Practical Tips To Help You Release Emotional Tensions That Hinder Health

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18 - NKJV).

Yesterday, I addressed the issue of dealing with the hurts and emotional pain and duress that happens to us living in an imperfect world with imperfect people. I want to continue to day and talk about how to deal with emotional issues that potentially weigh us down.

Every relationship leaves an emotional print on us. The effect of that emotional print is determined by the how close the person is to us, and how long we’ve known them. The people that can hurt us the most are the one’s closest to us.  So in life it’s like carrying a sack across your shoulder that is filled with all of your past relationships. Every relationship that did not end well, that was open ended, weighs on you emotionally.

So many people through the years have told me that they are just tired all of the time. Even after a deep night’s sleep they wake up and feel so fatigued. Upon further questioning, I’ve found that they have had life traumas from past relationships that have produced much pain and angst.

And as I mentioned yesterday, mental and emotional turmoil can affect us physically, and in many cases keep us from obtaining healing and health. As Proverbs 14:30 - Amplified reads: A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones. Mental and emotional weights do us physical harm. And these weights are the reason that many people constantly battle illness after illness.

Listen to this insightful quote from Dr. Caroline Leaf in her book Who Switched Off My Brain 1:

Your brain can be compared to a prolific factory producing a variety of chemicals depending on what type of emotion you are experiencing. Depending on whether or not these emotions are toxic to your body, the chemicals will either help you or harm you. If they are harmful, they create conditions for a host of health problems that will manifest in both the body and the mind. Emotions that regularly release a torrent of destructive chemicals that will be the most damaging over time are: unforgiveness, anger, rage, resentment, depression, worry, anxiety, frustration, fear, excessive grief and guilt… Research shows that around 87% of illnesses can be attributed to our thought life, and approximately 13% to diet, genetics and environment… Studies conclusively link more chronic diseases (also known as lifestyle diseases) to an epidemic of toxic emotions in our culture. These toxic emotions can cause migraines, hypertension, strokes, cancer, skin problems, diabetes, infections and allergies, just to name a few...Studies also point to a direct correlation between anxiety/fear and heart palpitations, irritable bowel syndrome, tension headaches and heart problems...Quite simply, there is no longer any doubt that what and how you think affect your emotional and physical state. The mind and body are integrally connected.

Jesus came to help us deal with our past sin, and in the opening verse of this blog, He also came to heal the brokenhearted. That means He wants to help us deal with the emotional hurts and weights life leaves with us.

Hebrews 12:15 mentions bitter roots that can spoil our lives: (Amplified Bible) Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God’s grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing), in order that no root of resentment (rancor, bitterness, or hatred) shoots forth and causes trouble and bitter torment, and the many become contaminated and defiled by it.

We can choose to internalize emotional hurt and pain by refusing to let go and forgive, hence we have a “bitter root.” Or, we can choose to release from our mind and emotions a person who has harmed us by forgiving every single offence they have committed towards us. And, this is where Jesus Christ can come in and help us.

Make a list of those in your past who have wronged you in some way and have created emotional and mental baggage that you carry daily, weighing you down. Write down the person’s name that has brought the pain. Then, under their name, write one sentence statements that describe what they did to you and then how that made you feel. For instance, you may write: John told the boss that I was responsible for the mistake on the regional report, and it cost me pay increase. And I did not do it! He is the one responsible for the mistake, and he knows it! I am so angry!

Again, make a list containing one sentence statements as I illustrated for every person who has hurt you. Sometimes we may have many one sentence statements under a person’s name because of the length of the relationship we’ve had, and how close the person was to us. To truly forgive and let go of mental and emotional hurt and pain, it is important to be thorough. Take one person at a time. Make a list of what has caused you grief.

