed on? OUR SOUL IS FED WHEN WE RECEIVE ACCEPTANCE.
ultimately it is best for us to receive this acceptane from God.
however,it is also important for us to be able to accept each other and to be there for each other and to pray for each other. the other area that WE NEED  acceptance from, is TO ACCEPT OURSELVES the way God made us, instead of rejecting who we are
imagine this, a couple who had not been to church for a while, decided to go to church on a sunday morning. they walk into the church ans sat into somebody else's pew, they didn't have the right clothes on, they didn't say the right words, they didn't worship correctly and they were not very churchy.
everybody in church was acting snobbish and disrespectful to them, because they don't fit into the mold that the church was used to operating in.
217  after church they decided to stop in at the local bar where they knew their friends were hanging out. as they walked into the bar, they got welcomed in and were made to feel right at home.
where did their soul get fed? is it possible that the bars are doing a better job of feeding people's souls than the churches are? what would happen if the christians would do a better job of accepting people the way they are and then helping them to freedom?
CONNECTING TO THE SOURCE

when we are using a computer, we can either download a bunch of information onto the computer, which slows down the computer or we can access it through the Internet and the information never gets downloaded onto the computer.
if we are connected to the Internet, the information is still available, but it does not bog down the computer.
in the same way, we can connect to God through the Holy Spirit and get the information that we need without overloading our mind with trying to figure everything out.
if our heart is shut down, we cannot access what God wants us to hear.
if we have a NEED TO BE IN CONTROL, we will have a NEED TO FIGURE EVERYTHING OUT and our mind will OVERLOAD with information, which slows us down so that we cannot walk in the fullness that God has for us.
218  a man went to the dentist and after the dentist was finished the man said, 'Thank God'.
the dentist then told the man that he does not believe in God. if there is a God, why is evil running rampant and bad stuff is happening to people? why is there so much pain and suffering on this earth if there is a God?
the man then told the dentist, in that case he doesn't believe in dentists. if there are dentists, why do people have decayed teeth, capped teeth, broken teeth, toothaches and gum problems?
the dentist said it is because they don't make the choice to come to him for help.
in the same way, instead of blaming God for the problems, we have an opportunity to come to Him for the solution. however, it is our choice. we need to make a decision and choose to allow God to take care of our problems.
BEING AN OVERCOMER

we need to understand Truth and Godly principles and apply them to our lives so we can have the power to overcome.
there are a lot of people that are trying to overcome in a wrong way, if you look at the Biblical principles of overcoming, it is not shouting louder, it is not praying longer and it is not reading the Bible more.
219  we want to clarify that we are not against shouting louder, we are not against reading the Bible more and we are not against praying more.
there will be times for that, but if we do not apply the Biblical Truth according to God and His Kingdom, we can shout and perform until we are hoarse and discouraged.
we can read the Bible day and night and we can pray with everything we've got and we will get very little results unless we connect to God.
as a demonstration, try to drive a vehicle without starting the engine. get into the vehicle but don'[t turn the key on. put your hands on the steering wheel, make all kinds  of engine sounds, stomp  the accelerator and the brakes and try to turn the steering wheel.
you can pretend that you're going somewhere and if that doesn't work, just make some louder noises and get yourself pumped up more and things like that.
this is what it looks like when people try to get God's attention without being willing to do it God's way.
God gives us the keys and truths, not just to pretend to have power, but to actually start this thing up and experience the power to overcome.
as a little child, I would pretend I was driving the tractor. when I grew up, I started actually driving the tractor. I found out
220  there is a big difference in pretending to drive a tractor or to actually drive it.
there is also a big difference in pretending that we are doing the will of God and actually doing the will of God.
there is a big difference when we apply God's principles  and watch them work in our life, versus pretending to do the will of God and not getting the desired results.
when wee fully connect to God and we are willing to live our life God's way, then we will have the power to be an overcomer. we will then be used by God to overcome the plans of the enemy and to destroy the enemy's kingdom.
USING THE OWNER'S MANUAL

many people believe that reading the Bible is a DUTY that is required by God. they believe they need to read the Bible to please God.
they think God is in heaven watching to make sure that they read enough chapters per day or spend enough time per day in reading His Word.
and owner's manual is designed to communicate to the buyer how to use a specific product to the fullest potential. many people have tools and gadgets they use on a regular basis.
however, because they have not fully read and understood the owner's manual, they use less than 25% of the functions that are available for their use.
221  the Bible is actually our owner's manual. it explains the way we were designed to operate and function. it is to our benefit to understand the principles and plans of God's design for mankind.
when we understand God's plans and purposes, we can operate in the power and authority  that God created for us to operate in.

when we read the Bible we will begin to understand: -the benefits that we have
-the authority that we have as ambassadors in God's kingdom
-the pitfalls to avoid
-the advantages that we have
-the secrets to living
-the blessings of aligning with God
-the curses of aligning with the devil
-the power that is available to God's people
-the keys of how to have access to the awesome truth and love of God

when we begin to understand the plans that God has for mankind, our hearts and our minds will be opened to the amazing revelation of the unfair advantage that we have over the enemy's kingdom.

the Bible tells us how to operate in God's Kingdom and how to advance God's Kingdom.