Summary of 7 Steps
April 24, 2011 at 11:11 pm | Posted in Forgiveness, Summary 7 Steps | Leave a commentSummary of The Steps to Freedom in Christ
A Freedom Appointment, also called Discipleship Counseling,
Is a structured series of prayers
Which allow the ministry recipient to systematically address
Areas of spiritual bondage in the past.
Things that keep them from being close to God and others.
So they can walk in freedom into the future.
Knowing and living their renewed Identity in Christ.
A typical prayer session can take between four and eight hours.
A ministry recipient is joined by two trained volunteers.
The encourager explains the steps and the prayers.
The prayer partner prays and listens for guidance from the Holy Spirit
Seven Steps to Freedom in Christ
Overcoming False Guidance with Renunciation
Overcoming Deception with Truth
Overcoming Bitterness with Forgiveness
Overcoming Rebellion with Submission
Overcoming Pride with Humility
Overcoming Habitual Sin with Surrender
Overcoming Ancestral Sin with Blessings
Bitterness to Forgiveness The most powerful step.
The recipient prays to ask the Holy Spirity to bring to mind
Those they need to forgive and begins to make a list …
The encourager goes over some teaching.
What forgiveness is:
A Biblical mandate, releases bondage to Satan, live with consequences.
What forgiveness is not:
A Rationalization, forgetting, a feeling, a thought, reconciliation.
Forgiveness is an act of the will
Like choosing Jesus as Savior and Lord is an act of the will.
The lists look like this:
Who / when What happened Feelings/lies
ex. parents ex. abuse ex. shame
others abandonment anger, rage
yourself gossip hurt, anguish
God anything hurtful “I am unlovable”
Lord Jesus, I choose to forgive (name the person)
for (what he or she did or failed to do)
because it made me feel (angry, bitter ashamed.)
Lord Jesus, I choose not to hold on to my resentment,
I relinquish my right to seek revenge.
I ask you to heal my damaged emotions.
Thank you for setting me free from the bondage of bitterness.
I now ask you to bless those who have hurt me.
In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
The VISION a mission to East Africa
April 11, 2010 at 3:49 am | Posted in Confession, Forgiveness, Testimony, VISION | 1 CommentThe VISION Abstract
Dalene Rooks DeGraaf, RN PhD
Missionary Set Free Ministries East Africa
http://www.setfreeministries.com/GlobalOutreach/Africa/DaleneDeGraaf.aspx
The VISION God has placed on my heart
Go to Kampala, Uganda.
Empower women of East Africa to become encouragers.
Train them to take their peers thru the Steps To Freedom
Give women a voice to tell and write their testimonies.
Internet community with website
http://walkfreeministries.com
Coordinate with Rev. Emmanuel Kabambi
Director of Set Free Ministries East Africa
The Need: The “Blood line”
There is a “blood line” running across Africa.
Above the line
is mostly Muslim
funded by the oil monies of the middle east.
Below the line
is mostly Christian
funded by the monies of United States and Europe.
Woven in the line
is much Occult
rooted in history and tradition of Africa.
Along the line the Muslims build Mosques
Even before there are people to fill them.
They come preaching their message of hatred of Christians
And the white men who teach about Christ.
Soon the Mosques are filled with converts
And the “blood line” moves south once again.
However, In Rakai, where Set Free Ministries
Has been teaching Christians
About freedom, truth and love.
The people asked the Muslim propagandists
“What are you teaching.?”
And the Muslims replied
with their lies and hatred about Christians.
The Christians in Rakai responded
“We have met the white man.
He has taught us about freedom, truth and love.
You come teaching about hatred and distention.
You come bringing darkness.
We don’t want you here.
We are followers of truth and light.”
The Muslims left.
And the Mosques remain empty.
Woven into the line and through out much of Africa
The Occult remains a major influence
Even among Christians.
When Christianity does not directly address
Spiritual warfare or the power of the Holy Spirit,
People are left to address spiritual concerns for power
With spiritists or witch doctors.
Set Free Ministries addresses these issues directly
In its teachings and in its implementation.