Then, take the list to a private place for prayer. Sometimes, if the emotional content is deep and raw, you may consider having someone pray with you about these one sentence statements. At the place of prayer, go before the Father and tell Him that you are there to deal with some emotional baggage that has weighed on you. Ask God to help you deal with it. Take each one sentence statement before God in prayer. Tell God what the person did, and how it made you feel. Then in prayer commit yourself to forgive: (Example) Father, in the name of Jesus I bring John before you today. Lord, it hurt me deeply when he chose to be dishonest and tell the boss that I was the one responsible for the mistake on the report, when I am not the one that made it. He was the one that did it and he knows it. I confess that I was very angry, and that I have held offence towards him for this. Father, I choose right now by faith to forgive John for this offence. I release him from the liability I feel he has to pay me back. I fully forgive him the way Jesus has fully forgiven me for my sins. He owes me nothing. Beginning today, I choose to walk in forgiveness toward him about this regardless of how I feel. Thank you for forgiving me for the bitterness I’ve held. And thank you for freeing me from the mental and emotional weight of this event. In Jesus’ name.

Pray this way over every one sentence statement you’ve written about a person. You may cry when you do this as pent up emotions surface, or you may feel no emotion at all. When the event about a person comes back to mind, as it always will, instead of brooding over it again, tell the Lord that by faith you have forgiven the person and that you no longer hold offence towards them. Remember that emotions may still feel the pain of the event for a while, even after you have forgiven the person. After a period of time, the negative emotions will subside. Replace negative thinking about the event with the person you’ve forgiven with prayer for them, every time they come to mind. Ask God to help them and for Him to draw the person to Himself.

The illustration I gave was very simple. You may carry deep emotional wounding resulting from mental, physical, emotional, or even physical abuse from a person who was close to you. You may be angry at God for what has happened in your life, and you may find yourself needing to forgive God too! Whatever has impacted your life, use this blog as a resource to help you become free from mental and emotional weights.

This is practical forgiveness. It will release you from bitter emotional and mental turmoil. And you’ll be stronger, healthier, and more peaceful. God wants us to walk in His peace and in His joy. When we choose to forgive, release, and forget the offences of others, we’ll find God smile as we face each day.

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him and[a]let it drop (leave it, let it go), in order that your Father Who is in heaven may also forgive you your [own] failings and shortcomings and let them drop (Mark 11:25 - Amplified).

1.  Who Switched Off My Brain By Dr. Caroline Leaf (South Africa, Switch on Your Brain Organisation PTY, 2007) pages 4-5.

Dealing With The Hurts Life Brings Your Way

Proverbs 14:30 - Amplified

A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.

Proverbs 14:30 - Message Paraphrase

A sound mind makes for a robust body, but runaway emotions corrode the bones.

Proverbs 18:14- KJV

The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

Proverbs 18:14- NLT
The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?

Proverbs 17:22- NKJV

A merry heart does good, like medicine, but  a broken spirit dries the bones.

Proverbs 17:22 - NLT

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.

When I was in my 20’s I came across this wise piece of advice: What happens to you in life is not as important as how you deal with it. All of us encounter the terrible and sometimes caustic challenges that life in a negative world breeds. We just can’t keep people from doing and saying things that harm us. The inevitability of life means that unless we learn to handle well the things that happen to us, we could be destroyed by them.

Over the 34 years I’ve been in ministry I’ve witnessed the hurts and pains of people who have been mentally, emotionally, physically, sexually, and even spiritually abused. Many are are devastated and live in the shadow of these negative things that have happened. But, I have seen some who, by the grace of God, were able to keep these awful events from ruining their lives.

When others hurt us we can choose either to brood over it, or forgive the offending person, place the event in God’s hands by faith, and move on with life. The first response, brooding, causes the event to fester in our minds and emotions, and the negative event saps our strength, colors our relationships, and hinders us moving forward in God’s great big ocean of life. The second response, forgiving and asking God to move us through the event to the other side where there is emotional and mental peace, brings with it mental, emotional, spiritual, and relational health.

In January of 2013, I had a bicycling accident and broke my left arm. In the process of falling on the biking trail, I also hit my helmet really hard on the ground, and my teeth jarred together violently.  Besides the deliriously hurtful arm pain, I noticed that there was grit in mouth. One of my lower front teeth had an ever so small break in it and a small portion of the tooth broke into what felt like sand in my mouth. It was so minor compared to my arm that I shrugged it off.

