Evidences
Evidences are both inward thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs, and outward actions that reveal an inner-heart problem stemming from a stronghold.
Each person must decide for themselves about each piece of their evidence. They will need to decide if it is a normal function of life or if it is evidence that could point to a stronghold.
Examples:
• A woman plucks her eyebrows to look pretty (normal). But, if a woman watches TV to relax and, without thinking, plucks most of her eyebrows out with her fingers, that is not normal.
• God made man with a sex drive to enjoy intimacy with his wife in marriage (normal). Spending any time for any reason in pornography is not normal even if you think most men do it.
• A man can’t sit still. His foot is tapping or twitching constantly. Careful! That’s why we always need to decide for ourselves. After judging him negatively, we may discover he didn’t have a nervous twitch, but was only tapping along to a song in his head. However, constant quick eye blinking, face muscle twitching, or other nervous movements can often be the result of inner tension from an inner-heart problem.
Evidences are all around us. They help us love and accept others by recognizing the hurt and the baggage they carry around.
Evidences are red flags that boldly spring up to get our attention. However, don’t forget that, while we can sometimes influence others, we can only change ourselves.
Some questions you might ask to discover evidences are
• Is it sin?
• Is it repetitive?
• Is this a characteristic of Jesus?
• Do our thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and actions mirror those of Christ?
• Is it beyond normal behavior?
• Have I felt this way before?
Each person must examine evidences in their own life and then ask the tough question, “So, what do I want to do about this? Do I want to live with this the rest of my life?” If the answer is no, then ask Jesus to show you the source.
Here are some examples of evidences. Remember that these evidences don’t fit every person. Biting nails could be evidence for Arthur, but Bob just had a hangnail. We cannot and should not judge others based on what we think evidence reveals. We are only in charge of our own heart, and therefore we need to allow God to use our evidence to speak into our own life. God allows evidences in our life to get our attention and redirect our focus to Him for help.
A few examples that could be evidence of strongholds are
1. Nervous behaviors such as, biting nails, blinking eyes, clearing throat repetitively, pulling out your hair, twitching, etc.
2. Any pattern you run to for a fix, to get away, to hide, to get relief, etc., such as shopping, pornography, work, alcohol and drugs, reading, tanning or dieting, eating disorders, etc. None of these is wrong, but each person will have to be honest with himself or herself and decide if it is a normal activity or if it is repetitive and out of control.
3. Any negative thought pattern comes from a damaged heart. For examples, “I will never be good enough,” “No matter what I do, I am in trouble. I’m just bad,” “Good things come to everyone else but never for me,” “No one likes me,” etc.
4. Uncontrollable anger. High expectations and a need to be in control.
5. A lack of interest in things most people should be interested in such as intimacy, friendships, church, God’s Word, fellowship, etc.
6. Look for fears. What are you afraid of? Police? Speaking? Crowds? Rejection? Is that why you refuse to join church groups? Are you afraid of disappointing someone? Afraid of failure? Afraid you won’t measure up or that you will let someone down? Discover what you are afraid of and then watch how you react to it.
7. Do your actions hurt others?
8. Look for acts of rebellion. Look for acts of dishonesty.
9. Any action, thought, belief, or characteristic that does not emulate Christ and His character; it is a clue that there is something damaged, broken, or not surrendered to the Holy Spirit in your life.
We used to sing a song in our family: “His Banner Over Me Is Love.” I made a banner over a hundred feet long of plastic triangles on a cord where each plastic triangle was a different color. I wrote on each triangle something God freed me from.
His banner over me reveals the evidences that Jesus freed me from. Perhaps in this list of what’s on my banner, you will understand evidences better.
