You can be Free!

We are all children of God, called to walk in the freedom that Jesus bought for us on the Cross. And yet, we strive, we fail, we despair, and we lose heart. Is there a way out?

With over 50 years of pastoral experience helping people find freedom in Christ, Neal Lozano shares his incredible journey as a shaky teenager who lost his faith, to becoming an adult who discovers true freedom in Christ. Currently one of the most sought-after evangelists and deliverance ministers in the world, his ‘Heart of the Father’ ministry and the ‘Unbound’ model of deliverance are changing scores of lives and leading each person to experience true freedom as a child of God.

Extracts of Neal’s conversation with our Contributing Editor, Reshma Thomas, are shared below.

Helping people discover the ‘Heart of the Father’ is the primary focus of your life and ministry. Is it right of me to assume that you too, have a journey of discovering that deep love?

I have the usual beginner’s story of being born Catholic and straying away in my teenage years…but then, I lost my father at 21 and started questioning God. I’d say God was calling me back to Him in multiple ways and using various people, but I kept going back and forth for a long time till I hit rock bottom and realized that God is the only true source of lasting joy and peace. But that was only the beginning of the journey.

Once I came to know that love, I felt that it was important to pass it on, so I became involved in evangelization and healing for many years. Though I was ministering to others, I discovered that God the Father was still hidden from me. As I traveled, I also saw a desperate cry from the human heart to know the Eternal Father.

Thirty years after I began my journey in faith, as I was attending a conference, a minister prayed over me for deliverance, and I had a very powerful and profound experience of God’s presence. What amazed me was how gently God delivered me. I started taking this gentle experience to the people I ministered to. In 1997, after a week-long conference in Poland, I began to see the transforming power of the Gospel being released at new depths in people’s hearts. Carrying this gentleness that I experienced in deliverance, we started slowly taking ‘Unbound’ to the people thirsting for the Father’s love. So yes, this journey has been one of discovering and sharing the Heart of the Father.

The word ‘deliverance’ is viewed skeptically by most laymen. Could you explain the word in the context of your ministry?

Deliverance, in reality, is a normal part of the Christian life that we experience as we move forward on our spiritual journey. But it is also a very misunderstood word. It is another word for salvation. The word often gets twisted to mean something scary. If the devil cannot convince us that he doesn’t exist, he wants to convince us that he is more powerful than he is; Fear is one way he gains a foothold in our lives.

Deliverance is, in fact, the process of understanding that the devil exists, realizing that he is not powerful enough to overcome our will, identifying the doors through which we have allowed him to enter, and closing them in the name of Jesus. This is what Unbound tries to do—close the doors that our past responses to hurtful experiences have opened in our hearts and drive the evil spirits out of our lives with the power of Jesus’ resurrection.

The Unbound book has been translated into 21 languages and is helping so many claim the freedom that Christ bought for us. For those who have yet to read it, could you please share in a nutshell how one can be set free?

Unbound revolves around five keys that will help you live in true freedom.

1. Repentance and Faith

The first step is a deeper realization of the need for and reliance on Jesus as our Savior. Surrendering ourselves and honestly naming and confessing our sins opens a door for God’s grace to enter into our lives.

2. Forgiveness

We have all been hurt, and most of us realize the need to forgive. But people don’t often speak the words out loud, so we lead them to say it out loud, specifically: “In the name of Jesus, I forgive…my dad for using alcohol…for all the times he yelled at my mom and caused me such fear.”

3. Renunciation of Evil

If the sins of the heart, such as pride, lust, loneliness, self-hatred, self-rejection, or unworthiness, have gained a foothold in our lives, they can become part of our way of thinking. Renouncing means declaring that you want no more to do with these lies that the devil has planted in you. “In the name of Jesus, I renounce pride, self-hatred, lust…”

4. Word of command or authority

This is when a person takes a stand, as a child of God, against the enemies. Once we have repented, forgiven, and renounced, then the enemy has to go away. So, we specifically command the things we have renounced; for example—”I command any spirit that has been renounced to leave in the name of Jesus”.

5. Father’s blessing

Jesus came to reveal the Father. As I mentioned, it’s my experience that so many who have met the Savior and followed the Lord haven’t come to know the Father in a personal way. So, we try to lead them to the Father’s loving and merciful Heart to experience freedom as a child of God.
Many people actually use these keys in their daily examination of conscience. When I feel exhausted after a conference overseas, my wife often reminds me to sit back and go through these five keys. To repent, forgive, renounce, take the authority as a child of God, and walk back to the Father’s Heart.
I have felt that the real gift of the Unbound ministry is that people get to know their own souls and know themselves. They receive words to name all those negative emotions that can become a doorway to the enemy and realize that they have the authority to close these doors and reclaim their identity as a child of God.

One factor that keeps people from God is unanswered prayers. What would you say to someone who is in resentment and experiencing bitterness towards God?

I wonder if any prayer actually goes unanswered. Prayer is an expression of our relationship with God. When God doesn’t give us what we ask for in our timetable, our relationship with him is tested. Yet, we read in the Bible that we need to persevere in prayer and keep on praying. How does it make sense to keep on asking when it seems like He’s not going to give it to us?

As we persevere in prayer, we are moving deeper into a relationship with Him. The deeper we are in a relationship with Him, our prayers change. You might still say: “Please heal my child,” but at the same time, you might also say: “Lord, I just want to love You. I want to trust You no matter what.” We are all going through our individual spiritual battles. We need to be aware of what the enemy is lying about and what he wants us to believe. We might entertain thoughts of hopelessness, disappointment, and discouragement, or we might even feel that God has forgotten about us and doesn’t care. These lies are not aligned with the truth at all. Reminding ourselves of the truth, proclaiming the truth, and holding onto the Scriptures is what will definitely thwart the enemy’s plan, which is to weaken our trust in God.

We reach out to over 900 prisons through our magazine. What would you tell them about the freedom which they can experience in Christ?

An interesting time for you to ask this question…because just last week, we spent a few days in a maximum-security prison. As we led the inmates through the five keys, I remember one of them sharing that he got his identity back. There was also another who, after receiving the deliverance prayer, looked up at the walls and said: “I am freer than I ever was outside.”

So, I want to tell my friends behind bars: “God is not far from you. You can encounter Him afresh and find your true identity in Him. You can break free from the lies that laid up the foundation for whatever crime you committed, and you can be free. And, most importantly, you can come to know the Heavenly Father through His Son. He can touch every area of your need. He can hear your heart, no matter where you are.”