Four months later I found myself in my dentist’s office with some intense pain originating from my top right “eye” tooth. I told the dentist of my accident and here is what he said: “The energy from the fall was displaced in your bottom tooth by the ever so small crack in the tooth and your feeling the disintegrated pieces of tooth in your mouth. But, when your teeth jarred together, the top tooth was stronger and instead of breaking, the energy of the fall travelled through the tooth into its root, killing the root.” I had to have a root canal on the tooth. It could not endure the trauma.

And, that’s what happens when traumatic events occur in our lives. We can either give them to God by choosing to forgive the offenders, or we can internalize them by holding on to the pain, never talking to anyone about it, and brooding over the past hurt over and over again. And just like the tooth that was so strong, we slowly erode emotionally, mentally, spiritually, relationally, and eventually physically.

Ask God to help you deal with your past hurts and pains. Don’t hold them inside. The energy of the traumatic event will damage you if you hold it inside. Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted. Cry out to Him in your pain today. He can help you forgive and move forward.

Tomorrow, I’ll continue!

Expect God's Best Today!

In a world that values the now over the eternal, it’s important that we keep our faith strong. We live a life of faith, and not one of sight!  We’re not living by our feelings or the way things seem to be, we are living as if the promises of God were absolutely true!

That means that every day I’m expecting the best that God has for my life. I’m expecting His strength the overcome my weakness, His bigness to overwhelm my smallness, His prosperity to absorb my poverty, His riches in glory to assume the obligation of my need, His health and healing to meet every challenge I face with sickness. Jesus is my all in all. He is the fullness that I am seeking.

Take some time today to remind yourself and the Lord of what He has said about you. Let your own ears hear your own mouth declare God’s word about your life. The Father will use your own words to lift you up!

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV)

Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29).

The Healing Promise

Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:1-3)  

  

Healing is always the will of God for the believer. Right after God delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He revealed Himself as the Physician of His people in Exodus 15:26: If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put (allow) none of the diseases on you which I have brought (allowed) on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.  The phrase I will put in this verse is in the permissive sense, not in the causative sense. It should read I will allow.

 

This promise of healing is not just for the Old Testament saints, but for us today. We have a better covenant established on better promises. The good new is that the same faith that saves us is the same faith that brings God’s healing power into our bodies. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10) So you could also say it this way: For with the heart one believes unto healing, and with the mouth confession is made unto health.

 

Believing for healing is as simple as believing for forgiveness of sin. First, you see the will of God through the Word to save and to heal. Then you believe it in your heart, and begin to say only what God says about your forgiveness and healing. You must look beyond the feelings you have to be forgiven and to be healed. Pray, ask, believe you receive healing or forgiveness, and then stand you ground in faith until the feelings of forgiveness and the actual healing manifests in your body. Believing and speaking the Word will draw God’s healing power into your body!

 

Diligently hearkening to the Word for healing is refusing to believe or speak anything contrary to the Word about your body. To do this, you must meditate regularly on God’s promises to heal. You must be diligent in the Word. He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (Psalm 107:20).  

I’ll leave you today with God’s medicine for your health. Take it according to the prescription in Exodus 15:26.

 

So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you (Exodus 23:25).

And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you (Deuteronomy 7:15).

Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses) and carried our sorrows (pains); Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5)

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17).

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38-).

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24).

God Has No Memory Of Confessed Sin!

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

 

Psychologists tell us that one of the main de-motivators of human personality is guilt and condemnation. Many people carry the weight of failure due to past deeds. Guilt will keep a person in the downward spiral of hopeless addictions as they seek the numb the pain of past failures. Addictions of all sorts: alcoholism, drugs, sex, food, and even in work may find their origin in the covering of and hiding from the emotional pain of failure.

  

God’s remedy for guilt is the forgiveness and cleansing found in the blood of Jesus! As Isaiah says: Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18).

