Healing

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out,
that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
and that He may send the Christ who has been appointed for you --
even Jesus.
Acts 3:19-20



Repentance. Confession. Admission of guilt. Sin.  Too many times we view repentance as a negative thing instead of the act that brings us freedom!

No of us are unfamiliar with feelings of remorse over something that we have done - or failed to do.  We feel the prick of guilt, and our conscience is burdened.  But where do we go from there?

Scripture makes it plain that at such a moment we need to openly confess to God.  Take responsibility for our actions, and come to Him humbly and honestly.

And what happens next?  Forgiveness!  Pure and immediate.  (1 John 1:9 ) We are washed clean, absolved of guilt.  Our sins are removed at that very second as far as the east is from the west.  (Psalm 103:12 )

Friends, too often, instead of following these very simple steps, we allow the guilt to eat us alive.  We allow the enemy to so infuse us with shame that we no longer believe we can ever have freedom.  And we are effectively bound with the very chains that Christ died on the cross to break!

It is normal to sin - we are human!  (Romans 7:14-25 ) And until we enter heaven we will succomb to our sinful nature.  However, Jesus died in order that we do not have to be slaves to sin any longer! (John 8:34-36 ; Romans 6:5-5 ,16; 8:1-2)  It's time to stop allowing Satan to hold us in bondage with shame and guilt.  We have been given freedom through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Look at the scripture above from Acts 3:19-20 .  We are admonished to repent of our sins so that "times of refreshing may come from the Lord."  Wow!  I don't know about you, but I certainly welcome times of refreshing from the Lord!  So I will choose to take ownership of my sin, to confess it honestly before the Lord, and then to repent of it - which means to turn away from it - so that I can experience forgiveness and freedom.

Our Savior Jesus has already paid the penalty for sin.  (2 Corinthians 5:21 ; 1 John 1:7 )  We do not need to carry chains of guilt and shame.  We need only to turn to God and confess...and experience joy and freedom!  


Additional Scriptures: Psalm 32:5 (read in context of whole psalm); Psalm 51

“Keep your eye on the healthy soul; scrutinize the straight life.

There’s a future in strenuous wholeness.

But the willful will soon be discarded.”

Psalm 37:3-38 (Message version)

“Strenuous wholeness” – That’s incredibly descriptive! The path toward wholeness, healing, balance, and a healthy soul which allows transparency with God  can be quite strenuous.

What begins with mustard seed of faith and a prayer of salvation continues with growth, maturing and developing that often is indeed work. Oh, now it’s not work if we just stay drinking the “milk of the word” (Hebrews 5:11-14 ), but if we do we will miss out on experiencing the glory and fullness of the Lord. If we never stretch our faith muscles in the spiritual realm, we won’t see the full potential of His Word alive in us. (Romans 8:11 )

When we decide to come vulnerably before the throne of grace to ask for healing and wholeness, Father God sets us on a journey. He begins to peel off layers of old thought patterns, fears, strongholds, and lies from the enemy that have kept us in bondage to sin and to our past.

As C.S. Lewis once penned, we submit ourselves to a “severe mercy” by the hand of the Great Physician, who – as we willingly lay on the altar before him – surgically carves out the poison in our lives that clouds his glory.

The path of wholeness indeed is strenuous. However, the rich fellowship with God, the confidence of his love, the joy of his presence, the moments of intimate communion are sweeter than any strain! Let us be fully consumed with the power and healing and presence of Jesus. The reward is well worth the work.

Other scriptures: Philippians 1:6 ; Hebrews 10:23

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, 
whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water 
that sends out its roots by the stream. 
It does not fear when heat comes; 
its leaves are always green. 
It has no worries in a year of drought 
and never fails to bear fruit."

Jeremiah 17:7-8

I returned yesterday from a weekend of our 8th year of Healing Prayer retreats.  This was the theme scripture.

We were asked to draw a picture based on this scripture.  I used oil pastels for mine.  The tree trunk