Amazing Grace: The Dan Lirette Story
My name is Dan Lirette and today I'd like to share my Testimony with you.
I was born on November 2nd, 1976.
From an early age my brother and I would attend a local Evangelical church with my parents, though both of my parents were not saved; my parents were simply Christians in name only, with mom being of the Evangelical brand and dad being of the Roman Catholic brand.
I vaguely recall sitting church and it being boring; I wasn't interested in listening to the Preacher and can't really recall a single sermon preached. I did, however, enjoy the treats given at the churches we attended as youngsters!
At approximately 8 or 9 years of age I was outside playing when God called my name audibly; I heard Him speak my name as I hear any human speaking, though His Voice was certain marked by the fact that I knew it was Him.
You have to remember that I wasn't religious or a Christian; I was actually a troubled young boy who didn't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and yet God audibly called me by my name.
1 Samuel 3:1-8 “And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep; That the LORD called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called not; lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him. And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.”
Just as the Lord had called Samuel by name before he knew the Lord, so the Lord called me before I knew Him!
The Mercy and Grace of God is astounding in that God calls us before we call out to Him, and His love for fallen man is such that He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us, that we might be saved! Oh the matchless Grace of God!
At approximately the same time of age, I was also apprehended by the enemy while going to bed one evening; the memory of the terror that came upon me is forever etched in my mind.
While walking up the stairs to go to bed, all of a sudden the powers of darkness came rushing over me and I began screaming and yelling, not knowing what was happening; I know now, however, that it was the enemy, and oh what a darkness lives in him!
The specifics of why these two incidents took place in my life as a young child I may never know until I reach that Glorious shore on the other side to meet my Jesus face to face, yet I do know that they took place and I also know that God is Sovereign over all and He allows what He allows and puts and end to what H wants to put an end to.
Some would say that such experiences no longer happen in our day, that such things are the wild imaginations of a youngster; nonetheless, the Lord knows the truth of it all and eternity will reveal the fact of the supernatural to those who disbelieve that such events and others take place today.
Growing up, I was quite drawn, unfortunately, to wickedness.
My young life was a foreshadowing of the wickedness to come, of which we all now find ourselves in.
What most children in my vicinity would not partake in during those years of my young life, children now partake of in in this generation.
For example, I was one who would go into an abandoned building and light candles and burn Bibles and pray to devils; I was entrenched in darkness as a young boy.
Drawn to the dark side of the spiritual realm, my life was engulfed in evil.
Further to this, I engaged in a consistent lifestyle of stealing, lying, fornication, abominable deeds and all sorts of sinful behavior.
I longed to do evil and evil was my delight.
I had no time for education; there were too many opportunities to steal from shopping malls and stores.
Growing up I found myself stealing cars and later became involved in “petty” armed robberies (if the word “petty” can be used).
Finding no contentment in morality (morality without Christ is vain anyhow!) I turned and walked in immorality.
While my parents were “good parents” in the sense of being as “good” as they could have been without being saved, I was the “goat” of the family, always getting into trouble with the Police.
No amount of punishment or threatenings to punish me would stop me from living as I wanted to; no one was going to tell me how to go about living my life, that is, until a youth court judge sentenced me to 4 months (I believe) in youth reformatory.
At 12 years of age I was sent to a place called the Kingsclear Reformatory (now closed) in a city called Fredericton, NB; it was, if I recall correctly, June of 1989.
Here I was at 12 years of age in jail!
This institution was filled all sorts of wickedness, both from the “youth counselors” as well as the youth sentenced to be there and serve time.
While meant to be a place of rehabilitation, it was anything but such a place!
What was learned in this facility was hatred and hardening; there was nothing rehabilitative about this place.
A regular routine of fist fights and cliques were a normal part of everyday life for many of the youth who walked through it's doors.
Youth counselors were just as wicked, if not more so, than the youth sentenced to this so-called “reformatory”.
Simply put, this institution reformed no one but only churned out youth more wicked then when they first arrived!
