Counseling Victims to Freedom - Lesson 7
by Dr. Ray Self
Instructions
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- Follow along with the study notes below video window.
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For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but grace (Romans 6:14).
I. The issue of grace
- Joy, peace, rest, and victory are elements of grace
- Difficulty, defeat, and frustration are elements of a lack of grace
- If we would continue walking in the same way that we came in none of these problems will occur
- As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him (Colossians 2:6)
- The greatest change in life came at salvation
- This change came by simply believing
- If the big change came by believing why not continue the same way
- Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh?(Galatians 3:3)
- When we were saved the Spirit of God did a work in us
- Do we so foolishly think that we can finish in our own ability
- Just as we cannot save ourselves, we cannot change by our own determination
- The need is not for us to become righteous but for that which is already in our spirits to manifest in our lives
- When we were given a new spirit we were given a new heart
- Our heart is the center of our being
- Our heart is who we really are. It is our identity
- The heart is the place where who we are in the Spirit and who we are in the soul come together
- Our Spirit man can only be changed by God, but our heart can be changed by our thinking
- Our thinking must come into alignment with the Spirit of God
- Our heart was made new at salvation but our thinking and beliefs have corrupted our heart
- What we think and expose our selves to affects our heart
- As a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs)
- The heart is the channel through which the life of the Holy Spirit reaches and affects our entire being
- When we get defeated it is not a condition of the Spirit but a condition of the heart
- The Spirit never looses its power, but our heart can feel defeated
- Trying harder is not the answer
- Romans 8:29 - For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
- If God predestined us then God will see to it that His plan for us will happen
- It is His plan not ours, His might not ours
- We have a inner need to be transformed & this need will always remain
- Inability masks
- When people are frustrated and unable to affect a change in their lives they will mask (hide or cover it) in many ways
- Suppression - stuffing, packing it away
- Self justification - excuses, explanations
- Criticism - pointing at others
- Legalism - rules, rigidity, structure, laws
- Depression - anger and frustration suppressed
- A mask hides the true self and offers temporary relief at best
- When people are frustrated and unable to affect a change in their lives they will mask (hide or cover it) in many ways
- Unless believers receive the grace to change, their lives will be full of frustration
- Most Christians want to change but they fight a lifelong battle with the flesh
- This usually leads to a “works” mentality
- Remember it is by “Grace and not by works”
- Real victory beyond behavior and performance
- Right behavior does not work for long if the craving to act another way is still around
- Real victory is not walking away from sin and at the same time longing to give in to it
- It is not God’s will for the Christian walk to be difficult
- He wants us to change. 2 Corinthians 3:18 - But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
- We already are being changed…..and we are not doing it. The change is by the Spirit
- If your walk has been hard it is time to come to Jesus
- Matthew 11:28 - Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest
- You may say that you have already come to Him, but now it is time to learn of Him. Matthew 11:29 - Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
- When we learn of Jesus (really getting to know Him) then we can enter into His rest
- The children of Israel did not enter into His rest because they did not really know or truly understand God
- God told them He would drive out their enemies but they did not trust Him. Hebrews 3:19 - So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
- They died in the wilderness because they did not trust His grace to overcome. They did not trust God to do what He said
- Entering into His rest (grace) prevents us from dying in our own emotional wilderness
Study Questions:
- Why are joy, peace, rest and victory elements of grace?
- If we cannot change by our own determination how can we be changed?
- Explain how the heart can be corrupted.
- Explain the term “inability mask.”