I have created a deliverance wheel worksheet for people suffering from various oppressions. It is easy to fill out once you have printed out the worksheet.
posted in response to this anonymous comment on the Prayer Request post: I and my children have been under this curse of shame. We are under bondage and oppressions. My two younger children are jobless despite the way they studied very hard and graduated in their respective fields. My daughter has turned 30 years. She is still unmarried and she is jobless. It is as if she is under a certain spell of oppression and regression. My son also is turning 25 still no job dedpite passing on his professional very well. Please pray for me and my children. I seek God's intervention and healing and breakthrough and a protective shield upon me and all my children and my mother who is unwell and is staying with me. My husband left me for another woman. Pray for my family. We are looked down by my family members and associated with problems.
For this person, I also recommend the Rosary of Liberation, but please download the Deliverance Wheel Worksheet as well (see below for instructions)
See also, "is it a curse to not have what I want in life?" post
Instructions for printing the worksheets
How Often Do I Use the Worksheet? The instructions say to fill out 100 of them... All at once?
I do not recommend filling out 100 worksheets at once, no. It might take a year to fill out 100 of them. If you have the time to do it more quickly so that it doesn't interfere with your life, you can fill it out more frequently. Memories will crop up over time, bit by bit, which will help guide you on what to write down. Pray, pray, pray. Fill it out casually.
Technically, you don't need to write anything down, you could do it all verbally. The worksheet is to help you visualize it and so it becomes more important and more powerful to you. It also allows you to see what you have accomplished. It seems to work better.
The wheel also has great significance. No matter how much a person wants to overcome his or her sins and problems in life, they will always return to them--unless God Himself intervenes and removes these sins and problems. It is like the person's soul is caught up on a great wheel that is always going in circles. However, if God intervenes, the cycle, the circle, is broken. So you are places everything you are caught up in in God's Hands, and He is liberating you.
It is also important to do powerful prayers such as the Rosary of Liberation, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary (perhaps most important of the three, although all of them have benefits) during the same period of time in your life that you are doing these worksheets.
Exorcists always recommend true and devote recitations of the Rosary (as compared to mindless recitation of the rosary with no emotion or thought) very much. Sincere prayer is important.
This is why Jesus warned in the Gospels that we have to reject the works of darkness, reject fornicating, seek the God of purity, and that "not everyone who cries 'Lord Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he or she who does the work of My Father." Mary at the Fatima apparition warned that huge, massive amounts of the human population are falling into Hell because of sins of the flesh and because of their refusal to believe that they are what is causing destruction in their lives.
It seems intimidating at first, but don't despair! The reason you see so many people become infuriated and say that all of this isn't true or isn't important is because they've despair, or they're possessed by these spirits and not fighting them anymore. Don't despair, don't give in! There's no reason to! God WILL so very readily help a person living with these sins to overcome these sins and develop a relationship with Him: in fact, these sins cannot be fully overcome without God's help. He is so eagar and sympathetic and ready to help us to overcome these sins that we should talk to Him about all of these things in prayer and sincerely ask His help. Lay it ALL out for Him in prayer: He sees everything anyway, so start talking to Him. He'll help!
Jesus said that He came to save sinners, not condemn them, meaning that He wants to listen to your troubles and He wants you to pray to Him and depend on Him and He will help you overcome them, because He knows it isn't possible without God's intervention.
Devotion to the Divine Mercy and confession, and attending frequent Mass, reading holy books by Saints, will all help to lessen sin. For more information, see the two Divine Mercy posts on this site: Divine Mercy and Divine Mercy: The Kingdoms of Light and Darkness
Especially wearing a Brown Scapular will help a soul overcome sin. The Brown Scapular is of utmost importance, I speak about it in nearly every post.
Please also note that gossip is a mortal sin. People think because it is with the mouth, with words, and so easy to commit, that it is a lesser offense to God or that they are justified in doing it. I have seen many Catholics who consider themselves "good Christians" who gossip. They are not. Gossip is spiritual cannibalism, and there are many warnings in the Bible and by Saints that sins of the tongue guide the whole soul to Hell. It is an extremely serious matter.
We need to pray to God every day that He watches over our words so that we do not commit sins of the mouth, of speech (typing, writing), whether it is uncharitable words or lies or encouraging sin or not speaking or speaking when we shouldn't or gossip... (In general, it helps to hold off on speaking or replying for a few hours and praying some during that time so that we don't do anything rash. Sometimes that is not the case, but in general.) Because these are really very serious, serious sins that are everywhere around us. God will help us to overcome them in our own lives if we keep turning to Him and help us see that this applies to all people. (It is a common error to believe, "well it's okay to gossip about such-and-such person because he or she is a sinner or is weird or is ... not really human, so that doesn't count.")
Lack of forgiveness also gives root to curses and spiritual affliction. Forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation: you don't want to permit someone evil, destructive and harmful back into your life. But if you have hatred, resent, or anger towards a person, you are still bound by that person: those are afflictions, and they have spiritual consequences in your life. I remember watching a documentary with one of the famous Catholic exorcists and a spirit refused to leave a woman because she had not forgiven her father. Constant states of rage and self-pity are also cause for spiritual affliction, which is why many people who favor Heavy metal videos also favor "lifting curses" videos: they are either cursing themselves with their rage or fueling a curse already with this rage.
Drug addiction and alcoholism (or any time a person gets stoned or gets drunk) also, because the person is not in full control, it's a very direct gateway to being possessed or oppressed. It makes one's body and soul into an open doorway for demonic spirits. This can be overcome in the same was as with the sexual problems. Really, every problem is overcome by laying it all out to God in prayer with trust.
Certainly, if you play with the occult, you will also feel cursed and afflicted. Many people who favor New Age videos also favor curse lifting videos because New Age is explicitly demonic ("I deserve" and "I am" rather than "thank You, God," and "God alone is, God alone decides what has worth"). Yoga is another demonic practice that gets people feeling cursed. Many people think it is just exercise, but practicing Hindus say that these positions invoke their gods, which Christians know to be false gods (demons). So, yes, one is actually literally opening up his or her body to be a dwelling place for demonic spirits through yoga, which is what yoga was designed to do. (There can never be such a thing as "Christian yoga," such a thing is a lie permitted by a pastor who is either clueless or simply wants to make money.)
Why, on the worksheet, ask through the Divine Mercy Image?
First, because demons and diabolical people who have knowingly turned from God loath God's Mercy more than anything else. The demons, for example, being that they are in hell, are aware of His Justice, and would gladly talk about that day and night, but would never speak of His Goodness.
Secondly, because of the great promises of Mercy God has made for those devoted to the Divine Mercy Image, to grant grace to those who trust in Him.
From the preface of the Diary of Saint Faustina 2005 Marian Press edition:
I am afraid to go to Confession.
Everyone is. This is a temptation of the devil, though, to keep him active in your life.
Personal prayer for strength for God to guide you and for courage are very important.
It is equally important to pray for your confessor, whoever he may be, to be granted the light of understanding.
Finally, it is important to pray and get others to pray that you "make a good confession." This means that God will illuminate all of your spiritual "blind spots" so that you confess everything.
A confession should take no more than 5 minutes in total: all you are doing is reciting your sins to the priest and then receiving absolution. This doesn't mitigate how important it is: it is a life-altering event. Sometimes extremely dramatically life altering. But do not think it is something that is going to take even 20 minutes.
Only spiritual direction takes longer than a few minutes, and that is when a priest, deacon, monk or nun acts as a your spiritual director. Although it can take place as part of a confession or end with a confession if your director is a priest, it is distinctly different from confession.
May I confess to God privately and directly?
Yes. In fact, failure to do this is spiritually detrimental. Most people striving for a relationship with God take time out every night for what is called an "examination of conscious" in which they pray and attempt to recall any sins, even small ones, they committed during the day.
This does not take the place of sacramental confession with a priest, however it is a prerequisite.
How do I know what to say in confession and what my sins are?
Guilt is a not a prerequisite for knowing what your sins are. Someone may easily commit sin and have no guilt about it; likewise, someone else may feel guilt about something that isn't a sin. There is also a spiritual disease called scruples in which a person fears that everything he or she does is a sin, when it is in fact, not.
Do not go on what to say by what you have heard on TV and movies, which are written by either people who are very ignorant or people who deliberately hate the Sacrament of Confession and so try to slander it. For example, protestants will often write that a person says, "forgive me, father, for I have sinned," where in fact, that is not what is said in the confessional: you are not asking the priest for forgiveness but God Himself, the priest is His acting representative. One starts off by saying, "bless me, father, for I have sinned." Only God can forgive.
There are a number of lists of sins that often include what to say during the Confession. The best one I have found so far is a list compiled by and approved of by all of the bishops in the United States. This is the very best one I have found so far: Confession App.
I have seen many people exit the confessional with a tablet or cell phone and closing out their confession apps. It is a common practice that I have found very useful.
However, the app alone isn't enough. It is most important to pray, pray, pray. I know that it seems like you have to get this done yesterday, but spending a lot of time in prayer and thinking about what might have been a sin is extremely important. I would take at least, minimum, of a week to pray and think, using the app and also thinking about your own life, if not a whole month, and make many acts of private repentance.