 

I was freed from my chains of personal failure when I learned that God does not even remember confessed sin. He has no record of it!

 

Years ago I was reading a book by Dr. Roy Hick entitles He Who Laughs Lasts and Lasts…In the book, Dr. Hicks mentions Einstein’s theory of relativity. Part of that theory is the belief that if a person could travel at the speed of light, time would cease. He would enter into the eternal.

 

The Bible says that God is light (1 John 1:5). God lives in the realm of the eternal. Past, present, and future are all “now” to God. It’s a hard concept for our finite minds to grasp, but it is true. God lives in the eternal “now.” The panorama of history is constantly before Him. He sees everything that was, is, and will be  as “now.” Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (before it was created). The Apostle John was shown The Revelation which shows the future. How? All this is or will be exits in the eternal where God dwells. And God showed John what will be because it already exists in the realm of the eternal.

 

So when God says that He will not remember our sins, it a big deal! That means that confessed sin is not even history, because history can be remembered! Confessed sin is not found in the mind of God. It is blotted out as if it had never been committed. And that is a miracle!

  

God can do what we can’t. Our past deeds live in our memory, but He has the ability to completely remove confessed sins from His mind, and from recorded history! So when you sin as a believer, don’t brood and whine over it, repent and confess it! Then it will be completely removed from the history of your life and you can walk free from guilt!

This is all by faith. We are usually the last one to forgive ourselves when we sin.

For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God (1 John 3:20-21). We often feel the pain of self-inflicted guilt long after God forgives us. The key to being released from this inner condemnation is walking by faith in what God says about you, and choosing to believe what God says and refuse to be affected by the feelings of failure. If God says He forgives and forgets, then you choose to forgive yourself and forget it too!

 

Regardless of how many times you fail, get up! Confess the sin in repentance, and walk on. Remember, For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again… (Proverbs 24:16). Forget what God has forgotten and be released from the chains of the past!

My Actions Today Are The Foundation For Tomorrow's Living!

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

  

The idea in the above verse is that the waves will bring back to you what you throw out into the water.

  

Reciprocity is an action that produces in return an action of the same kind. It’s a law in the kingdom of God. In one sense our lives are filled with sowing and reaping. Our tomorrow is found in seed form in what we do today. My actions today are the foundation for tomorrow’s living.

  

Not only is this a law of the kingdom of God, it’s an eternal promise attached to the earth. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

 

This principle is not just about finances, but it applies to all of life. Notice what Jesus said in Luke 6:37-38: Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

  

The actions, words, attitudes, and kindness that I show today will come back to me. The way I treat others is the way I will be treated. If that is true, I should see every action and word as a seed that will produce a harvest in my life. So what kind of harvest do I want? Plant the seed for it today!

 

This also includes our material and financial lives. Notice 2 Corinthians 9:6: But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

 

And again we find this principle in Galatians 6:7, where it also refers to the Galatian believers giving to those who minister the Word to them: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

 

Yet Paul broadens this concept to include a believer’s whole life, including his spiritual life in Galatians 6:8:-9: For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

 

See yourself as a seed planter today. Only throw the bread on the water that you want to see again! This is a law. A law works all the time. It’s sometimes slow and methodical, but it is always working behind the scenes.

 

This principle of receiving what you sow is working right now in you. If you’ve sown some bad seed, cry out in repentance for the mercy of God to cleanse you from the wrong. Mercy is when you don’t receive what you deserve! And sometimes God’s mercy will root up a negative seed we’ve planted!

 

Expect the bread you’ve thrown on the water to come back. Sow seeds of kindness, love and mercy into others today. The day will come that you’ll need these in your own life. Let’s sow seed today that we’ll be glad to reap tomorrow.

In Christ Our Sins Are Completely Removed!

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).

 

In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, sin was not cleansed, it was covered. The life of an animal was sacrificed and its blood was poured on the Mercy Seat, which was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple. The presence of God dwelt in this man made place, and the animal blood provided a covering of “life” for the sins of the Israelites.