I found myself wanting to be accepted by the other youth, so I would engage in the same sneaky games as everyone else, and I soon learned the lingo of “inside life”.
The first months were the hardest, but I found that I was sent back year after year, I became more adapted to life within those walls.
Once out, I would soon return again, for other crimes.
I was in and out of youth jail for several years, my longest stretch being a 23 month sentence.
The more the years passed by, the harder I became.
I remember a particular time in jail when a Christian group came to the jail and I was alone with one of the Christians as he was seeking, I believe, to lead me to Jesus Christ.
I was going to receive the Lord when, if I recall correctly, we were interrupted by a youth counselor and the Christian man had to leave.
Oh the cunning craftiness of the devil to seek to abort a dead life coming into New Life!
But yet God was not through with me, and was not going to allow the enemy to have his way in my life!
Without getting into the details, I was involved in an armed hostage taking situation and briefly escaped from the Kingsclear Reformatory and was soon afterward, the very same day, caught and sent to solitary confinement.
The reformatory was now going to send me to a maximum security facility on the border of Quebec and the USA; they no longer wanted me in their facility and would now have me transferred.
The new place I would be going to is called the Madawaska Regional Correctional Center, and the stories about this place from some of the youth counsellors were meant to scare the youth.
Madawaska had the perception of being a violent jail, and I was a bit nervous about going.
It was certainly a massive change from Kingsclear!
Kingsclear was more like a school while Madawaska looked like something from a television program on prisons.
It had the two tier cells, bullet proof glass windows, “bubble stations” for the guards, emergency buttons on most of the walls in case fights broke out or in case guards were in trouble, round barbed razor wire for the outside recreation area... it was quite literally a prison for adults, though at that time it housed youth (now it houses adults).
It was “almost” impossible to escape!
So here I was to finish my sentence and also finish the sentence I had received for escaping from Kingsclear; a total of 23 months, which included what I was already serving at that particular time.
Being 6 hours from where my family was, it certainly wasn't everyday that I received visits, but my parents did come to see me as much as they could.
Madawaska, as well as Kingsclear or any other institution that was segregated from family and society, was a very lonely place and very tormenting.
My days were spent even in jail by thinking of evil and evil things to do; from my waking moment I was usually involved in some type of evil.
There was one guard who I met, however, who was much more different than the other guards; Gilles was a Christian, and it was clear that there was something “different” about him.
It wasn't only in his words, but his very atmosphere was not the same as the one in which the rest of us lived; while we lived in darkness, this man was clearly not living that way, but was living in the Light of God.
Of course I didn't know all of the specifics at that time of what it meant to be a genuine Christian, yet I knew this man “had something” that none of us had.
He was always so nice and went out of his way to exude kindness and compassion, regardless of whether he was made fun of or not.
Unfortunately, I was one of the ones to make fun of him, but he continued to love me unconditionally, regardless of my evil.
He witnessed to me and would tell me of Jesus and forgiveness.
I was drawn to this man and looked forward to seeing him on shift.
Secretly, in my heart, I wanted to be near him; he made me feel so good being around him!
If I recall correctly, I asked him once while shooting a game of pool (He could play like no one I had seen!), “If God is in you, does that mean I'm playing against God?”
He laughed, of course.
While sitting with Gilles one day, I asked him something like, “Can you prove God?”
Gilles then told me of the Gift of praying in unknown Tongues (1 Corinthians 14:2) and how God gives His People a language that they never learned and were never taught.
Scripture also states that Tongues are a sign to unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22) of which I was at that point.
I then asked him to do it, to pray in Tongues, and with some hesitation, Gilles bowed his head in prayer and began praying in a Heavenly language that I had never heard before.
Here I was, a young man in a maximum security youth prison, filled with wickedness and knowing very little of God, and I'm sitting with a guard who begins praying in an unknown Tongue.
Immediately the Power of God fell on me and I became somewhat afraid of what was happening.
I knew that what I was hearing was not fake, false or gibberish; something had come all over me and I didn't know what it was, except to know that whatever it was that this man was doing was of God.
