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REMOVING EMOTIONAL BLOCKAGES THROUGH INNER HEALING

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The Psalmist David wrote:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any *hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way." — Psalm 139:23-24 NASB

The literal Hebrew meaning for the word “hurtful” is “way of pain”, an apropos description of the lingering effects of not dealing with the roadblocks that have been strewn along the pathway of the experience of our lives.


INNER HEALING FROM EMOTIONAL OPPRESSION

When emotional oppression is present, inner healing is necessary to address and remove the blockage. Pastor Joe Warner of Freedom Christian Fellowship in Apopka, Florida describes the realm of inner healing as follows:

"At the moment of salvation, Christ takes residence in our heart (spirit). He indwells our spirit and life forever changes. From that moment on, we are empowered to experience great measures of peace, joy, love, and fulfillment. Because of the indwelling presence of Christ, the conflict is no longer on the plane of our spirit, but within our soul and body. It is in these areas of our being that Satan wages his daily battle with us. As a result of this conflict, most of us suffer damage to our soul and body that restricts our ability to enjoy this great relationship. Therefore, we need the healing touch of Christ in our soul and body in order to be free to know Christ as we ought. This type of healing is referred to as Inner Healing, Healing of Memories or Healing of Damaged Emotions… When a person's soul has been restored, it often brings about a release within their lives that enables them to properly relate to God and others."


FULLY ESTABLISHED IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST

An essential element before beginning this process is to become fully established in the finished work of Christ in your life. Do not misinterpret this process to be an exercise in self-denunciation and self-condemnation. Rather, it is an process of carefully discerning your life, locating your point in the transformation process, finding out what's hampering you, and using the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the power of God to reveal those hindrances, get them out of the way, and move on to real freedom. "So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed" — John 8:35 NASB.

Again, it is vitally important that this sifting, analyzing and judging of the thoughts and purposes of the heart is done from an absolutely safe vantage point. 1 John 4:16 states it succinctly: “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us.” — NASB. We must be firmly planted and established upon the promise and assurance of the stable and unchanging love of God and our eternal inclusion in the family of God.

Loving parents, for example, bring instruction, gentle reproof, and, if needed, firm rebuke to their children. The child knows that, though this process is difficult, they will still be included in the family, and it is out of sincere concern and genuine love that the strong corrective action is taken.

We need to be secure enough in our relationship with God to allow Him to touch sensitive areas. My daughter came into the world four and a half months early weighing only 1 pound and 9 ounces. During her 3-month stay in the neonatal intensive care ward she endured an incision on the bottom of her foot every day in order to measure the oxygen level in her blood. To this day, she is very sensitive about anyone handling the bottom of her foot. However, she knew her mother would never try to intentionally hurt her foot, although it might have been necessary for her to endure some pain in order to remove the foreign object such as a thorn from the soul of her foot. In the same way we must be secure in the Holy Spirit’s good intentions as we remove painful foreign objects from our lives.


AN ESSENTIAL PART OF GROWING UP IN CHRIST

We must remember that this process is not just for the one who would chose it as an optional upgrade in the Christian life. We are commanded to be transformed, by the renewing of our minds, that we would prove the perfect and acceptable will of God in our individual lives. We have an obligation to our loved ones, to ourselves, and to God to go through with this process.

The writer of the book of Hebrews makes a declaration of the intricate discerning quality of the Word of God: “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the [a]breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart." — Hebrews 4:12 AMP

We must discern ourselves through the lens of the word of God. Two scriptures previously mentioned above (James 1:23-25 and Hebrews 4:12), are foundational texts for a biblical basis for self-assessment in personal transformation. If we are willing to submit ourselves to the loving guidance of the Holy Spirit of God, through the Word of God, He is able to guide us gently into and through these difficult things.


HEALING FROM SELF LOATHING

Emotional oppression in our lives source both from the things that were done to us by others and the things we have done to ourselves. In a very practical sense, though, we are responsible to deal with the wreckage, no matter who or what the source was. Many times the bondages have sourced from self-hatred as this testimony from the MacNutt’s Christian Healing Ministry reflects:

"For years I have been carrying the hurtful words, actions, rejection and pain I have received from others. I had, time and time again, forgiven them. During my prayer appointment it was revealed to me that I had never released the unforgiveness, hate and anger I had with myself! I actually hated myself! Thank you for sharing your love with me, Christ’s love for me, and for helping me to love myself again".


THEOPHOSTIC PRAYER MINISTRY

A Baptist minister named Ed Smith developed another method of ministry. Theophostic Prayer Ministry is a way to actively and systematically address the healing of memories to many within the church. Its name comes from the Greek theo (God) and phostic (light). The first three tenants of their 14-part ministry definition are insightful in describing the priority of dealing with root memories for inner healing:

1. Our present situation is rarely the cause of our ongoing emotional pain.
2. Everything we presently know, feel or are mentally aware of has its roots in a first-time experience.
3. If we try to resolve our present conflicts without resolving our historical lie-based woundedness, we will find only temporary 
relief for our emotional pain. However, if we find renewal for our past, we can redeem our present.

REDEEMING YOUR PAST

Dr. Ray Self puts it well in his book Redeeming Your Past and Finding Your Promised Land:

"Redeeming your past is about finding the truth from your past and resolving the issues that are remain as stumbling blocks for your present time as well as your future... To ignore the issues, lessons, and messages of the past is equivalent to ignoring life itself. Our memories contain treasures as well as pain. Our memories contain information, knowledge and wisdom. The apostle Paul wrote that renewing our mind will transform us. The renewing of our mind always has to do with our past because our mind only contains memories of the past. Our mind has not yet been impacted by our future."

