Break-through to Joy

Course Outline (12 Classes)

Biblical Principles

1. Fear of Opening Your Heart to Others

This lesson will help you understand the spiritual, emotional and physical damage fear can cause in your life. It explains what fear really is and how you can be healed from it.

2. Recognition, Confession, Forgiveness, Repentance, Renounce and Release

This lesson introduces the basic ingredients of the Prayer ministry process: recognition; confession; repentance; forgiveness; reckoning habits as dead on the cross; healing; comfort; prayer for a new spirit, heart, mind; deliverance; discipline; and support from small groups. Prayer, spoken aloud with the person, is at the center of all that is discussed and revealed through the ministry process.

3. Unseen Dynamics of Bitter Root Judgments

This lesson reveals the depth and power of bitter root judgment, the driving force behind the recurring patterns of trouble and/or destruction in our lives. The power of bitter roots comes from the unchangeable laws of God which cause us to reap in kind what we have sown. You will learn the reasons behind the many bad things that just seems to “happen” to us or why our relationships with those closest to us are not working. Many times it is not that the person is ‘bad’ they are just bad in relation to us because of the bitter root judgments we have sown in their lives. The good news is that we can bring these judgments to the cross, bringing powerful change and healing to our lives and relationships.

4. Vows that Harden the Heart

A heart of stone is a defense mechanism, a hiding place we believe will protect us from hurt, but which in fact makes us the loneliest people in the world. The Church is filled with hearts of stone, people who can love and serve others, but can't allow others to minister to them. Healing is hard work; it requires time and the understanding and support of family and friends. Inner vows are one aspect of a stony heart.

Although they are made early in life and are often forgotten, they act as directives that control our responses to situations and people around us. We may want to change, but no matter how much effort we put in, we always seems to be pulled back to the way we were before. Inner vows are very powerful, putting into play forces that keep you locked into harmful patterns that are very difficult to change on your own. You will learn how to identify these powerful inner vows, and learn how to destroy them by the power of the cross bringing transformation, freedom and healing to your life.

5. Generational Sins and Curses

Sin and the curse of sin passing from generation to generation is a continual theme throughout the Old Testament. In this lesson, we study the three ways we come under the defilement of generational sin. We inherit our propensities to sin through our genes, through example, and through the power of the law of judging and reaping what is sown. By the authority given believers in Christ Jesus, we are able to break the bonds of generational sin. Through prayer, we can help free families from its patterns of destruction.

Stronghold, Structures, Ways of Thinking

6. What’s Your Image of God?

In our infancy and childhood, mothers and fathers model a picture of God for us. We "see" what God is like by how they act and what they do. We interpret each succeeding experience through the lens of judgments we make and the expectations we develop as a result of what has happened in the past. The more judgments we make, the more our view of life and God is distorted. By the time we reach adulthood, our minds may have been taught that God loves and desires to bless us, but our hearts say, "Oh, yeah? He's just like Dad (or Mom)." We are not capable of seeing life as it really is—experiences with our parents have given us "tinted spectacles”; confession, repentance, forgiveness; death on the cross to the old way of seeing; and the gift of a new heart and mind enable us to see God clearly.

7. Foundational Trust

Human growth requires certain accomplishments. This lesson discusses the stages of development we must go through, as well as the tasks associated with them. These stages are sequential and build upon the previous stage in order for healthy and timely growth and development (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11). Basic trust is the first and foremost of developmental accomplishments, without which the succeeding lessons cannot be well learned. Failure to acquire basic trust affects us throughout our adult lives, impacting our ability to relate to God and others. You will learn how basic trust is a key element in our ability to open our hearts to others and without it we find ourselves alone even though we are surrounded by people who want to love us. You will experience the power of the Lord where He can heal you from the wounds that has damaged or destroyed your foundation of basic trust.

8. False Motives of Performing

Performance orientation is a term that refers neither to the work we do nor the things we accomplish, but to the false motives which impel us. In our busyness the question we want to ask ourselves is “what is driving us”; if true motives are driving us, our busyness will be very peaceful. If on the other hand false motives are driving us, our busyness will be very tiring. To find peace we must bring our false motives to death. After we bring performance orientation to death, we can find worth or value in who we are, not just for what we do. We may do exactly the same work in much the same way, but from an entirely different intent in the heart. In this lesson we explore the roots, identify the symptoms and examine the damage this problem causes. We can help those in this wounding by offering an example of Christ's unconditional love and acceptance: love with skin on it.

9. More Than a Child, Becoming an Adult too Soon

This teaching describes the identity taken on by children when a parent is unable or unwilling to fulfill his/her parental role. The parentally inverted child will carry the weight of care and responsibility meant for the father or mother. We learn to try to control people and life and as a result we bring great destruction to ourselves and in our relationships with others. The role of substitute mate is a more serious type of parental inversion, where a parent relies inappropriately on a child of the opposite sex for emotional comfort, as a confidant, and in severe cases, for physical satisfaction. False roles or identities must be brought to death on the cross and the person’s identity restored. We then are able to live life in freedom leaving control to the only person who can handle it, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dedications – Destructive Beliefs

10. False Refuge

What do you run to when you have pain in your life that you cannot face? If it is not the Lord Jesus then you are running to a false refuge. The main problem of a false refuge is that you never deal with the pain that is driving you to that refuge and you stay in a pattern of defeat and captivity your whole life. False refuges come in many different forms and something does not have to be bad in itself to be a false refuge. This is the reason behind most addictions, is it something people run to in times of great pain. Until we go home to the Lord, there will be times of crisis where you will need a refuge, the only question is, are you going to turn to the Lord or to a false refuge of your own choosing? The refuge that you turn to in times of crisis or pain reveals what you really trust. This lesson covers what is a false refuge, why we run to a false refuge, the problems of a false refuge and have to overcome your false refuge and find your refuge in the Lord.

11. Covenant Relationships --- Spiritual Ties

This lesson explains the ties we have with people, both physical and spiritual. You will begin to understand the complexity of relationships you have and why. You will learn how powerful spiritual and soul ties are especially those that have come through sexual union. When you are tied to someone, what they have you now have and if what they have is ungodly then you are receiving a whole lot of trouble. You are no longer in control of your life because of all that you receive as a result of this connection. You can be very godly yourself, but if you are spiritually tied to an ungodly person, you will be defeated in many areas of your Christian walk. In is like a package that you cannot return to sender and that keeps coming. The only way to break a spiritual/soul tie is thru the cross of Christ. In this lesson you will learn to identify the spiritual/soul ties in your life and thru prayer, to bring them to death on the cross.

Disciplines to Walk in a New Way

12. Walking in the Spirit

This lesson illustrates disciplines by which we can maintain our healing and further develop our relationship with the Lord. These, along with the classic spiritual disciplines, will strengthen new and healthy habits to replace old and sinful patterns in our lives. The healing process of prayer ministry would be incomplete without understanding and ongoing support in this area.

For additional information concerning Break-through to Joy email us at oaks7@bellsouth.net