Prayer is extremely important. God will illuminate you and give you the strength to face and overcome your sins only if you pray for these things. Without private, sincerely, personal prayer, you will not be able do this.
The Saint Louis Diocese free prayer request is an excellent way to get many holy nuns to pray directly for your intentions: make a request on there that you may make a good confession, have a holy priest, and that the priest may receive much enlightenment concerning you. This will go a long ways in helping you to have a good confession experience.
The disease scruples was suffered by the great Saint Therese and also by Alphonsus Liguori and is a temptation to turn away from God or to remain a spiritual cripple. Scruples is best overcome by reading the Diary of Saint Faustina and understanding the full importance of the Divine Mercy Message, and learning to trust in God's Mercy.
What if I have never been Baptized?
Baptism erases sins; you do not need to go to confession if you have not been baptized, you just need to be baptized. You cannot be baptized twice because it blasphemes the power of your first baptism, which is why confession exists. Calling up your local Catholic Church and ask to be baptized if the best way to becoming baptized. You cannot baptize yourself.
Why do I have to write people's names down on the deliverance wheel, good and bad people alike?
In the New Testament, Jesus describes people as branches that will be grafted onto the Tree of Life, God Himself, His mystical supernatural unseen body, when that person enters a life of God's grace.
Let's consider this: a branch that is grafted onto a tree derives its nutrients from the tree itself, which gets its nutrients from the leaves on the other branches and through the roots of the tree. If we are in a life of grace, that means that we are putting God above everything. We do not think that money will save us or that our own abilities will save us or that other people will save us, even if we have these things in our lives: we think that God will save us. We derive our spiritual strength from God. Specifically in the form of the Eucharist.
Now let's consider something else. What if a person has rejected God or doesn't have a very strong relationship with God, maybe only thinking about God on the weekends, and the rest of the time busies his or her mind with money and relationships with people and his or her own abilities. All of these things become false idols in that person's life. Spiritually, they are like branches that have been grafted onto other branches and are trying to get all of their nutrients out of those other branches.
False idols lead to a sort of spiritual sickness because it is people getting their spiritual energy from other people.
This is known as spiritual vampirism in some circles, but essentially, everyone you know does this to one degree or another, and you also do this to one degree or another, most likely. Just because everyone does it, doesn't make it right: we were designed to be grafted onto the tree of life, not onto one another. So long as people go against what they were designed for spiritually, their lives will fall apart. The same is true of you if you do this. That is why there is a call for detachment from the physical world. In fact, your life falling apart might be a good time to become detached from the material world. Once you are detached from it, and attach yourself completely to God, and don't really care what happens so long as it is God's design and God is pleased with you... then, and only then, God can start blessing you. And at that point, it will just be another thing for you to point to and say, "thank You God for working in my life!" You won't any longer make the blessings He gives you into false idols.
So, you can see, this is why I tell you to write down the names of everyone you can think of, whether they are kind to you or cruel to you, and cast them out of you. People are not supposed to be grafted onto you, you are not meant to have people grafted onto you: you are meant to only be grafted onto God, spiritually, and not have anyone grafted on to you at all.
When we receive Communion, we ask God to come "under our roof." Spiritually speaking, in the spirit world, our soul is called our "house.' This is why Jesus warns us about putting on the armor of God after demons have been cast out of our souls because they will return to it if we do not, because it is a house for them. Our soul can house either God and His angels and Saints or evil spirits, including people.
This is the reason that the Good Samaritan takes the injured man to a hotel and not to his "house." The injured man ought to be looked a spiritually: someone who is spiritually damaged, either through his own sin or the sins of others. We pray for this person, and our good merits are represented in the story by the coins that the Good Samaritan uses to pay the innkeeper. Even when we are helping someone or praying for someone, we do not permit this person into our "house." Our soul is for God, not grafting others onto.
When we let others into our souls, give them access, all of the punishment for their sins falls onto us, as well. So if you know someone who has rejected God, be polite to them but do not share much personal information with them and do not let them into your soul, into your heart, even if you are praying for them. It should all be done only under the Will of God and with great detachment.
Physically, I have found it important not to accept gifts from these people, physical gifts. Even if the person sends you a birthday or Christmas card, say thank you, accept it, but either donate the gift or dispose of it. If a person has rejected God openly or is involved with the occult or something along those lines, don't keep any physical object they have given you in your physical house. It creates a spiritual bond with them that causes you to suffer for their sins. Hatred of these persons is also a bond, a powerful emotional bond, and so is thinking about someone a whole lot.
I can think of numerous times in which I did not stop feeling afflicted or cursed unless I threw out every birthday card and gift.
So just, overall, stay very detached from people, don't permit them into your soul (bind them and cast them out with the deliverance wheel, don't feel strong emotions towards them, put them in God's hands), pray for them if God asks you only in a detached way, and don't tell them important information about yourself (basically, your Facebook profile, unless it's really on private, is creating a lot of spiritual problems for you).
People being in my soul or having objects from blasphemous people has been the number one cause of feeling cursed in my life after I was living a life in accordance with God's commandments and attending daily Mass. There are just SO MANY people who blaspheme God's Name and who take it in vain and who play with the occult and who fornicate and look at porn and who are Christian only under false pretense that it is very, very difficult in contemporary times to avoid feeling cursed by all of these sins, unless you deliberately cleanse your soul.
... It was probably always, more or less, like this, but with social media where you are expected to share every detail of your life on public for literally every single person to see, it is very easy to become completely controlled by other people spiritually, it is very difficult to keep anyone out of your house unless you are very careful and very specifically avoid permitting people into your "house."
You have to really be on top of this, hide a lot of information, even from family, and really struggle against sin and work to be closer to God.
Some of the things I'm listing on the deliverance wheel can't possibly go away because they are beyond control or essential to functioning. Why must I list them?
Because it will cast out any false idols or spiritually bad relationship you may have with it and it will open the way for you to put it in the perspective of God, which is to either accept it with God's strength and suffer patiently under it, deriving spiritual benefit from this suffering, or it will mitigate person problems, problems happening inside of you, with this... whatever it is.
Put every problem, no matter how big, on the wheel. And God will help make it not a problem.
Why am I putting personality traits on the wheel?
Some personality traits are a result of sin, some are a result of insecurity, some are a result of abuse, some are a result of imitating or being influenced by something that may not be so great, some may be false personality traits that are getting your off the life path God has for you (and so is most fulfilling to you), and still others aren't your personality but are grafted onto you through people who are spiritually connected to you.
Intense desires and emotions can transfer to you from other people if they have grafted themselves onto you and you do not bind and cast them off of you. For example, someone who makes a false idol out of perfection, you might be a perfectionist. You may have always considered yourself this, and then you find that once you have bound and cast the person out of your soul, you "mysteriously" no longer suffer from this affliction of perfectionism. It is pretty clear that it came from the other person.
This is what I mean when I say you will suffer from the punishments of others that you are connected to (the perfectionism being a spiritual affliction and so a punishment).
Rage, lust, greed, gluttony or over-eating, self starvation, desperation, histrionic behavior, narcissism, despair, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, the desire to attack others, sexual addiction and obsession... I've seen SO MANY things almost instantly evaporate from people's lives and never return once they are liberated from being spiritually connected to other people.
It's better to have a very happy life than to have a life full of friends who are spiritually destroying you.
That's why it's always very important not to identify with a sin or a disorder: it's something outside of you that personal repentance, prayer, and casting out other people's souls very well may completely clear up. But if you say, "i AM this person," then you will be the one clinging to it even after you've been liberated from it spiritually.
That is the reason why you put every trait on the wheel. If it is really yours then God won't cast it off of you and if it is not really yours, then you will be liberated from it and be much happier in life.
See also Psychology Attachment Styles, these are good to cast off of you, too. There is also lost of information on the Depression Post that will enlightening you on what to cast off in Jesus' Name, including the tendency to repeat a trauma (PDF, medical article, important read for everyone, the trap of repeated traumas in life are something everyone suffers are are part of the wheel that cannot be broken with God's intervention, very good thing to know about and entrust to God's Mercy).
Physical health is also important in this regard. You can spiritually heal everything but if you need physical healing, you may still suffer from some of these problems. See the vitamins and minerals and supplements section for healing from anxiety on that Depression post for more information, and be sure to drink 8 glasses of water a day, get 8 hours sleep, and avoid people who sin against you, including abusing you, mentally or emotionally (or physically) torture or intentionally hurt you, or who gossip: if they gossip about others, they'll be gossiping about you once you leave, and that is a sin against you, so avoid such people because they bind the soul through their sins. (Of course, you can't do this to other people, either, or you would suffer tremendous negative spiritual consequences from it.)
Why do I put expectations and my prayer intentions on the wheel?
So, for example, the prayer request that prompted this post, the woman wants her daughter married and children in high paying jobs. That's all well and good, but those things in and of themselves do not bring fulfillment to a person. Being married will not fulfill her daughter's life. Having money will not fulfill her children's lives.
