Post 66 – Spiritual Warfare 3

In the last post, I used Proverbs 18:14 “The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, But who can bear a broken spirit”? The word broken spirit can be translated as a wounded spirit, or a traumatized spirit. So, a broken spirit is one that has been wounded… and the emotional wound has not healed.

The good news is that Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted! Listen to the mission statement of Jesus Christ found in Luke 4:18-19. 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Jesus came to heal and deliver those who put their trust in Him to be set free from the Devil’s lies which is at the root of all emotional wounds or trauma. 

If we break it down there are clearly 5 steps in the cycle of unresolved emotional wounds or trauma: 

1. The Trauma – the event it could be sexual abuse, physical abuse, or emotional abuse. It can happen at any age, but when it happens when one is young it is often a deep wounding. When we are young, we are not wise enough to recognize the truth and that opens the door to a lie.
2. The Lie – the lie comes from the Father of Lies, Satan. He will try to put the lie in our souls, that we deserved the abuse, or it was our fault it happened. Another lie is that it happened because God didn’t love us or care! This is a common lie that the devil will use when prayer doesn’t seem to be answered in the way we want it to be. 
3. The Emotional Upheaval – as a result of believing the lie it produces guilt, shame, fear, and bitterness.
4. The Dysfunction – the guilt, shame, bitterness, and fear produce behaviors that are not natural or normal. In the last post, we described some of the most common dysfunctional behaviors.  
5. The Trigger – this is an event that brings back to memory the lie and it starts the cycle again as if it were for the very first time. 

The cycle continues round and round until the cycle is broken. 

Let’s look at an example or two of how this all works.

1. A young person experiences a break-up in the marriage of the parents. That is the trauma– instability, arguments, and fighting in the household. Then one of the parents leave. The child believes that it was their fault, that’s the lie. This happens often in the mind of a child. They begin to feel guilty and shame- that’s the emotional upheaval. They start to pray that the parents will reconcile… and it doesn’t happen. Now the child feels that God doesn’t care about the situation. This leads to distrust of God or outright rejection of God. All of these lies are created by Satan and put into the mind of the child. Now as an adult the child doesn’t trust close relationships, doesn’t trust God – that’s the dysfunction. They may become lonely, depressed, and bitter towards life and God. They make bad choices in their relationships and when it goes bad it brings back, unconsciously, the hurt as a child of the breakup of the parents – that’s the trigger. Then the cycle starts again… pain, lies, emotional upheaval, dysfunction, and on and on. 
2. A second example would be the case of abuse. It can be sexual, physical, or emotional, usually from a family member a relative, or a close friend. A person who is abused often comes to the wrong conclusion that they are unworthy or deserved the abuse because they are bad (that’s the lie) no one deserves to be abused. Then follows the guilt and shame and trying to hide that they feel worthless (that’s the emotional upheaval). As a result of the lies of the devil, the guilt, and shame they make bad choices to confirm the lie. It may be an addiction, alcohol or drugs, to ease or try to erase the pain (that’s the dysfunctional behavior). They may become angry and hostile as a defense against being hurt again. The kinds of abnormal behavior are endless. They may settle down and be quite normal for a while and then something “triggers” the memory of the trauma and then the dysfunction starts all over again.

How can the cycle be broken?

1. Step one is to identify the trauma
   1. This is the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal “what and why” you act the way you do in certain circumstances. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. He will reveal the truth and the truth will set you free! 
2. Confront the trauma – you may have been innocent when the wounding took place but accept the fact that you are the one who made bad choices because of the lies of the devil.
3. Receive the healing that only Jesus can produce
   • Accept Jesus’ love. His love is Agape love. It is not based upon what you have done His love is unconditional. He has decided to love you.
   • Accept Jesus’ forgiveness. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We are forgiven and justified (just if I’d never sinned). When those old painful thoughts come to your mind, remind Satan that you are forgiven and that he can go to hell! Where he belongs. You are a child of God.
   • Forgiveness yourself. God has forgiven you, what right do you have to not forgive yourself. This sometimes can be difficult because we sometimes can’t forget. Just remember this point, don’t let your past determine your future in Jesus Christ. He has a glorious plan for your life!
   • Forgiveness of others. Forgiving those that hurt you is essential because it allows you to break from the past. Hanging on to bitterness or hate is like “drinking poison hoping that the other person will die!” The only person you hurt is yourself. Not forgiving means that you are letting the person or persons that hurt you still have control over you.