  

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11). The word atonement means a covering. Sins were not removed, they were only covered, and the blood had to be re-applied to the Mercy Seat every year on the Day of Atonement. The life represented in the blood covered the sins of Israel so that they could fellowship with a Holy God. When He looked at the Ark of the Covenant with its contents of the Ten Commandments, He saw the blood that covered Israel’s failure to obey His commandments and judgment was cancelled.

  

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world according to John the Baptist. When Jesus spilled His blood on Calvary, died and was resurrected, He took His blood into heaven and placed it before God as an eternal cleansing for our sins. Jesus Death and resurrection doesn’t just forgive us and cover sin, His death and resurrection literally removes our sin! Our sins are remitted,removed, not covered!

Notice Hebrews 9:24-26: For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another —  He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

  

Our sins have been judged and removed from us when we are Born Again! We are justified. It is Just-As-If-I’d-Never-Sinned!  The sin is expunged and forever removed, not covered to be remembered year after year! Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17). And now, when you miss the mark and sin as a believer, sin is cleansed when you confess it (1 John 1:9).

  

When thoughts of your past deeds come to mind today, remind yourself and the Lord that you are totally forgiven; that your sins have been removed; and thank Him for never remembering them again! The accuser of the brethren wants you to live in the past and brood over your failures. God has made a way through the blood of Jesus for you to completely forget the things which are behind, and reach forward to the things ahead! Act like a person who has never sinned today!

Some Helpful Tips In Developing An Effective Prayer Life

…Steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer (Romans 12:12-J.B. Phillips).

The Father wants us to develop our intimacy in prayer with Him. He wants prayer to become a habit. The prayer habit will be one habit that can transform the atmosphere of our lives.

 

E.W. Kenyon in his book In His Presence says: Prayer should be as natural as breathing and as enjoyable as eating. Prayer should be as unconscious as our communication with one another. He goes on the say: You can’t spend any length of time in prayer without being affected by it. The quietness, the unshaken faith, the deep unsounded peace that pervades the Godhead, will overflow into the prayer’s life.

 

Many people find prayer a great challenge. The flesh struggles with relating to a God you can’t see. But God is the Father of spirits. He relates to our spiritual nature, not to our mentality and emotions. Here are some tips to help develop the prayer habit.

First, we must know that the Father sees us as righteous; that is, as though we’ve had never sinned! Our sin debt has been completely paid by Jesus, and God sees us as pure as Jesus before Him! It’s as though we have never committed a sin!

 

Secondly, we must know that the Father loves us as much as He does His own Son. In John 17:23, Jesus prays that he Father will reveal to us the fact that You have loved them as you have loved me!  We must know that we are endeared to the heart of the Father, and that He wants our companionship and fellowship.

 

Then we must begin to develop our fellowship with Him based on our right standing with Him according to the Word; not according to our feelings. We should take some time to get alone and just tell Him that we love Him and tell Him how glad we are to be saved from sin and redeemed from hell.

 

Then, we remind Him of what His word says about us, and of what His word says about answered prayer. We talk to Him in specific terms about every single concern we have in life, and ask Him specifically to help us.

 

Share your heart life with Him. Bear to Him your thoughts and feelings and ask for His aid.

 

Take time too to pray in the spirit, in other tongues. Our spirit, in communion with the Holy Spirit will pray God’s perfect will in all areas of our lives.

 

You should start slowly.You may pray to begin with for five or ten minutes. That’s just fine. If you keep it up every day, you’ll find the need to pray longer. You’ll find it easier and easier to express your heart and you’ll begin to want to take more time.

  

Life will become a partnership between you and the Father. You’ll begin to talk over every problem, every challenge, and every circumstance good and bad with Him. And before long, you will have developed and unconscious communion with Him that will erase fear and worry from your life.

 

Prayer will become an unconscious act of communion throughout your day. Daunting impossibilities will turn into opportunities for your Father to show Himself strong in life. You’ll begin to fulfill Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.