Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast : Ep 05
TRANSCRIPT
Our key verse for today comes from 3 John 1:2, which says:
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
3 John 1:2
In this scripture John is connecting our physical health with the health of our soul. Freedom and healing go hand in hand, but we have to receive it. So, what does It Mean To Receive Healing?
What part of you needs to be healed? Is it your physical body? Your spirit? Your soul? Or all of the above? I would submit that it is all of the above. We have a body that houses our spirit and soul. When one part is sick or wounded it affects our entire being.
In John 4 there is the story of a Samaritan woman. She had lots of strikes against her. First of all, she was a woman. In that day women were not highly valued or appreciated. Secondly, she was a Samaritan. Samaritans were looked down upon especially by the Jews. Samaritan women were always considered unclean. Thirdly, her life choices had left her with quite the checkered reputation.
She goes to the well in the middle of the day. This was odd because most women would go early in the morning while it was cool. This woman was avoiding the others. Why? Well, it was her shame. Her lifestyle wasn’t exactly acceptable. She had a reputation, if you know what I mean. She didn’t want to subject herself to the village gossip mill. You see she was known to have had several relationships with men and it may have been that some of the men’s wives would be at the morning gathering at the well. Can you imagine how awkward that would be? Out of her fear of rejection and confrontation and because of her shame she went to the well later in the day so that she wouldn’t have to face others.
On this same day Jesus visited the well that the Samaritan woman frequented. He could have sent someone else. He could have gone when she wasn’t there but he intentionally chose to go when she was there. He had a conversation with her. He had an encounter with her/ This was HIGHLY unusual for several reasons. He was a man and he was Jewish. Jewish men did not speak to women and especially unclean Samaritan women. He read her mail. What do I mean by that? Well, he told her things about herself that she had not told him. He knew that she had 5 husbands and that the one she was living with wasn’t even a legal husband.
Jesus’ initiative to engage in conversation with her releases forgiveness, she is restored and empowered. She ran into town telling everyone she met about her encounter with Jesus. She instantly became an evangelist! Many went to hear Jesus and believed that He was the Messiah because of her testimony.
She was rejected by the men and the women of her village but Jesus knew everything about her and He accepted her, loved her and spoke life to her.
Why use this example? She wasn’t sick in her body. She didn’t need physical healing. Actually she was sick in her heart and soul. She had experienced serious rejection and shame for many years. Her whole life revolved around avoiding situations that made her uncomfortable or vulnerable. She didn’t have a normal life. When she encountered Jesus his words brought healing to her heart. He didn’t condemn her. He spoke the truth in love and she was set free! The change was instantaneous. She ran through town yelling at everyone. The same people she’d tried to avoid previously she was sharing about her radical life-changing encounter.
It’s difficult to describe the weight people carry when they have unhealed hurts. You can often see the results of their pain in their relationships, in their health and in their life. A hurt person often hurts others. They don’t intend to but they live their life through the lens of wounding.
Picture a pair of glasses. Every time you are hurt or wounded smudges are put on your glasses. The smudges build up and eventually you can’t see clearly out of the glasses. Everything you look at is seen through the smudges, or wounds, of your past. It gives you a distorted picture of the circumstances of your life. Our glasses need to be cleaned! When our “glasses” are cleaned then we see life clearly. It’s a game-changer.
Some of us need physical healing. All of us need heart healing! How do I know that? Because everyone gets hurt. We all have a childhood and growing up years that were riddled with painful events. Every person’s pain is different but we all have it. In fact the opportunities to be hurt continue on into adulthood. We have to learn to process through the pain for it not to have a hold on us and affect our lives in a negative way.
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who are hurt and those who are hurt worse. When heart hurts are not healed through forgiveness and allowing Jesus to heal, then the pain worsens and grows. It’s not enough to forgive alone. Forgiveness is a place to start but until the wound is healed there will still be a place of vulnerability. Circumstances happen. Additional pain is piled on top of the original wound and often begins affecting our physical body. Oftentimes mid- thirties to early 40s people began having a “come apart”. They can no longer deal with the past trauma and wounding, their sleep is interrupted, they struggle with relationships and just doing life becomes an extraordinary challenge.
