Stephanie Ike: God Will Heal Your Heart and Set You Free | FULL EPISODE | Better Together TV

scripture tells us to ask and we will receive our heavenly father is always ready and he's willing to heal our hearts and to set us free today on Better Together Victoria Osteen Stephanie Ike Sheila Walsh and Holly furtick are joining me for a conversation about Freedom come on join us you know prayer has been the birthplace of change and transformation in my life when I encountered God my encounter really opened me up to recognizing that I am in the presence of the one who loves without any condition that was one of the things that captured me the most about the Lord I'm like you truly everything about you just exudes love and and peace and warmth and compassion and I truly in the most holy way just fell in love with Jesus and for me it was it meant so much because the first time I ever cried in my life was in the presence of God growing up my mom used to wonder she just thought like oh my strong one is my little one Stephanie does not nothing really shakes her but there was just a lot of things that were built up that didn't have an outlet of expression because I wanted the outlet to be in a space that um would would understand it not that you know my family didn't understand but I wanted to be strong for my family I wanted to show them that no everything is okay but I wanted an outlet that would also speak back and give me strategy and wisdom as a kid but that came from the presence of God it became the place that I knew that Lord you see me you see everything in me and you love me and so I was able to just lay it all out before him Lord this is what I'm going through this is what I'm upset at this is I don't like this you know what would you say and it you know it was not just about my complaints it was also about God showing me myself prayer became the place that God would show me Stephanie you're being selfish Stephanie you need to learn how to love better Stephanie you need to surrender this part of yourself Stephanie and I could receive it because I recognize the one who is speaking to me is for me you know not even too long ago I remember when in prayer I was just talking to the Lord and he kept showing me that you need emotional accountability I said Lord what does that mean I have you and he was like no you know you need to be more emotionally open and I was like Lord I truly have the Holy Spirit that's all the accountability I need and the Lord said to me I'm sending you help and funny enough one of my amazing mentors Dr Anita Phillips she texted me that day um right after praying she said Stephanie how is your heart and so I sent her this like beautiful long message and she if anyone knows her she's very blunt and she says Stephanie I asked about your heart that came from your head how is your heart I said well since we're going there and we had this beautiful conversation and I said you know Dr Anita I literally just came out of prayer and the Lord was telling me you need emotional accountability and you text me right after that and so prayer has been the place that has changed my life spiritually and in the most practical ways in the place of prayer is where I received my the understanding of my purpose in God my calling in the place of prayer is where I'm challenged to live a life that model the love and Leadership of Jesus and in the place of prayer is also where God convicts my heart of the ways that I also need to turn to him that if there is unforgiveness in my heart he hope he reveals it to me if there is pride in my heart he reveals it to me and he says now this is something that I need you to see it so we can work on it together because if you don't know about it then you will act as though this area is perfectly fine and so prayer has truly been from me the place of freedom because it's the place I commune with the Lord that's beautiful you know I love that that prayer isn't to just change our all of our external things but it's to change the innermost part of our heart and and I think that when we come before the Lord uh that freedom in the truth that we find in Christ um when you start declaring who God is we have to realize that we're praying from a a position of Victory because it's already done the Lord Jesus has has accomplished every bit of Freedom that we will ever need in our whole life he said he came to save the lost and he's come to destroy the works of the devil so sometimes when we come before him we have to declare we we declare who he is we declare the the greatness of his might and his power and in that the freedom of prayer and in his presence just being healed and hold you know the the emotional side of things God can can heal all of that Lori one of my favorite stories in scripture and it's it was Jesus talking with a woman we just know as the Samaritan woman the woman of Samaria and there was a lot that we know that was unusual to find it in John chapter 4. it you know the fact that Jesus spoke to her because she was a woman she was a Samaritan Jews and Samaritans did not mix but I love that when she works out there's something different about this man there's something and so she decides to go in with what her big question was okay do you say that you should worship here we say you should worship here where do you say we should worship and what Jesus says to her has literally changed my life and he says sir the time is coming in fact is here right now when those who worship will worship in spirit and in truth and that little Greek word truth alethea it means with nothing hidden that's how Jesus defines true worship we worship in spirit with nothing hidden we become an open book and you know I learned that on the floor of a psychiatric hospital you know my first night there feeling like you know I'm I'm a disgrace I'm I'm too broken to be healed and when I began to