So the people have authority and tools to address
Spiritual Warfare.
They can disciple others in the power and authority
Of the Holy Spirit.
THE VISION Disciple women in Freedom Principles
Set Free Ministries to go along the “blood line”.
Teaching repentance confession and forgiveness:
Freedom Principles.
So the people can stand firm in the onslaught of darkness.
Provided by the teachings of Set Free Ministries.
The resistance of the evil one
And the authority and power of the Holy Spirit.
Men, pastors and other leaders
Have been taught Freedom Principles
By Set Free Ministry from the United States:
Dean VanderMey,, Jeff Stam, Paul Tammeling
And by the Set Free Ministries Director for East Africa
Rev. Emmanual Kabambi
Trainings for men could be extended by Rev. Emmanual Kabambi
Thru out Uganda and into surrounding East Africa.
My part of THE VISION would be to teach the women
Along the “blood line”
About Freedom in Christ.
About a new identity.
About repentance, confession and forgiveness.
Training women who are leaders in their churches.
To do Freedom Appointments
With other women.
So they know the bondage they are in:
Is not from the men who abuse them,
Is not from the poverty they live in,
Is not from the disease that infects them,
The bondage is from the evil one.
And Jesus Christ has over come evil and darkness
With truth and love.
And they can participate with Christ
Through repentance, confession and forgiveness.
There by resisting the evil one
So he will flee.
Thus releasing the power of the Holy Spirit.
To heal their land.
Trainings
in three to five days:
Introductory didactic outline of each Step
A testimony specific to the Step. Rev. 12:11
A role play demonstration of the Step.
An opportunity to receive a Freedom Appointment
An opportunity to be a prayer partner
An opportunity to be an encourager
Testimony writing and telling session
Follow up: Email contact for discipleship.
Website: http://walkfreeministries.com
Teach leaders of past trainings
how to do trainings themselves.
The Goals: Trainings, Testimonies, Website
The VISION is to not only be an encourager of women
The VISION is to also empower women to be encouragers.
Jesus did not commission us to go make followers.
Jesus commissioned us to go make disciples.
Follower: one who ascribes to the teachings of another.
Disciple: one who embraces
And assists in spreading the teachings of another.
Teach women to do their own Freedom Appointments.
Teach women to give their own testimony.
Teach women to be lights in the darkness.
To set others free.
To defeat the evil one.
To disciple others.
Norah is an excellent example.
She went to the training Jeff and Paul did in Soroti.
She has done at least ten Freedom Appointments.
She has interpreted for other women my testimony.
She is writing her own testimony
And encouraging others to write theirs.
The VISION is to train hundreds of Norah’s.
Who will in turn train…..
The website http://walkfreeministries.com To provide
Continuing access to the trainers and graduated trainees
I-community to discuss challenges of being an encourager
RSS feed for continuing education.
Measurable goals:
# of trainings.
# of trainees.
# of Freedom Appointments to trainees.
# of Freedom Appointments by trainees.
# of Testimonies written by trainees.
# of Testimonies written by trainees FA recipients
# of trainings by trainees . . . .
# of hits on website.
# of RSS feeds sent out by website.
# of training requests.
Goal : 1000 testimonies by trainees and recipients
The Setting Kampala, Uganda extending thru East Africa
Kampala is where Rev. Emmanuel Kabambi is living and serving
Davis Omanyo of CRWRC East Africa offered shared office space
and would like to collaborate with Set Free Ministries
in the 1500 churches CRWRC is affiliated with.
There is a woman working for CRWRC who may rent a house
There are international churches in the area with small groups
for a supportive growing community.
The office for discipleship training and mentoring encouragers
The location central to East Africa for outreach trainings
Davis Omanyo’s wife, a Physical Therapist, there may be opportunity
for evangelism and training with other health care professionals
SFM already has 8 initiatives in Kenya and Uganda
There are other links in Sudan, Liberia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda. Tanzania along “the bloodline”…. …
the need is endless until Christ comes.