I asked him to stop due to the fear I was experiencing, but it was not a “demonic” fear, but it was clearly the Fear of God, that I was in the Presence of God Himself while this servant of his prayed to Him in a heavenly Tongue.
God's Spirit fell on me that day and I've never forgotten it.
At some point during Gilles' witnessing to me, I would go to my cell for bed at night and would get on my knees and ask Jesus to come into my heart; however, nothing seemed to have happened, and at times I would become very angry because the Lord would not save me like he saved Gilles.
No one knew the battle that was now raging in my heart, and neither did I know that God was preparing my heart for when He would save me!
By this time, an inmate named Bernie was led to Christ by Gilles, and as Bernie and I are sitting together, I asked Gilles to “speak in Tongues again”.
Gilles agreed, but said he would do so in the Interview Room with myself as well as Bernie.
The Interview Room was a place where guards took inmates to talk with them and was also where we made our phones calls to family, etc.
When Gilles said that, the Power of God fell all over me and I said to Bernie, “I'm going to be saved today!”
I now know that that was the Spirit of God revealing it to me and through my mouth; something in me all of a sudden “just knew” that I was about to be Born Again!
As we went into the Interview Room together, Gilles told me that “where two or three are gathered together in the Name of Jesus” that Jesus was right there present.
As Gilles led me in prayer to receive Jesus Christ, afterward I asked, “How do I know if I'm saved?”
He replied that I'd know.
When we all walked out of the Interview Room, I went to the common area where inmates watch TV, play cards, etc.
When I told all of them that “I'm a Christian now”, suddenly the Spirit of God fell on me in a way that I can't adequately put into words and at that moment I physically felt the Lord wash all of my sins away in front of those inmates; all of a sudden I physically felt completely “different” and knew that God was all over me, doing something.
I was clean and felt clean!
God was now my Father!
The moment I confessed Christ as my own, the Scripture was fulfilled in my life where Jesus promises:
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. “ (Matthew 10:32)
I was now Born Again!
Jesus Christ had now taken up residence in my heart!
I was instantly transformed from sinner to saint by the unmerited Grace of God!
All of a sudden I find that Jesus Christ is everything to me... His Person, Presence and workings in my life were forefront.
Not long after He saved me He also Filled me with the Holy Spirit AND blessed me with the gift of praying in other Tongues (1 Corinthians 14:2)!
My life became consumed in Jesus and learning about Him.
I would receive, on rare occasions, dreams from the Lord and His Presence was with me day by day as He walked with me and I with Him.
My life was dramatically different and I was genuinely taken from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God's Dear Son!
Being in that jail, however, didn't allow much Church Community, and fellowship was very small, with only Bernie and one or two others; it was not like it is today, with an entire body of Brethren to maintain fellowship with on a consistent basis.
Little did I realize the cost of serving Christ; my view was that being Born Again rid me of all of my problems and that my life would now be a mountain top experience all the way to Glory.
How wrong I was!
Not fully counting the cost of coming to Christ and surrendering to His Lordship, I soon began to experience what every Believer experiences and will experience until we're taken home: satan's attacks!
I must concede that I was unprepared for the battle that lay before me... unprepared, in reality, for the battle that I was in.
Little by little my devotion began to slip away until one day I was simply backslidden.
Having studied the Scriptures and having memorized much of what we know as Fundamental Doctrine, I was now more filled with intellectual knowledge than a holy zeal for Christ and Him Crucified.
Oh how satan comes subtly with pride and a lifting up of one's self!
When I was finally released from jail I was directed to a local assembly in my city of Moncton, NB, Canada, where I began attending, and also attended their youth group.
The name on top of the church said “Pentecostal” but it was much more, if I recall correctly, a church with much lukewarmness, from the youth especially.
I don't recall prayer and fasting times nor passionate times of calling on the Name of the Lord; our youth meetings were more conservative in nature in the sense of certainly having the Word preached, but without much power.
Youth enjoyed sports and such things more than seeking the face of Christ in prayer and in fasting.
I place no judgment on that church nor it's former leadership; my statements are simply statements of remembrance, of observation.
