I was excited to meet Bill at a recent workshop. He is enrolled in our Hearing God Through Your Dreams e-Learning module and had begun receiving incredible revelation from Heaven through his visions at night. In a dream, the Lord revealed that self-hatred was a root cause underlying the autoimmune issues he had been dealing with for years and how to address it by learning to feel about himself the way God feelsabout him. That is, unconditional love.

Bill shares, “When I had this dream, it marked a turning point in the symptoms. The image in the dream of the love for myself was so comforting that I was dwelling on the dream several weeks later. While I was recalling the dream, the Lord spoke to me that the healing I was receiving began when I started to love myself through this dream. I believe the image in this dream showed me how to love myself enough that my body was able to begin to recover.”

Upon understanding the interpretation and honoring the dream’s message through repentance and self-acceptance, the physical condition began to immediately reverse. He was eager to show me his hands and fingers which were greatly improved and looking healthy already. Praise God!

I’m so proud of Bill for listening to his dreams and for acting on the Lord’s nightly counsel to him. Truly our Heavenly Father gives to His beloved even in their sleep (Psalm 127:2)!   

Emotional Freedom – Is It That Big a Deal?

Scripture tells us we comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received (2 Corinthians 1:3–5). In order for us to be a blessing to others, it is most helpful if we are not among the walking wounded. To the degree that we are healed and comforted, we can offer those same gifts much more freely to others.

Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT, is an effective tool to accomplish precisely what its name implies: liberty and choice in regard to our feelings and how we experience them. If I’m overwhelmed at work, stressed out in my relationships, worried about my finances, disappointed with God, afraid of the future, and feeling guilt-ridden in general, I don’t have a lot of time or energy left to be considerate of the needs of those around me. I’ve got my own problems! How can I expect to help others, too?

When we are living in toxic emotions, we aren’t the most effective ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word gospel actually means “good news.” If I look at my life, is it a good advertisement for this Good News, for this Gospel of Peace? Am I living into the promises that the Bible says are mine? Am I experiencing righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost?

While these negative emotions don’t serve us well, and in fact, greatly diminish and hinder our service to others, the opposite is also true. Positive feelings are the seedbed of greatness. If bad emotions are so wrong, then what about good Kingdom emotions? Are they really that important? Is the Lord actually concerned with how we feel?

Self-love. Really? 

When we first begin to practice EFT, we learn about the two-part “setup phrase.” In the first part we acknowledge a negative emotion we’re feeling. In the second part of this setup statement we affirm we love ourselves in spite of ourselves. For example, you will repeatedly hear some version of the setup phrase as, “Even though I feel (fill in the blank with a negative emotion)—I still deeply and profoundly love and accept myself.”

To personally explain the important principle of self-love, let’s revisit a time a few years back when I was stuck. I had tried to learn and apply Scriptures about judgment such as, “Judge not lest you be judged.” I also focused on the opposite of judgment, which I had understood to be love. I, therefore, committed the entire thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians to memory. I wanted to walk in love and not be critical!

Eventually, Holy Spirit got my attention and explained the root of my problem. I was being critical of someone and was feeling guilty for being critical. I prayed: “God, I know, I know. I need to love that person as I love myself.”

God said, “No, please don’t. The problem is you areloving your neighbor as you love yourself. You’re just really bad at loving yourself. You love yourself with condition and restriction, based on unrealistic demands and impossible standards. You dotreat others the same way you treat yourself, and that’s what I want to address.”

And so began my journey into extravagant self-love. This is very different from selfishness. As God explained, it is actually in the best interests of all those around me that I treat myself with compassion. If I walk in extraordinary kindness toward myself, then when I love you the way I love me, I will be expressing God’s version of true love, filled with patience, understanding and gentleness.

In Living a Life You Love, Joyce Meyer discusses this same truth. Section II of the book is titled “Love Yourself and You Will Love Your Life” where she breaks down who we are to love: God, Ourselves, and Others, in that order. She writes, “We arewho God says we are, but we liveaccording to who wesay we are.” Which is why it’s imperative we agree with God, saying we are lovable and feeling we are worthy of love.

What About You?

Maybe you are stuck, too, saying you love yourself, but it doesn’t feel true to you. EFT can help you tap into the love and compassion of God. When we receive a heart revelation of how our heavenly Father truly feels about us, we can’t help but overflow with that same merciful, gracious, generous love for ourselves and others.

If you want to learn more, check out our book EFT for Christians or download the videos and MP3s I recorded live with Dr. Jim Richards during a weekend training event.

Jesus loves you. Isn’t it time you learned to love you, too?