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Emotional Healing is Often Neglected

Emotional sickness can hurt as bad as physical

When the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel in Acts 2:17-21. Verse 17 went as follows:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.

Young men see visions because they have the energy and strength to fulfill them. Old men dream dreams about things that will come and things pertaining to glory, but they don’t always have the strength to fulfill them.

Now, I’m not yet an old man, but I’ll share with you that I don’t think I could do some ministry I did as a young man with the inner-city homeless. That was a vision and God gave me strength to fulfil it. Yes, there is still strength today, but for other types of ministry.

When I was a young man, I approached healing energetically, looking for those with pain, cancers, diabetes, and the dying. I was young and strong and had vision. I’m still looking for them now, but I’m also more sensitive to those with emotional hurts.

At that time, I didn’t see emotional or even spiritual hurts, just the physical. That’s young and energetic for you. I have since learned that emotional hurts and sickness can be every bit as terrible as physical sickness.

We go to crusades and look for wheelchairs and are excited when cancers are gone and the crippled walk, but we should also attend to the emotionally sick.

There are those who are demonically oppressed, those who are simply emotionally hurt and sick, all of whom need deliverance and/or healing. We need to be sensitive to them though their healings are not always spectacular, because Jesus died for their emotional hurts and sicknesses, just as He died for their physical sickness.

There are those who are so emotionally devastated they can no longer function. There are those tormented by distressing thoughts and memories, and there are those filled with debilitating regret and pain from wrong decisions taken in the past.

Can the Lord heal them instantly? Yes. Will He? It is a little bit complicated, but I remember the Lord telling a pastor who was ministering to an emotionally sick person the following (and I’ll paraphrase):

The layers of emotional issues this person has are so many and so intertwined that if I undid all the issues at once, it will kill them.” And so the pastor had to go slow, layer by layer of spiritual and emotional baggage.

Over the years, I realized that while we all look for instant healing (and should expect it), certain people – not all, but some – got in their situations through years and years of sin and bad decision making. It can often take time to unravel them and get them healed.

I have prayed for people with cancer, seen the cancer gone and them, see the person light up a cigarette on leaving the church. Were all the issues dealt with? No.

I have seen drug addicts gloriously met by the Spirit of God, but leave church and go and use. Human beings are complex, fearfully and wonderfully made. It’s not always about laying hands on their heads and running off to the next meeting in another town.

Some people need continuous ministry for a period of time in order to be completely healed. This is so whether we are a fast food society or not. It is also that way, because their will, their souls, and their decision making mechanisms are involved.

So, as ministers, be more aware of emotional hurts and sickness and remember that you will need time and dedication to see the work of healing perfected in many of these believers.

Filed in: Healing Ministry, Healing Theology Tags: , , , , , ,

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4 Responses to "Emotional Healing is Often Neglected"

  1. It is shaper than the sharpest two-edged sword God is a healer of emotional hurt emotional abuse emotional torture psychological sickness God is above any type of sickness it is through the Word of God that we get to be healed for the Word of God is Jesus Christ Himself the Word has power to heal. When you are hurt and sick psychologically it affects your way of thinking and develops fear however the Lord says do not fear as much as God doesn t want us to fear He wants us to be healed of anything that causes psychological hurt and sickness and today the Lord can heal you right now right where you are pray this prayer and receive your healing from today onwards your mind will be filled with nothing else but the Word of God as you meditate in His Word day and night Joshua 1v8.Prayer Father in the name of Jesus Christ I speak healing over the sickness right now I confess that I healed I am set free from any physiological and emotional sickness I am free in Jesus name Amen..Brother Humphrey Yic.

  2. I AM SET FREE BECAUSE I SPEAK IT AND BELIEVE IT ! WITH ALMIGHTY FAITH AND NO DOUBT! I CONFESS WITH MY MOUTH AND SPEAK ALLOWED FOR IT TO MANIFEST! ANYTHING ASKED FOR IN JESUS NAME SHALL BE GIVEN! AMEN

  3. Peter Ostrander says:

    There are established Christian ways or ministries which lead to inner, emotional healing. Rita Bennett helped set me free from the loss of my premature twin and others helped me with my being like one of the ‘lost boys’ and believing the lie that I would be alone forever. I also experienced the wonderful love of Abba, which I had missed in my dad, after WWII. In working with someone who had Dissociative Identity Disorder, along with a psychologist, I invite Jesus to minister to her in the context of her terrible memory. He often seems to walk through them with her. I may pray in the Spirit as I wait upon the Lord.

    ‘New Testament Healing’ has a chapter on the basis for inner healing using God’s word.
    http://www.amazon.com/author/peterostrander/

  4. Kate Lake says:

    Our health wellbeing and emotions are closely linked.
    Illness can often be a result of emotional trauma, the roots of which get buried layer by layer after each negative emotional episode. Praying for physical healing can often not be effective in these cases.
    Negative emotions have a very profound destructive influence over the body, left unchecked they can eventually affect the immune system causing all sorts of illnesses.

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