Freedom Appointment
What is a Freedom Appointment?
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:13-14 ESV)
A Freedom Appointment is your opportunity to come, in a safe confidential environment full of grace and compassion, before your Heavenly Father in prayer and repentance with the backup support of a trained encourager and a prayer partner along with a significant number of Community Freedom Ministry Associates (CFMA) from all over the United States praying for you, on an anonymous basis, to have a successful Freedom Appointment. A successful Freedom Appointment is one in which you, the seeker, obtains freedom from one or more spiritual bondages.
James 5:13 above says that if you are suffering (including spiritual bondage) then the one who is suffering is the one who should pray. Trusting in others to pray for you defeats God's desire to have a personal relationship with you. The one who needs spiritual help should be humbly asking the ultimate spiritual fixer - God the Heavenly Father - for help. Yes, people can and should pray for each other's needs but ultimately your best opportunity for obtaining freedom is through personally praying with your Father, who is in Heaven, for the help you are seeking.
God the Father <--> Seeker is the primary focus of prayer
God the Father
through Christ we have access in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:18)
let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help. (Hebrews 4:16)Seeker
Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. (James 5:13)
Encourager
encourage one another and build up each other (Thessalonians 5:11)
ministry & message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)Prayer Partner & Intercessors
I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people (1 Timothy 2:1)
A single visit Freedom Appointment can take from 4 to 6 hours depending on the amount of bondage and the willingness of the Seeker to be open and transparent primarily before their Heavenly Father but also before fellow Christians.
If we confess our sins, God the Father is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. (James 5:16a)
Requirements for a Freedom Appointment
While you can go through the freedom process entirely on your own we highly recommend obtaining the freely provided prayer support of a large number of Freedom in Christ endorsed Community Freedom Ministries (FICM CFMs) throughout the United States and the world. Prayer support is very helpful in backing off the enemy's attacks that will surely come to try and prevent you from obtaining all the freedom you can have in Christ.
Born-Again Christian
You have confessed before witnesses that you have chosen, without reservation, to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour and you have been water baptized into God - the Father, the Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
Request an Appointment
Contact us to talk about setting up a Freedom Appointment
There are four appointment types:
- On Your Own (with Children's Bread Ministries and FICM CFM prayer covering)
- Taking an Online Freedom Course with the close supervision of a trained Coach
- Over the Internet Appointment
- In Person Appointment
We believe the best place to start is with the Freedom Course with Coaching approach and this is what we recommend.
We are convinced, from years of experience, that the On Your Own approach is the 64% solution - we have found that 80% of the freedom seekers can find freedom for 80% of their issues (80% x 80% = 64% success). Many Christians, who opt for the On Your Own approach, can simply download and fill out the Personal Inventory Form and Statement of Understanding Form and attach these completed forms to the Appointment Request Online Form in the right sidebar of this webpage. This will qualify you to be covered in prayer by The Children's Bread Ministries prayer team and covered in prayer anonymously by the national Freedom in Christ Ministries CFM prayer network. Next you will read the assigned books (see below) after which you can email us the date and time you intend to take yourself through The Steps to Freedom in Christ so we can alert all of our prayer partners and cover you in prayer during this very important event.
More times than not taking a Freedom Course with Coaching, which is best suited to your particular needs and issues, is the best solution. This raises the success rate to 70% - 90%+ as you work through your issues with your Heavenly Father with the support and help of a trained Coach. This approach requires that the Seeker and the Encourager/Coach are of the same sex.
Otherwise, if you believe you need a greater degree of personal help and support you can start the process for making an Over the Internet Appointment or an In Person Appointment by filling in the Appointment Request Form in the right sidebar area (or it may appear at the bottom of the page on mobile devices).
An Over the Internet Appointment is a great option if you do not have any access to a trained CFMA within a few hours of travel time or if you can't travel. An Over the Internet Appointment creates some special issues. It can be accomplished by using Skype, FaceTime or Zoom.us or simply by sending emails back and forth. It is not practical to remain online for hours at a time and the connection quality may not allow for it either. In this case the Seeker and Encourager can get acquainted and then go over the opening introductory section of "The Steps to Freedom in Christ" after which the Seeker can begin going through the steps on their own with the option of contacting the Encourager as needed. The Seeker and the Encourager will need to remain patient and flexible. Some Seekers may simply not be able to do an Over the Internet Appointment because the enemy's influence may be too much for the Seeker to deal with in an isolated setting - more prior prayer and even fasting may be called for before attempting to do an Over the Internet Appointment. This approach requires that the Seeker and the Encourager/Coach are of the same sex.