understand that Jesus said no come as you are and that really he redeems our pain I mean God tells his story and scars you look at Jesus that's God telling his story that's him saying this is how much I love you and I think that when we learn you know I'm thinking of any of you who are watching right now and you think I've messed up too badly or there's things that nobody knows about me a Christ already knows B if you've placed your trust in him you're already covered and forgiven but you get to tell him the whole truth that's the most beautiful thing to me we don't have to hide anything back we get to pour out the whole truth it's like the woman with the issue of blood you know she came because she wanted to be healed and she touches Jesus garment so she's healed but she is not whole she could have slipped away and gone home seven days later present a pigeon you know as an offering and she's declared clean but she would still have been broken but she falls at the feet of Jesus and she tells him the whole truth and he looks at her and says to her daughter the only time Jesus calls one woman daughter he renames her you're not the woman with the issue of blood daughter your faith has made you well go not go home go in peace when we tell Jesus the whole truth there is a freedom and a peace that nothing else in this world can give when Jesus had that encounter with the Samaritan woman before he tells her that you know when he mentions um her life to her you know you have been married and even the one in your house is not your husband I wonder if Jesus was testing if she would actually agree and confess that that has been her truth before he got continues further right because that would have been something that would have brought shame and say no that's not my story I don't know who you're talking about sir but in that moment because that story was so irrelevant to the the context of what was taking place so could it be that Jesus was saying now I'm going to be practical with you let's bring your truth to the surface as I teach you how to worship the father I love that that reminds me of the scripture that says where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom so is that mean that when you really can be truthful and you can be just honest before the spirit of God that's when he can set you free because you think of of the Samaritan woman and once she was free all the things that held her back the reason she didn't come to the well all the things that held her back she was free of she ran to the people that she once hid from and she began to tell them everything which was very unlike her so that whole thought today that we're talking about is that real truthfulness that real openness before God just laying it all out and being honest um is is just really powerful because I can just hear someone saying well how do I do that you know and that is to really just open your heart to him you're not opening your heart to man you're not open in heart to anyone you're opening it to God and that's why it's a very private thing and maybe that's why she was by herself that day because it was a new way for her to really be open so that she could receive the freedom that God intended her to have that day so that's a really a beautiful story and picture that we're painting here of that just you know it all God like you said Laura you know it it all there's nothing that I can I can hide there's no height hiding place from you the spirit seeks out all the things the Bible says it it goes to the innermost parts of us it's really interesting Victoria I love I love the part in that story where when she goes back to the town and she says come and meet a man who told me everything that I ever did and I think that such a beautiful picture of God because we're we're reminded that God knows he knows more about me than I know about myself and I find that when I come into God's presence and I find that he welcomes me he knows everything there is to know about me and he welcomes me and my view of God becomes so much bigger than me and I begin to realize that God he transcends time that he he turns in space that he he comes behind me and he goes before me and it just encourages me to to remember so I come into His presence and I realize God you know so much more about me and yet you still want to use me you still love me you know what happened in my past so therefore I can give you my future and it just it can bring you so much comfort to know and to realize how big God really is so beautiful there's such Security in that such Security in knowing you know I I love the way Joseph Prince has always said it he said you learn to love God dwelling on how much he loves you you know sometimes we try to work it up go okay do I love God with all my heart you know and I think that a lot of people go through that like do I have overwhelming feelings of a love for Jesus today or a love for God actually I didn't even think about him yesterday you know so I think people go in all these emotions but it's dwelling on how much God loves us that that's the the whole thing and and it is as it is becoming a child you know Jesus said you cannot enter into the kingdom without becoming a child and and I I had a child I have two sons I did have a little one that always learned the hard way and it absolutely broke my heart you know because he got more discipline and he he just always chose the hard way and it was like man could you just listen the first time and if you think about how God uh has these boundaries and these beautiful standards in his word that have come with such a lie from the enemy saying that that that that's God keeping you from having any fun or that's keeping you from having joy in your life is these boundaries that are actually it's it's for your protection it is to give you peace beyond measure it is to give you abundant Joy it is