If you are called to Join in the VISION contact
http://SetFreeMinistries.com
Donations: Payable to Set Free Ministries
700 36th St SE Grand Rapids 49548 616 726 5400
visit my website: http://walkfreeministries.com
for trained encouragers in doing freedom appointments
Friend me on Facebook:: Dalene DeGraaf
pictures of the trip to Uganda
post prayer requests.
Email: dalenedegraaf@yahoo.com
Dalene Rooks DeGraaf, RN PhD
Missionary, Psychologist, Nurse
Freedom Thru Forgiveness
December 11, 2009 at 12:48 am | Posted in Forgiveness, Freedom thru Forgiveness, Testimony | 3 CommentsA Testimony of God’s Work in my life
When bad things happen to us.
We become hurt and angry.
We also come to believe lies.
Lies about who God is.
Lies about who we are.
From the evil one.
Over time we hold on to the bitterness.
We hold on to the pain and anguish.
It becomes part of our identity.
It becomes a pattern of sinning.
I want to share with you.
Some things that happened in my life.
Some things that made me feel hurt and rejected.
Some things the evil one used to tempt me to sin.
I want to share with you.
The way God used Set Free Ministries:
To break the bondage of bitterness,
To break the bondage of suicidal thoughts,
To break the bondage of anger and depression,
To set me free from all of that,
Thru deep abiding forgiveness.
When I was 2 years old,
My father became ill with lung cancer.
He was dying.
I have been told many times the story.
I was 2 years old and had a dirty diaper.
My mother was upset.
At the same time my father was calling,
At the same time the phone was ringing,
At the same time the pastor was at the door.
My mother was coming unglued.
The pastor assessed the situation,
And took me home with him.
No clothes, no blanket, nothing.
For six weeks until my father died.
I felt alone and abandoned at the pastor’s house.
So I learned if I do something really bad I will be rejected.
By the time I returned home, my father was dead
I was told by good people trying to explain to a little girl.
God took my father to heaven to be with Him.
I didn’t like a God, who stole the Daddy of a little girl.
He was not loving, but a thief who couldn’t be trusted.
For much of my life when something went wrong,
I wished I was dead, to be in heaven with my father.
From the time I was 6 to 12,
Someone was inappropriate with me.
I was confused and bitter about love and sexuality.
Subsequently I made poor and sinful choices.
So there was him and there were others.
In time I got married.
We had three children.
And when the children were 2, 4, and 6.
My husband left me for another woman.
I was devastated to the point of despair and suicide.
For months and months.
In time, I pulled my life together,
On the outside. . .
I raised my children.
I finished school.
I worked.
I even worshiped.
On the inside, however,
My thoughts were filled with negativism.
Whenever something went wrong,
I just wanted to be dead.
I held bitterness toward God.
I held bitterness toward men.
The joy of the Lord.
Twelve years ago I first encountered Set Free Ministries.
I had a Freedom Appointment.
I read Neil T. Anderson’s books.
But I did not actually do forgiveness with my heart.
I did not realize its importance.
I was a psychologist,
But had not learned about forgiveness
In graduate school.
I was a Christian,
But had not applied teachings on forgiveness
To my life.
Finally, I came to my Pastor Jeff (PJ) Stam,
Who started Set Free Ministries,
To work on the issues with my abuser and the others.
I took a whole weekend,
To take myself thru A Freedom Appointment.
(Something I do not recommend, have someone trained
walk thru A Freedom Appointment with you,)
I diligently worked my way thru,
The section on forgiveness:
I listed the men,
I listed what had happened,
I listed my feelings and reactions,
I confessed my part for things when I was older.
I forgave each one from my heart.
God transformed my bitterness into compassion.
It was as though a veil was lifted.
The perpetual noise was gone.
My senses were more acute.
Colors were brighter.
Music was more vibrant.
The Bible came alive.
Thru my obedience to forgive and confess.
God had healed my mind.
My emotions
My soul.
However, I continued to struggle
With wishing I was dead.
I wasn’t suicidal.
I didn’t want to harm myself.
I just wished I wasn’t alive.
I wished I was in heaven.Particularly when life was stressful.
I talked with Pastor Jeff about it.
