There is a broken path in life. A road many of us here have walked. It’s the road of perdition. It’s the road of destruction. But it doesn’t feel that way when we walk it, not at first at least.
The road begins with a surrender. It’s a surrender that occurred in my heart when I had had too much. I had been broken. I was overwhelmed by life, and as a child, we don’t have enough to stand against it all.
So at some point, this child gives up.
There’s a fascinating bible verse that tells us what this means. It says in Colossians 3:21, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.”
So that’s what it means to lose heart. I’ve read that phrase so many times in the scripture, to “lose heart” but I never understood what it meant.
Losing heart must be a lot like giving up.
Proverbs 18:14 ESV “A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?”
When I was 16 or 17 so many things were coming at me, my parents were splitting up, I was experimenting with drugs and drinking, I was being bullied relentlessly in school, and I felt this pressure to perform, to be a sports star. I was depressed, I was in sin, and I was broken.
And finally something snapped in me and I decided, I’m not going to try anymore. I rebelled. I surrendered to a dark path.
Can you relate? Have you been there?
We’re talking about healing today. And I think to understand healing, we have to understand what it means to lose heart. To lose heart is to be so pressured by life’s problems that we give up inside. Without Jesus, there’s little we can do, we lose heart. But we Jesus, we can find it again, and find hope.
Jesus changes everything. The ultimate source of healing is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the doorway, God the Father is the architect & guide of the plan, and the Spirit is the indwelling healing presence.
Jesus Christ does the mighty work within us. But it isn’t finished there. We still need to heal and grow. There is work to be done.
But many of you walked that broken road. That broken road, of having given up on life, leads to many dark places. It leads to numbing of the pain with drinking and drugs, or relationships, and romance. It can lead to workaholism, working working working never stopping. It can lead to overeating. It can lead to all sorts of addictions, and sins, and shortcomings.
And like a snowball rolling down hill you just keep accumulating traumatic events. Broken relationships. Bitter memories. Resentments. People you hate. Anger at the system. Depression. Suicidal thoughts. Negative thoughts.
I know, I walked that broken road. The road got darker and darker. But along the way we encountered Jesus. We encountered God. Someone ministered to us. Someone shared God’s love with us.
Hope came back into our lives, after being gone for so many years.
Still we didn’t want to give up. We didn’t want to surrender to Him. We resisted letting God have our lives. But then finally we decided, it’s worth it, and we said Jesus, take it all. I’m yours.
Jesus accepted this request, and changed us. We were born again. We started a new adventure, a new journey took root.
Many of you are there today. God has changed your life. You’re a new creation. You’re washed in the blood of Jesus.
And yet there is still a cloud over your life. You don’t experience the sunlight of the spirit. You struggle with difficult memories. You battle secret sins.
Why? What’s the problem?
Healing is needed.
Jesus really did forgive our sins. He really did die for us on the cross. We really are changed and new.
But we still have trauma from the past that is affecting us. And we can’t walk in victory until we deal with those pains, bring them to the surface, and invite Jesus to heal the damage.
We’re going to pause and pray: “Lord, Father, if there are things that need to come up to the surface right now, we boldly ask you to bring them up to the surface, bring them to mind, and help us to offer them to you, for you to heal, in Jesus name, amen.”
What is the ancient pain you carry? What is the painful memory that keeps bothering you? What is the unforgiveness? What is the hatred?
Jesus has a title, and it’s the great physician. He is able and willing to heal us.
Our part, is to do something difficult. Which is to face it head on.
So now we’re on the new road. The pilgrimage road. The road of faith, like we talked about last week.
The Christian road is accepting difficult things, things like healing. And we naturally resist.
First thing is simple, we have to want to be healed. Is that an odd question? Do you want to get well? That’s the question Jesus asked the man at the well. He’d been there paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus asked him, “do you want to get well?”
Many who are broken, many who are hurt, many who are addicted, they don’t want to get well. They are so used to their chains, they can’t imagine being free.
What about you today? Do you want to be free? If we can say yes, then we can move forward on this road.
Second thing is this, it’s crazy simple, but incredibly profound. We have to believe that God really can take it away and heal us.
Don’t all Christians believe that? Yes I suppose you could say that. But, how often do we struggle with doubt and unbelief when it comes to us?
We know what God says about us, yet we are so cruel to ourselves in our own minds.
Begin to believe that Jesus really can take it away and heal you. He can. He wants to. He will.
He is able.
Thirdly, we want to organize the emotion, the thought, the pain, whatever it might be. We want to write it down on paper. We want to think about it and consider what happened.
The instinct is often to hide it away. Ignore it. Refuse to think about it. But the only way out is through.
Face it boldly. Let God bring it to the surface.
When we go through hard times sometimes we don’t really heal afterward and things build up within as anxiety or depression. When we write things down and learn about the inner workings of our mind, those traumas get cleared out, making way for the light of God’s presence.
I’m convinced many of us don’t experience the fullness of God’s presence because we have too much wreckage from our pasts built up within. But when we clear out those past struggles, we make room for the Spirit of God to fully consume us.
Or as it says in James 5:16 “confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
If you'd like a more detailed inventory guide Google search "fourth step inventory guide." You'll find quite a few documents that you can print out to guide your inventory process.
