I am going to explain the exchange system in a nutshell because it is so effective. The Lord showed me to take every thought that did not line up with the Word of God—every thought that tried to steal my peace, rob my joy or destroy in any way—and exchange that negative thought for a thought from God’s Word. He impressed me that the exchange system works no matter what the thought might be—a thought of sickness, fear, despair, insecurity, jealousy, divorce, lust...whatever. I was to take the contrary thought and exchange it for a contrasting thought from God’s Word. That is exactly what Paul was writing to the church at Corinth. Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and pull down the strongholds and lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God. -2 Corinthians 10:4–5 When I first started taking these negative thoughts captive, it took a great deal of time. At least ninety-nine percent of my thinking must have been influenced by fears, doubts, and insecurities... I was not necessarily a negative person, but I had formed habits of thinking on things that didn’t line up with the Word, and every one of those thought patterns had to be exchanged if I wanted to be set totally free. I learned that to walk in the Spirit meant I couldn’t go by sight or circumstances. Regardless of the situation, I had to choose to believe whatever God said. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:18 It was a relief to find out that those demon spirits were not indwelling my spirit man because my spirit man was indwelt by the Spirit of God. Those spirits of fear and doubt that had tormented me for so long were in my soulish realm (mind, will, emotions), and that was the part of me that had to be renewed after my deliverance. That was what the packing of the hole left by the extracted tooth represented in my vision. "Jesus said, “If I cast out demons by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God can come upon you.” -Matthew 12:28 What is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. -Romans 14:17 No wonder I could never have peace and joy. My mind and emotions were so filled and cluttered with harassing spirits. Paralyzing doubts had left little room for righteousness, peace, and joy. The Enemy Always Fights Back! The enemy’s subtle trap is to put thoughts in a person’s mind, either directly in first person or through circumstances. For example, he puts thoughts like, “I think I’m having a heart attack . . . I don’t think I love my mate any longer . . . I don’t think my husband loves me”. . . and on and on! The fact that each thought is in first person makes one assume it to be his own thinking. Also, the things that we see or hear will trigger a thought, and immediately that thought is accompanied with an emotion. We feel fearful, or we feel despair or jealousy, and at that point, we have to be on our toes and in the Spirit. Otherwise, we will be washed away, simply because we are so accustomed to operating out of our mind and our emotions. The one thing that belongs totally to us is our will. Therefore God will not violate our will. Your will is like the switch—it is your instrument of exchange. I was reminded of Jack’s pickup truck with two separate gas tanks. He had a switch under the dashboard that would immediately transfer the engine over to the other tank when one tank ran low. That is a good analogy for our will. Our will is our switch. With our will we can switch over into the spirit by exchanging the negative thought with a thought from God’s Word. Or, we can continue dwelling on the negative thoughts. It’s our choice. Our will is the switch that can immediately take us from the physical to the spiritual—or to the soul (mind) and back again—depending on which level we choose to operate. The Lord showed me to exchange every thought of fear for one of His scripture promises. I was to exchange every thought of sickness for one of His promises of health. Every thought of lack was to be exchanged for His promise of provision. One of my favorite promises of provision is what Paul wrote to the Corinthian church... And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. -2 Corinthians 9:8 Every thought of anger had to be exchanged for an opposite thought from His Word. This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. -James 1:19–20 Every thought of inferiority had to be exchanged for a promise of who I am in Christ—every thought of doubt had to be exchanged for a faith promise—every thought of temptation exchanged for a promise of His strength and faithfulness —and on and on! God wants us to be able to say, as Jesus did in John 14:30, “The prince of this world is coming but he has nothing in me”— Not one of his evil spirits is controlling me. Salvation is an act and then it becomes a process. In the same way, deliverance is an act and then a process. It is a one-time experience. But it is also an ongoing progression as God continually cleans us up. The more we get cleaned up, the more His peace and joy and righteousness can fill our being. Like I said earlier, this process is what made up the long packing part of my vision, after the badly infected black tooth (demonic oppression) had been removed. Something wonderful began to evolve as I put this exchange system into operation. I began to experience a love walk that I didn’t even know existed. When I saw the kind of love that would keep on loving me—after I had turned my back on Him, I was overwhelmed. He never left me or forsook me through all those years, and He kept drawing me by His Spirit through all those progressive steps until He could heal and deliver and restore what the enemy had stolen. Then I will return to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust. -Joel 2:25 A constant watchfulness is necessary, because every time it appears that the Word isn’t working, our flesh wants to throw up its hands and say, “I give up on God’s way. It is just not working.” At that point God wants to take us to the next level of healing and deliverance and faith. And probably the hardest level for me to achieve was to initiate the exchange system. Exchanging all those habitual thoughts felt, at times, like pulling flesh off my bones. It often seemed next to impossible to make those fear thoughts yield to what God’s Word said, especially when the fears sounded reasonable and the emotions were going wild. Often it seemed crazy to believe God’s Word more than what I was seeing. But if we keep submitting to God in obedience, we will eventually win. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. -Ephesians 3:20 - Peggy Joyce Ruth Get the Book
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