He recommended I speak with a counselor at Set Free Ministries.
So we met and spoke about my father’s death,
And my mother sending me away to be with the pastor.
I was only two, so I had little actual memory,
But there was still significant impact.
I know it seems odd, but
I needed to forgive my father for dying.
I needed to forgive my mother for sending me away.
I needed to forgive God for allowing it to happen.
Now, I know God is perfect.
I know God does not need to be forgiven,
Because He does not sin.
But I needed to let go of the bitterness I held in my heart,
And I refer to that as “forgiving” God.
Perhaps there is a better word to use,
But I don’t know what it is.
So I wrestled with the feelings.
I wrestled with the bitterness.
I talked it thru with the counselor for three hours.
But didn’t feel done
So I went to my father’s grave and prayed.
I went home and prayed some more.
I prayed with persistence,
Until the wall of distrust between God and I came down.
I knew He truly loved me.
I knew He was working even this for my good.
I knew in His omniscience He understood what I could not.
I felt free to truly live for Christ.
Forgiveness had transformed death into life.
It had been 20 years since the divorce.
And I knew the value of forgiveness.
But I had not yet forgiven
My ex-husband and his wife.
The winter of 2008, my son was getting married soon.
His fiance was making Profession of Faith at her church.
She wanted us all to come over for brunch after church.
Us all . . .
My ex-husband, his wife, our children, and I.
We rarely were together,
If we were, they tended to shun me.
God told me
“You need to forgive them.”
And I said, “Later.”
Time went by . . .
“You need to forgive them.”
“Later.
“Time went by . . .
“You need to forgive them.”
“Later.”
Finally the day of the Profession of Faith arrived.
And I got up a little early,
But not early enough to forgive,
20 years of hurt and pain.
I opened the curtain and looked outside.
There was two feet of snow on the ground.
(For those with no experience of snow.
It is like having two feet of ice cream on the ground.)
The roads were impassable.
No one was going any where.
The churches were canceled.
There was no Profession of Faith that day.
God said, “Now! . . . You will forgive.”
And I did.
I took the whole afternoon:
To list all the incidents.
To list all the hurts.
To confess all my part.
To choose to forgive.
I forgave things they had done to me
I forgave things they had done to my children.
Any mother knows it hurts worse to see her children hurt.
Again God blessed me with healing.
A few weeks later the Profession of Faith was rescheduled.
We got together for brunch.
My ex-husband and his wife,
Acted as tho I wasn’t there.
Instead of being hurt,
Instead of feeling rejected,
I thought it was funny.
I thought they were silly.
Forgiveness had transformed hurt into humor.
I confess I even felt proud,
That they were not over it in 20 years,
But I was over it.
Then I was humbled to recall.
I had forgiven only been three weeks ago,
So I did not have a reason to be proud.
The last sentence in the prayer for forgiveness.
“I now ask You to bless those who have hurt me.”
Almost stuck in my throat.
Forgiveness is one thing but asking God to bless?
As I studied God’s word: Bless those who curse you.
So blessing is as much a command as forgiveness.
How could I bless my former husband?
I decided to write him a Thank You Note.
To bless him with appreciation for….
Being a good father and spiritual leader in the home,
Sending the children to Christian schools and church, and
For paying for school fees, expenses and weddings.
It did not result in reconciliation, but
I knew I had obeyed God thru forgiveness.
I knew I had obeyed God thru blessing.
It changed my relationship with God.
It changed me inside my heart and soul.
So there were three dramatic incidents in my life
That were healed thru forgiveness:
The death of my father.
The damage from my abusers.
The divorce of my husband.
Thru forgiveness and blessing God transformed:
Death to life for Him.
Bitterness to compassion.
Hurt to humor.
I can experience the joy of the Lord.
So don’t let the sun go down on your anger.
Don’t give the evil one a foothold.
Don’t wait years to forgive.
Take the time.
Make the time.
Today.
To forgive.
And be free.
Dalene Rooks DeGraaf RN PhD
SFM Missionary to East Africa
Contact:
http://www.SetFreeMinistries.com
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