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INTRODUCTION - PRESENTING THE PROBLEM

Click the play button to begin video lesson and follow along with the class notes below the video window. When you complete this video, click the "Lesson Assignment" button at the bottom of this page to open the lesson assignment.

God means for you to be sanctified through and through:

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. — 1TH 5:23 NASB

God commands you to be transformed:

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but BE TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. — Romans 12:1-2 NASB


THE PROBLEM stated as a question: WHY DO SOME GO FARTHER THAN OTHERS IN THEIR CHRISTIAN TRANSFORMATION?

Like any family, the body of Christ or the “family of God” is made up of brothers and sisters with extreme variances in the progress and outworking of their personal growth and life experience. With almost 40 years of observation within the church and also while working in pastoral staff ministry I would often notice some who seemed to level off at a lower lifestyle impact than others in their transformation. On the surface everything was similar. They listened to the same preaching, read the same Bible, and even attended the same seminars. But the individual impact of their spiritual growth was noticeably different.

Others, I noticed, experienced markedly more radical conversions. They made a clean break with life controlling substances and addictions. Some would even go on to establish their own fruitful full time ministries.

I began to ask myself "Why is this?" Perhaps the frustrated believer, stunted and stymied in their growth would think "Well. I guess I'm just not like them. And I'll never be. I guess I'm just a bad person." This statement and thought pattern is certainly NOT true. The potentialities of new life transformation are offered freely from God to one and all through Christ. God is no respecter of persons.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. — 2 Corinthians 5:17 NASB


UNSEEN REASONS

There are many unseen reasons for the variances in the differing outcomes of Christian growth and development from one person to the next. And many people are very good at putting on their "Christian suit" at church while very different things are going on at home.

HOWEVER, I have known many earnest believers who sincerely desired to break free of their bondages and go on in their Christian lives but were genuinely confounded as to why they always seemed to hit an impenetrable glass wall in the process. We probably all have known some people like this. They are at a loss as to know why they cannot break through. They love God; they attend church and they have tried very hard to change. Some have even fallen away out of frustration. Why are they continually turned back by unseen forces that seemed to be at work in their lives? This class aims to address that problem.

A distinguished looking young man in his early thirties responded to an invitation to receive Christ. But after the sermon he came up and stated candidly that unless something really changed inside Him, he knew he would invariably return to a chronically promiscuous lifestyle. He had been at this point of commitment before. More than once he had made a verbal confession for Christ but He then had the pattern of sliding back into sin that He knew was not pleasing to God and not healthy in His life. This young man was sincerely and honestly crying out for help. He had been brought up "in the faith" and attended a large evangelical church. In spite of this he was stuck in an entrenched sin pattern. The good news was that he wanted to honestly face his problems and was reaching for a hand to help him climb out of the depths his sinful patterns.


"JUST GET OVER IT!" DOESN'T ALWAYS WORK

We use the phrase "Just Get Over It!" as the instruction and remedy for any and every situation, sin or challenge you might face and have to get through. It epitomizes a "pick yourself up by your own spiritual bootstraps" philosophy that implies you need to stop whining and get on with your Christian life.

Personal experience has taught me that this concise and imperative command doesn't work for every person or every situation. There are many people I observed who have every intention and every sincere desire to "Just Get Over It" but they are utterly perplexed and at a loss are to how to lay hold of and walk into their victory. Instead, they find themselves bound up, stuck in a rut, over a barrel, and at their wit's end. And the advice to shut up, buck up and "Just Get Over It" is not working for them.


LIVING IN CHRONIC FRUSTRATION

Some people develop a stiff upper lip and somehow gut through their problems on their own. Others, though, simply learn to keep their mouths shut and live in a chronic level of frustration. This can be dangerous because some will medicate their frustration level with life-controlling substances. We can do people a terrible disservice by telling them to just gut it out when they are at a loss as to how to combat their problems going forward.

I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart. — Psalm 38:8 NASB

It’s become a common practice with many Christians - to bury their heads in the sand, sweep the grit and grime and debris of a life under the "good confession" carpet and declare everything taken are of. We delude ourselves when we do this because often this is really a covering up with a form of dialectic lip service.


JESUS UNDERSTANDS. WE SHOULD TOO.