The only thing that fulfills a person is a relationship with God. That's it. Everything else brings misery without a close relationship with God, even if at first it seems exciting or distracting.
Ultimately, an unspeakable emptiness will set in and that restlessness and emptiness will demand to be heard sooner or later.
God knows this and He only wants what is best for His children.
He DOES want to help us even with material things, such as a marriage or a job, but ONLY IF it does not interfere with our developing a relationship with Him. That means we have to have a deep attachment to His Holy Will, because we trust that whatever His Will is for us, will bring us the most happiness. This might mean that things we think will make us happy, we have to be willing to reject those things if God, in His Infinite Wisdom, sees that they will ULTIMATELY make us miserable because they will interfere with our relationship with Him.
Furthermore, the more we are attached to something, the greater a danger it is to our soul for us to have that thing that we are attached to.
For example, let's say there is a woman who desperately wants a husband. Day in and day out, she feels completely miserable and even suicidal because she is not married, that all she wants is a husband.
God sees that this cannot fulfill her, because no one can fulfill another person completely. There are many people in relationships and they are restless, empty, and miserable. Sometimes it even happens that someone who desperately longs for a relationship gets in one, it is very distracting and exciting at first, and then they realize that they are still empty inside. The relationship didn't "fix" what was missing in them.
Sometimes this is very distressing to people, especially people who don't have any knowledge at all of God. They can fall into despair, suicidal ideation, drug or alcohol abuse, workaholism, obsession with something else, adultery... all kinds of things because they didn't feel fulfilled by what they, in their limited knowledge, "knew" would fulfill them (that is, the relationship, or whatever it is that they desperately wanted and got).
ONLY God can fill us up. This is why we have to bind and cast out everything that we are praying to Him for. We can still ask Him for these things. For example, someone could still pray to be married. That's a wonderful thing to ask God about, in fact, it would be bad NOT to ask Him about it. But when we bind and cast out of our souls the intention of getting married, at the same time as asking for a good marriage, we are actually binding and casting out any excessive desire to be married, any idolatry that marriage has, any illusion that marriage (or whatever the intention, job, money, etc.) will bring us fulfillment.
It is very important that we bind and cast out every single false idol, every single illusion that might lead us to misery and lead us away from God, and away from recognizing that God is our only good.
When we are completely detached from the things that we are asking for, so that we do not care if we receive them or not, but we only care about trusting in God, trusting in God's Will that what He does give us will be the best thing for us (even if we can't see it), and we only care about loving God actively, then, and only then, can He bless us.
So if, back to our example, the woman prays for a marriage. She thinks it will fulfill her by getting rid of her loneliness and giving her direction in life and a place to pour out her good nature. During the course of her prayer for this intention, through God's grace, rids herself of all illusion and idolatry about the marriage, and comes to truly love God. Her relationship with God develops so much that she is no longer lonely. She pours out her love and good intentions onto God, Who, in turn, lavished all of His grace onto her soul. She is truly coming into a profound relationship with God, experiencing peace within herself and great joy because of God. So much so that she no longer cares if she is married or not; in fact, she worries that, if she were married, would it distract her from her relationship with her God? This is how much she has put God first in her heart and in her life. So she no longer prays for a marriage but now prays for a marriage "if it is Your Will, O God."
Then, and only then, can God give her a relationship, if it is in accord with His Will and His plans for her lifepath, if He knows it will be good for her soul and His relationship with her soul. Because, only when she reaches that point, would she even be ready for a marriage, which is very complicated, and then, He would only help her to be with someone if he would further her relationship with Him. Because, see, if He had given her what she so desperately wanted before, it would have withheld so many graces from her soul, and would have completely stopped her relationship with God, which is, ultimately, the only thing that matters and what will truly last for an eternity.
Our time on earth, our lives here, are so, so remarkably short to eternity.
Think about that. Eternity with God isn't 1,000 years, or ten thousand years, or 40 trillion years.
It is FOREVER. And once we enter into eternity, we lose any chance of gaining spiritual merit and so getting closer to God. Literally, our whole lives are ahead of us, with Him, in Heaven. Our immortal souls are at stake, and God wants us to be absolutely happiest forever.
Yes, He will provide for us on earth, of course, He is a most loving Father. A mind-bogglingly generous, loving, providing Father. Nothing and no one can compare to Him.
But He would never, ever give something to us if it were going to hinder our relationship with Him, because that is our ultimate happiness, both in life and for eternity. He wouldn't ever hinder our relationship with Him because He wants us to be happiest.
He made us for Himself, not for someone else, and not for money, but for Him. He knows that and He wants us to be happy with Him.
So this is why we must bind and cast out all expectations and intentions, even for things we are asking Him for, even if the things we are asking for are very very good, because what we are really doing is, we are really binding and casting out our attachment to what we are asking for, in order to make sure that our desires and anxieties are not overriding our relationship with God.
And if your relationship with God is very weak so that the idea of getting rid of any desire or intention that you have brings you anxiety, then this is my advice to you: trust in the good God. Put your anxiety in His Hands. Tell Him that you want to trust in Him, and tell Him everything that keeps you from trusting in Him, and ask Him for help. Ask Him to be gentle. Ask Him to fill you up with so much love and joy in Him that you are no longer anxious about anything. Ask Him to bring you to Him in Heaven. Say, "my God, I want to be with You now and forever! I want to be happy!"
He will listen. He will hear you. I promise, He will hear you if you ask this of Him.
And He will begin leading your soul, leading your life, taking you by the hand like a most loving, honest, trustworthy, gentle, sympathetic, understanding Father, the likes of which no human or angelic mind can comprehend.
Trust in Him. He is Goodness Itself. He will lead you to happiness. He will make you happy. He alone will make you loved. He alone will give you worth. He alone will help you.
You will be forever glad that you did.
Will this work?
Yes, it will work, if you do everything, because essentially this is everything that real exorcists recommend or that is in real declared Saints' writings or is really in the Gospels. Those are my sources of information. This is what people have been doing to become liberated for 2,000+ years. And there is no other path for liberation other than this one, other than the path of God. Which is why it's been so popular and why those who reject it become so miserable.
Even if it doesn't remove every suffering in your life, because God has willed a certain suffering for your salvation, you will be at peace and in joy and in love with God, growing in a close relationship with Him.
Think of all the moments in history in which great suffering has given way to a huge blessing. This is God's Hand. The Jews and millions of Catholics were murdered under socialists (Nazis) in World War 2. Then Israel came into existence, the Jews received their own country legally, on the map, no longer a spiritual entity but a real, materially there country. Why? Suffering is required to atone for sins, personal sins as well as sins of the world. And after that, an impossibly huge blessing. Many innocent people died during the Civil War in the US, and then after that, and seemingly un-related if you are looking at it from the point of view of the world, we became a great nation. Millions and millions and millions and millions of people died in China under Communist rule, and now Orthodox Christianity is spreading like wildfire and pouring out so many graces onto the people of China. 70 million in Russia under Communist rule, to atone for the sins of blasphemy.
All of the events of these nations are taking place within you and within your own life in a micro way. We know this is true because the Book of Revelation talks about the destruction of sinners and a sinful world before the coming of God's Kingdom, and then the book ends with a warning that all of these curses of the whole world would come upon a single person if he or she changes one word of the prophesy. That means that you, your soul, is spiritually a world unto itself. It is spiritually a nation unto itself.
In the Old Testament, the people are warning to destroy the babies of their enemies, to drive them off the land and brutally dash them against rocks. Then Jesus came and He did not do a single thing political like that. The most He did was, if He was rejected in a place, He left in testimony against them (and told His followers to do likewise). But He said, "I have not come to destroy the prophesies but to fulfill them." How can He have done this without the acts of battle? It is spiritual. The Russian Orthodox, influenced by the Desert Fathers, say that the children of the enemies that we are to dash against the rocks, they are the fruits of our sins! For example, the benefits or works that we do that are sinful, throwing them out (like, if say, someone is a great artist and then spent all of her time drawing porn, then converted, to destroy the art she created, even if that means destroying hours and hours of work.)
"Oh, that's so boring and lame!" No! Only someone who has never done it would say that. If you actually try to do it, you will be entering into intense spiritual battle that is much more profound and intense than even physical battle, but will also help real physical battles. You will see. God is not boring and spiritual warfare is HUGE. Much more effective than physical battle, even if physical battle is necessary in the face of mortal danger.
Life is a battle, a spiritual battle, that is worth it because life is so short compared to the joys of eternity. The battle will be successful if you do what is suggested above and in the works of Saints (such as Saint Faustina in her diary) and it will be joyful if you do what is suggested below.
After starting to do all of this, reading your articles, reading the information and writings from Saints you have suggested, doing all of these wonderful things, God has begun to liberate my life in a huge way and is really drawing me closer to Him. And He is doing all of this for free, just because of His great Mercy! How am I supposed to respond?
The thing, I promise you, the thing that God wants the most... is your love.
