Change Your Mind,
Change Your Life

Change Your Mind, Change Your Life

Wed, Aug 12, 2020 | Dr. Kenneth L. Smylie

Change Your Mind, Change Your Life

Inner healing prayer can be a powerful source of healing and restoration available to a Christian counselor and prayer minister when working with those seeking emotional and spiritual relief. The author shares his experience and insights in working with clients who are open to receiving inner healing prayer.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of
this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind.
” Romans 12:2

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2

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As a licensed counselor and prayer minister, I see a great need in my clients and the greater society for the renewing of the mind. So many minds are troubled; full of fear and anxiety. Sadly, this is true of many devout Christians as well. The need is obvious, but just how does one renew the mind?

In my journey, I have found that the intentional changing of the mind is activated through intentional verbal renunciations and declarations. The negative and dark thoughts and beliefs that came to us early in life and found residence in our hearts and subconscious came in the form of a thought, composed of words. If it is by words we have become oppressed, then it is also by words that we can be set free. If the Enemy whispered to us early in life that we have no value or worth and we passively accepted and received his lie, then it forms the basis of how we see ourselves and then, how we behave. Our behaviors are rooted in what we believe about ourselves. If we change our self-beliefs, our behaviors will follow. Change your mind, change your life. Is this not also the essence of repentance— a change of mind and direction in life?

The essence of inner healing prayer or healing of the heart is inviting Jesus to come to the person and bring to his or her mind what He wants. Often, Jesus begins by just loving on the person. He is then asked to look for and reveal to the person what he or she believes that is not true—identifying the lie. The person is asked to report the first thing that comes to his or her mind. It is often a word or a phrase. For example, if a man were to report the word worthless, this is the identity of the lie. Since the lie is in the form of a belief composed of words, the counselor or minister can then ask him to use his words to intentionally, as an act of his will, reject the lie. He is prompted to say out loud something like, “In Jesus name, I reject the lie that says I am worthless.” At times it is helpful to have him repeat it three times to gain maximum benefit. The prayer recipient is then asked if he feels or senses anything in his body. Commonly, a person says he or she feels lighter. I have come to believe that lies have a form of density, and that when they are removed you feel as if a weight is lifted.

Change Your Mind, Change Your Life

Identifying and removing the lie is essential to healing the heart. Even so, there is more that remains to be done. The place the lie occupied should not be left empty. The Holy Spirit is then asked to fill that void with His love, warmth and peace. It is the principle of displacement: out with the bad and in with the good. Jesus is now asked to speak truth into the void. He often speaks quite simply but profoundly, things like, “You are valued and worthy of my love.” As the recipient hears and receives the truth, spiritual freedom is experienced. The truth sets you free. A transformation by the renewing of the mind has occurred.

The Lord, in His mercy, brings healing to the person a little at a time. Typically, just one major lie is exposed and expelled in a session. The metaphor of an onion is useful, in that we are often healed one layer at a time. The Lord will remove or peel a layer (a lie) and then allow us to walk in the new freedom and truth He has spoken into us. In His wisdom and over time, He will prompt the person that it is time to return for another session, to go further and deeper in the healing experience. The Lord will prompt, but He won’t push a person to go deeper. Depending on their willingness, the time between sessions can be a week, a month or years. The Lord is always patient and gentle, willing to give the time needed for processing and change.

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Inner healing prayer is one aspect of the directive “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” in Romans 12:2. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-, reminds us that we are in a spiritual battle, “For though we live in the world we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” As Christians, we have been given divine power and authority to demolish and destroy every thought, mood, emotion and impulse that comes into our mind which resists and wars against the mind of Christ within us. Arguments, pretensions, reasonings, and imaginations all begin as thoughts. Thoughts are composed of words. If it is by thoughts composed of words that the Enemy has tainted us with lies, then it is by words full of divine power and authority that those lies will be exposed and expelled. The strongholds, arguments, moods and lies are best removed verbally, speaking out loud into the air the domain of the Enemy—“the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2). Jesus reveals that the Devil has no truth in him, in fact, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). In sharp contrast, Jesus says of himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). In inner healing prayer, we invite Jesus the Truth to identify the Devil’s lies and to expel them from us so that we might have peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and as such, His favorite gift to give His followers is an inner quietness, a tranquility, a divine peace. We can experience an inner peace when Jesus reveals to us the lies of the Enemy and we exercise our God given power and authority to, out loud, reject and renounce those lies, arguments, and evil imaginations.

I have observed that each of our personal journeys is uniquely crafted by our loving Father. In His sovereignty and wisdom, He gently invites us to a greater level of spiritual freedom. Inner healing prayer is one of His many ways of expressing His love for His children and restoring what has been stolen from us by the Enemy. Thus, He transforms us … by the renewing of our minds.

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