The bible also tells us to discern ourselves:

"For if we searchingly examined ourselves [detecting our shortcomings and recognizing our own condition], we should not be judged and penalty decreed [by the divine judgment]. — 1 Corinthians 11:31 AMP.


HEALING OF BROKEN HEARTS

Francis and Judith MacNutt's Christian Healing Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida is dedicated to praying with those in need of healing in the physical, emotional and spiritual areas of their lives principally through 90-minute prayer appointments. Following is Francis MacNutt’s description of Inner Healing in an interview entitled “Healing Sex Bondage”:

“Inner healing is simply, as I see it, God healing a human being, a person on any area where they’re sick. That's why he came… to renew us and give us new life to the different areas of our humanity that can be really wounded or die… one of them of course we know… our bodies get sick and they whither up and die. There can be demonic interference on occasion. That needs to be dealt with. But inner healing is simply the area of our emotions and what’s inside us… not just to have a broken bone, but to have a broken heart. And so it makes sense, if you’re talking about healing human beings, that this is that particular area of humanity where many people are really wounded. And we find, in experience, that God actually heals more people on the inner order - percentage wise - than He seems to heal on the physical order. And, just for instance, a large percentage of women in our society are sexually abused. The lowest estimate of young women is twenty percent. And that leaves permanent imprints and you don't get over it by repentance. I mean, it was somebody else that did this to you. And so, here’s a forty-year-old woman who can't relate physically with her husband. It's not her fault. But is there healing for this? We've discovered every area of our human lives where we’re wounded or being destroyed God has the power to do something about it and to help us.”


INNER HEALING FURTHER DEFINED

The following excerpts are from the book: Inner Healing: A Handbook for Helping Yourself and Others By Mike T. Flynn, Douglas H. Gregg:

“Emotional healing takes place when we take specific sins, sin patterns and emotional sickness to the cross. Paul helps us see this process of healing and sanctification when he admonishes: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" Phil 2:12- 13 RSV.”

“The four factors are past hurts, fears, guilts, and lacks, in various combinations. The four results are negative effects on present self-image, feelings, attitudes, and behaviors.”

“Inner healing is an exchange, usually a process more than an event, healing of memories, the application of forgiveness, a means of grace, and a set of dynamics and procedures the Lord Jesus uses to address the emotional damage in our lives.”

“The Bible gives us assurance that God is interested in healing our emotions. …God desires our healing. God knows what is hidden in darkness (Psa 139:11-12, Dan 2:22); and what comes out of the human heart and soul (Mar 7:21–23). His desire is to "wipe away the tears from our faces," to "remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth" Isaiah 25:8. He sent Jesus to "bind up the brokenhearted" (Isa 61:1, Luk 4:18). As one "familiar with suffering," Jesus "took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows" Isa 53:3–4. He gave his life as a ransom for us that we might be whole and at one with the father. When we seek the Lord, the promise is that He will deliver us from all our fears Psa 34:4.

He gave his life as a ransom for us that we might be whole and at one with the father. When we seek the Lord, the promise is that He will deliver us from all our fears Psa 34:4.


CELEBRATE RECOVERY

Because of different forms or emotional scarring and confusion, many people seem to be driven in their lives by a relentless determination to "make something of themselves". This is how John Baker described his life as a young man (and a believing Christian):

"…Deep down inside I never felt good enough for my parents, my teammates, my girlfriends or anyone. So if I wasn’t good enough for them, how could I ever be good enough to serve God? I was a walking and talking paradox: A combination of the lowest possible self-esteem, which I tried to cover up with the world’s largest ego. I wrestled with God’s call and judged myself “unworthy” to enter the ministry."

Eventually, in college, John's pain led him into the abuse of alcohol, which was the only time he felt like he "fit in". After serving as a pilot during the Viet Nam War John transferred his overwhelming drive into the business realm:

"…I was promoted 8 times in the first 11 years of my business career. I was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for two very large consumer food manufacturers. I had reached all my life’s career goals by the time I was 30! I remember hearing the words of a song, “Is that all there is?”

Eventually John found his way to AA and began to conquer his addiction. John's life experience developed into the program Celebrate Recovery that has been utilized in over 10,000 churches with over 500,000 courageous individuals having completed the program.


HEALTHY INTROSPECTION

Many have developed blinders to keep from perceiving themselves, having absolutely no intention of engaging in thoughtful introspection. Its not hard, for instance, to find frustrated wives who have reached the end of their patience in dealing with their 200 pound man-child, otherwise referred to as a husband, who isn’t the least bit interested in maturing in his personhood in order to enhance their marital relationship. This type stubbornness is in reality a very dangerous form of pride and selfishness.

God's Word, when viewed with an open spirit and a willingness to sincerely view your own reflection though that mirror, has the promise of speaking to us about where God would like to go and what He would like to do day by day in our personal transformation. God’s Word has the capacity to reveal ourselves to ourselves, thereby providing the keys that can set us free.

Inner Healing is a difficult if not impossible task for most people to accomplish all by themselves. It is critically important to take advantage of pastors, Christian counselors, and deliverance and inner-healing ministers to help you through this process of self-evaluation and healing.

 

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