Jesus took our sickness that we might have healing; “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Pet 2:24; see also Isa 53:5).
We know, from Revelations 21, that when we get to Heaven, there will be no sickness, disease, or tears. Any illness we may have had will be miraculously healed; we will have new bodies! However, in this life, we have all experienced sickness in our spirit, soul or mind, and our bodies. The “good news is that Jesus made provision for healing in every area of our lives. Show More
Matthew 4:23, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 24 Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.”
As you can see from Matthew four, nothing was beyond Jesus’ healing anointing! Spirit, soul, and body.
Spiritual Healing
Let’s take a brief look at Spiritual healing. Before we came to Christ, all of us were in spiritual darkness. Upon being Born-again, the Holy Spirit of God came to live in us. For that reason alone, the Devil and all his demons can not possess a born-again believer! The Spirit of God is greater than any spirit of the Devil. The Devil may try to oppress or depress the soul or even attack the body, but the light of Christ drives out the darkness of Satan. It is impossible for the Devil or Satan to exist in a true Believer of Jesus Christ.
Emotional Healing
For the rest of this message, my focus will be on healing of the Soul, otherwise known as emotional healing. Next time I will focus on the physical healing of the body.
The Structure of an Emotional Wound.
It’s usually easy to recognize people who are “hurting on the inside” because they wind-up hurting others. I’m sure you have heard the expression, “Hurting people, hurt people” People with issues and problems that have not been healed will hurt other people. Proverbs 18:14, “The spirit of a man will sustain him, in sickness, but who can bear a broken (crushed) spirit?”
Memories
What is important to realize is that memory plays an essential part in the health of a soul (mind). There are many types of memories, but I want to take a look at two- normal and emotional memories. These two types of memories are stored in different parts of the brain.
- Normal memory or recall
- Working memories – i.e. 2+2=4
- No emotions are aroused.
- Emotional memory
- The recall caused by smell, sound, taste, or emotion in others brings back a memory that may be pleasant or painful.
- Sometimes we are not aware of the “trigger” that produces an emotional recall.
There are many causes of emotional injury or a broken spirit. Some common examples are:
- abandonment
- rejection
- divorce
- abortion
- physical abuse
- emotional abuse
- verbal abuse
- sexual abuse
All of these events can produce painful recall experiences in individuals. Remembering the hurtful event can create the same emotional impact as if it were happening again, even if the original incident occurred many years ago.
Dysfunction or Behaving Badly
Let’s take a look at how a broken spirit can produce dysfunction.
- The wounding – this is the event that caused the pain.
- False belief – this is the lie the Devil wants you to believe. The lie is that you deserved it or that it was your fault.
- Emotional pain – This is the pain caused by believing the lie.
- Dysfunctional behavior – this is the behavior as a result of trying to get rid of the emotional pain. TSome will turn to alcohol or drugs, inflicting pain on oneself as in “cutting.” It may be uncontrollable anger or rage. It can also be immoral behavior as well. There are too many ways, “hurting people” can be dysfunctional.
- Trigger circumstances – This would be the event that triggers the cycle all over again. It can be as simple as someone saying something that reminds the person of the “wounding.”
How can one break the cycle caused by emotional dysfunction? One needs to encounter the healing produced by Jesus. There are two things that Jesus brings, truth and forgiveness.
- The wound —- Jesus’ healing comes as we accept His forgiveness and empowers us to forgive others.
- False belief —- Truth, the light that drives out the darkness. It is the truth that sets us free John 8:31,32,36.
- Emotional pain — Peace in place of the pain, fear, confusion, and turmoil
- Dysfunctional behavior — Transformation, replacing the old with the new. Romans 12:1,2.
- Trigger circumstances — Now gone because the wound has been healed.
Jesus will always respond to repentance and forgiveness…
Luke 4:18 Jesus heals the brokenhearted.
