2015/03/14

Romans 8:26-27

(NIV)

By Pastor Bafikile

GETTING TO THE BOTTOM

OF IT

2015/03/14

All of us carry deep within us dark secrets and scars that control our behaviour, our relationships, and our attitudes. No one really knows what goes on behind the closed doors of our hearts and souls. The irony is that most often we don’t know it ourselves.

Those scars come from experiences that we have had, most often as children, which shape and form us in our adult life. While many of those childhood experiences are good, just as many are painful experiences that can wreak havoc on our behaviour and how we related to other people as well as our worldview.

WEARING A MASK

2015/03/14

Let me confess that I embark upon this journey with some fear (I am wearing a mask now) and trepidation knowing that some Christians believe that this area should and ought to be off limits.

I also know that some Christians believe that all answers to life are found in the spiritual realm, i.e. you need to pray more, read the Bible more, fast more, commit your heart and life to Jesus more and all these “issues” will go away.

I also know that this topic will for some of you open some deep wounds, and will bring to your consciousness that which you have worked hard to bury deep in your souls, and all this might be quite disturbing.

I also know that some of you just might vent your personal anger at me for “ stirring things up” and “not leaving well enough alone.” So with all that in mind we forge on endeavouring to discover for ourselves our personal healing for the damaged emotions that each and every one of us has.

HEALING FOR DAMAGED EMOTIONS

2015/03/14

The image I often use is that as Christians our lives are like a pristine lake. Try to image the kind of lake I imagine now.

What lies beneath the surface of that lake? This is where the Holy Spirit works in the Christian’s life. Beneath that idyllic surface, down in the muck and mire of the bottom of that lake is all kinds of garbage—life’s junk like car tires, beer cans, barrels of used oil, bottles of old cleaning solutions, fertilizer run-off, old tree stumps.

HEALING FOR DAMAGED EMOTIONS

2015/03/14

Down beneath the surface of our idyllic Christian lives is all kinds of life’s junk…the deep wounds, the hurts, the cuts, the put-downs, the disappointments, the broken relationships, that divorce (your or your parents), the druggie dad, the alcoholic mom, the insecurities, the envies, the resentments, the bitterness, the pain, the anger! This is the stuff that infects and influences our attitudes, our actions and reactions, our behaviour, our priorities, our marriages, our work, our witness, our ministry, and our life together as God’s people.

This is where the rubber of the Holy Spirit meets the Christian walk.

Accepting Jesus into your heart and life in and of itself doesn’t deal with these deeper issues of the heart and soul. It takes the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit to remove the putrid stench of the spiritual pus infecting the depths of our being.

HEALING FOR DAMAGED EMOTIONS …

2015/03/14

1. so that we can be patient with ourselves allowing the Holy Spirit to heal our own damaged emotions, and

2. so that we would be more patient with other Christians, off ering them grace and mercy rather than condemnation and judgment. The reality is that Christians are imperfect people operating their lives out of their own damaged hearts that leads to contradictory, confusing, and inconsistent behaviour.

The old saying is so true for us: Please be patient, God is not fi nished with me yet! Please understand that this does not allow sinful behaviour, abuse of authority, or blatant lack responsibility on the part of believers. Not at all, because we are still held accountable to one another and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But when we understand that each of us operates out of our own brokenness and wounds, then grace, mercy and patience is more easily aff orded to one another.

WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS FOR 2 REASONS:

2015/03/14

First, face your problem squarely with moral fortitude and courage in absolute honesty. Admit it to yourself and to a trusted Christian friend. James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that you might be healed.”

Second, accept your responsibility in the matter. You may have been the victim and not at all at fault, but what you do with that and how you respond to that hurt, is totally in your hands. Don’t play the blame game that is so prevalent in our society today that it is always somebody else’s fault. You will never receive emotional healing until you accept responsibility for your response and reactions to your pain.

Third, ask yourself if you really want to be healed. Do you really enjoy the benefi ts of your hurt and pain? Are you using it to get attention, sympathy, fi nancial reward, or maybe retribution against someone?

SO WHILE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AT WORK HEALING OUR DAMAGED EMOTIONS, SO WE SIT BACK AND LET THE

DREDGING BEGIN? NOT AT ALL BECAUSE WE DO HAVE A PART TO PLAY IN OUR OWN HEALING. AND HERE IT IS.

2015/03/14

Fourth, forgive any and everyone who is involved in your hurt. Jesus makes it plain that no healing can occur in your life unless you are able to forgive those who have done evil against you.

Fifth, forgive yourself. It is ironic how people accept God’s forgiveness but are unable to forgive themselves. Years ago I heard someone say, “If God forgives you, who do you think you are not to forgive yourself? Are you greater than God?”

Sixth, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what your real problem is, and how you need to pray. Sometimes it takes a human counselor to help us understand the problem, or maybe the Spirit will use a verse or story in the Bible. Maybe an experience will bring about an “ah-ha” moment.

SO WHILE THE HOLY SPIRIT IS AT WORK HEALING OUR DAMAGED EMOTIONS, SO WE SIT BACK AND LET THE

DREDGING BEGIN? NOT AT ALL BECAUSE WE DO HAVE A PART TO PLAY IN OUR OWN HEALING. AND HERE IT IS.

2015/03/14

There’s a story about Henry Ford and Charl ie Steinmetz. Charl ie was dwarf, deformed and not pleasant to the eye, but he was one of the world’s greatest minds in the fi eld of electr ic ity. One day the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan came to a halt. No one could get the plant up and running, so Henry Ford cal led in Charl ie Steinmetz. This genius puttered around the generators for a couple of hours, and then threw the switch and Ford Motor Company was back in business.

A few days later Henry Ford received a bi l l for $10,000. Ford returned the bi l l to Charl ie Steinmetz with this note, “Charl ie, isn’t this bi l l a bit high for only a few hours of t inkering around those motors?” Steinmetz adjusted his bi l l and sent it back to Henry Ford: “For t inkering around the motors: $10. For knowing where to t inker: $9,990.” Henry Ford paid the bi l l . The Holy Spir it knows exactly where to t inker and He knows exactly what we need to experience our own inner, emotional heal ing.

Do you want to be healed? What is i t that is poisoning your heart and soul? What is i t deep within you that sabotage your relationships? What is i t that is robbing you of God’s peace and the fruit of God’s Spir it? What is i t that Satan is using to accuse you and keep you bound by sin and nature’s night?

Let God’s heal ing waters and balm heal you from the inside out.

GOD’S HEALING WATERS AND BALM