In the way that thinking about a person excessively is going to permit them access to your house, thinking about (not talking about, thinking about) God is also going to create a wonderful relationship. And the thing that He wants more than anything is for you to say, "thank You, I love You."
We know that God exists in the Eucharist because He has said so and because the Eucharist is a powerful exorcism tool: they respond to this holy sacrament in the way they responded to Jesus in the New Testament. This brief little, easy to read article: What Demons Know about the Eucharist that Many Catholics Don't
So Jesus is most definitely in the Eucharist, literally, physically. Jesus is the most powerful person on earth, with the greatest wealth and influence, and He is present in the Eucharist. It is the greatest gift God has given to mankind.
As such, before receiving Him, it is important to clean up your "house." It has to be pure because God is going to enter into it. Ask Mary to present you to God, and there is another special devotion. The shoulder wound of Christ that He got while carrying the Cross to Calvary. You ought to pray to hide yourself in the shoulder wound of Christ so that any unknown sin that you have might be washed in His Blood until you go to confession. (If you have a mortal sin, a very grace sin, though, you should not receive communion until you have gone to confession.)
He also says that He is very saddened by people who receive Him in Communion as if He were a lifeless object, or people who receive Him out of either weekly or daily habit. He admitted this to Saint Faustina in her diary. They ignore Him and the great number of graces He wishes to grant them. How sad, a suffering savior, frustrated in His attempts to love us! What a pity, to put to waste everything important. So, pray very sincerely before receiving Communion, that you might not fall into this error, which makes the good God so sad, but that He might fill you with lively sentiments of love and faith, so that you might receive Him in a way most pleasing to Him. Ask this every time before receiving Communion.
When you receive Him, you receive the power of the Jesus on the Cross. In this moment, the first thing you ought to do is to pray: "I offer up the Divine Wealth I now possess to may the debt of souls, one as if multiplied out to all like the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, in thanksgiving, and for all the intentions of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus." You are now interceding with God for all souls, including souls who are very very evil on earth and souls suffering in Purgatory, and souls with no one to pray for them, souls of religious, and the souls of people unintentionally in error through ignorance--all people! Very powerful prayer, the most powerful thing you can do.
Eucharist means "thanksgiving." It is the best way to offer gratitude to God for the great liberation He has given to you, because you are offering the most perfect gratitude of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Sins of ingratitude are the greatest sins that humanity has. I have seen people lose everything that God gives them because they do not try to be grateful towards Him, but instead are grateful to other causes or reasons or people (all of which can be false idols).
It is a very good practice to, all throughout the day, to picture in your mind (or if you can't do this, than to look at a picture of) the Eucharist, and to pray in your heart to God truly present in the Eucharist "my Jesus, I thank You and I love You." Over and over and over again. During suffering, during times of joy, during any free moment, even a thousand times a day, and to never let up this devotion.
Although it is good to rouse one's heart to feeling these words so that they are not empty and hollow, even if we are under great stress and cannot feel anything at all in our hearts, to continue to pray to the Eucharist "my God, I thank You and I love You."
You can also pray this way through the Divine Mercy Image, as well.
It's all God wants, is our love. This is such an easy, direct, and wonderful way to interact with Him. It offers tremendous blessings. The biggest blessings in my life I've gotten after praying this way. Because God is so delighted in these sentiments! It's all He wants!
Haven't you been there, too, where all you've wanted from someone is that they say, "thank you, I love you," and mean it? So, too, God wants this!
This is the way to joy, to peace, to blessings untold, overflowing. This is the way to life, the way to God.
I have seen so many people lose their graces and gifts God has given to them because they do not consider Him at all once they've gotten what they wanted out of Him.
Have you ever known someone like that, who got what they wanted from you and then threw you away, were "done" with you? It's an awful feeling.
So always pray, "thank You, I love You," and you will be led on the right path, to new life in Christ, with so much joy, so much unspeakable, tremendous joy, and liberation from afflictions.
One sigh of love towards the Eucharist forever raises a soul's place in Heaven. How truly wonderful it is, then, to pray always "thank You, I love You" while meditating on the Eucharist. How much happiness God will pour out into your soul for this, it is so pleasing to Him.
The deliverance wheel will help remove everything that isn't just joy for God from your life. What a wonderful thing to devote yourself to, to saying "thank You, I love You" to God for the great gift of the Eucharist, through the Eucharist. From this, everything in your life will be ordered and come to fruition.
After He does anything for you at all, be sure to pick up a devotion of saying, "thank You, I love You." Always, always think of God in this way.
posted in response to this anonymous comment on the Prayer Request post: I and my children have been under this curse of shame. We are under bondage and oppressions. My two younger children are jobless despite the way they studied very hard and graduated in their respective fields. My daughter has turned 30 years. She is still unmarried and she is jobless. It is as if she is under a certain spell of oppression and regression. My son also is turning 25 still no job dedpite passing on his professional very well. Please pray for me and my children. I seek God's intervention and healing and breakthrough and a protective shield upon me and all my children and my mother who is unwell and is staying with me. My husband left me for another woman. Pray for my family. We are looked down by my family members and associated with problems.
For this person, I also recommend the Rosary of Liberation, but please download the Deliverance Wheel Worksheet as well (see below for instructions)
See also, "is it a curse to not have what I want in life?" post
Instructions for printing the worksheets
- Download the images by clicking on them and then right-clicking on the larger images and selecting "save image as" from the pull down menu.
- Print the first image with the instructions on it once. It can be printed in black and white. If you don't have a printer at home, Public Libraries often let you use a printer for a fee. Print shops such as FedEx Office (in the US) also have self-serve printers so no one has to see what you are printing. In these cases, load the images onto a USB drive and take it into a self serve printer at a print shop.
- Print the second one, the blank wheel, as many times as you'd like.
- If you do not have a copy of the Vilnius Divine Mercy Image, you will need to print a copy of that, as well. If you do not have a color printer, a black and white print will suffice. If you can get a color copy of the Divine Mercy Image, I think it will be more enjoyable for you.
- Printer settings: Automatic Resize to Fit Page (or similar wording. "Fit to Page" means it will automatically make the image the size of the paper in the printer so that no part of the image will get cut off.)
Deliverance Wheel Worksheet Page 1 (click to see it larger)
Only need to print this one once
Deliverance Wheel Worksheet Page 2 (click to see it larger)
Print multiple copies of this one, as many as you like
Print multiple copies of this one, as many as you like
Vilnius Divine Mercy Image (click to see it larger)
Instructions for Use
What is it?
It is a worksheet that helps you formulate a prayer for casting out specific problems in your life, based on the promise that the Holy Name of Jesus delivers us from evil, and that we, as Christians, have been given authority to drive out evil spirits in the Name of Jesus.
Is every problem that I have related to an evil spirit?
No. There are some problems that are natural, such a fever. In the Gospels, Jesus rebukes Peter's mother-in-law's fever, cures the sick, and rebukes the wind--all of which are natural causes. So it doesn't hurt to drive out these problems in the Name of Jesus. Entrust everything to God.
People feel (or legitimately are) cursed simply because we live in a fallen world. It's called "the curse of the fallen world." "Fallen" meaning, it is apart from God's grace through sin. The deliverance worksheet and being closer to God will definitely help to ease this.
People feel (or legitimately are) cursed simply because we live in a fallen world. It's called "the curse of the fallen world." "Fallen" meaning, it is apart from God's grace through sin. The deliverance worksheet and being closer to God will definitely help to ease this.
It's also worth noting that humans have a spirit and if they have turned towards evil, their spirits become evil. So "evil spirit" doesn't just encompass demons, but also humans who have willfully chosen a life of evil (which is, sin).
I do not recommend filling out 100 worksheets at once, no. It might take a year to fill out 100 of them. If you have the time to do it more quickly so that it doesn't interfere with your life, you can fill it out more frequently. Memories will crop up over time, bit by bit, which will help guide you on what to write down. Pray, pray, pray. Fill it out casually.
Technically, you don't need to write anything down, you could do it all verbally. The worksheet is to help you visualize it and so it becomes more important and more powerful to you. It also allows you to see what you have accomplished. It seems to work better.
The wheel also has great significance. No matter how much a person wants to overcome his or her sins and problems in life, they will always return to them--unless God Himself intervenes and removes these sins and problems. It is like the person's soul is caught up on a great wheel that is always going in circles. However, if God intervenes, the cycle, the circle, is broken. So you are places everything you are caught up in in God's Hands, and He is liberating you.
It is also important to do powerful prayers such as the Rosary of Liberation, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary (perhaps most important of the three, although all of them have benefits) during the same period of time in your life that you are doing these worksheets.
Exorcists always recommend true and devote recitations of the Rosary (as compared to mindless recitation of the rosary with no emotion or thought) very much. Sincere prayer is important.
What is a pre-requisite for casing out harmful spirits or a curse from my life?
From Interview with an Exorcist, by Father Jose Antonio Fortea, number 96:
If weeks or months go by without any demons being cast out, this could mean that the possessed person is not following the exorcist's direction. Before the first session of the exorcism, the exorcist should advise the possessed to pray, go to Mass, confess, and strive to live in accord with the Ten Commandments.