The Sunday church meetings were by all points also conservative in the sense that the Spirit of God and His Gifts rarely flowed in prophetic utterance, healing etc etc... at least as far as I observed.
There was lack of reverence, especially, by my observation, in the youth who attended.
Due to all of this, and due to my own lust for power with discipleship, satan had brought an individual n my path who called herself a prophet, who then invited me to her assembly in a nearby town.
I obliged and attended and I had never seen anything quite like this church!
It was “exciting”!
The Pastor of this small church was young, energetic and preached like a televangelist, complete with yelling, screaming, tears and the whole nine yards!
Prophecy, visions, falling “under the Power” and things like this were common place.
So, I made this church my new home fellowship.
There was only one problem: this church taught things contrary to the Word of God.
The teachings coming from the pulpit were, for the most part, a twisting of the Truth of Scripture.
We were fed doctrines which elevated man and demoted the Lord!
The church I was in was associated with the Word of Faith Movement.
We'd all bought into a false gospel which brought with it false doctrines.
As well, visions and prophecies were a big part of church life, and these manifestations were primarily a means of controlling the sheep.
I had personally received prophecies that told me of worldwide influence and such things.
Many of us did, if not all of us.
Visions, prophecies, etc, were normal happenings in this small church... but for the most part, much of the "supernatural" things taking place were simply not of God and were in fact instilling pride in us, causing us to believe we were "somebody's" when in all truth Christ alone is the One who we point people to... not ourselves or our "ministries".
There many things of this nature floating around our church.
Not all of what was happening was “of the devil” or “of the flesh”... the Lord was also involved in our lives to a small degree (which is terrible that this was so!).
Overall, however, we'd swallowed, hook, line and sinker, damnable doctrines.
Due to being involved in this movement I became filled to overflowing with pride, believing that even Pentecostals didn't have the “revelation” we, as Word of Faith followers, had.
Sure, Baptists and Pentecostals and all who were saved were going to Heaven, but they certainly weren't living as kings as they should have been, in my view.
My life, however, in reality, was a complete mess.
What a deceiver satan is, to allow one to experience spiritual things while living in sin!
What deception to believe you have the Holy and Pure Anointing of God while doing secretly that which is an abomination!
Through several series of events, I became “so backslidden” that I began living as a wicked reprobate, going to nightclubs, constantly drinking and doing all sorts of evils too numerous and too vile to list.
I became worse as a backslider than before I had known the Lord, and the Scripture was fulfilled in my own life that says, “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26)
I had become much much worse as a backslider than previous to the Lord saving me, and my heart became engulfed in hatred and darkness and my life was characterized by vile outward manifestations of inward wickedness.
Throughout all of those years I maintained within my heart a dishonesty over my lifestyle, trying to cover up my sin from others... hence, whenever I came to the altar to “come back to the Lord”, it never lasted very long, due to holding secret sin in my heart and not letting it go.
I found myself, over and over again, being drawn to the same sins, and whenever I'd “repent”, I'd soon be back into those same sins and worse.
My heart was constantly longing for the pleasures of sin and for the Lord, yet in reality it wasn't the Lord I was seeking but only an experience from the Lord.
Time after time, day after day... I was yet in my sin.
I had come to the place in my life where I was 99% sure I had blasphemed the Holy Spirit, for which there is no forgiveness in this life or in the life to come:
“And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.” (Luke 12:10)
I was so far gone in sin that I now feared I had crossed the line, that I had gone too far and now would never be forgiven and that God hated me and was allowing me to live only to torment before before sending me to Hell.
That's where I was at in my life and in my thinking.
Beloved, I was a fornicator, and adulterer, a whoremonger, a liar and was a breaker of all of God's Holy commands; I took pleasure in sin.
My life was consumed with sin and wickedness.
I was not simply a “lost sinner” but was one who once knew the Lord in a genuine way and then turned my back on being in relationship with Him, and due to my former experience of Salvation and then turning from that, I became 10 fold a child of Hell as previous to knowing the Lord.
