Inner healing applies to our emotions, feelings and memories about the past, present and future. Jesus Christ can come into the past, present and future of anyone’s life. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 assures:
“May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.â€
Many secular therapists deal with inner healing while overlooking the most powerful source of healing. When Christian small groups practice the New Testament “one another†commands in the power of the Holy Spirit (confess faults to one another, forgive one another, console one another, etc.), members rarely need secular counselors.
Everyone needs inner healing
Human experiences, good and bad, form everyone’s personalities and affect their decisions, relationships and work. Romans 12:2 exhorts:
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove the will of God, and what is good, acceptable and perfect,â€
Individuals often bring past resentment and fear, anger, and guilt into their present emotions. Christians, however, can uproot them once for all:
“Make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many are defiled,†Hebrews 12:13-15.
Why is this called “inner†healing?
Everyone experiences pain and distress in their soul. From birth, the law of sin and death has ravaged our personalities, deeply implanting fear, anger, guilt and anxiety. These are both conscious and unconscious, just as human conflicts occur both within and without. Everyone makes thousands of selfish and lustful choices in their mind and carry them out in action; these have accumulated in their soul. The wounds and scars of sin remain even after conversion. We all have them and they need healing. God’s salvation includes the provision for our inner healing.
How does inner healing come about?
Healing comes as believers learn to walk by God’s truth, no longer hiding from the truth. Individuals must remove things they used to hide behind replacing them with the healing power of forgiveness, honesty, patience, peace, joy and love. This healing builds Christian character as believers learn to walk with Jesus.
“The word of God is living, active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as deep as the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart,†Hebrews 4:12.
Four states of mind form the root of all distress
ANGER: “Man’s anger does not bring God’s righteousness,†James 1:20.
repressed anger
indirect anger
outburst of anger
anger turned inward, hurting one’s self
FEAR: “There is no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear, because fear brings punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love,†1John 4:18.
unresolved worries
loss of control or helplessness
running and hiding from problems instead of facing them
threats to security and self?esteem
broken relationships
GUILT:
self-condemnation
feeling of unworthiness
withdrawal from rewarding activities
doing destructive things that bring punishment and
rejection from others
ANXIETY: Anxiety is prolonged, unconscious dread that eats away at our well-being.
It is extremely painful to bring out into the open one’s anger, qualms, guilt, and fear of loss of others’ love, so everyone represses these feelings to some degree. However, whenever someone acknowledges the anger, fear, guilt and anxiety in their life, they admit that lethal psychological destruction is at work in them, realizing that an absence of conscious distress does not ensure against the effects of those less-conscious, destructive forces. Happy marriage, successful work, joyful recreation, financial security and social recognition can blind anyone to the reality of inner distress, for those happy advantages by themselves bring neither Christ’s peace nor heaven’s blessings.
One must fearlessly unearth painful experiences they have buried
The sneaky human mind covers over painful truths about ourselves, our anger, hatred, fear and guilt. Everyone so strongly denies these distresses and the actions that grow out of them, that they forget them automatically and unconsciously. God, who commands believers to confess their faults to Him and to one another, gives courage to admit this repression. Jesus promised, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free†(John 8:32)
The repressed distresses that are buried alive in the human heart continually release emotional energy that aggravates everyone’s thoughts and actions. Past hurts, if left unhealed, hinder spiritual growth. Blindness to truth about oneself stifles growth and leads to making decisions destructive to oneself and to others.
“Hearing you will hear but not understand. Seeing you will see and yet you will not perceive, lest you should see with your eye, hear with ears, understand with your heart and be healed by me,†Matthew 13:14-15.
Jesus’ words reveal how believers can hear and see things in a way that allow Him to change them, heal their distresses and give them His life. How one see things is tremendously important. The same events can be perceived very differently by any two individuals because of their different backgrounds.
Anger and regret drive guilt-ridden persons to destroy themselves compulsively by excessively indulging their body’s appetites. God has warned that when anyone becomes a slave of whatever impulse they obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in life.
Solomon lamented: “Look, I have found only this: God made men upright but they have found many devices†(Eccl. 7:29). A few of the devices that men use to obscure their distresses are…
overspending
overeating
oversleeping
gambling
alcohol indulgence
drug indulgence
sexual indulgence
workaholic compulsion
Thus, the areas in which people commonly need healing include:
resentment
anger
rejection
jealousy
greed
hatred
criticism
lying
indifference
strife
temper
worry
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