An In Person Appointment is often the most beneficial type of appointment for more difficult cases where close personal encouragement and coaching are needed. This approach requires that the Seeker and the Encourager/Coach are of the same sex.
Read
- "Victory Over the Darkness" by Dr. Neil T Anderson (read 1st)
- "The Bondage Breaker" by Dr. Neil T Anderson (read 2nd)
or if you really don't like to read much then at a minimum read
- "Restored" by Dr. Neil T Anderson
Obtain a copy of and familiarize yourself with
- "The Steps to Freedom in Christ" (newest version) by Dr. Neil T Anderson
Going through The Steps to Freedom in Christ is a biblical process designed to wake us up spiritually to those areas in our personal lives which are hindering or preventing our spiritual growth and maturity in Christ and taking those issues before the throne of our Heavenly Father in a process of sincere and heartfelt confession, renunciation and repentance. Followed by a commitment to stand firm in our faith and resist the temptations, accusations and deceptions that our enemy will continue to try and attack us with. If we humbly submit to God and resist the devil then the devil and his minions will have to eventually flee.
Download, Fill In, Sign and Return
- Personal Inventory (<-- click to download)
- Statement of Understanding (<-- click to download)
Attach to Appointment Request Form: [NOT SET UP AT THIS TIME]
(in right sidebar or it may appear at the bottom of the page on mobile devices)
Mail to:
The Children's Bread Ministries
PO Box 2540
Weaverville, NC 28787
United States
Email to:
Send in PDF format. Sending over email is not secure.
Other Preparations
It is very important to cultivate an attitude that says, "I will do whatever it takes to get right with my God." Remember God wants the best for His children. Having an attitude of humility and transparency is hugely important. Another way of saying it is to be willing to bring everything into the light. If we don't want our deep dark secrets to be found out and exposed then we will continue hiding them in the darkness (John 3:19). The problem is that God still knows about it and sees it and one day it will be brought into the light and exposed whether we want it to be exposed or not (1 Cor 4:5). We need to repent and repent as quickly as possible - this is what our God desires and it is for our benefit to the glory of God. If we go into the Freedom Appointment with the right attitude God will be pleased with our humility and will bring the lies believed and the un-confessed and un-repented of sins to our attention so that we can repent of them whole heartedly (mind, emotions, will and conscience) because our Father loves us very much and desires His children to be free - the glorious freedom of God’s children (Romans 8:21). Also it is important for you to remember and believe God's encouragement to His children that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Other Things to Consider
God is the one running the appointment...
The Seeker should commit up front to be willing to share any and all of their thoughts. Many thoughts can come from the enemy trying to stop the seeker from obtaining freedom. These disruptive and usually false thoughts need to be renounced and resisted...
There is often the possibility that the Lord will deal with a key issue or several key issues and even bring freedom for those issues and then bring the appointment to a close. God knows how much the Seeker can handle emotionally before the session needs to stop. The unaddressed "Steps to Freedom in Christ" can be continued another day. The majority of Seekers are able to finish the Freedom Appointment in one session...
Other Resources
- Important information about Freedom in Christ Ministries
- Free Downloadable Resources from FICM
- Free Daily Devotional from Dr. Neil T. Anderson
- outstanding resource for obtaining freedom and maintaining freedom
2018, January - Larry & Janice [FEAR, BAD THOUGHTS, JEALOUSY, FORGIVENESS]
John my brother. I have been so busy with overtime working and starting a business that it has taken me some time to do any emails or phone calls on my own time. Janice and I wanted to tell you that we did benefit from FIC in many ways, some of which may not be known by us.
Janice can see clearly that she has been delivered of daily tormenting fear – fear of me getting in a car accident every day driving to and from work. Fear that she would find her dog dead, fear that her mother would die before she got to spend more time with her. Since we went through the fear section of the FICM material she has had none of that. This is a huge deal, the power of knowing that there is no fear in Love. Since Christ Jesus is love and we are in Him. We need not live in fear but in Love. Myself, I was very intrigued by the extended teaching on taking thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, and what that actually means. How do we continue in Christ and put these tools into practice. I would have sat through weeks of just this topic alone. It is essential to winning the battle for your mind on a daily basis. I feel like being around people who were open and honest, admitting that this spiritual attack on our minds is very real was helpful. So many times, folks think that this type of thing is just in their head. But its in everyone’s head, and with the help of this process we can stand on the truth of God, take thoughts captive, and expose the lies that have no place in the, lives of those whom God has rescued through Jesus His Son. I am still practicing taking thoughts captive. I am, very aware of this reality, however I, tend to flirt with thoughts a bit too long, and then stop. I need to allow myself to be so, consumed with my relationship with Christ and who He is...that the temptation to linger in an ungodly thought will be quickly replaced with Power to shut it down. This is a battle. But I have had better success as I remain in the Word of God, and in prayer. The class helped bring all this stuff out so as to expose it for what it is and have a place of reference when this, occurs.
