4 Steps To Escape From Your Monsters! ...kind of dark post at first...
Do you believe in MONSTERS?!
Step One to escaping your monsters is believing that there are monsters!
It can be easy just to pretend there are no monsters. We can avoid dealing with negative things in our lives, or we can place the blame on ourselves and wallow in condemnation.
1 Peter 5:8 says,
Control yourselves and be careful! The devil, your enemy, goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to eat. (NCV)
Other versions say "devour", whatever version you use it's clear we have an enemy who wants to hurt us. To ruin us even. To place us in a state of fear, anger, or shame that discredits us and isolates us from others and from God.
Step Two to escaping your monsters is to identify them!
I think each of us is susceptible to different "monsters". We each have different internal designs that cause us to be susceptible to different negative thought patterns that take us into scary places.
What do your monsters look like?
In full disclosure, I deal with all kinds of lies like:
- You'll never really fit in.
- You aren't actually wanted or valuable.
- You will never be able to express yourself so that people clearly understand what you are trying to say.
It's really ugly when you put it out there like that. And it seems so obvious that it is exaggerated, but it's still hard to keep those monsters at bay.
Other common lies people deal with sound like:
- You don't really have what it takes.
- You aren't who they think you are.
- You'll never be fully understood.
Naming your monster of a lie helps you take it to the Healer, the Counselor, and the Light, to find a means of escape.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says,
The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.
Step Three to escaping your monsters is to fight them!
At Bridges Coaching, we like to promote what we call the Freedom Prayer.
The skinny goes like this:
Take a lie you have recognized and move through this Freedom Prayer pathway.
1. Write out a lie that wants to take over your mind and destroy you.
2. Take it to Jesus and repent for choosing to believe that lie.
3. Forgive those who contributed to your acceptance of that lie.
4. Ask for release from any attachments with darkness associated with the lie. Take your time considering how believing this lie has affected you. (ex. depression, anxiety, anger...)
5. Request a truth to be revealed to take the place of the lie.
6. Consider ways to refocus your new vision. Ask God for a verse to anchor your truth on. This could include a song, word picture, or an actual word that you want to make prominent to remind yourself of God’s work and settle your soul. New neuropathways take time to make more the norm than your prior response. You have been practicing that for years, it will likely take time to build a new normal.
(Click here for a more detailed walk through the Freedom Prayer process and even a free printable journaling guide.)
Step Four to escaping your monsters is to live in freedom and share your story!
Revelation 12:11,
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives to the death.
You, too, can overcome!
Don't give in to the MONSTERS trying to keep you from walking in the life Jesus paid for you to have!