Dr.  Ronald Powell     

Keys to inner healing (Part 1)

The first thing that you want to settle, is any feelings of guilt and shame, especially any feelings that God is somehow disappointed or angry with you. When dealing with a physical wound, what is the first thing you do? Cleanse it from germs so that it can properly heal. When dealing with spiritual or emotional wounds, carrying around baggage (guilt, shame, fear, etc.) makes the healing process much more difficult.  

Getting yourself to the point where you know that God loves, forgives, and accepts you, is one of the foundations to receive inner healing. Knowing that God isn't angry or disappointed in you creates an atmosphere where you can freely turn your burdens over to Jesus, and trust Him to take care of them. Carrying around a burden of shame is a sure way to hinder the inner healing process because it mentally separates us from the healing work of Jesus. If we want to freely receive healing for our damaged emotions, then we need to settle it in our minds that God is not angry with us, and stand on God's Word about our sins being forgiven and washed from us by the Blood of Christ.  

One of the biggest keys to receive healing for damaged emotions, depends on your perception of God, and how He feels about you and your healing. You must realize that he is the source of your healing, and deliverance... and NOT your problems! Blaming God for your problems will put up an invisible wall, which will hinder His healing power from flowing into your mind and emotions. The Holy Spirit will not override our freewill, and when we blame Him, our freewill is putting our hand up in His face. It is important that our freewill allows His work and does not blame Him for the bad thing(s) that have happened to us. It is important to realize that God is for you, and not against you. He desires to see you healed and restored to wholeness even more than you do!

Open up those wounds, and give the pain to Jesus. What you want is to open up those wounds before the light (Jesus), so that they can be healed. As long as you hold them in darkness, they will never fully heal. If you had a physical wound, and it turned into an infection, and you merely put a band aid over the wound, would that solve the problem? Of course not! You need to take that mask off, expose it to the light, and apply the healing and germ-killing light of Christ into that wound so that it can heal.

God's Word tells us to cast our cares upon Him, for He cares for us (see 1 Peter 5:7). We need to realize that Christ has taken our pain on the cross, and if we will transfer it to Him, He is waiting to heal our wounds. The Holy Spirit has shown me this very important key to inner healing: Why should we carry something that Christ has carried for us on the cross?

Surely he hath borne our grief's, and carried our sorrows [grief, pain, affliction]: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:4-5

The word "sorrows" in this passage, actually translates to grief, pain, or affliction. When Jesus shed His blood, He carried our inner pain and wounds, so that we don't have to! God's Word tells us that He cares for us, and because of this fact, we are told to cast all - not some, but ALL - of our cares upon Him (see 1 Peter 5:7).

Being thankful for Jesus carrying our sorrows is another key to break-through. If you choose to carry your own sorrows, it is usually because (a) you don't really realize or believe that He carried your sorrows, or (b) you haven't taken the time to think about or understand what Jesus did. Anytime when we seriously look at what Christ did for us, it's impossible not to be thankful for such a gift that He's so lovingly purchased for us! Being thankful will make you eager to take advantage of what Christ has lovingly carried for you.

I want you to picture Jesus standing there beside you with tears in His eyes, feeling the hurt and suffering that you're going through. We are told to cast our cares and concerns upon Him - why? Because He CARES for us! Picturing Jesus standing there beside a situation with tears in His eyes can be very powerful. John 11:35-36 tells us that, "Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!"

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Developing a thankful attitude is another big key to receiving healing for our emotional wounds. Thankfulness leads to trust - if you are thankful for what God's given you, then you will find it easy to trust Him in those areas of your life. Thankfulness is also a big key to overcoming rejection issues - how is that? Because when you begin to look at all that Christ has done for you, it is impossible to feel rejected by your heavenly Father, which is one of the big keys to healing rejection. God's Word actually commands us to be thankful:

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Colossians 3:15

Not only are we commanded to be thankful, but the Bible also tells us what can happen when we are unthankful:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1:21

An unthankful heart is prone to unforgiving, unloving, resentful, and all sorts of hateful feelings against others. It is a poison to our emotional health and ability to receive the healing that God wants to bring to our wounds and hurts. Those who are unforgiving and judgmental towards others have forgotten what God has done for them. Anybody who truly thankful for how God has treated them, would go about treating others the same way and He treated them.

