Foundations of Freedom 2/5 | Levels of Change

Re-Listening to Dr. Bob Hamp's Foundations of Freedom courses. Starting over at lesson 2/5, Levels of Change, also on Vimeo.

I took extensive notes with PowerPoint charts on 10/31/2013:

• Levels of Change Part One
• Levels of Change Part Two
• Levels of Change Part Three
• Levels of Change Part Four
• Levels of Change Part Five
• Levels of Change Part Six
• Levels of Change Part Seven
• Levels of Change Part Eight
• Levels of Change Part Nine

I will take whatever notes I see but not duplicate my previous notes. These are my notes from this go-around:

The problem is not how hard you try, it's that you are using the wrong tool for the wrong job. Sometimes you try really hard and it actually gets worse. A misguided solution, forcefully applied, makes it worse.

*Note: This happens when "Christians" try to use "Conversion Therapy" on the LGBT people who themselves want change. The Church often tries to give them a better knowledge of good, which doesn't bring any lasting healing to anyone.

If you've ever had the thought: "It works for everyone but me", this is your class.

When we think of Levels, we think linear progression of trying harder and getting better... that's not what we mean by levels.

***

Diapers & Potty Training

Early Stage - I change the diaper, it get's messy, I change it, it get's messy. Constant change but nothing's ever changing.

Potty Training - Once this change sets in, it over-rides the previous type of change, rendering it un-needed.

Each level of change has dominion over the lower levels. Once you are potty trained, diapers are no longer needed at all. The type of change changes the quality of the entire experience.

***

Levels of Change

Environment (L1) - The lowest level of change.

"If only I could get a better job, new church, new family... "

If we believe changing our environment will change us, we are already in bondage to that belief.

Circumstance cannot dictate Freedom, or the lack thereof.

***

Behavior (L2) - The second lowest level of change. Connected to Think/Feel.

"I'll be free if I stop/start this behavior...." The most you try to change, the harder it becomes.

At this level you can accomplish some things, but not the thing you're hungry for.

This is the level of your experience. I'm doing fine, feel great, think I'm well.

You do something stupid, you think "stupid", then you feel stupid. Once this happens, what are the odds you'll do something smart? Not high, because that sets up a self-feeding cycle.

My focus organizes my life - the cycle I set is based on my focus.

Using your mind to control your behavior you will fail.

Behavior (act/doing) controls/affects your environment.

***

Capabilities/Limitations (L3) - The definitions of our heart about what we can/cannot do/think/feel, convincing us that it can never be different.

This is less measurable.

There is a thermostat in our heart. If you think anything about you cannot be changed, but it's counter to what God said about you, you have believed a lie.

As you push and push to change behavior, it gets harder and harder until it runs against the lie (thermostat) and it pushes down on the behavior to align it with the belief.

***

Beliefs (L4) - Expectation

Many churches issue a "statement of belief" about what they do/don't believe. Those are not beliefs, those are thoughts. Language that is conscious and expressible to others is based on thoughts.

Thoughts reside in the mind and is conscious, can be described, and can be changed.

Beliefs reside in the heart and is not conscious, cannot be described, is hard to change, is felt. Most people are unaware of beliefs until you suddenly become aware of them. They are usually hidden, but they determine your experience.

As a man thinks in his heart (not mind) so is he. These hidden beliefs determine everything you do/think/feel.

In one session, Dr. Bob handed a depressed woman a list of verses. He didn't ask her to read them and believe them. Instead, he asked her to let God read them to her. She suddenly snapped a new belief that forever over-rode her previous beliefs in a moment.

It's not important to change WHAT you believe, it's important you plug into a new SOURCE of Truth.

One young man said to him that he was so glad that his dad left, because when dad came home he was angry. If he wasn't angry we walked on egg shells to keep him from getting angry. The atmosphere of the house changed when dad left, for the better. 

*** Hm... That's interesting... Reminds me of my relationship with my oldest son. I wonder if he'd say the same about me... Both boys said that I'm Raphael the Ninja Turtle, because he's always angry.

Too often we treat God as though he were angry with us.

*49.33

***

We know things we dont' know. We know "God loves us". That's a thought, 99 times out of 107, that's a thought. But in our heart we believe: "Yeah, God wrote John 3:16 so he's stuck with it, but he doesn't really like  me".

We don't like us, so we impose that feeling on God.

We then have experiences consistent witha  grumpy God, which reinforce that belief.

We talk about spending time with Him in the morning, but the picture we have of him is so incorrect that we aren't drawn to Him.

Do you ever say of your LOVE, "Uhg, I have to spend time with them today". But we say that of God all the time, "Uhg, I have to do my prayer time today".

The disciples loved Jesus and enjoyed his presence. Crowds were drawn to Him because he was likable. When you see God and His love for you, you'll be drawn to him.

A Bennie Baby is worth $0.25 in materials. The retailer sells them for $5.99. Someone once paid $1,000.00 for a specific one on eBay.

What's it really worth? Trick question, depends on who you ask.