Some people approach an exorcist as they would a doctor. They think that an exorcism is similar to taking prescription medicine: the medicine will cure their illness and they can continue to live as before. But if one wants to be exorcised, he must make a life change and strive to fulfill all of the teachings of Jesus. If not, a demon may not leave because it has something to hold on to and, if the demon is expelled, it may return. If the possessed is unwilling to abandon sin, the priest should suspend the exorcism sessions until the person agrees to obey his instructions. For example, if the person is living in an illicit union, he needs to first understand why he must put his life in order before God. Good intentions are worth nothing; the law of God is objective and must be obeyed. If the exorcism is begun before the person makes the life changes he needs to, it will have no effect. As we have said, if a demon has something to hold on to [that is, the sin], it will not leave.
Normally, a longer-than-usual exorcism is the result of some hidden disobedience by the possessed to the instructions of the exorcist. ...I believe the exorcist mentions "illicit union" because exorcists and everyone dealing with psychological-spiritual problems see most of people's problems stemming from fornication, masturbation, and pornography. It is not ever possible to be freed from a curse or a spiritual oppression or possession so long as one continues to fornicate, look at porn or masturbate because these are mortal sins which permanently sever the soul from God's grace. Constantly thinking on or speaking of sexual things are also going to give so much for the demonic to attach itself onto in that person's life that it is just not possible for liberation to take place.
This is why Jesus warned in the Gospels that we have to reject the works of darkness, reject fornicating, seek the God of purity, and that "not everyone who cries 'Lord Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he or she who does the work of My Father." Mary at the Fatima apparition warned that huge, massive amounts of the human population are falling into Hell because of sins of the flesh and because of their refusal to believe that they are what is causing destruction in their lives.
It seems intimidating at first, but don't despair! The reason you see so many people become infuriated and say that all of this isn't true or isn't important is because they've despair, or they're possessed by these spirits and not fighting them anymore. Don't despair, don't give in! There's no reason to! God WILL so very readily help a person living with these sins to overcome these sins and develop a relationship with Him: in fact, these sins cannot be fully overcome without God's help. He is so eagar and sympathetic and ready to help us to overcome these sins that we should talk to Him about all of these things in prayer and sincerely ask His help. Lay it ALL out for Him in prayer: He sees everything anyway, so start talking to Him. He'll help!
Jesus said that He came to save sinners, not condemn them, meaning that He wants to listen to your troubles and He wants you to pray to Him and depend on Him and He will help you overcome them, because He knows it isn't possible without God's intervention.
Devotion to the Divine Mercy and confession, and attending frequent Mass, reading holy books by Saints, will all help to lessen sin. For more information, see the two Divine Mercy posts on this site: Divine Mercy and Divine Mercy: The Kingdoms of Light and Darkness
Especially wearing a Brown Scapular will help a soul overcome sin. The Brown Scapular is of utmost importance, I speak about it in nearly every post.
Please also note that gossip is a mortal sin. People think because it is with the mouth, with words, and so easy to commit, that it is a lesser offense to God or that they are justified in doing it. I have seen many Catholics who consider themselves "good Christians" who gossip. They are not. Gossip is spiritual cannibalism, and there are many warnings in the Bible and by Saints that sins of the tongue guide the whole soul to Hell. It is an extremely serious matter.
We need to pray to God every day that He watches over our words so that we do not commit sins of the mouth, of speech (typing, writing), whether it is uncharitable words or lies or encouraging sin or not speaking or speaking when we shouldn't or gossip... (In general, it helps to hold off on speaking or replying for a few hours and praying some during that time so that we don't do anything rash. Sometimes that is not the case, but in general.) Because these are really very serious, serious sins that are everywhere around us. God will help us to overcome them in our own lives if we keep turning to Him and help us see that this applies to all people. (It is a common error to believe, "well it's okay to gossip about such-and-such person because he or she is a sinner or is weird or is ... not really human, so that doesn't count.")
A side note: It is not a sin to warn an active Christian or someone under your spiritual authority in an objective way if someone is dangerous to the soul through his or her sin, but this should not be the focus of one's speech and others' sins... there's no reason to dwell on them, no reason to be a busybody, which is not a good thing in God's eyes. Just prayerfully put it in God's Hands and move on.
While it's important to hold yourself in a very, very high standard, but to be very merciful and find excuses for others... unless they are directly under your spiritual guidance (like your children), in which case you must approach all correction of their sins with great love and sympathy (which requires massive amounts of prayer and a strong relationship with God) and not be over-controlling about things that aren't a sin. For example, correcting the way they do something even if it is effective and not sinful. I see people correct children for doing something playfully or even just differently from the parents, even just walking or doing their chores or helping, but they are doing it in a different style from the parents. Even though it doesn't interfere with anything or anyone, the parents still reprimand the child, and that's over-controlling. So I mean, correct sins and spiritual faults, and do so with great tenderness and complete truth and grace from God. The same He'd show you. It is important to work out one's own faults or sins so that you can understand and help the child (or whoever is spiritually under your authority, which really... most likely won't be anyone).
Lack of forgiveness also gives root to curses and spiritual affliction. Forgiveness doesn't mean reconciliation: you don't want to permit someone evil, destructive and harmful back into your life. But if you have hatred, resent, or anger towards a person, you are still bound by that person: those are afflictions, and they have spiritual consequences in your life. I remember watching a documentary with one of the famous Catholic exorcists and a spirit refused to leave a woman because she had not forgiven her father. Constant states of rage and self-pity are also cause for spiritual affliction, which is why many people who favor Heavy metal videos also favor "lifting curses" videos: they are either cursing themselves with their rage or fueling a curse already with this rage.
Drug addiction and alcoholism (or any time a person gets stoned or gets drunk) also, because the person is not in full control, it's a very direct gateway to being possessed or oppressed. It makes one's body and soul into an open doorway for demonic spirits. This can be overcome in the same was as with the sexual problems. Really, every problem is overcome by laying it all out to God in prayer with trust.
Certainly, if you play with the occult, you will also feel cursed and afflicted. Many people who favor New Age videos also favor curse lifting videos because New Age is explicitly demonic ("I deserve" and "I am" rather than "thank You, God," and "God alone is, God alone decides what has worth"). Yoga is another demonic practice that gets people feeling cursed. Many people think it is just exercise, but practicing Hindus say that these positions invoke their gods, which Christians know to be false gods (demons). So, yes, one is actually literally opening up his or her body to be a dwelling place for demonic spirits through yoga, which is what yoga was designed to do. (There can never be such a thing as "Christian yoga," such a thing is a lie permitted by a pastor who is either clueless or simply wants to make money.)
Why, on the worksheet, ask through the Divine Mercy Image?
First, because demons and diabolical people who have knowingly turned from God loath God's Mercy more than anything else. The demons, for example, being that they are in hell, are aware of His Justice, and would gladly talk about that day and night, but would never speak of His Goodness.
Secondly, because of the great promises of Mercy God has made for those devoted to the Divine Mercy Image, to grant grace to those who trust in Him.
From the preface of the Diary of Saint Faustina 2005 Marian Press edition:
The rays of blood and water that flow from the Heart that was pierced by a spear (not visible on the image) and the scars caused by the wounds of crucifixion call to mind the events of Good Friday (Jn 19:17-18; 33-37). The Image of the Merciful Savior, therefore, combines the two Gospel events that best bespeak the fullness of God’s love for mankind.
The two rays are a distinctive feature of this image of Christ. The Lord Jesus, when asked about their meaning, explained: “The pale ray stands for the Water which makes souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls. ... Happy is the one who will dwell in their shelter” (Diary, 299). The Sacraments of Baptism and Penance [Confession] purify the soul, and the Eucharist most abundantly nourishes it. Thus, the two rays signify the Holy Sacraments and all the graces of the Holy Spirit, whose biblical symbol is water, as well as the New Covenant of God with men in the Blood of Christ.
The image of the Merciful Jesus is often called the “Image of The Divine Mercy,” which is appropriate, since it is precisely in Christ’s Paschal Mystery that God’s love for humankind was most explicitly revealed.
The image not only represents The Divine Mercy, but also serves as a sign that is to recall the Christian obligation of trust in God and of active love toward neighbor. By Christ’s will the image bears a signature comprised of these words: “Jesus, I trust in You.” “This image,” Jesus also declared, “is to be a reminder of the demands of My mercy, because even the strongest faith is of no avail without works” (Diary, 742).
To the veneration of the image understood in this way, as relying upon the Christian attitude of trust and mercy, Our Lord attached special promises, namely, of eternal salvation, of great progress in the way of Christian perfection, of the grace of a happy death, and of all other possible graces which people will ask of Him with trust: “By means of this Image I shall be granting many graces to souls; so let every soul have access to it” (Diary, 570).For more information on the image, see this Divine Mercy post. God has promised to grant unimaginable graces to those who trust in His Mercy and invoke Him through the Divine Mercy Image.
I am afraid to go to Confession.
Everyone is. This is a temptation of the devil, though, to keep him active in your life.