to give you eternal life everlasting life here and now and so these these beautiful boundaries and the security that we have in Christ's love for us um is so overwhelming and the freedom that is in how much he loves me and how much he loves you and he knows you you know if he knows every hair on your head if he knows how many you have you know that he thinks deeply about you and that he loves deeply and if we can rest in that man our world gets so much better our our minds get so more peaceful our emotions become uh healed and whole and we become we just become healthy healthier healthy people all around yeah now I love even what you mentioned about how it translates even into our everyday life right how this Freedom that we get in the presence of God it causes us to be healthier people you know healthier people to our family to our friends to the people we serve the people we meet um it just you you walk in a type of vulnerability that becomes healing for other people you know you walk in a type of of honesty and love and compassion that people are drawn to you and ultimately by being drawn to you they're drawn to Jesus because they want to know like what is it about you that just you know when you smile it's like there's something else you know glowing and people are are trying to figure it out and you're like look I've met someone I've met a man his name is Jesus right he is my Lord he is my savior he is the one that I can lay my anxieties before him it doesn't mean that things don't trouble me but I know the one who holds my life there is something so beautiful about walking in a life of Freedom with God because it becomes infectious when people meet you and the way that you you don't hide things about yourself because what I started learning the more vulnerable I became before God the better I became as a friend as a daughter as a sister um as a stranger because then I don't feel like I need to hide something if you're sharing a story that I connect to it might have brought shame in my life in the past but Jesus has taken that shame away and I know what it means to repent I know what it means to turn I can openly tell you oh I've been through that you know I I don't think there even when as a pastor um a lot of people when they say like oh you're my best friend in my head because I say everything I tell you in my life before Christ because it's not connected to shame it's not connected to condemnation it was the place I met the unconditional love of God it was the place God transformed me God healed me and so it is so beautiful when we know that it starts with God when you can come before the Lord and just lay it all out God this is how I think this is what I love if you love the thing that you know you're not supposed to love if you like to do the thing that you're not supposed to do if you're living what might seem like a double life for some of those listening bring it before God because he is the one that knows how to deliver you to walk in the nature of your true self but don't hide it don't feel like you need to walk around with this you know um huge bag of guilt every single day there is the one who is powerful enough to deliver you from it all and to bring you into true freedom to make you a healthier person in your life so good and that's how you become light and salt to the world that's that's how you give forth this living water if we don't have something different that the world's got to offer something's wrong right and so in prayer and communion with God is is changing everything about our Inner Man our inner our our inner being in in being whole being life-giving taking our minds putting it on him being transformed by the renewing of our mind and changing the World by being salt in life and different from other people because we have something to give we have life we have Life Giving words we have life-giving affection to people we have that hand extended we've got the the right words to speak in the people and it's all being in communion with God in the Holy Spirit um I met a gentleman recently um at the end of a conference you know everyone had kind of I hung around just to say hi to everybody and then there was one gentleman that was holding back and I thought maybe he wanted more of a private conversation so I went over and as he turned his face toward me it was shocking half of his face was almost gone and he said to me I just wanted to tell you my story and he told me that when he was 15 years old he took a gun and he placed underneath his chin and he pulled the trigger and he said in that nanosecond between me pulling the trigger and that bullet entering my skull I heard Jesus say do you want to live and I said yes wow and he's now married with three beautiful children and I asked him this question I said when you look in the mirror is that a reminder of a devastating time in your life and his eyes filled with tears and he said no Sheila this is a daily reminder of the grace of God and he said he uses it now it's become his story when people say hey what happened to you dude he said I have the opportunity to tell people I don't care how far down you have gone there is a Jesus who wants you to live and I discovered that in my own life our Brokenness is a far greater bridge to other people than pretend wholeness ever is so good you know that's what prayer is is coming back and talking to him and you know because all of this that we're talking about is such a process you know maybe some people haven't ever prayed before they don't really know how to pray you know and it's just a process it's a process just like you would get to know a friend just like the more you get to know someone the more you can talk openly with them the deeper your relationship becomes and I think that's the way it is even when we're building this foundational relationship with Christ is that it does it takes