How to use the Freedom Prayer to work through Facts, Feelings and Lies and then to Live out God’s Truth in your life!
Have you ever been triggered by something or someone? That’s where you feel like you had an emotional reaction that was not healthy. Maybe it was an overreaction, or maybe you clammed up, but either way, you know you were not walking in God’s best plan for your response.
Triggering is angsty. It’s not God’s way but is often more our norm when storms come up in our life.
Triggering hurts us and hurts those around us.
We’re all human so we’ve all built neuro pathways for how we react when certain events happen. It’s like they prompt us to be angry, or aggressive, or maybe we swing the other way and feel depressed, sullen, or hopeless.
Either way, we feel stuck.
We know we don’t want to respond in that way. We hope there is a kingdom way, a healing possible, but we aren’t sure what to do next.
Feeling hurt, misunderstood, confused or angry, and frustrated doesn’t have to be our norm!
Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Doesn’t “good, pleasing and perfect” sound wonderful!?
God has more for us and the Freedom Prayer Pathway can be used as a guide to learn to choose a response rather than have a recurring negative reaction.
Let me share a personal example.
Is it okay if I get a little vulnerable?
Many of you know my amazing husband. He is super extraverted and caring and personable and all the kinds of things a minister should be. I used to struggle with feeling like I was broken. I’m not naturally outgoing and felt so inferior whenever I was in a setting where I wanted to be more personable.
I’d get triggered when I saw him reaching out to strangers and sharing his faith.
I’d get triggered when we went somewhere public together and he was so at ease talking to everyone – people he knew, people he didn’t know, he’s just so friendly.
I felt awkward. I’d think things like, “Why can’t you just walk up to people and talk?” “What’s wrong with you that you aren’t more naturally kind?”
Comparison can be a killer.
When I talked to Jesus about it, He revealed the truth to me that, “I’m not broken, I’m different.” It was SO FREEING!
I’m still not super comfortable talking to people like Eric is, but I’m not triggered anymore! I’m growing in my connecting skills, but that will never likely be a strong suit for me. And that is okay.
Maybe that example isn’t super deep, but I hope you get the picture. (I share a much more vulnerable example in the Coach Training course!)
Whenever our self-talk starts to go South we can pause and invite Jesus to transform our thinking. He longs to redirect our thoughts and feelings to the peace that passes understanding that He offers.
Use the following as a guide to move forward.
Freedom Prayer Journaling Guide
(Use this guide for personal journaling. I've included lines below as a prompt, or download the doc above if you like.)
Start by setting yourself up for success. Get in a quiet place with Jesus where you are not going to be rushed or distracted. Fuel your soul with peace knowing God IS going me meet you there. Settle yourself in beside still waters and drink from His offer of life.
Then, walk through the following pathway. It will assist you in removing the skewed view you have had and free you to walk in the life God has for you.
Take a lie you have recognized and move through this Freedom Prayer pathway.
Incident: Choose a triggering moment you want to focus on.
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Facts & Feelings: Identify the facts and the feelings you are dealing with.
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Lie: Write out the lie in sentence form.
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Own it: Take it to Jesus and repent for choosing to believe that lie.
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Forgive: Forgive those who contributed to your acceptance of that lie.
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Renounce: 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...)
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Truth: Request a truth to be revealed to take the place of the lie.
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Ways to refocus: Consider ways to refocus your new vision. Ask God for a verse to anchor your truth on. This could include song, or word picture, or actual word that you want to make prominent to remind yourself of God’s work and settle your soul. New neuro-pathways 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.
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Share: Talk about it. Share your experience with at least one person, or preferably with more. The more you talk about it the more real the truth becomes for you.
People to talk to: ___________________________________________________________________________
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Plan to revisit: Make a plan to revisit this concept on a regular basis. This can be a kind of scheduled self check-up.
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Freedom Prayer
Father, I can see now that I have believed the lie that ________________________ .
I no longer choose to live my life or base my thoughts on this lie.
Please forgive me for choosing to make this lie a part of who I am and basing my thoughts on it. I forgive everyone who has contributed to my thinking this way. (List as needed.)
Jesus has already won the victory, so I claim freedom from any attachments with darkness due to this lie. (List as needed.)
Help me to break my thought patterns and any lifestyle choices connected with this lie. Help me to see how it has affected me and then help me instead to be conformed to be like Christ.
As I live my new life in Christ, I will now believe the truth that _____________________.
My new mindset will include these views. (Ask God for new values statements and new attachments and list them.)
The word of my testimony will be how You set me free!
For a more in-depth dive into this process check out our self-paced Soul Care Personal Retreat where Eric and I will walk you through this process in a series of short videos. A downloadable journal is included. Use the code: FREEDOM for $20 discount!