God Wants You to Have a Healthy Heart
Sunday, March 16, 2014
We live in a world that is filled with hurting people. There are so many ways that people can be hurt and most of the world around them would never see the pain they bear. The physical pain that many suffer from injuries or some type of disease that causes a lifetime of suffering are the most visible, and they are often debilitating, but in many ways, the physical pain is much easier to deal with than the other types of hurting that are unseen.
I wonder how many of you here right now are suffering from emotional pain? You do a good job of covering it up. You’ve learned how to put on a smile, wear a mask in public and go about your business, hoping that no one around you can see the real you on the inside. We all go through those times when our emotions get the best of us.
I’ve seen even the strongest man cry in times of great distress and sadness, or become capable of killing even that which he loves in a moment of heated anger.
I’ve seen mothers cry over their children who have caused emotional damage through saying or doing things that leave her distraught and wondering where she could have gone so wrong in raising her child.
I’ve seen children whose emotions are so mixed up and so hurt that they are nearly dysfunctional in society. Sometimes it’s the parents, or friends, or perhaps another sibling that does something terrible, or continually says something, or does something that makes a child feel so unworthy, so useless and so unloved.
In our time there is a great emphasis being placed upon the fact that there is so much bullying going on in our schools, on the job, in sports and I suppose anywhere in life where people are interacting with one another.
Bullying isn’t something new. When you think about it, I doubt if there is one person in this crowd who hasn’t either been bullied or been a bully at some point in your life. Bullying has been around since the creation of man and I don’t think we could ever eradicate it, no matter how many laws we pass.
The problem is that in order to stop bullying we have to focus on the condition of the heart, not upon the action that it produces. As long as there is a black heart, filled with the sins of pride, envy, greed, jealousy and everything else that can trigger bullying, then the action of bullying will never go away.
One of the greatest preachers of the 19th century, Rev. Charles Spurgeon, spoke forth a message in which he said:
“Man is a double being: he is composed of body and soul, and each of the portions of man may receive injury and hurt. The wounds of the body are extremely painful, and if they amount to a breaking of bones the pain is terrible indeed. Yet God has in his mercy provided means whereby wounds may be healed and injuries to the body repaired.
When a wounded soldier who comes from the battlefield, he knows that he will find the hand of a surgeon to remove any object that has wounded his body, and there are healing medicines that can be used to treat his wounds. Though the pain may be great, and the suffering last a long time, yet there may yet come a day when he can resume a full and productive life.
When the body is stricken by a sickness or a disease and it becomes too painful and uncomfortable to allow us to rest and get well on our own, and our prayers for God’s healing hand aren’t answered quickly, there are few among us who won’t seek out a doctor to help us find relief.
The pain of the body is easily recognized and often easier to treat than the pain of the heart and soul. Yet the pain of the heart can be so much greater and have a greater impact upon our lives!
How much more should we cry out to God for help when we are hurt spiritually? How much quicker should we turn to God in the times of the distress of our hearts, when the heart is broken and the spirit is wounded so deeply that it’s nearly impossible to express. How quickly and sincerely should we cry out to “The Great Physician”, knowing that he has the power to deliver, to heal and to set us free!”
When your heart is broken, your spirit is crushed, your emotional being is damaged and the pain of bearing all of this hurt becomes unbearable, there is a suffering that is far greater than a broken bone; and that pain is very hard to overcome! It’s a pain that never goes away; a pain that no physician can heal with an ointment though they may try to mask the pain with mind altering medication; and this deep-down, unseen but terrible hurt will often leave us is a place where we unable to perform even the simplest tasks of life without severe limitations.
There are people to your right, to your left; all around you who have felt the pain that I’m speaking of, and some of them are in the midst of that suffering right now.
You don’t know it’s there. They can’t tell you, or won’t tell you it’s there because it’s a pain that most people feel they must bear alone. Inner hurts are very hard to express and even harder to understand, and to bare our souls and tell our deepest hurts to other people is a great gamble that forces us to open those wounds that are already too painful to bear and take the chance that other people will make it even worse.
I have good news this morning for those who suffer from a wounded spirit, a broken heart and those who are caught in a spirit of heaviness. though the joy, the peace and the victory in your life is gone for the moment, there is a Great Physician; One who is well able to heal your broken heart; One who is able to bind up the wounded spirit and One who will both willing and able to set the captive free from the bonds of grief, sorrow and sadness; One who will give strength to the will; power to overcome all things; and One who can make you into a complete and whole person, healed of all hurt and pain.
HIS NAME IS JESUS, and through his power and the anointing, healing, and delivering power of his blood, and the moving of the Holy Ghost in your life, you can be made whole!
His power to heal is greater than all medicines combined. His ability to speak peace into your heart is greater than all of the world’s counselors put together. His power to give you joy is greater than anything that this world could ever offer. He is very God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace and there’s nothing impossible for God in your life!
Psalms 34:18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
You don’t have to face your pain alone! No, perhaps no one else on the earth can really understand how you feel or the pain you suffer – BUT THE LORD DOES AND HE’S BY YOUR SIDE!
Jesus came to this earth, leaving Heaven’s throne, and he came for a reason. He had created man and only he knew the very deepest emotions and the most intimate secrets of the way in which we are created. God knew that only he could supply the deepest needs of the human heart. Only he could fully know and understand what we feel and how we feel. He not only knew that we needed a Savior for our sin-blackened hearts, but he also knew we needed a Healer for our heart, our spirit, our soul and our body. That’s why he came.
