Lent 2024 – Prayers for Repentance – Renouncing the Occult – Purity 1604
Purity 1604 03/12/2025 Purity 1604 Audio Podcast
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of a distant view of a small offshore mountainous island comes to us for Christopher Oswald who shared this amazing scene on social media back on September 15th, 2023.
Well, It’s Wednesday and I am sharing this distant peak photo as a visual representation of our arrival at another Hump Day and to encourage us to remember to practice appreciating the good things in life – like God’s creative beauty – to give us joy and to build our emotional resilience because when thing our bad we will need that “joy capacity” to suffer well.
However, as much as I won’t deny that suffering is a part of life and of our Christian Walk, I don’t believe the Lord calls us to suffer needlessly. God works all thing together for our good, even our suffering, and while there will be some situations that we won’t be able to stop the suffering, there are other situations in which we can.
As we are in the season of Lent, we are to turn to God with repentance and prayer, and when we do so, God can use our prayers to “stop the pain” we are suffering from.
But sometimes we don’t know what is afflicting us. We can have physical, mental, or emotional pains that seem to have no discernable cause. We can be stuck in sin and can’t get out. We can have negative thoughts that afflict us that drive us into sin, depression, anger, and anxiety that we can’t get free of. While situations vary, one possible cause of our pain is demonic oppression. Ephesians 6 instructs us to put on the armor of God for a reason. While Satan and his demons can’t possess a Christan, God’s word tells us that we have to defend ourselves against their attacks and break every stronghold or foothold they can claim in our lives.
One way the enemy can have access to afflict us is through our involvement with the occult, cult, or false religious experiences and the one way we can break the enemy’s access to our lives is to prayerful renounce our exposure to Satan’s counterfeits.
So, to help with this spiritual battle, I am sharing the first step of Dr. Neil Anderson’s The Steps to Freedom in Christ to help the body of Christ to repent and trust only in God by renouncing the occult. (I will be providing commentary on the podcast regarding these prayers and invite you to listen on whatever podcast platform you listen to (search The MT4Christ247 Podcast) or to watch it on YouTube here). You can also download these prayers as a free PDF download on the blog today, as well. Dr. Neil Anderson writes:
Counterfeit versus Real
The first step toward experiencing your freedom in Christ is to renounce (verbally reject) all involvement (past or present) with occult, cult, or false religious teachings or practices. Participation in any group that denies that Jesus Christ is Lord and/or elevates any teaching or book to the level of (or above) the Bible must be renounced. In addition, groups that require dark, secret initiations, ceremonies, vows, pacts, or covenants need to be renounced. God does not take lightly false guidance. “As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists . . . I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among My people” (Leviticus 20:6). Ask God to guide you as follows:
Dear Heavenly Father, please bring to my mind anything and everything that I have done knowingly or unknowingly that involves occult, cult, or false religious teachings and practices. Grant me the wisdom and grace to renounce any and all spiritual counterfeits, false religious teachings, and practices. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. The Lord may bring events to your mind that you have forgotten, even experiences you participated in as a game or thought were a joke. You might even have been passively or curiously watching others participate in counterfeit religious practices. The purpose is to renounce all counterfeit spiritual experiences and associated beliefs that God brings to your mind. Use the following “Non-Christian Spiritual Experience Checklist” as a guide. Then pray the prayer following the checklist to renounce each activity or group the Lord brings to mind. He may reveal to you counterfeit spiritual experiences that are not on the list. Be especially aware of your need to renounce non-Christian religious practices that were part of your culture growing up. It is important that you prayerfully renounce them. Check all those that you have participated in:
Once you have completed your checklist, confess and renounce every false religious practice, belief, ceremony, vow, or pact that you were involved in by praying the following prayer aloud. Take your time and be thorough. Give God time to remind you of every specific incident or ritual as needed:
Dear Heavenly Father, I confess that I have participated in [specifically name every belief and involvement with all that you have checked above] and I renounce them all as counterfeits. I pray that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I may be guided by You. Thank You that in Christ I am forgiven. Amen.
Additional Questions to Help You Become Aware of Counterfeit Religious Experiences:
Now consider the following questions and use the words in bold to renounce any issue that God brings to your mind.