Personal prayer for strength for God to guide you and for courage are very important.
It is equally important to pray for your confessor, whoever he may be, to be granted the light of understanding.
Finally, it is important to pray and get others to pray that you "make a good confession." This means that God will illuminate all of your spiritual "blind spots" so that you confess everything.
A confession should take no more than 5 minutes in total: all you are doing is reciting your sins to the priest and then receiving absolution. This doesn't mitigate how important it is: it is a life-altering event. Sometimes extremely dramatically life altering. But do not think it is something that is going to take even 20 minutes.
Only spiritual direction takes longer than a few minutes, and that is when a priest, deacon, monk or nun acts as a your spiritual director. Although it can take place as part of a confession or end with a confession if your director is a priest, it is distinctly different from confession.
May I confess to God privately and directly?
Yes. In fact, failure to do this is spiritually detrimental. Most people striving for a relationship with God take time out every night for what is called an "examination of conscious" in which they pray and attempt to recall any sins, even small ones, they committed during the day.
This does not take the place of sacramental confession with a priest, however it is a prerequisite.
How do I know what to say in confession and what my sins are?
Guilt is a not a prerequisite for knowing what your sins are. Someone may easily commit sin and have no guilt about it; likewise, someone else may feel guilt about something that isn't a sin. There is also a spiritual disease called scruples in which a person fears that everything he or she does is a sin, when it is in fact, not.
Do not go on what to say by what you have heard on TV and movies, which are written by either people who are very ignorant or people who deliberately hate the Sacrament of Confession and so try to slander it. For example, protestants will often write that a person says, "forgive me, father, for I have sinned," where in fact, that is not what is said in the confessional: you are not asking the priest for forgiveness but God Himself, the priest is His acting representative. One starts off by saying, "bless me, father, for I have sinned." Only God can forgive.
There are a number of lists of sins that often include what to say during the Confession. The best one I have found so far is a list compiled by and approved of by all of the bishops in the United States. This is the very best one I have found so far: Confession App.
I have seen many people exit the confessional with a tablet or cell phone and closing out their confession apps. It is a common practice that I have found very useful.
However, the app alone isn't enough. It is most important to pray, pray, pray. I know that it seems like you have to get this done yesterday, but spending a lot of time in prayer and thinking about what might have been a sin is extremely important. I would take at least, minimum, of a week to pray and think, using the app and also thinking about your own life, if not a whole month, and make many acts of private repentance.
Prayer is extremely important. God will illuminate you and give you the strength to face and overcome your sins only if you pray for these things. Without private, sincerely, personal prayer, you will not be able do this.
The Saint Louis Diocese free prayer request is an excellent way to get many holy nuns to pray directly for your intentions: make a request on there that you may make a good confession, have a holy priest, and that the priest may receive much enlightenment concerning you. This will go a long ways in helping you to have a good confession experience.
The disease scruples was suffered by the great Saint Therese and also by Alphonsus Liguori and is a temptation to turn away from God or to remain a spiritual cripple. Scruples is best overcome by reading the Diary of Saint Faustina and understanding the full importance of the Divine Mercy Message, and learning to trust in God's Mercy.
What if I have never been Baptized?
Baptism erases sins; you do not need to go to confession if you have not been baptized, you just need to be baptized. You cannot be baptized twice because it blasphemes the power of your first baptism, which is why confession exists. Calling up your local Catholic Church and ask to be baptized if the best way to becoming baptized. You cannot baptize yourself.
Why do I have to write people's names down on the deliverance wheel, good and bad people alike?
In the New Testament, Jesus describes people as branches that will be grafted onto the Tree of Life, God Himself, His mystical supernatural unseen body, when that person enters a life of God's grace.
Let's consider this: a branch that is grafted onto a tree derives its nutrients from the tree itself, which gets its nutrients from the leaves on the other branches and through the roots of the tree. If we are in a life of grace, that means that we are putting God above everything. We do not think that money will save us or that our own abilities will save us or that other people will save us, even if we have these things in our lives: we think that God will save us. We derive our spiritual strength from God. Specifically in the form of the Eucharist.
Now let's consider something else. What if a person has rejected God or doesn't have a very strong relationship with God, maybe only thinking about God on the weekends, and the rest of the time busies his or her mind with money and relationships with people and his or her own abilities. All of these things become false idols in that person's life. Spiritually, they are like branches that have been grafted onto other branches and are trying to get all of their nutrients out of those other branches.
False idols lead to a sort of spiritual sickness because it is people getting their spiritual energy from other people.
This is known as spiritual vampirism in some circles, but essentially, everyone you know does this to one degree or another, and you also do this to one degree or another, most likely. Just because everyone does it, doesn't make it right: we were designed to be grafted onto the tree of life, not onto one another. So long as people go against what they were designed for spiritually, their lives will fall apart. The same is true of you if you do this. That is why there is a call for detachment from the physical world. In fact, your life falling apart might be a good time to become detached from the material world. Once you are detached from it, and attach yourself completely to God, and don't really care what happens so long as it is God's design and God is pleased with you... then, and only then, God can start blessing you. And at that point, it will just be another thing for you to point to and say, "thank You God for working in my life!" You won't any longer make the blessings He gives you into false idols.
So, you can see, this is why I tell you to write down the names of everyone you can think of, whether they are kind to you or cruel to you, and cast them out of you. People are not supposed to be grafted onto you, you are not meant to have people grafted onto you: you are meant to only be grafted onto God, spiritually, and not have anyone grafted on to you at all.
When we receive Communion, we ask God to come "under our roof." Spiritually speaking, in the spirit world, our soul is called our "house.' This is why Jesus warns us about putting on the armor of God after demons have been cast out of our souls because they will return to it if we do not, because it is a house for them. Our soul can house either God and His angels and Saints or evil spirits, including people.
This is the reason that the Good Samaritan takes the injured man to a hotel and not to his "house." The injured man ought to be looked a spiritually: someone who is spiritually damaged, either through his own sin or the sins of others. We pray for this person, and our good merits are represented in the story by the coins that the Good Samaritan uses to pay the innkeeper. Even when we are helping someone or praying for someone, we do not permit this person into our "house." Our soul is for God, not grafting others onto.
When we let others into our souls, give them access, all of the punishment for their sins falls onto us, as well. So if you know someone who has rejected God, be polite to them but do not share much personal information with them and do not let them into your soul, into your heart, even if you are praying for them. It should all be done only under the Will of God and with great detachment.
Physically, I have found it important not to accept gifts from these people, physical gifts. Even if the person sends you a birthday or Christmas card, say thank you, accept it, but either donate the gift or dispose of it. If a person has rejected God openly or is involved with the occult or something along those lines, don't keep any physical object they have given you in your physical house. It creates a spiritual bond with them that causes you to suffer for their sins. Hatred of these persons is also a bond, a powerful emotional bond, and so is thinking about someone a whole lot.
I can think of numerous times in which I did not stop feeling afflicted or cursed unless I threw out every birthday card and gift.
So just, overall, stay very detached from people, don't permit them into your soul (bind them and cast them out with the deliverance wheel, don't feel strong emotions towards them, put them in God's hands), pray for them if God asks you only in a detached way, and don't tell them important information about yourself (basically, your Facebook profile, unless it's really on private, is creating a lot of spiritual problems for you).
People being in my soul or having objects from blasphemous people has been the number one cause of feeling cursed in my life after I was living a life in accordance with God's commandments and attending daily Mass. There are just SO MANY people who blaspheme God's Name and who take it in vain and who play with the occult and who fornicate and look at porn and who are Christian only under false pretense that it is very, very difficult in contemporary times to avoid feeling cursed by all of these sins, unless you deliberately cleanse your soul.
... It was probably always, more or less, like this, but with social media where you are expected to share every detail of your life on public for literally every single person to see, it is very easy to become completely controlled by other people spiritually, it is very difficult to keep anyone out of your house unless you are very careful and very specifically avoid permitting people into your "house."
You have to really be on top of this, hide a lot of information, even from family, and really struggle against sin and work to be closer to God.
Josue chapter 23: [11] This only take care of with all diligence, that you love the Lord your God. [12] But if you will embrace the errors of these nations that dwell among you, and make marriages with them, and join friendships: [13] Know ye for a certainty that the Lord your God will not destroy them before your face, but they shall be a pit and a snare in your way, and a stumblingblock at your side, and stakes in your eyes, till he take you away and destroy you from off this excellent land, which he hath given you. [14] Behold this day I am going into the way of all the earth, and you shall know with all your mind that of all the words which the Lord promised to perform for you, not one hath failed. [15] Therefore as he hath fulfilled in deed, what he promised, and all things prosperous have come: so Will he bring upon you all the evils he hath threatened, till he take you away and destroy you from off this excellent land, which he hath given you,
[16] When you shall have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he hath made with you, and shall have served strange gods, and adored them: then shall the indignation of the Lord rise up quickly and speedily against you, and you shall be taken away from this excellent land, which he hath delivered to you.
Some of the things I'm listing on the deliverance wheel can't possibly go away because they are beyond control or essential to functioning. Why must I list them?