we ease into it we talk to him more he talks to us more and he does talk to us and we have to understand that that he does speak to us you know in many different ways but he'll speak right to our spirit and so I think the whole thing about being able to get to these places that y'all are talking about and and that we're experiencing today is that just walking with him every day coming back to him every day not feeling that condemnation and so I think it is it's a process that people when you get to walk with him long enough you feel more comfortable being in his presence just like you would if someone walked in the door the president United States if you were a friend of his you know you would feel very comfortable if you didn't know him you'd be like you know or anyone important I'm trying to you know make that point it's just someone of importance and and so it's just interesting that it's a process and so I know there's people that are thinking you know I this sounds so good it's almost too good to be true but it's not too good to be true but it does take time I find in my life when I have a relationship with God it's like the ultimate friendship because it's like being friends with somebody where you can completely be yourself you know you can come to God with your mistakes you can come to God with the things that you're excited about you can come to God with the things that you're disappointed in and you can just completely be yourself and and and have this as you learn and as you grow like you're saying Victoria it takes time to develop a relationship with a person but it's like the perfect person to have a relationship with it's someone who knows you inside and out and who loves you no matter what so when you come to God you get to come to this friend who completely accepts you for who you are I love that where it's we we hit on that too because I think I'm just like you mentioned Holly and Victoria you you know someone might be listening and feeling like yeah but I don't know where to start like you know because I think on learning is actually more difficult than learning um on learning what many have thought about God on learning that maybe he's just this Tyrant um and but I think in the process of that recognizing like you're coming in the presence of the one who is for you more than you are for yourself right and and just to recognize like at the end of the day he is not condemning you I believe that for anyone who is recommitting their life or who is taking this step to say you know what God let me take off the pretense let me take off what I feel like I'm supposed to do and let me just open my heart before you because it even takes us a process to get there right you have to first know the person that you're praising you have to have an understanding of the identity of the person that you are coming before to say oh God I just mad identify you who am I magnifying and so you might be in a place where you just need to get to know him you just need to know who is Jesus you know who who is the Lord what is what what is this love you have about me right and that takes just that even the discipline of just saying I want to know you right I'm going to wake up I'm gonna come before you in prayer I'm gonna study about you and I'm just gonna lay it before you and let me see who you now become in my life because when before I encounter the Lord I thought I really didn't want nothing to do with God because of what I heard about him not what I knew about him it was what I heard but when I heard about him made him seem just evil and mean and I'm like oh no God is mean but when I met him everything changed and now I can praise him even in even in the hardest times in my life because I'm like no I've met you I know who I'm worshiping and this is such a beautiful moment I believe to just pray and to write and just praying that for everyone listening to this that for those that might feel like God I've heard about you but I haven't met you and maybe what I heard about you pulled me away from the truth of who you are you know we talked about the Samaritan woman earlier and when she talked about Jesus there were many who said you know what we came because of what she said but we have believed because of what you said Lord and I just believe that even as you've heard what we have shared about the Lord that he is a good father he is loving that you would believe in him because of your experience with him so I just want to pray that over you heavenly father I thank you I thank you for your sons and daughters and I thank you for fresh encounters with you oh God that it will not just be about what they heard good or bad but it would be about what they know that you would begin to convict their hearts of your goodness of your unfailing love oh God and they will come into this beautiful love relationship with you where they will find true freedom in Jesus name amen TBN our mission is to use every available means to reach as many individuals and families as possible with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ thank you for helping make the gospel of grace go around the world and it's because of you that partner with us that this ministry continues God bless you

Channel: Better Together on TBN

Views: 132,824

Keywords: stephanie ike, stephanie ike testimony, stephanie ike latest sermons, stephanie ike the same room, freedom, honesty, be honest with god, you can't hide from god, run to god, running to god, shame, no shame in christ, Laurie Crouch, Victoria Osteen, Sheila Walsh, Holly Furtick, honest, better together, better together tv, better together tv full episodes, laurie crouch, tbn, BTTVTBN, B2T8, B2E3T8, T8E3R7, L5C2, faith, spiritual freedom, hope, freedom in christ, prayer for freedom, god

Id: Atq62AqRRis

Length: 25min 26sec (1526 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 29 2022