We must realize that Jesus isn't embarrassed about our sins, our hang-ups, our addictions, our oppressions or our fears. He knows about them already. He came to set us free from them. The church needs to be of the same spirit as Jesus regarding these things.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; — Isaiah 61:1 NASB

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed," — Luke 4:18 NASB


THE HUMAN SOUL

The human soul is intricate. The triune makeup of the individual’s mind, will, and emotions are incredibly complex and powerful. The personhood of any individual contains very specific and detailed recorded information that has within its comprehension, keys to removing hindrances and probing root sources of surface disturbances. In this class we will be using resources from various and diverse disciplines, ministries and sciences in an effort to better describe and define these concepts.


HUMAN MEMORY

Human consciousness serves as both a monitoring and a recording device. Many experiential recordings are permanently etched into the life memory. The human brain has an incredible capacity to sort, file and store life experiences and memories. Acutely painful or traumatic experiences are often stored as suppressed memories in the subconscious mental realm. Some studies have shown that the subconscious realm is even more powerful than the conscious realm in its capacity to store specific detailed information.

The capacity of the human mind combined with the emotional and spiritual realms is far-reaching and long lasting. Ray Comfort, in his book The Power of Darkness describes the subconscious this way:

"Each of us has a very sophisticated memory bank within our minds called the subconscious. It has recorded every sin against God’s Law as well as everything that has passed before the eyes, every sound that has entered the ears, and every thought within the mind. Proof of this is the experience of hearing a song from our youth immediately recall memories of things we did that we thought we had totally erased."

For my iniquities are gone over my head; As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. — Psalm 38:4 NASB

I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. — Psalm 32:5 NASB

The circuitries and mechanisms of today’s cars require computers to diagnose their malfunctions and mechanical breakdowns. The human brain is infinitely more complex than the computer that controls the fuel injection in an automobile. Be prepared to go deeper in probing the mental, emotional, and spiritual realms of an individual’s life relationships and experiences.


ON THE BEACH, PINNED DOWN, UNABLE TO ADVANCE.

For some, the process of sanctification flows naturally and fluidly. Others seem to get pinned down and stuck on certain beachheads, unable to advance. For those who are stuck, it is crucial that the resistance at these strategic junctures be recognized, evaluated and fought through in order to see the new birth fully impact their lives at levels intended by our loving heavenly Father.

The enemy of our soul attacks this individual life-change process from all sides and many different angles. The effect and impacts of these attacks can be subtle or completely life controlling. In some instances, through outright domination, they have relegated our lives to a virtual prisoner-of-war existence.

The aim of this class will be to identify, define, and establish the validity of two integral battlegrounds in the struggle for our "new personhood" in Christ, and to give examples of ways to remove the blockades that hinder.

I would define these two significant categories that cause resistance to our growth and spiritual and emotional health as: Emotional Oppression and Spiritual Oppression.

Emotional oppression can be ministered through by “Inner Healing” in its various forms and techniques. Spiritual oppression should be encountered and confronted with what I would call “Personal Spiritual Warfare”.

These two areas are integrated and overlap both on the offensive level and in the overcoming process. For the purposes of this class I am going to define and address them separately.

I would categorize myself as an enthusiastic recipient and student of these areas of ministry with quite a few years observing developing Christians and attempting to help those who are going through this life auditing process. What I have found as I have attempted to encourage people on in their paths of transformation is that many get stuck or take a side road that will not lead them where God intends them to go. In these cases, with certain individuals, I have seen how the ministries of inner healing and personal spiritual warfare have impacted their lives in significant and lasting ways.

I sought the Lord, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. — Psalm 34:4 NASB


REMOVING BLOCKAGES TO TRANSFORMATION - BREAKDOWN OF CLASSES:

• Lesson 1: Introduction - Presenting the Problem
• Lesson 2: Emotional Oppression - The Reality and Nature of Emotional Transformation Blockages
• Lesson 3: Spiritual Oppression - The Reality and Nature of Spiritual Transformation Blockages
• Lesson 4: Removing Emotional Blockages - Through Inner Healing in its Various Forms
• Lesson 5: Removing Spiritual Blockages - Through Personal Spiritual Warfare
• Lesson 6: Further Applications and Conclusion

©2014 Pastor Rick Bopp

 

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