LET’S begin this time with the Lord by inviting again the Holy Spirit — In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Click play below and pray along…
Come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
And burn away my fears, and wipe away my tears
And trusting you are here, Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit, come Holy Spirit
And burn away my fears, and wipe away my tears
And trusting you are here, Holy Spirit
And burn away my fears, and wipe away my tears
And trusting you are here, Holy Spirit
Come Holy Spirit…
—Mark Mallett, from Let the Lord Know, 2005©
When we speak of healing, we are really talking about divine surgery. We are even speaking of deliverance: liberation from lies, judgments, and demonic oppression.[1]Possession is different and needs special attention by those in exorcism ministry; demonic oppression comes in the form of attacks that can affect our moods, health, perceptions, relationships, etc. The problem is that many of us have taken lies for truth, falsehoods for reality, and then we live out of these fabrications. And so this retreat is really about letting Jesus untangle you from this mess so that you can truly be free. But in order to be free, we have to sort out the true from the false, which is why we desperately need the “Spirit of truth” who is not a bird, a flame, or symbol but a Person.
So the question is: whose voice are you listening to? God’s, your own, or the devil’s?
The Enemy Voice
There are a few key passages in Scripture that clue us in as to how the devil operates.
He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
Satan lies in order to murder. If not to murder us literally (think wars, genocides, suicide, etc.), certainly to destroy our peace, joy, and freedom, and most of all, our salvation. But notice how he lies: in half-truths. Listen to his counter-argument against eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden:
You certainly will not die! God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know good and evil. (Genesis 3:4-5)
It’s not what he says so much as what he leaves out. Adam and Eve’s eyes were indeed opened to good and evil. And the fact is that they were already “like gods” because they were created with eternal souls. And because they were eternal souls, they would actually live on after death — but separated eternally from God, that is, until Jesus repaired the breach.
The other modus operandi of Satan is accusation, the one “who accuses them before our God day and night.”[2]Rev 12:10 Whenever we fall into sin, he is there again with half-truths: “You are a sinner (true) and undeserving of mercy (false). You should have known better (true) and now you’ve ruined everything (false). You should be holy (true) but you will never be a saint (false). God is merciful (true) but you’ve exhausted His forgiveness now (false), etc.”
An ounce of truth, a pound of lies… but it’s the ounce that deceives.
Your Voice
Unless we counter those lies with the truths of Scripture and our Faith, we will end up believing them… and begin the spiral into anxiety, fear, scrupulosity, apathy, sloth, and even despair. It’s a terrible place to be, and the one who keeps us there is often staring back at us in the mirror.
When we believe the lies, we often begin to play them back in our heads over and over, like a song on “repeat”. Most of us do not love ourselves nor see ourselves as God sees us. We can be self-deprecating, negative, and merciful to everyone else — but ourselves. If we’re not careful, soon, we will become what we think — literally.
Dr. Caroline Leaf explains how our brains are not “fixed” as once thought. Rather, our thoughts can and do change us physically.
As you think, you choose, and as you choose, you cause genetic expression to happen in your brain. This means you make proteins, and these proteins form your thoughts. Thoughts are real, physical things that occupy mental real estate. —Switch On Your Brain, Dr. Caroline Leaf, BakerBooks, p 32
Research, she notes, shows that 75 to 95 percent of mental, physical, and behavioral illness comes from one’s thought life. Thus, detoxifying one’s thoughts can have a dramatic impact on one’s health, even diminishing the effects of autism, dementia, and other diseases, she found.
We cannot control the events and circumstances of life, but we can control our reactions… You are free to make choices about how you focus your attention, and this affects how the chemicals and proteins and wiring of your brain change and functions. —Ibid. p. 33
Scripture has a lot to say about this, but we’ll come back to that later.
The Voice of God
Echoing what he said earlier about the “father of lies”, Jesus continues:
A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly… I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know Me… the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice… (John 10:10, 14, 4)
Jesus says that not only will we know Him, but we will know His voice. Have you ever heard Jesus speak to you? Well, He repeats again “they will hear my voice” (v. 16). That means that Jesus is speaking to you, even if you are not listening. So how do know the voice of the Good Shepherd?
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)
You will know the voice of Jesus because it leaves you in peace, not confusion, discord, shame and despair. In fact, His voice does not accuse, even when we have sinned:
If anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. (John 12:47)
Nor does his voice destroy:
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)
Nor abandon:
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you. See, upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you… (Isaiah 49:15-16)
So in closing, listen to this song below and then take out your journal and ask yourself: whose voice am I listening to? Write down what you think of yourself, how you see yourself. And then, ask Jesus how He sees you. Still your heart, be quiet, and listen… You will know His voice. Then write down what He says.
In Your Eyes
In my eyes, all I see, are the lines of worry
In my eyes, all I see, is the pain inside me
Whoa… Oh…
In Your eyes, all I see, is love and mercy
In Your eyes, all I see, is hope reaching out to me
So here I am, as I am, Jesus Christ have mercy
All I am, now as I am, there’s nothing I can do
But surrender as I am, to You
In my eyes, all I see, is a heart so empty
In my eyes, all I see, is my total need
Whoa… Oh… Ah ha….
In Your eyes, all I see, is a Heart burnin’ for me
In Your eyes, all I see, is “Come to Me”
Here I am, as I am, Jesus Christ have mercy
All I am, now as I am, there’s nothing I can do
Here I am, oh, as I am, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy
All I am, now as I am, there’s nothing I can do
But surrender as I am, give you all I am
Just as I am, to You
—Mark Mallett, from Deliver Me From Me, 1999©
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