So I'll give you the last couple of steps, and then we can just have a chance to have an altar call. Some of you, this will be really ringing bells with you. So the next thing is, we have to deal with how things have impacted us, and what I've found is that being in a terribly abusive, verbally, just there's an environment which has got a lot of anger and tension in it, you become filled with fear and you shut down. Then you become incredibly sensitive to whenever that anger and tension is in the air, and the moment those things are around, fear grips your heart.
I can remember for a long, long time being incredibly sensitive to anyone being angry, and immediately feeling afraid, just like that. So the impact can be life-long. How do you deal with that? Well we need to bring it to the cross. We need to bring what's happened to us to the cross. There's people have been abusing you, people have spoken into your life, the cross is the place of injustice and unfair treatment, where I can actually remember what has happened to me, and how I feel about it, and weep and grieve, and release it to the cross. I've got to let it go to the Lord, got to let go the right to try and get payback and vengeance, release it all to the Lord, and let it go, and grieve over it. He carried our grief. He understands what this is like. He carried our sorrows, He carried the pain, He carried the damage. He carried every aspect of abuse. He was abused. He died as a person abused, so He understands what it's like to be in that environment and He can offer healing.
The first place is to come to the cross, to come into that place by faith where Jesus took the penalty, the burden of all of these failures, so we bring it to Him and grieve over it, and forgive the person who's done it. Forgiveness unlocks the thing. Then the second thing I need to do, is to cancel the power of the words. Sometimes words spoken over us by angry people, cursing us and speaking into our life can follow us, because they've got a demonic empowerment, so we need to cancel their power, just simply like this; In the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, I cancel the power of those curses. I cancel the power of those negative words. I cancel and break their power - so we can get out of this thing that's come around our life.
Finally, if I've been hurt and wounded by a verbal violence, first to the cross, then cancel it to release forgiveness and grief, secondly to cancel the power of these things, and thirdly I need to then begin to start to take time to renew how I think. Now that takes time. We'd much rather come up in altar call and get a fix. You know the fix will do a certain amount. It'll shift demons, it'll break grief, it'll break bondages, it'll unlock ties, but then I've got to actually take the word of God, and begin to start to find a strength and identity in Christ. I've got to begin to meditate in the word of God, and begin to agree with what God says about who I am, about the strength, about the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is inside me, giving me life, giving me the ability to prevail over everything in life. I need to get that as a reality inside me. It is true, but my conscious awareness isn't aware of that. I just feel too small, because of what's been spoken to me, but meditation in the word of God, and confessing that word of God, begins to rebuild the strength and the inner man, so I can stand up and have strength on the inside.
Then when things come, I can immediately stand up to it, or I know straight away what to do. Now what happens of course, is when people have been beaten down with verbal violence - ever seen a cowered dog? You know, I hate them. I don't know how they walk, they've got a funny way of walking. They don't walk straight. They've kind of got their tail hooked in under them, you know? When you see them you think what's happened here? Obviously they've been intimidated and frightened, but a lot of people walk through life like that, like some kind of cowered, beaten up, dog you know? That's not what we're called to be. We're sons of the living God! We're sons and daughters of the living God! We're ambassadors of heaven! We have access to the presence of God! We can create an environment that nurtures us. We can build relationships that strengthen us and cause us to be encouraged. We can get in a small group, we've got people around us can speak words of life and prophesy over us, and speak the word of God into our life. We can pray in tongues, and build our spirit man, and begin to access the presence of God, and begin to have an environment that's different! That's what you're called to be. See, you're not to live out of the environment around you, but to carry the environment of heaven to that place. But that's a growth step too. You don't just suddenly arrive there. You grow your way there, but you have to realise if you're in a verbally destructive, violent situation you must do something. To do nothing is to be beaten down, and wounded, and damaged for all of your life by what is happening, and you are too special and important for that to happen.