If you ask the manufacturer, $0.25.
If you ask the retailer, $5.95.
If you ask a little girl, $1,000.

Evolutionary biologists would say a human is worth about $1.39 in materials.
The culture could say you are worth who you are followed by.
Jesus said you are worth his life/death/resurrection. He puts no value on your higher than his highest.

When you recognize what God says about you, and you begin to agree with it in your heart... that Truth will set you Free.

*1:04:59

Identity (L5)- is the only area we have NO control over. We cannot change at this level, but that's good news... more on that in a moment.

In the church we don't talk about some things enough, but we talk too much about other things, poorly. One of these frequently but poorly discussed areas is "sin".

We often define Sin incompletely as a behavior/thought/feeling or a set of behaviors / thoughts / feelings. So we deal with sin by trying to change our behavior / thought / feeling.


* Trap One:

Because we miss-define sin as something I did or thought or felt but shouldn't have; so we try to solve this by altering our behavior. Trying to solve sin by altering behavior is going back to the dirty diaper/environment level of change.

When we bring God our behavior, we bring part of the problem to the whole of God's solution. We take Tylenol for cancer.

We go to the cross and say: "Thank you for the cross (dying for my behavior) and the resurrection (coming to life again to help me change my behavior)".

"Jesus forgive me for what I did..." So you only get help for the past, not the present or future.

But it's not after something happened, but before it happened, that we need help.

Sin is FAR worse than bad behaving people.

The problem is worse than you think.


* Trap Two:


Sin is the absence of God (who is LIFE) in the human soul. = Sin is the presence of Death (absence of LIFE) in the human soul.

We search for things to make us feel alive (sex drugs rock&roll, but also ministry and doing good).

Jesus didn't die on the cross because you deserved the death penalty for your bad behaviors...

Jesus died on the cross to take what you have (death) and trade it for what he has (life)... It's changing the source of your being, not your actions and behaviors. It's not that there's something wrong with our behavior, but something wrong with US.

Jesus didn't die for what you've done, he died for who you are.


**About 1:20:00

Three layers of opposition

1. Demonic Oppression looks different in third world nations than it does in 21st century society, because the enemy attacks you at the area you are most vulnerable. We define reality based on things we can touch/see (material) and reason (intellect); therefore, you'll be attacked in the mind.

"You're going to fail... it'll never work... you stink at his..."

I've never woken up with hardcore rap in my mind. Why? Because it wasn't planted in me to bring back up.

The enemy will start the song (I'm never, she never, I always, I'm so..), so that you'll finish it.

*1:31:00

"I never wake up with hard core rap in my mind, why? Because there's nothing in me that agrees with that. I'm not saying that music is bad, but that I don't listen to it so it's not in me. Demon's use what is in you and the more you agree with it the stronger it gets and the more you disagree with it they lose strength."


2. The World. Systems in the fallen world that have an impact on how we perceive and what we believe. The circumstances of the Acrobats life worked in him to crush who he was born to be. One of those world systems is the Family.

• The Family: was designed to transmit blessing for 1,000s of generations. But in a fallen world the family can transmit failure. "If my dad left me, it's difficult to believe God won't."
• The Church. We set up systems in the church where the pastor is set up with an authority you can accidentally receive error by giving the church too much authority. The Church can be just as painful for people as any other system in the world.

3.  Your Flesh. Your flesh is that part of you that you travel around in. Read Romans chapters 6-9 describes how Jesus sets us free from the flesh.

• Old Nature/Sin Nature - The fallen sin nature we were born with. Your Central Processing Unit (CPU) is corrupted, corrupting the code.
• Nervous System/Flesh - the body, circulatory system, nervous system, nervous system, nervous system... it's the system that feeds you back information about your experience. The enemy is working in the world around you to shape your experiences in order to shape your beliefs.
• Spirit/New CPU- Your new CPU is installed, but your nervous system is still programing you based on it's current code, even after you get saved. You can get a new Central Processing Unit (spirit/CPU), but if you are operating on old code, you'll still get corrupted results.

The Kingdom of God is like - An Amputee:

Amputees experience Phantom Leg syndrome. The foot may be gone, but it still itches. The nervous system still believes that the foot is there, and it tells him it itches. Many doctors mistakenly prescribe pain pills for this, but that only reinforces the nervous systems' belief that the foot is still there.

However, they had to learn to teach amputees to stimulate the new leg ending to start to train (re-code) the nervous system to see the new leg ending. They rub it with various materials...

So it is with us, the more we wrestle with the Old Man we reinforce that he's still there/alive. Therefore, the solution for getting the New Man activated is to stimulate the new nerve endings of the spirit.

You DO NOT have to read the bible, pray, go to church... none of those things are going to save you or make you a "better Christian". But if you do those things, they can help stimulate the New Man and help you focus on what is and not what it not.

****

What's my #1 Take Away(*s)?

So, broken or whole, "right or wrong", that's what I'm thinking about today,

Darrell W.