I also think I had a spirit of jealousy and thoughts that plagued me concerning my wife and the devil, has been keeping me, in misery for years with this. Any relationship I had in the past I was always jealous of not being the first etc.... images and thoughts, unbearable. After the steps section on forgiveness as well as severing sexual ties I have experienced joy knowing that, we are new creatures in Christ and He has the power to renew us. I would say the jealous spirit will sometimes try to find a foothold even now. But I am 10 times more free from those thoughts than ever. Going through the steps in this department was hard for both Janice and I. However this is absolutely essential for all believers to do. I have had the opportunity to minister to another man and draw from the experience I had reading Doctor Anderson’s books. He is plagued with thoughts of murder, rape, homosexuality etc... and has had a bad past sexually...my freedom was further realized when hearing his description of voices and ideas that I once had but am now free from. Praise God.
The concept of the trick of the enemy keeping free people in bondage by lying to them, that they are not free, that sticks with me. Satan is a manipulator and liar. We must know that whom the Son sets free, he is free indeed. Also, renouncing unbelief as well as occult involvement - super important to do. Nobody talks about occult or past involvement. I was very happy to do this and hear it talked about. Basically I say that we, as the Body of Christ, should strive to live free in Him and these books and videos are practical biblical ways to train ourselves to be strong in the Lord in the strength of His Might. Put in the full armor of God and experience abundant life in Christ.
Thank you John for your patience and obedience to bring this wonderful tool-set to us.
God bless.
Larry and Janice
2017, September - Judy [POOR SELF-ESTEEM, GUILT, LIES, FEAR, FORGIVENESS]
I wanted to write down my testimony of how much God has done for me in the past few years. During both years of grad school, I could feel God's blessing and nearness to me as I was away in --------, but I also battled almost constant feelings of guilt and was terrified of rejection. The second year of grad school, on top of this and a huge workload, my skin started breaking out badly, and my self-esteem was basically destroyed. I had struggled for a long time with not believing God loved or even liked me, and felt that nothing I did was ever good enough for Him. All this happening at once brought me to the point where after praying and trying so hard for years to please Him and fix myself, I basically shut down spiritually. I wanted to die, and only the years of training that it would be very wrong kept me from dwelling on it or considering it. I thank God that I never actually doubted that He was real, but I doubted everything I ever knew about Him, and literally couldn't pray anything other than help me, and that He needed to do something if He wanted me back. After a month of this, He brought me to an older couple who were encouragers with FICM. I was really scared to talk with them, but was desperate enough to try. And God met me there. He brought up hurts and lies in my mind I had no clue were even there. Many times during the steps, He would stop me at a certain part, and I couldn't go on until I had talked with --------- and figured out another thing I believed about Him that wasn't true. The most important things I came away with were forgiving someone who had hurt me very much by helping create my view of God as angry and disapproving, a list of good character qualities of God and the verses to back them up, and the truth that my self-worth wasn't based on my looks or performance, but on God's love and acceptance of me. I remember going to church a few days later, and being so full of joy that God actually loved me, and that I could praise Him freely without any guilt. It has been a long fight since then to renew my mind and replace these old ways of thinking, and to know deep down that they are true, but God has been faithful and I know that at some point the battles will be won, and I hope He may use me to help others who are hurting the way I was.
The first time I went thru the steps with ---------, when I was praying thru forgiving people, I reached a point where I heard God say, that's enough for now. While things were a lot better, I was still very afraid of one person, and would freeze up or feel panic attacks coming on when certain words triggered memories of them. When we went thru the steps a second time in a church class, God showed me an area I still hadn't forgiven them for, and when I did, I felt a burden lifted off me and replaced with peace. Now, when I hear the words that used to trigger me, I feel like I have a choice of whether I panic or not, like I can choose to go back, or I can choose to stay in the new freedom I have.