Jesus took on the form of a human body. He chose to suffer as a man; feeling the same pain; knowing grief; understanding and feeling the same suffering, hurts and things that we all must face. How could he have been our perfect substitute sacrifice without knowing what the real experience of being human is all about?
Look at the words written about Jesus in Isaiah chapter 53:
Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:5 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.
Yes, he became a human being, with all of the ability to feel, to suffer and to hurt, just like us. And he felt everything that any of us will ever feel.
Jesus was hated, despised, rejected, abused and was considered an outcast. All of mankind refused to accept him, even though he did everything he did for their good. He carried the sin and sorrow of the whole world upon his shoulders to the cross. His body was beaten, bruised and wounded, so that he would know how you hurt and could bear the price of that pain and provide the power to heal it through his shed blood. He took the beatings and the mocking, knowing that you would feel the pain of being injured and mocked and abused; knowing that through his own suffering, he would have the power to heal all of it for us! He did all of that knowing that even while he did it, most men would not accept his price. BUT HE DID IT ANYWAY – FOR ALL OF YOU WHO WILL ACCEPT HIS POWER TO DELIVER!
The Prophet Isaiah, writing under the unction of the Holy Ghost, penned these words about Jesus in Isaiah chapter 61:
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isaiah 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Now I’m not Jesus, of course, but I’m here as the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m here in Christ’s stead, and by his divine appointment, to stand before you this very hour and proclaim those same words to you in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Holy Ghost!
Yes, the Spirit of God is upon me. I’ve come to preach good news to those who are hurting this morning. I’ve been sent by the Holy Ghost with a mandate from the very throne of God to tell you that God is here today to heal your broken heart, to set your spirit free from grief and pain and to set you from that prison of hurt and suffering that has you bound. God wants to heal you and set you free. And when Jesus sets you free, you will be free indeed!
This is your appointed time for healing and deliverance! This is your acceptable time to come to God with your pain and leave it on the altar, and then let God carry that load that has you all burdened down.
Today, this very hour, you can suddenly know what it is to be happy again, to be at peace again, and to know the joy of the Lord once again. Instead of grief there will be a song in your heart and a Spirit of Praise. You are a Child of God and your Heavenly Father doesn’t want to see his children sick and hurting! He is here to heal your pain, once and for all!
Just so you’ll know that it wasn’t just Isaiah that said those words, Jesus himself spoke those same words again in Luke chapter 4:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
The world is full of hurting people, and right now, maybe you’re one of them, but that doesn’t have to be so. You have a Heavenly Father who loves you. You have a Savior who died for you! You have a Great Physician that can heal any hurt, heal any pain and make you whole again.
The Spirit of the Lord is in this place. The anointing of the Holy Ghost is here! The power of the blood of Jesus to wash away sin, to heal the broken hearted, and to deliver you from the things that have you bound is here! God wants you to have a healthy heart so that you might have the greatest life that you can have and enjoy the victory, peace and power that comes with living with Jesus in your heart! THE GREAT PHYSICIAN IS HERE TO HEAL RIGHT NOW!
It doesn’t matter what happened or how the pain was inflicted, and I know that there are as many terrible circumstances as there are people in this auditorium. Every one of us could speak forth stories that are horrible and let the world know just how hurt we’ve been. But even though we speak it forth, and let everyone know, and rage against those who have hurt us, that won’t make the pain go away. But understand that for the sake of your healing and deliverance, it just doesn’t matter! God can heal it anyway!
It doesn’t matter who hurt you! Whether it was a stranger or someone you trusted, or maybe even someone that you thought really loved you, God can heal it anyway!
It doesn’t matter how long you have suffered or how deep the hurt is! Sometimes the pain and hurt can go on for a very long time, hidden in the deepest recesses of the heart, hoping that somehow we can forget it, but it just keeps coming back, and we can’t find the peace we need. But no matter how long the pain has been there God is greater than it all!
It doesn’t matter how heavy the load, or how burdened down you feel, or how overwhelmed you are! Sometimes the pain is felt in deep waves of grief, especially at the loss of a loved one, and it feels like the waves of sorrow are drowning us. There are often a lot of regrets, unspoken words that we all wish we could have had the chance to say, but never did. The pain and regret of lost loved ones can go on for many years, but as long as there’s grief, there can’t be victory, so we need healing and deliverance. Jesus understands your grief and he is able to take the whole load and carry you along with it!
Jesus is greater than your pain; greater than your hurt; greater than your doubts and fear; and he can carry the load; even casting it away as far as the east is from the west, forever! You can be free! You will be free, when you give it all to Jesus!
Don’t worry about revenge, or vengeance or justice for those who have hurt you. God says that vengeance is his and he will make all things right! You can’t carry a grudge, or allow the actions of someone else to make you feel like you’re of no value. Their sin that was committed against you does not make you of any less value. You’re still loved, and still worth all of Heaven to Christ. He still died for you and God still cares for you, and Jesus is reaching out to you saying, “Come home my child. I know your pain and I will heal your heart if you’ll let me.”
You can’t allow those who caused your pain to control your life through your desire for vengeance, or you’ll allow them to control your life forever and you’ll never be free.
Psalms 147:3 He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Do you need healing this morning? Is there a deep-down, really painful need in your heart today? Has your spirit been wounded, and your heart broken and your faith shaken? Do you have a hurt down inside that no one else can understand, and that only God could feel with you? The hour of your healing is here!
Come and let Jesus give you a healthy heart that your life may bring glory to God and you can live in victory and peace! You don’t have to carry that pain alone! You don’t have to carry it anymore! Give it to Jesus and let him heal it right now!
