I was recently at a conference where the main speaker was Peter Kingston, a very humble, transparent Englishman, who had a lot to say about Ephesians. What impacted me the most was his brief explanation on confession. I had always been taught that confessing a sin is agreeing with God about what you had done wrong and asking for His forgiveness. The “new” thing that Mr. Kingston introduced into this process was the idea of renouncing our sin out loud. It is saying, “Sin, I renounce you in the name of Jesus. You no longer have power over me. I am God’s loved child.”

I tell you, this is very difficult. About a week and a half after this God convicted me of my fearfulness and gave me a chance to renounce this sin. It took me a long time to get the words, “I renounce my fear” out of my mouth, but in the end I was able to say so and I am less fearful now.

While powerful, one renunciation frequently does not cut it. Mr. Kingston also pointed out that each renunciation is removing one brick from the spiritual stronghold we have allowed Satan to build in our lives, so it will take time; but freedom is there, if we are patient and persistent.