Today when I woke up, I jumped out of bed thinking that today would be like every other day. I would be my chipper self, appreciating the day and all that God has created. But when my feet hit the floor I felt as if I had gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Not only that but in the wrong universe and in a different body with someone else's mind. I'm telling you, I was not feeling like myself. As the day progressed, I felt like there was this dark cloud of evil perched just outside of my conscious mind waiting to come in and take over. So I stopped what I was doing and asked God what was going on. I needed to define and understand what was happening within my spirit, soul, and body. I asked for God to help me process what I was experiencing. I thought about all the events that were unfolding within my life, some of them unpleasant and out of my realm of control. The Holy Spirit began to work within me, and He impressed upon me that I need to take the time and evaluate myself. So I started by asking God to identify and show to me what emotions were stirring deep within me. What was revealed to me was anger, hurt, deep disappointment, frustration, fear, and anxiousness. As these emotions surfaced and emerged my first reaction was to hide them from God. After all, they were negative emotions. I felt shame because in my mind as a Christian, those emotions belonged to the unbeliever, not the believer. As a follower of Christ, were we suppose to be above that, someone who has overcome in the strength of Jesus Christ. As the Spirit of God dealt with me, he showed me how damaging it is to cover these areas in my life. That when I am injured and remain so without proper healing from God, there would be long term ungodly effects occurring repeatedly in my life. That these unhealed wounds would allow the Devil an opening in which he can comes and set up strongholds within my spirit. These strongholds would set out to destroy my inner man. This process of disclosure was a very uncomfortable experience to me. My standard mode of operation is to minimize things that have harmed me and put the experience and feelings quickly behind me, but God wanted me to sit there in this uncomfortable place, expose myself to him, and handle it the way he desired. To be covered by his grace and cleansed and healed through the power of his love. God in his loving way is teaching me that unhealed wounds create cracks and holes in the armor he has given me. God gives us armor for our protection and defense against the Devil and sin. These holes, if left alone or unhealed are openings into my spirit, soul and body. I am learning that the Devil, my enemy, is looking for any opening where he can come in, create and secure a stronghold in any areas of my life where I allow him. Once this stronghold is formed it is used so that he can manifest his corruption in my spirit and body and destroy my soul. The Devil will take our weakness and pain and use them against us. These areas of spiritual strongholds are then an advantage point for him, a place of strength, a means by which he destroys our lives and our effectiveness in the kingdom of God. Let me see if I can make this picture clearer in your mind..
All of us have experienced some event that has really hurt us to the core. It can be a single event such as a trauma or accident. It can be unkind and unloving words spoken to us in anger, or lies told to us that damage our self esteem. It can be a personal failure, loss of a job, death of a child or family member. It can be a short term or long term occurrence. Having a failed relationship. Spousal rejection, Failure of a parent to cover, protect, love and support us. Living in an abusive environment or being the victim of verbal, emotional, physical or sexual abuse. Hatred of self, or negative thoughts about who we are as an individual. It is a memory that still brings great pain or deep shame when it is recalled. It often causes us to feel rejected and unworthy. These types of things happen to us all to frequently and we are not at fault. But the reality is that they cannot be ignored there is to much at risk. When we deny the truth the only thing that is left is a lie. An untruth. The Bible tell us that the Devil is the author and father of lies, so this give him unspoken permission to set up shop in your heart and mind, to rule and operate from an inside vantage point in our lives. Do not be fooled, the Devil is real and he is not a friend of man. If given the opportunity he will make you his slave. He will bind you with the chains of fear, rejection and hopelessness. He will oppose and block your relationship to God our loving father. He will keep you from reaching your full potential. The Devil will destroy all your dreams and have you believing his lies are true. The Bible says that he rebelled against God and God has judged him and found him guilty. His punishment is that he will be cast into Hell, a place created for him not man. He will be eternally separated from God. The fact is the Devil's desire is to take you with him. With all this said, Our Father God has made available to us a way out through his limitless love. God is our creator, he is a friend to man. He gave us a means whereby we can be healed.
Medically we know that when an injury occurs to our skin that breach allows germs and bacteria an entry point into our bodies. If that wound is left untreated it can lead to an infection. If that infection gains the better of us and goes without treatment, it could in turn could threaten our very lives. It is the same with our spirit. Proper cleaning and healing must take place. God tells us to turn to him, to expose our injuries to him so he can cleanse us and heal us. Show him your broken heart and spirits, don't be afraid he will not reject you or turn away in disgust. He is already aware of all our problems, he has seen us each and every time when we have been hurt. God wants us to turn to him so he can heal us. God is a gentle spirit, he will not force himself upon us, all we need to do is ask for cleansing and healing and he will provide. God's love for us, yes you and me, is greater and stronger than anything we can experience, because it is founded on his character and not ours. God gave us his one and only Son, his Son Jesus shed his holy blood and gave us his life, so that our sins could be forgiven and we could be restored and brought back into right relationship with God. There is nothing that can separate us from His divine love. He has given us his all.
God our father and creator wants to pour his love into any situation that you are facing. He has seen all the sins of mankind and he still loves us. There is nothing you can do, nor is there any great travesty that has been done to you that could make God stop loving you. Please don't hide from God. He is waiting for you to come to him so that he can pour his love into those areas of hurt and pain. Just ask, God wants to heal you and set you free so that you can live the life he has given you. A life that is free, and not in bondage to effects of sin.
Psalm 4:1 "Answer me when I call, God, who vindicate me. You freed me from all of my affliction; be gracious to me and hear my prayer."
Psalm 6:2-4 "Be gracious to me, Lord for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for me bones are shaking; my whole being is shaken with terror. And you, Lord-how long? Turn, Lord! Rescue me; save me because of your faithful love."
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