Because it will cast out any false idols or spiritually bad relationship you may have with it and it will open the way for you to put it in the perspective of God, which is to either accept it with God's strength and suffer patiently under it, deriving spiritual benefit from this suffering, or it will mitigate person problems, problems happening inside of you, with this... whatever it is.
Put every problem, no matter how big, on the wheel. And God will help make it not a problem.
Why am I putting personality traits on the wheel?
Some personality traits are a result of sin, some are a result of insecurity, some are a result of abuse, some are a result of imitating or being influenced by something that may not be so great, some may be false personality traits that are getting your off the life path God has for you (and so is most fulfilling to you), and still others aren't your personality but are grafted onto you through people who are spiritually connected to you.
Intense desires and emotions can transfer to you from other people if they have grafted themselves onto you and you do not bind and cast them off of you. For example, someone who makes a false idol out of perfection, you might be a perfectionist. You may have always considered yourself this, and then you find that once you have bound and cast the person out of your soul, you "mysteriously" no longer suffer from this affliction of perfectionism. It is pretty clear that it came from the other person.
This is what I mean when I say you will suffer from the punishments of others that you are connected to (the perfectionism being a spiritual affliction and so a punishment).
Rage, lust, greed, gluttony or over-eating, self starvation, desperation, histrionic behavior, narcissism, despair, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, psychosis, the desire to attack others, sexual addiction and obsession... I've seen SO MANY things almost instantly evaporate from people's lives and never return once they are liberated from being spiritually connected to other people.
It's better to have a very happy life than to have a life full of friends who are spiritually destroying you.
That's why it's always very important not to identify with a sin or a disorder: it's something outside of you that personal repentance, prayer, and casting out other people's souls very well may completely clear up. But if you say, "i AM this person," then you will be the one clinging to it even after you've been liberated from it spiritually.
That is the reason why you put every trait on the wheel. If it is really yours then God won't cast it off of you and if it is not really yours, then you will be liberated from it and be much happier in life.
See also Psychology Attachment Styles, these are good to cast off of you, too. There is also lost of information on the Depression Post that will enlightening you on what to cast off in Jesus' Name, including the tendency to repeat a trauma (PDF, medical article, important read for everyone, the trap of repeated traumas in life are something everyone suffers are are part of the wheel that cannot be broken with God's intervention, very good thing to know about and entrust to God's Mercy).
Physical health is also important in this regard. You can spiritually heal everything but if you need physical healing, you may still suffer from some of these problems. See the vitamins and minerals and supplements section for healing from anxiety on that Depression post for more information, and be sure to drink 8 glasses of water a day, get 8 hours sleep, and avoid people who sin against you, including abusing you, mentally or emotionally (or physically) torture or intentionally hurt you, or who gossip: if they gossip about others, they'll be gossiping about you once you leave, and that is a sin against you, so avoid such people because they bind the soul through their sins. (Of course, you can't do this to other people, either, or you would suffer tremendous negative spiritual consequences from it.)
Why do I put expectations and my prayer intentions on the wheel?
So, for example, the prayer request that prompted this post, the woman wants her daughter married and children in high paying jobs. That's all well and good, but those things in and of themselves do not bring fulfillment to a person. Being married will not fulfill her daughter's life. Having money will not fulfill her children's lives.
The only thing that fulfills a person is a relationship with God. That's it. Everything else brings misery without a close relationship with God, even if at first it seems exciting or distracting.
Ultimately, an unspeakable emptiness will set in and that restlessness and emptiness will demand to be heard sooner or later.
God knows this and He only wants what is best for His children.
He DOES want to help us even with material things, such as a marriage or a job, but ONLY IF it does not interfere with our developing a relationship with Him. That means we have to have a deep attachment to His Holy Will, because we trust that whatever His Will is for us, will bring us the most happiness. This might mean that things we think will make us happy, we have to be willing to reject those things if God, in His Infinite Wisdom, sees that they will ULTIMATELY make us miserable because they will interfere with our relationship with Him.
Furthermore, the more we are attached to something, the greater a danger it is to our soul for us to have that thing that we are attached to.
For example, let's say there is a woman who desperately wants a husband. Day in and day out, she feels completely miserable and even suicidal because she is not married, that all she wants is a husband.
God sees that this cannot fulfill her, because no one can fulfill another person completely. There are many people in relationships and they are restless, empty, and miserable. Sometimes it even happens that someone who desperately longs for a relationship gets in one, it is very distracting and exciting at first, and then they realize that they are still empty inside. The relationship didn't "fix" what was missing in them.
Sometimes this is very distressing to people, especially people who don't have any knowledge at all of God. They can fall into despair, suicidal ideation, drug or alcohol abuse, workaholism, obsession with something else, adultery... all kinds of things because they didn't feel fulfilled by what they, in their limited knowledge, "knew" would fulfill them (that is, the relationship, or whatever it is that they desperately wanted and got).
ONLY God can fill us up. This is why we have to bind and cast out everything that we are praying to Him for. We can still ask Him for these things. For example, someone could still pray to be married. That's a wonderful thing to ask God about, in fact, it would be bad NOT to ask Him about it. But when we bind and cast out of our souls the intention of getting married, at the same time as asking for a good marriage, we are actually binding and casting out any excessive desire to be married, any idolatry that marriage has, any illusion that marriage (or whatever the intention, job, money, etc.) will bring us fulfillment.
It is very important that we bind and cast out every single false idol, every single illusion that might lead us to misery and lead us away from God, and away from recognizing that God is our only good.
When we are completely detached from the things that we are asking for, so that we do not care if we receive them or not, but we only care about trusting in God, trusting in God's Will that what He does give us will be the best thing for us (even if we can't see it), and we only care about loving God actively, then, and only then, can He bless us.
So if, back to our example, the woman prays for a marriage. She thinks it will fulfill her by getting rid of her loneliness and giving her direction in life and a place to pour out her good nature. During the course of her prayer for this intention, through God's grace, rids herself of all illusion and idolatry about the marriage, and comes to truly love God. Her relationship with God develops so much that she is no longer lonely. She pours out her love and good intentions onto God, Who, in turn, lavished all of His grace onto her soul. She is truly coming into a profound relationship with God, experiencing peace within herself and great joy because of God. So much so that she no longer cares if she is married or not; in fact, she worries that, if she were married, would it distract her from her relationship with her God? This is how much she has put God first in her heart and in her life. So she no longer prays for a marriage but now prays for a marriage "if it is Your Will, O God."
Then, and only then, can God give her a relationship, if it is in accord with His Will and His plans for her lifepath, if He knows it will be good for her soul and His relationship with her soul. Because, only when she reaches that point, would she even be ready for a marriage, which is very complicated, and then, He would only help her to be with someone if he would further her relationship with Him. Because, see, if He had given her what she so desperately wanted before, it would have withheld so many graces from her soul, and would have completely stopped her relationship with God, which is, ultimately, the only thing that matters and what will truly last for an eternity.
Our time on earth, our lives here, are so, so remarkably short to eternity.
Think about that. Eternity with God isn't 1,000 years, or ten thousand years, or 40 trillion years.
It is FOREVER. And once we enter into eternity, we lose any chance of gaining spiritual merit and so getting closer to God. Literally, our whole lives are ahead of us, with Him, in Heaven. Our immortal souls are at stake, and God wants us to be absolutely happiest forever.
Yes, He will provide for us on earth, of course, He is a most loving Father. A mind-bogglingly generous, loving, providing Father. Nothing and no one can compare to Him.
But He would never, ever give something to us if it were going to hinder our relationship with Him, because that is our ultimate happiness, both in life and for eternity. He wouldn't ever hinder our relationship with Him because He wants us to be happiest.
He made us for Himself, not for someone else, and not for money, but for Him. He knows that and He wants us to be happy with Him.
So this is why we must bind and cast out all expectations and intentions, even for things we are asking Him for, even if the things we are asking for are very very good, because what we are really doing is, we are really binding and casting out our attachment to what we are asking for, in order to make sure that our desires and anxieties are not overriding our relationship with God.
And if your relationship with God is very weak so that the idea of getting rid of any desire or intention that you have brings you anxiety, then this is my advice to you: trust in the good God. Put your anxiety in His Hands. Tell Him that you want to trust in Him, and tell Him everything that keeps you from trusting in Him, and ask Him for help. Ask Him to be gentle. Ask Him to fill you up with so much love and joy in Him that you are no longer anxious about anything. Ask Him to bring you to Him in Heaven. Say, "my God, I want to be with You now and forever! I want to be happy!"
He will listen. He will hear you. I promise, He will hear you if you ask this of Him.
And He will begin leading your soul, leading your life, taking you by the hand like a most loving, honest, trustworthy, gentle, sympathetic, understanding Father, the likes of which no human or angelic mind can comprehend.
Trust in Him. He is Goodness Itself. He will lead you to happiness. He will make you happy. He alone will make you loved. He alone will give you worth. He alone will help you.
You will be forever glad that you did.
