Mike Connell Ministries

The widow of Nain ( Luke 7 ) was in a place of great grief and without hope for her future, no-one could comfort her. Maybe you too are locked into grief feeling numb and disconnected. Our God is a God of comfort, and a God of all hope. Set-backs are not the end. Let Christ in - He is able to breathe into a place of death, and bring life and fresh vision. Jesus still works miracles, and restores a broken heart.

In 1 Kings 19 we find Elijah had yielded to fear and intimidation, and drawn back from his God-given assignment. We then get one of those "God Questions". He knows the answer, but wanted Elijah to think about where he was at, to recognize his distorted thinking, and to get back to his assignment, which included raising up others to fulfill the ministry. What are you doing here? Elijah had chosen to yield to fear, withdraw from his assignment, sit down, become passive and isolate at the crucial point when he needed to press forward. Sound familiar? Learn to recognize the signs of pressure.

In Malachi 4 God prophetically declared the condition on the earth in our time - breakdown in family relationships, destruction and broken-hearts. The problem lies in our heart. We don't have to live out of disappointment and pain. God wants to heal the broken-hearted and TURN our hearts. We can resolve issues of the heart. King David and his wife Michal both suffered injustice from King Saul, but their heart response determined their destiny. Discover powerful keys for accessing God's promises and blessing. It's not automatic, it requires a response.

Jn 1:29 "Behold - the lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world" has little meaning for people today, but for the Israelites who applied the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts (Ex.12) it was tremendously significant. When the destroyer saw the blood, they were protected, and 430 years of slavery finished. Jesus is God's provision for our sinfulness, and His blood still speaks. Get a fresh revelation of the power of the blood of Jesus for your freedom.

In Numbers 21, the children of Israel became bitter in their heart and started complaining against Moses. Their sin released fiery serpents which bit the people and released poison into their system. Their was only one remedy for the bite of the serpent - fixing their eyes, with faith in their heart, on God's provision.The same power is available to you today -the power of the cross for curses.

In Exodus 15, we follow the journey of God's people who came out of the slavery of Egypt to the promised land. When they met difficult circumstances we see what was in their heart - all the "fruit" of bitterness. If the fruit is there, the root is there. Test yourself. Do you think like a slave or a son? We can focus on injustice and choose to be bitter, or respond to God's provision and embrace grace.

Acts 16:16 tells a story about a woman who was tormented by an evil spirit - a python spirit, or spirit of divination. Many people came to her city, a centre of Arts, wanting to know their future, and she made a lot of money for her owners by fortune-telling. What is the source of this power? How does it gain access to our lives? What does the Bible say about our destiny? How can we be set free?

Understand God's design for a blessed life, and about the deep impact on our spirit and soul of sexual sin. Learn how to break bondages, minister deliverance, and rebuild damaged lives.

People trade with evil spirits for knowledge, power or protection and end up in bondage.Learn how to recognize occult bondage and how to set people free,

Understand Generational Iniquity and Curses, recognize when it is operating in a person's life, and learn how to minister to help a person be set free.

Things from the unseen realm of the spirit, make their way into the physical world, by speaking words. Your words have power to shape your world, they have already shaped your world, and shape it today. With a heart man believes, with the mouth man confesses to salvation. Death and life are imparted to people through words, because there's a spirit content to it. The word of God has power to change your life. The mixture of meditating and speaking is what causes the word to become alive, and energised in your life.

Jesus started His ministry by picking 12 men and disciplining them through His life, giving them authority over all the power of the enemy. Jesus then commissioned 70 to go out to Preach the Gospel, Heal the Sick and Cast out Demons; and then many others also. Now the power of the Holy Spirit is available to every believer to carry out this ministry.

We are encouraged in ministry when situations seem not work out as we expect, for instance when someone won’t listen, they run away or manifest loudly without cooperating. This session also outlines the structure of the demonic world, their hierarchy, and where demons can go legally after they have been cast out. We are encouraged that when Jesus returns again that for a period of time the demonic influence will be restrained. During or before taking part in the ministry of deliverance we must be prepared for a spiritual battle which will take its toll on our emotions, relationships and bodies so we need to pray, mediate and steadfastly refuse to come under demonic attack!

Negative experiences can happen to everyone, but some traumas can open us up to a demonic influence. From an early age to old age, we can all experience painful things that open us up to demonic control. When we allow God to take us back to that place, and remember it with Him there with us, he adjusts our reactions; this time we are inviting Jesus to come and heal us.

Sexual sin, trauma, generational curses can all give the devil legal access into our lives. This causes people to live in fear, shame and bondage. We cover the consequences of these things in our lives, leading us to trust in Jesus. Then we outline principles that we need to put in place in our lives, to bring deliverance and freedom.

Cover the different entrance ways that allows demons to come into people’s life, and have dominion over them. These things bring control, bondage, sin, ungodly soul ties into peoples lives; causing shame, addictions and oppression. Learn how to bring people to: acknowledge; renounce; forgive. Then we can command the demon behind the affliction to leave in Jesus Name. We also learn that people need to rebuild their spiritual life by strong passionate prayer, and speaking the Word of God over their lives.

Demonstrating the practicality's of the deliverance ministry: preparing the people for prayer, and learning how to minister by tapping into the Power of God through the Holy Spirit. Don’t look to yourself and your abilities, but look to Jesus and his power for Deliverance. Learn how to deal with a situation where the person does not receive deliverance, and how to rise up in the Spirit of God, praying strongly as he leads.

Practical applications of deliverance. Our authority for deliverance comes from God, but we utterly depend on the Holy Spirit as we pray for others, to: recognise the person’s spiritual condition; know how to approach their need; and to understand the demonic realm, structure and strongholds in their life. First we must deal with the sin that opened the door for the demonic activity, before casting out demons. Our role is also to point people to Jesus, who will deliver them and set them free. We help them to face the truth, bringing acknowledgement, repentance and freedom.

The foundations of deliverance, from: why Jesus came; the power and authority he moved in; how he confronted the demonic spirit world; and to the victory through salvation, healing, and restoration of mankind.

Many problems we have in life come from traumatic experiences, which have often happened in early childhood: in the womb; early childhood; or during school years. These experiences tend to shut us down, and control the memory of the trauma. We do not realise that these experiences are actually controlling you: relationships; reactions; and approach to life. The effect of these traumatic experiences can only be overcome and healed through prayer; by exchanging old memory pictures with scripture memorisation; and by inviting the Holy Spirit and the truth into the situation - for total restoration in Jesus name!