What a grave thing it is to turn from Christ and His Blood back into the world!
Once known as a Believer in Jesus, I was now known as a con artist and fraud by many, living a double life and bringing shame to the Name of Jesus Christ.
Oh the damage we do to the Testimony of Jesus when we choose to sin and rebel against Him and His Grace!
By this point I had given up my party lifestyle of drinking and going to nightclubs and had “perfected” the art of backsliding by replacing those very visible sins with secret ones.
Now, rather than go out to nightclubs and such things, I was involved in the church and was very active and visible in ministry activities, though inwardly I was full of dead men's bones, lost in sin.
I was openly calling people to repent and turn to Jesus Christ and yet I myself was lost!
Oh what blindness comes to those who play games with God!
Beloved, I can't begin to describe the spiritual darkness that had overtaken me because of my refusal to repent and come clean with God and man.
The “public me” was not at all like the real me.
I was tormented in my heart and mind, afraid more of God than of the devil of himself, knowing that it was against God that I was sinning and that I would one day, perhaps soon, have to stand before and answer to.
Though my sins were great and though Hell itself was not sufficient punishment for all that I had done against the Name of Jesus Christ, the Lord loved me still!
When I had thought that I had blasphemed the Holy Spirit and that there was no longer any hope for me, the Lord was working on my heart “behind the scenes”.
The Lord say fit on a handful of occasions to wake me up from a dead sleep and have me engulfed in Outer Darkness.
Scripture speaks of Outer Darkness, and as such the Lord saw fit in His Mercy, to warn me of the place of Outer Darkness.
The Outer Darkness spoken of in Scripture is reserved for those who have turned form the Lord and who have refused to repent of their wickedness, as Scripture makes clear that those who go into Outer Darkness are those who were once servants (though unprofitable) in the Kingdom of God.
"But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 8:12)
"And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 25:30)
I tangibly experienced this place of Outer Darkness on a handful of occasion and wish never to experience such again.
Each time it took place, the experience has been the same.
Each it took place I was awake.
Once during one of these times, I nudged my wife to see if I was still alive; I believed I may have been dead as the sense of death and darkness were everywhere.
What I was “in”, so to speak, was a cloud of darkness, utter abandonment, utter hopelessness and terrifying fear.
In this Outer Darkness was a “knowing” that all hope for Salvation was gone, that God would allow no second chance, no hope and no way out; there was no sense of thinking, “I may be able to get out of here”… there was a clear and instinctive sense that there was no escape and that this was forever.
I also sensed, however, that God was present in the sense that He’s everywhere at one time, as Psalm 139:7-10 tells us that if we make our bed in Hell that God is also present even there, and yet while I was in this cloud of Outer Darkness, I had the “knowing” that God would allow no escape, regardless of one’s cries for Mercy; the day of Mercy is unknown in this place.
There was absolutely no escape… none; I cannot stress how deep the “knowing” was… it was as though it was God giving this “knowing”… that He was making it absolutely clear that this Outer Darkness was complete, full and eternal.
So here I am living in secret sin and the Lord comes and pleads with me to repent by warning me of what is coming if I don't turn from my sin and turn to Jesus once again in genuine surrender.
I was somewhat confused, however, as I wasn't sure as to whether or not the Lord was tormenting with this experience to say, “This is where you're going because you've blasphemed My Holy Spirit.”
I thought that perhaps He was letting me know that I was doomed no matter what.
How wrong I was!
One evening in my computer room I was overtaken with the pressure of my sin and praise God that the Lord saw fit to have the weight of my sin fall on me!
I called my Pastor at the time, who is a godly man, and asked if we could get together and talk, and I found myself weeping on the phone.
He said he'd come right over and did, and we went to a parking lot and I confessed my hypocrisy for the past several years of sin.
I was quite specific in much of my confession, as he asked me to be; I had quite frankly never confessed to anyone like this before.
It was humiliating and yet at the same time God was doing a mighty work in the process of it all.
Upon the conclusion of confession to my Pastor and then in prayer to the Lord, I was forgiven and cleansed!