My God, I want to be with You, now and forever! I want to be happy, now and forever! Please take from me all human concepts and concepts that the world has of what happiness is or how I am to be or behave: the world does not know You and so has no knowledge of true joy or even of what reality is. Take from me my concepts of myself, or life, of everything, and give me only Your wisdom and Your truth! Make me new. Mold me. I trust in You to bring me to happiness with You. I want to trust in You! I want to believe in Your Love for me! I want to love You in return! Make me into a Saint, which is, a person who is with You and who does Your Will and loves You! You alone know my lifepath! Put me on it, because You have made me for it and it for me and that will make me happiest! Inspire me! Put Your fire within me! Give me spiritual sight to see you and spiritual hearing to hear You! Lead me, and give me the understanding and courage that I need to follow; do not ever let go of my hand, and take from me all my fear. I love You!(A personal example, I did this for my various false idols and I... received a bunch of confidence, no or greatly, significantly reduced fears about things, and I found out that I'm interesting in all kinds of things that I couldn't have cared about before because I was so anxious and miserable. I found I'm really a huge science nerd, especially nature, and that I'm a dog person, and I suddenly was able to write, and had all these talents and abilities and am able to make all of these designs and do all this art, as well as help people spiritually. All kinds of stuff. This is really, really good. Trust yourself to God, He doesn't just open up new doors for people, He creates new opportunities and gives skills and abilities and just... makes life so vibrant, because suddenly life is completely in relation to God.)
Will this work?
Yes, it will work, if you do everything, because essentially this is everything that real exorcists recommend or that is in real declared Saints' writings or is really in the Gospels. Those are my sources of information. This is what people have been doing to become liberated for 2,000+ years. And there is no other path for liberation other than this one, other than the path of God. Which is why it's been so popular and why those who reject it become so miserable.
Even if it doesn't remove every suffering in your life, because God has willed a certain suffering for your salvation, you will be at peace and in joy and in love with God, growing in a close relationship with Him.
Think of all the moments in history in which great suffering has given way to a huge blessing. This is God's Hand. The Jews and millions of Catholics were murdered under socialists (Nazis) in World War 2. Then Israel came into existence, the Jews received their own country legally, on the map, no longer a spiritual entity but a real, materially there country. Why? Suffering is required to atone for sins, personal sins as well as sins of the world. And after that, an impossibly huge blessing. Many innocent people died during the Civil War in the US, and then after that, and seemingly un-related if you are looking at it from the point of view of the world, we became a great nation. Millions and millions and millions and millions of people died in China under Communist rule, and now Orthodox Christianity is spreading like wildfire and pouring out so many graces onto the people of China. 70 million in Russia under Communist rule, to atone for the sins of blasphemy.
All of the events of these nations are taking place within you and within your own life in a micro way. We know this is true because the Book of Revelation talks about the destruction of sinners and a sinful world before the coming of God's Kingdom, and then the book ends with a warning that all of these curses of the whole world would come upon a single person if he or she changes one word of the prophesy. That means that you, your soul, is spiritually a world unto itself. It is spiritually a nation unto itself.
In the Old Testament, the people are warning to destroy the babies of their enemies, to drive them off the land and brutally dash them against rocks. Then Jesus came and He did not do a single thing political like that. The most He did was, if He was rejected in a place, He left in testimony against them (and told His followers to do likewise). But He said, "I have not come to destroy the prophesies but to fulfill them." How can He have done this without the acts of battle? It is spiritual. The Russian Orthodox, influenced by the Desert Fathers, say that the children of the enemies that we are to dash against the rocks, they are the fruits of our sins! For example, the benefits or works that we do that are sinful, throwing them out (like, if say, someone is a great artist and then spent all of her time drawing porn, then converted, to destroy the art she created, even if that means destroying hours and hours of work.)
"Oh, that's so boring and lame!" No! Only someone who has never done it would say that. If you actually try to do it, you will be entering into intense spiritual battle that is much more profound and intense than even physical battle, but will also help real physical battles. You will see. God is not boring and spiritual warfare is HUGE. Much more effective than physical battle, even if physical battle is necessary in the face of mortal danger.
Life is a battle, a spiritual battle, that is worth it because life is so short compared to the joys of eternity. The battle will be successful if you do what is suggested above and in the works of Saints (such as Saint Faustina in her diary) and it will be joyful if you do what is suggested below.
After starting to do all of this, reading your articles, reading the information and writings from Saints you have suggested, doing all of these wonderful things, God has begun to liberate my life in a huge way and is really drawing me closer to Him. And He is doing all of this for free, just because of His great Mercy! How am I supposed to respond?
The thing, I promise you, the thing that God wants the most... is your love.
In the way that thinking about a person excessively is going to permit them access to your house, thinking about (not talking about, thinking about) God is also going to create a wonderful relationship. And the thing that He wants more than anything is for you to say, "thank You, I love You."
We know that God exists in the Eucharist because He has said so and because the Eucharist is a powerful exorcism tool: they respond to this holy sacrament in the way they responded to Jesus in the New Testament. This brief little, easy to read article: What Demons Know about the Eucharist that Many Catholics Don't
So Jesus is most definitely in the Eucharist, literally, physically. Jesus is the most powerful person on earth, with the greatest wealth and influence, and He is present in the Eucharist. It is the greatest gift God has given to mankind.
As such, before receiving Him, it is important to clean up your "house." It has to be pure because God is going to enter into it. Ask Mary to present you to God, and there is another special devotion. The shoulder wound of Christ that He got while carrying the Cross to Calvary. You ought to pray to hide yourself in the shoulder wound of Christ so that any unknown sin that you have might be washed in His Blood until you go to confession. (If you have a mortal sin, a very grace sin, though, you should not receive communion until you have gone to confession.)
He also says that He is very saddened by people who receive Him in Communion as if He were a lifeless object, or people who receive Him out of either weekly or daily habit. He admitted this to Saint Faustina in her diary. They ignore Him and the great number of graces He wishes to grant them. How sad, a suffering savior, frustrated in His attempts to love us! What a pity, to put to waste everything important. So, pray very sincerely before receiving Communion, that you might not fall into this error, which makes the good God so sad, but that He might fill you with lively sentiments of love and faith, so that you might receive Him in a way most pleasing to Him. Ask this every time before receiving Communion.
When you receive Him, you receive the power of the Jesus on the Cross. In this moment, the first thing you ought to do is to pray: "I offer up the Divine Wealth I now possess to may the debt of souls, one as if multiplied out to all like the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, in thanksgiving, and for all the intentions of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus." You are now interceding with God for all souls, including souls who are very very evil on earth and souls suffering in Purgatory, and souls with no one to pray for them, souls of religious, and the souls of people unintentionally in error through ignorance--all people! Very powerful prayer, the most powerful thing you can do.
Eucharist means "thanksgiving." It is the best way to offer gratitude to God for the great liberation He has given to you, because you are offering the most perfect gratitude of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Sins of ingratitude are the greatest sins that humanity has. I have seen people lose everything that God gives them because they do not try to be grateful towards Him, but instead are grateful to other causes or reasons or people (all of which can be false idols).
It is a very good practice to, all throughout the day, to picture in your mind (or if you can't do this, than to look at a picture of) the Eucharist, and to pray in your heart to God truly present in the Eucharist "my Jesus, I thank You and I love You." Over and over and over again. During suffering, during times of joy, during any free moment, even a thousand times a day, and to never let up this devotion.
Although it is good to rouse one's heart to feeling these words so that they are not empty and hollow, even if we are under great stress and cannot feel anything at all in our hearts, to continue to pray to the Eucharist "my God, I thank You and I love You."
You can also pray this way through the Divine Mercy Image, as well.
It's all God wants, is our love. This is such an easy, direct, and wonderful way to interact with Him. It offers tremendous blessings. The biggest blessings in my life I've gotten after praying this way. Because God is so delighted in these sentiments! It's all He wants!
Haven't you been there, too, where all you've wanted from someone is that they say, "thank you, I love you," and mean it? So, too, God wants this!
This is the way to joy, to peace, to blessings untold, overflowing. This is the way to life, the way to God.
I have seen so many people lose their graces and gifts God has given to them because they do not consider Him at all once they've gotten what they wanted out of Him.
Have you ever known someone like that, who got what they wanted from you and then threw you away, were "done" with you? It's an awful feeling.
So always pray, "thank You, I love You," and you will be led on the right path, to new life in Christ, with so much joy, so much unspeakable, tremendous joy, and liberation from afflictions.
One sigh of love towards the Eucharist forever raises a soul's place in Heaven. How truly wonderful it is, then, to pray always "thank You, I love You" while meditating on the Eucharist. How much happiness God will pour out into your soul for this, it is so pleasing to Him.
The deliverance wheel will help remove everything that isn't just joy for God from your life. What a wonderful thing to devote yourself to, to saying "thank You, I love You" to God for the great gift of the Eucharist, through the Eucharist. From this, everything in your life will be ordered and come to fruition.
After He does anything for you at all, be sure to pick up a devotion of saying, "thank You, I love You." Always, always think of God in this way.
