WRCC Beliefs

Freedom Prayer

Freedom Prayer is a prayer model developed by Destiny Church of Tacoma, Washington. The name Freedom Prayer is new, but the concept began with the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Luke 4:18-19

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." (NIV)

In Matthew 11:4-6

Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him: ‘God blesses those who are not offended by me.’" (NLT)

Jesus boldly proclaims His mission in both passages, to summarize: to proclaim the good news, to bring freedom for the prisoners, to heal those who were sick, to release the oppressed and give people the good news that God's Kingdom had come to mankind. At Western Reserve Community Church we believe the work of the Church and followers of Jesus is the same today.

Jesus told his followers in John 14:12-14,

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (NIV)

We believe that God is restoring the ministry of Jesus to His Church today and that Freedom Prayer is part of that restoration. Freedom Prayer is a prayer model that helps a person discover God's original design for their life and to eliminate the spiritual strongholds and barriers that prevent God's design from being accomplished.

The process of breaking spiritual strongholds is accomplished through a four step process we call the 4 R's: Repentance, Rebuking, Replacing, Receiving. We have no basis to rebuke evil from our lives unless we have truly repented of our sin. Below we explain the Biblical basis for Freedom Prayer and how God is restoring repentance to the Church and helping Christians to reclaim areas of their life taken captive by evil.

How do I experience Freedom Prayer?

We offer the Living Free Class several times a year. During the class you will learn the Biblical foundation for breaking spiritual strongholds and walking in spiritual and emotional freedom. There are opportunities during the class for freedom prayer. We also offer freedom prayer during some of our Sunday services. In certain cases we will schedule an appointment for a person to meet with a Freedom Prayer Team. Generally, we require a person to take the six-week Living Free Class first. Contact the WRCC Office by e-mail or phone 330-342-9796 to schedule an appointment or to sign up for Living Free.

Also being offered - a new class for people who want to go deeper and learn to pray for others - Living Free - 2

Biblical Basis for Freedom Prayer

One verse that sums it up

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." (NIV)

Freedom prayer does exactly what Hebrews 12:1 tells believers to do: 1. To throw of sins and things that hinder our Christian walk, and 2. fix our eyes on Jesus as we run the race He has chosen. Notice it is not our own race, it is the race He has chosen for us. Freedom Prayer helps restore our focus on Jesus Christ and His will for our lives!

Original Design

Where do we find the concept of sharing someone’s original design?

1 Timothy 1:18-19 “Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith." (NIV)

Paul reminds Timothy of prophecies once spoken over him in prayer.

Paul reminds him of these words so that Timothy “may fight the good fight” - (NIV), or “That thou mightest war a good warfare” - (KJV)

It is God’s will that we know His purposes and destiny for us

Ephesians 1:15 - 18 "For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,"

Philippians 1:9 - 13 "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,"

See the article, "What is Jesus' Ministry" by Pastor Mike Riches of Revalesio Ministries.

Jesus often spoke words to his followers that communicated high value and destiny

John 1:47 - 49 "When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig-tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” (NIV)

Matthew 16:17-19 "Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

In the same way, we are called to "build one another up in the faith."

What are spiritual strongholds?

“Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27 (NKJV)

Strongholds are anything in your life that OPPOSES God’s word, God’s will and God’s ways.
Strongholds are entrenched patterns of THOUGHT or recurring sinful behavior against which you feel powerless to change.
The word ‘place’ in Biblical Greek is topos, a foothold or opportunity, and refers to JURISDICTION where one has gained right.
A stronghold is a place in your life where Satan has right of access to bring his INFLUENCE because of your disobedience.

To destroy strongholds we must repent of sin in our lives

James 4:7-10 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."

We cannot resist the enemy with authority unless we are under God's authority. That means we need to humble our hearts and submit our lives (bring ourselves into obedience under His authority) to God.

To effectively defeat Satan's power in our life we need to help one another

James 5: 16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

There are not many places in the Church where people are confessing their sins to one another and praying for one another. Freedom Prayer is restoring this to the church.
Sin is any transgression of God’s law, whether committed AGAINST Him, others, or self.
Sin gives Satan a RIGHT of access to bring his influence to bear.
Satan gains access as a result of personal SIN or the effects of generational sin or curses.

Galatians 4:3, 9 “So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. . . But now that you know God--or rather are known by God--how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?” (NIV)

What kind of sin? ALL kinds! The problem is that we often don’t see many of these things as sin - we see them as character flaws (weaknesses) or traits

Fear (James 3:14-15)
Jealousy/Ambition (James 3:14-15)
Opposition to truth (2 Timothy 2:25-26)
Temporal man-centered pursuits (Matthew 16:23)
Lying (John 8:43-45)
Worldliness (Ephesians 2:1-2)
Idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:20-21)
Laziness (1 Timothy 5:13-15)
Hypocrisy, Greed, Lying (Acts 5:3)
Materialism (1 Timothy 6:9)
Violated Conscience (1 Timothy 1:19-20)
Immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)
False Religion (2 Timothy 3:5)
Deceit (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

LIES of Satan: Anything contrary to God’s truth

Colossians 2:8 “See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (NIV)

UNBELIEF – Believing the lie that I know what God can and can’t do and that I cannot really trust His promises to me
FEAR – Believing the lie that it is normal have a large amount of anxiety about everything and everyone, including God
INFERIORITY – Believing the lie that I am less important and have less value than everyone else and that I always come up short
SELF-HATRED – Believing the lie that there is something wrong with me and that it is okay for me to have anger and disgust against myself
HOPELESSNESS / DEFEAT – Believing the lie that there is no possibility to solve or overcome my problems or that anything good will every come to me
INSECURITY – Believing the lie that I can never be sure of myself or feel safe or secure or be free from fear and anxiety

STRONGHOLDS hold us back from God's purpose in our lives:

Strongholds, regardless of what they’re made of, are BARRIERS keeping you from your inheritance
Strongholds can keep you from Kingdom MINISTRY
Strongholds can keep you on the SIDELINES of life
Strongholds can keep you from finishing WELL