God Himself is the one who arranged all of the happenings of my confession.... from the very beginning to when the burden of my sin fell on me to the moment of confession and repentance!
God also used the Outer Darkness experiences to show me the dire result of being forsaken by Him!
Beloved, Jesus Christ's nearness came to me that evening when the Lord met me in mighty conviction!
The Lord has wrought a mighty work in my heart and life, and when I believed all hope was lost and gone, Jesus Christ loved me while I was yet in my sin, showing me just how much by redeeming from it!
The fact that He saved me from my sin and washed me in His Blood shows me that there is Hope even for the worst of sinners and the greatest of backsliders.
There is nothing that I can give to the Lord in return for His great work in my heart; there's nothing I can say or do to repay the Goodness and Mercy and Compassion that He's showered on me when I deserved only Hell Fire.
Today, if you know not God or have turned from Him, there's hope for you still!
Rather than running to the altar to “come back to the Lord” week after week, if you'll simply be honest with God and with man and come clean with all that's in your heart and confess and forsake it once and for all, holding nothing back, the Lord promises to not only forgive and cleanse you, but He also promises to keep you, as the Scripture says:
“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”
Jesus Christ is able to keep us from falling, but we must allow Him to expose all of our darkness and sin and we must allow Him to take complete control of our hearts and lives if we're to be kept by His power.
We're not kept by self effort, rules or regulations; we're kept by the All Powerful Blood of Jesus Christ alone!
We're called to be open and honest, Beloved, not hiding our sin in secret places.
We're called to walk with Christ in humility and openness, not fearing the scorn of man or whatever man might think or say about us due to our former sin.
Jesus Christ will not cast you aside if you come His Way, which is the way of Truth and Life:
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
No longer hold back from coming to God in absolute surrender of your sin and darkness, but come to Him in open confession and if need be confess before your Pastor or someone godly that you trust, holding on to no sin, but releasing it all to the Lord.
God is not unrighteous to cast aside those come to Him in His Way; He'll not forsake you if you turn to Him in repentance and faith in Jesus.
Once you've done that, you must allow the Lord to continue shedding light on your heart and you must maintain, by His Grace alone, an honest and open communication with those whom you're accountable to in the Lord, such as your family and Pastors and church body.
An honest heart pleases God's Heart; let's continue to be an “open book” regardless of the cost or the shame associated with it!
Oh that you would see the beauty of serving God in His Power!
Friend, Jesus Christ stands at the door and knocks: Will you answer and allow Him to come in and clean your heart, forgive your sin and make you whole again?
Will you allow Him to touch your life and cause you to walk in His Word openly and honestly, holding nothing back, but allowing Him to reveal those things in you that displease Him?
Will you allow God to transform your life, conforming your heart into the very image of Jesus Christ?
Oh that we would see the beauty there is in serving the King!
satan's desire is that you remain locked in the prison of sin, yet Jesus came to set the captives free, Beloved!
Trust in Him alone today for your Salvation and restoration to the Heavenly Father, and lean not on your own understanding, including your feelings, but trust in Him by simply calling on His Name and asking Him to do the impossible in your life!
Our God is the God of the impossible!
My prayer is that this very frail testimony will be the testimony of others like me who believed themselves to be “too far gone” for the Grace of God to reach.
Take a moment now to call out to the Lord for freedom from sin and bondage and God will set you free instantly! If you're not sure “what” to pray, you may use the following prayer as a guide:
“Father, I come to You now in the Name of Jesus. I'm asking God that You would give me eyes to see the truth of Your Word for my life and that You would give me a heart to receive that truth. I ask that You come now and take complete control of my life. I surrender my sin and my bondage and ask that You replace those things with Your forgiveness and freedom. Forgive my sin, Lord, and cleanse me. Set me free from my bondage and take every idol out of my heart that I've allowed to come into it. Fill me now with Your precious Holy Spirit and guide my every thought and motivation and desire. I thank You for hearing me and for answering my heart's prayer. In Christ's Name I pray, Amen.”