Begin to be thankful for the little things which God has created for you to enjoy. Little things such as the birds singing in the trees or your pet cat or dog - they were made for us to enjoy! It is hard, if not impossible to be thankful and unforgiving at the same time. When we realize what Christ has done for us, and are thankful for such an expensive gift that has been purchased with Jesus' own blood for us, then we will naturally forgive those who wrong us - that love is contagious and will flow through us. We cannot honestly look at what Christ has done for us, and not overflow with thankfulness in our heart! Becoming thankful is a huge key to breakthrough if you struggle with unforgiveness.

Unforgiveness and unthankfulness are closely related.

Fear is often a tool of Satan because when we puts our trust in God, tremendous amount of peace and healing can then take place. Fear will keep a person holding onto what must be released into Jesus' hands. This is another reason why we must come to know the true good and loving nature of God towards His children. Knowing that God is a good God and has your best interest in mind, paves the way to being able to trust Him with the concerns in your life. You need to know that you can trust God with your needs, He understands them, and desires to help you!

Another key to receive inner healing, especially from a background or root of rejection, is coming to a place where you know that God loves you dearly and has your best interest in mind. If you have a hard time believing that God is good towards you and has your best interest in mind, then I highly recommend Gloria Copeland's book entitled, "Blessed Beyond Measure." Satan and evil spirits are always eager to make a person feel as if God is angry with them. It puts the person on the edge of their seat and makes them afraid of God, which causes them to feel discouraged in their relationship with Him, and tend to give up on spending time with Him and drawing near to Him (the source of their healing!). It's no wonder Satan wants us to feel like God is somehow angry or disappointed in us!  

Try this: if you have struggled and felt like God is angry with you, then try to imagine that God sees you, knows where you've been, and yet still looks favorably on you? It will loosen up the tenseness on your whole system once you begin to see things as God wants you to see them. Once you can imagine it, then turn to God's Word, and learn of how He really does look upon you with favor and hope! He's always calling us back to repentance, so that He can restore our relationship with Him. I can't tell you how powerful that imaginations can be when used for God's glory instead of Satan's. This is a powerful key to freedom and healing for many!

Another key to inner healing is not to meditate or continue to think about what was done to you. Once you give that to the Lord, don't continue to think about how badly you were wronged. You will cause emotional wounds to fester when you choose to continue thinking about what was done to you. Don't get me wrong, we are to face what was done to us, head on, honestly, and don't deny what was done to us, but once we give all the pain and hurt to Jesus, then we need to leave it there. If you have two dogs, and you feed one but leave the other to starve, then which one will be around? The one that you feed of course! We need to make a solid choice not to dwell/feed upon what was done to us, as it will reinforce the reason as to why we are hurt or angry. This is a very important key to receiving healing from emotional wounds.

As absurd as this sounds, you need to revisit the pain! By going back to the place where the pain was formed, and revisiting that wound in your soul, it will allow you to truly and fully forgive, thus pulling the pain up at it's root. The job can be half-done if you simply say, "I forgive them" without thinking of what you are really forgiving them of. When you can revisit that pain, and forgive out of the love in your heart, then your healing will come naturally! It may also help to picture Jesus standing there besides you while you were being wronged, and think about how He felt about what was done to you. You shouldn't have to keep forgiving the same person for the same offense that took place 10 years ago; we need to reach the point of pain, and forgive at the scene of the accident. I'm not saying that we must revisit the same physical place, but rather the memories and place in your mind where the abuse or pain took place.

Are you problem focused? Or solution focused? The Holy Spirit also gave me a strong revelation on this. Those who keep focused on the problem rather than the solution will begin to see the problem as larger than the solution. Are we paying more attention to the problem than we are the solution? Is your problem bigger than God's solution? Jesus came to bring solution, and by us accepting the solution, it makes use of His labor and blood which brings Him much glory, but by paying more attention to the problem, we ignore the solution that Jesus provided and make a mockery of what He went through for us. Being problem focused creates an atmosphere where depression, unforgiveness, irritability, and hopelessness can breed. You cannot experience inner healing as long as you are focused on the problem.

If you want to receive healing, you must stop focusing on the problem, and begin meditating on the solution. Stop listening to the devil! The devil and his evil spirits work diligently to aggravate the wound to keep it from healing. This work is done by keeping the person reminded of how badly they were wronged or what was done to them. The devil seeks to remind you about why you are angry or hateful towards that person who has wronged you. Demons will do this same thing when trying to develop bondage's of fear in a person; they seek to remind the person about why they are fearful. This is why it is vital to stop listening to the voice of the devil, because his goal is to aggravate the wound and make it fester into an even deeper infection.