For things that go deeper, you may need to meet with your pastor, or with a good Christian counselor, or trusted friend.
Fourthly, we offer it up to Him.
Review:
1. You’re honestly willing to be healed.
2. You really believe God can heal you and take it away.
3. You’ve organized the issue, the emotion, the pain/trauma so you can see it clearly.
4. Offer it to Jesus, put it entirely in God’s hands
Now you offer it to Him.
What did God bring to mind? Are you ready to give to Him?
Let’s Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, our great physician, you are able, to take this ancient hurt from us. Lord Jesus, we can see it, in our hands, that memory, that pain, that thing we did, or that thing that was done to us, it’s ugly, its evil, and Lord Jesus we take it, and lift it up. We place it in your hands. We ask you Lord Jesus, to heal it. Healing Jesus, thank you Jesus, we give it to you forever, in Jesus name, amen!
Remember that sequence, when you have something that needs to be healed, willingness, believe God can and will, organize it clearly, and then offer it to Him.
Next, we feel it. We let Jesus walk us through the hard emotions. He’s taken it away, he’s brought healing, but that healing is a journey. It’ll take tears. Reflecting on what happened. Wrestling through the anger and hurt. Cry and cry. Let yourself feel it. And one day you’ll find a place of resolution, and you can say, I’m past that now.
Yet these things did lasting damage in how we think of ourselves. We got negative and down on ourselves.
Next, we need to begin to practice a different way of thinking in the future.
Our attitude is often default negative. We have to let God adjust that in us. Begin to practice the opposite. Practice positivity. Think about good things. Think about purity. Think about beauty.
Philippians 4:8-9 (ESV)“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Speak those things outloud: Wow, what a beautiful day. That’s really awesome that they did that. Let’s pray for them. God will help them through this. Speak positivity. Speak life. Speak what is good. And soon your whole attitude will change because what is coming out of your mouth is changing.
The tongue can turn the entire ship in a new direction, like the rudder of a giant ship. Says so in book of James.
This one is difficult, I know, I’m prone to reflect on negativity. I’m prone to be cynical and doubtful and pessimistic. But time and again God proves me wrong. See a future where God is there, and you’ll see a bright future, which is true.
And as we focus on the good, we build toward the good. And it rubs off on others. Project goodness in Christ.
It’s about practicing the opposite of what I used to do on the broken road. If I used to brag and talk, I quiet myself and focus on the Lord. If I used to be selfish, I begin to practice thinking about others first. If I was prideful I begin to practice humility. If I was rude, I practice being polite. If I was lazy, I get to work volunteering, if I was a workaholic, I slow myself down.
And as we heal from the past, walk in the strength of the Lord, speak life, and believe our identity in Christ, we begin to experience the presence of God. We walk in the sunlight of the Spirit.
Old sins that used to be hold us captive, well, they disappear, we repent of them, and since we’ve found real healing, we no longer have to lean on those sins for the little pleasure they provide, instead, we find real liberty in Christ.
And then we go from wounded to healers ourselves. We take what we’ve learned and we share it with others.
As it says in 2nd Cor 1: “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.”
There is this holy boldness, where we know Daddy God is with us, and therefore we can do anything. We’re safe in Christ. And so we can strike out from a position of strength. We know Jesus has deleted our sins by paying the price for them, so we know that with God anything is possible. And from there we begin working with others.
We’re so excited at what God has done in saving us and healing us, that we realize, everyone needs this! So we start sharing what God did for us with others, and we help them find freedom and healing as well.
We’ve found the answer in Jesus Christ. This is cause for celebration and amazement, all day everyday, like the word says, Rejoice at all times, and I say again, rejoice!
The cool thing about our savior Jesus Christ is that he takes people like you and me, and heals us over time, and then compels us to go out and help those with the struggles we have gone through. As someone who has recovered from addiction issues, I can relate to and reach those with the same problems in a way others simply can not. So let me challenge you, if you’d been through some stuff, think about how God can use that to bless others who are hurting.
In conclusion, Pray, pray, and keep praying! God will work the hurts out. But guard against sin. Sin wants to drag you back onto that broken road, and repeat all the hurts again. But in Christ, we have all we need to be free from that empty path, to walk in righteousness, and serve our true King Jesus Christ.
It’s our story brothers and sisters, of what God has done, fallen humanity ran from the Lord, and chased after sin, and we ended up face down in the pig sty, face down in the mud, and we came home to Jesus and Jesus ran to us, made us clean, and threw a party to celebrate our arrival home.
Main Points Review:
1. Pray for willingness to be healed. (Choose healing)
2. Choose to really believe God can heal you and take it away.
3. Organize the issue, the emotion, the pain/trauma so you can see it clearly.
4. Offer it to Jesus, put it entirely in God’s hands
5. Feel the pain, cry the tears, walk through the memories bravely (hand in hand with Jesus)
6. Speak life, speak the word of God, take it to heart as your identity
7. Practice the opposite of old broken patterns & attitudes
8. As we walk in the sunlight of the Spirit, old sins pass away
9. Boldly share your testimony, what God has done with others
10. As you continue to grow in Christ’s power, keep your guard against sin