1. I no longer pull all of my eyebrows out because of being nervous.
2. I don’t fall apart when three people want something from me all at the same time.
3. I can feel love and receive love.
4. I can handle time pressure now.
5. I can receive God’s Word into my heart now. It is more than just black ink on white paper.
6. I have a favorite Bible verse (Ps. 34:4-5).
7. I have become gentle.
8. I am no longer consumed with fear after talking to a female.
9. I am free of a bad habit.
10. No more 3:30 p.m. headaches.
11. My intense anger is gone.
12. I can trust females now.
13. I no longer hit anyone.
14. I can really hug my kids.
15. I can relax and experience daily peace and joy.
16. I can talk to people in love instead of talking at them. The miracle is that I know and understand the difference.
17. I am a good friend to my sons, my husband, and others.
18. My life is less complicated. The kids are getting awesome grades, making good choices, and loving our relationships.
19. Dan and Adam are now best friends. I no longer play favorites.
20. I no longer manipulate people to get what I want or to protect myself.
21. I want to read God’s Word. For the first time, I have experienced joy in meditating on His Word.
22. I am able to focus on God in the midst of difficult times instead of being consumed with fear and worry.
23. I no longer demand my way.
24. I can listen to my kids.
25. I am able to let them make their own choices and let them learn from their good or poor choices.
26. I no longer hate anyone.
27. I can instruct someone without being overbearing (e.g., driving lessons with teens turned out to be a fun and awesome adventure instead of a nightmare!).
28. I can love my son Adam now. Listen to him now. Release him and trust him to make good choices. Adam doesn’t have to be loud any longer. He is no longer alone. He has a friend in me.
29. I’m more organized, and I can find things in my house.
30. I had always wanted to be a boy. I now love being a girl, a wife, and a mother.
31. I used to hate being called Sheri (childhood nickname). I love being called Sherilyn, but now I also love being called Sheri.
32. My sons rarely fight now.
33. We love having friends over again. Adam doesn’t feel rejected and no longer acts out when we have company.
34. Steve and I can heart-connect deeply. In fact, it has become a state we live in instead of just visiting it once in a while.
35. My boys and husband express love to me in special ways. For instance, each time they leave the driveway they honk twice. In “car talk,” that means “Love You!”
36. I’m no longer busy all the time, tense and restless. As a result, I can hear birds sing. I had never really heard them before.
37. I can remember bad things and even talk about them and not feel any pain or fear.
38. I am starting to remember good things from my childhood. For many years, I didn’t have one good memory and now I have many!
39. I no longer start a fight out of the stress of being late.
40. I can wear short hair now.
41. I no longer rage when something is broken. My only concern is the people involved.
42. Others feel loved by me.
43. Our family experiences teamwork now.
44. I no longer pressure others to perform, and I have very few expectations.
45. I can ask Adam or Dan to work, and sometimes, they say OK. The miracle is when they don’t, I don’t get mad. (Adam and Dan are now in their early twenties. They both have an excellent work ethic. Dan is a Golden Knight in the army, and Adam is one of the top salespersons for the company where he works.)
46. I no longer feel stressed.
47. I can forgive from my heart and forgive quickly.
48. I no longer need to buy things to feel relief or get a quick fix.
49. Adam got straight A’s in his first semester of his senior year!
50. One Memorial Day weekend, we all worked together for seven hours on our property and never experienced one argument.
51. My family likes to be in the same room with me.
52. I no longer dominate and control.
53. My sons ask me to tuck them in each night, and they are in high school!
54. My sons feel loved, and they are happy.
55. I am compassionate.
56. My sons bring a lot of friends home. They encourage their friends to talk to me. They tell them, “My mom loves everyone.”
57. I no longer scream.
58. I turn to Jesus for strength. I no longer expect the performances of my family to sustain me. Therefore, I no longer carry their performances on my shoulders, and they don’t drain me.
59. I guard my heart. I want to keep a clean heart that is 100 percent committed to surrendering to the Holy Spirit.
60. My house is much cleaner.
61. I can love people more than things.
62. I no longer fear rejection.
63. I no longer feel like I have a rock in my chest that is painful at times.
64. I can read out loud.
65. I can ask for help without feeling stupid. I can now play games without fear of others thinking I’m stupid.
66. I know how to love from my heart.
67. If Adam yells at me, I no longer go ballistic. I can respond calmly and in love.
68. I no longer fear policemen.
I felt compelled to include my banner list for several reasons:
1. You could get an idea what evidence might look like and the victories you can experience.
2. You could be encouraged and know that God helped me and He wants to help you.
3. I’d like to remind you that I looked like a normal person at church and in the community.
4. These are just the evidences God has freed me of so far.
5. These are only evidences in one person. Each person has their own story and their own (probably long) list of evidences.
The key is to look for evidences and clues in your life. Just because someone else is acting out when you are interacting with that person does not mean they alone are in the wrong. If two people are fighting or struggling, usually both of them have evidences to discover.
You can alter or change all your relationships when you discover your own evidence and do something about it with Jesus’s help.