- Do you now have, or have you ever had, an imaginary friend, spirit guide, or “angel” offering you guidance or companionship? If it has a name, renounce it by name. I renounce . . .
- Have you ever seen or been contacted by beings you thought were aliens from another world? Such deceptions should be identified and renounced. I renounce . . .
- Have you ever heard voices in your head or had repeating, nagging thoughts (such as I’m dumb, I’m ugly, Nobody loves me, or I can’t do anything right)—as if there were a conversation going on inside your head? I renounce all deceiving spirits and the lies I have believed [specify the lies] . . .
- Have you ever been hypnotized, attended a New Age seminar, consulted a psychic, medium/channeler, or spiritist? Renounce all specific false prophecies and guidance they offered. I renounce . . .
- Have you ever made a secret covenant, or vow to any organization, or persons other than God, or made an inner vow contrary to Scripture (for example, “I will never . . .”). Renounce it. I renounce . . .
- Have you ever been involved in a satanic ritual or attended a concert in which Satan was the focus? (See appendix A, in the Steps for Freedom in Christ for more complete resolution.) I renounce . . .
- Have you ever made any sacrifices to idols, false gods, or spirits? Renounce each one. I renounce . . .
- Have you ever attended any counterfeit religious event or entered a non-Christian shrine that required you to participate in their religious observances such as washing your hands, or removing your shoes? Confess your participation and renounce your participation in false worship. I confess . . . and I renounce . . .
- Have you ever consulted a shaman or witch doctor for the purpose of manipulating the spiritual world to place curses, seek psychic healing, or guidance? All such activity needs to be renounced. I renounce . . .
- Have you ever tried to contact the dead in order to send or receive messages? Renounce such practices. I renounce . . .
Anderson, Neil T. The Steps to Freedom in Christ: A Biblical Guide to Help You Resolve Personal and Spiritual Conflicts and Become a Fruitful Disciple of Jesus (pp. 15-18). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Amen. If you need these prayers, download the free PDF, Renouncing the Occult now.
This prayerful renunciation process allows you to break any ties to the occult, or cult, or false religious teachings that the enemy may be using against you as permission to cause pain or torment. When we draw close to God, confess our sins, renounce the false, and commit ourselves to believe and follow His truth only, the Lord blesses us with victory, freedom, and a deeper relationship with Him. During this season of Lent, I encourage you to draw close to the Lord and renouncing the occult is just another way that you can “repent and believe in the gospel.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Loving and Serving Others.
Matthew 25:34–40
Matthew 25:40 (NLT) And the King will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”
Today’s verse is the second of two passages of scripture that fall under the twelfth point of our counseling reference guide resource’s section on Loving and Serving Others.
12. Attending to the needs of others is doing it for Christ.
Today’s Bible verse tells us that our loving and serving other is an act of worship and service to the Lord. In this passage of scripture Jesus talks about doing acts of kindness for the sick, the poor, the hungry, and the abandoned and makes it clear that He considers our good works in these areas to be done for Him.
He encourages us to not only to meet the needs of the lowly but to be assured that the good works we do are seen and appreciated by Him.
So be sure to help those you can and to never grow tired of doing good, because the Lord sees you and He likes what you are doing.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 103
You became imitators of us and of the Lord, welcoming the Word. – 1 Thessalonians 1:6
We all imitate. Indeed, from childhood, imitation has been a principal means of learning. Look at a child and you will see from a variety of perspectives traits that you also see in his parents. Imitation is often quite unconscious. Paul brings it into recognition, as he commends the Thessalonians for imitating that which honors the Lord. They imitated Paul by cultivating the same deep concern for the Word of God. That is to say, they became interested in it, studied it, could not get enough of it, lived it. How well he describes this concern of theirs as “welcoming” the Word. Affliction, though present in some force, did not drive the Word away from their door (v. 6). Indeed, they brought the Word of God into their homes and lives so intimately that they, themselves, became a “model” to be imitated by the churches in Macedonia and Achaia (v. 7). Who are you imitating? As others look at you, they will see traits of godliness, or of something else. Which will it be?[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 111.
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