The first thing about receiving healing is being willing to admit you need it. The woman at the well could have rejected any encounter with Jesus but she didn’t. Jesus didn’t specifically address her need for healing but he saw it. As he spoke she was lovingly confronted with her life choices. There was something that miraculously changed internally as Jesus spoke to her. The internal change brought an external change. She was no longer afraid to be seen by others in the village. She didn’t avoid contact. She didn’t hide. She didn’t have to keep her thoughts to herself. She joyfully and boldly spread the news all across town that Jesus had known everything she’d ever done and yet he still accepted her. Her encounter with Him changed her and her life impacted thousands of others! That’s the power of healing. Regardless of your past when you are healed God can and will use you!
We often see very wounded people. We have the opportunity to lead them in the RTF Integrated Approach of ministry and watch as they encounter Father God, Holy Spirit and Jesus. It’s always amazing to be a part of a miracle of healing. Each time is unique. There are no two healing sessions that are alike.
Let me share with you about a heart healing session that we had the opportunity to watch. First of all, I’ll call the man Dave. (not his real name) Dave was a physician and he was very stoic. He wasn’t very emotive at all. As we went through the ministry process of RTF we wondered if Dave was getting anything out of it. When we got to the heart healing session, we call it Soul Spirit Healing, we had some concerns that Dave would be able to receive healing. As we coached him through the process of asking the Holy Spirit to take him to the memory and then to tell Jesus about it Dave began to share with us what was going on. He was a young boy, 7 or 8 years old. He began to weep, rather uncontrollably. When he could talk he shared that his Dad had always promised to build him a treehouse but never had. It had been a big disappointment and area of wounding in his life. In this memory, he processed through it, forgave his Dad and invited Jesus to heal his heart. He said he was sitting in a treehouse. We asked him what he was doing in the treehouse? He said, I’m just sitting here but when I asked Jesus to heal my heart Jesus came and sat with me in the treehouse. The amazing thing was that the thing that brought the greatest healing was just sitting with Jesus. He didn’t have to do anything. It wasn’t even Jesus’ words. It was the presence of Jesus that brought healing. Several weeks after that session Dave ran up to us at church and shared how he continues to go to the treehouse with Jesus and just “be” with him. You just can’t make this stuff up! The non-emotive, stoic Dr. was first crying during the healing and then just about jumping up and down with joy at the new found place he had from his encounter with Jesus.
You may be thinking that’s weird or odd. You know it was for me when I first began getting my heart healed. I was a lot like Dave and didn’t emote much. In fact I was emotionally shut down. It was a bit scary to begin to feel things that I had buried long ago. As I pressed through the process and allowed my minister to lead me I received tremendous healing in my life. The outcome of healing has been truly life-changing.
Maybe you’re not shut down emotionally. You could be just the opposite and find yourself living from your emotions. That life-style can be equally as unhealthy. We were created by God to have emotions. Emotions are good when they are healthy. When we’re unhealthy emotionally we’re like a roller coaster. It’s hard for everyone around to know how to live with the ups and downs. It’s especially difficult for the person experiencing the vast shifts. Are you tired of trying to cope with the shifting sands of emotions? Maybe you’re struggling with the effects of a traumatic childhood. Let me encourage you. You are not alone. There is help. You do not have to continue to have the roller coaster rule your life. Roller coasters are fun every once in a while but not as a way of life.
Receiving healing will radically change your life today AND you will continue to experience greater freedom as you continue to receive His healing.
Prayer:
“Father God, Thank you for loving me and accepting me just the way I am. Thank you that you know me intimately just like the woman at the well. You know all my failures and bad choices. You love and accept me as I am. You forgive me. Your desire for us is to be healthy and prosper in all things including in my spirit, soul and body. You know my past and the effects of my past in my life today. Lord, I confess and acknowledge that I need your healing today. Would you open my eyes and my heart to receive all that you have for me. Would you heal my heart and show me the way to your complete and total healing and restoration? In Jesus name I pray, Amen.”
Declaration: I declare that God’s desire for me is that my soul, spirit and body prosper. I trust Him to heal my heart and bring total restoration.
