It’s only day three however my first thought when waking up was realizing I was looking forward to what I would discover in today’s reading. So many times recently, opening the Bible seemed “necessary” and not something I was looking forward to.
What a refreshing feeling… I could even risk calling it revival!
Scripture
John 1:19-28 (ESV)
The Testimony of John the Baptist
19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Observation
This is John’s testimony
He confessed, did not deny
They “needed” to give an answer to [the Pharisee] who sent them
John considered himself unworthy to even untie Jesus’ sandals
Application
Much like it says in Revelation 12:11 (ESV) “And they have conquered him [the accuser] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” Our testimony matters, my testimony matters. Who am I sharing my story and faith with?
Ever since coming to Christ and even to this day my heart is troubled over wondering “how far would I go for Christ?”. Would I risk my life or my family’s safety if I lived in a persecuted region of the world? I even have the thought “who will I offend” when I wear a Christian T-Shirt in Los Angeles. I fear we (I) in the West have no idea the true meaning of faith. We aren’t persecuted, we are simply judged. And yet it’s so easy to cower to social condemnation and water down my faith in “mixed” company. Am I really “all-in” as I say I am?
There will come a day, maybe sooner rather than later when we all will be forced to make a choice. A time when we will have to choose sides. It’s happening all over the world and only now is it starting in the United States. Christian business owners being sued, boycotted and forced to shut down, Pastors being told what they can and can’t preach, hate crimes taking place against the church. Am I willing to be labeled a Christian when I stand to lose something for my confession of faith?
Again I feel some hidden entitlements hiding out in my heart. When I pray is it in a place of deepest humility and overwhelming gratitude that Jesus made a way for me to even go directly to God? Or am I simply whining to Him again about my problems and then judging Him to come through for me in a manner that is acceptable to me? Do I get impatient with His timing? Do I question His ways of answering or not answering my prayers? How much humility do I truly have in the presence of Christ every time I pray?
Prayer
Wow Lord, I honestly can’t see why I was looking forward to this SOAP endeavor this morning, this cuts like a knife! Truly this is a dross burning moment, as I press into the foundations of our faith I find that I have been living much more “lukewarm” than I ever realized. Sure these issues have pressed on my heart in the past but I can tell even this morning I don’t like putting these questions down on paper. It feels shaming, I’m embarrassed to recognize how easy faith is for us in America and yet if I was honest I would categorize my discipleship journey as one of convenience and complacency. I enjoy the social aspects, I love the music, I appreciate having a gumball machine in the sky, I like the accolades of leading in men’s discipleship ministry, but Lord I fear I’m still only dabbling in my faith. So here and now Father God, at least for today, for this morning… I repent of my fear, of my silence, of my complacency, of my asking “what’s in it for me” instead of “where am I called to meet others for your glory”. I surrender this day Father to your Sovereign and perfect will, continue to break my heart for what breaks yours. And thank You that Your love endures forever.
Being a recovering addict, there are still times when I have what I call “drug dreams.” It’s when the old man comes back to life and does all the things that my new nature rails against while I sleep. I haven’t had one of those in quite a while, and an hour after waking up today, I still have strong negative emotions from the nightmare I had last night.
I believe God is using today’s passages to minister into that place.
Scripture
John 1:14-18 New Living Translation (NLT)
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”
16 From his abundance, we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.
Observation
Jesus is God and lived among us
Jesus is full of Grace, unfailing love and faithfulness
From His abundance, we all receive blessing upon blessing
Moses brought The Law – Jesus brought unfailing love and faithfulness
God is unseen, but Jesus is our revelation of God Himself
Application
Jesus is God and lived among us – this is truly beyond human comprehension. How can anyone truly believe that to be true? Do I? The very foundation of Step Two of 12-step recovery work is “Came to believe that a power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.” Without a comprehensive belief that Jesus is God and it is HIM who will restore my sanity (put the old man to death, rescue me from my sin nature), then we would be left secretly hopeless. Do I believe Jesus is God?
Unfailing love and faithfulness stand in stark contrast to my dysfunctional childhood experiences of abuse and VERY conditional love. How difficult is it for me to fully trust God and believe He isn’t just waiting for me to fail (like I always do) so He can punish me? With as much awareness as I have in this area, you’d think to trust in God’s unfailing love would come easy, but deep down, in places where nightmares come from, do I really see myself through His eyes?
I have been blessed over and over – yet how much gratitude do I experience or express in my times of worship? Do I have any entitlements thinking I deserve a better or more comfortable life?
God can seem so far off and mysterious, yet by getting to know Jesus through the study of His life and words, I can know God.
Prayer
Lord, I thank you that you allow me to remember where I come from. This journey of redemption, of sanctification, is a difficult one, but I will be grateful for it all as it keeps me humble. As if life outside weren’t hard enough, the demons from my past continue to remind me who I was and claim it is still who I am. But as you said to Paul, Your grace is sufficient. I repent of my weak gratitude that has a tendency to whine about life or how hard recovery is when clearly it is Your grace and unfailing love that has rescued me is rescuing me and promises to forever rescue me. I repent of my self-condemnation and fear, and of my thinking that You are anything less than my Sovereign and all-powerful Savior who is filled with nothing more than unfailing love for me. Thank you, Jesus!
I’d love to hear about your personal observations, applications or prayers regarding this specific passage, c’mon and join the conversation.
Well, it looks like October is kicking off the Book of John. What a befitting place to start this new series. So let’s get right to it!
Scripture
John 1:1-13 The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Observation
Jesus is The Word. The Word became flesh.
Jesus is God and was with God. (Two parts of The Holy Trinity)
God created EVERYTHING and gave it life and light.
Darkness cannot extinguish light
John was not light, but instead a witness to The Light
The world didn’t recognize Him and rejected Him
All who believed and accepted are spiritually reborn
Application
This is the Gospel, this is how all of creation began. It is because of Him that I was born. Do I believe this? All of it? If not, nothing else in the Bible matters, this is ground zero for my faith, it would be worth spending some time doing a heart-check on this!
God wins, darkness cannot overtake the light. I’ve heard it said many times “don’t tell God about your problems, tell your problems about God”. How often does my focus fall on all the bad stuff that is happening and my heart longs for the Light when the Light is everywhere and extinguishes the darkness? Where is my focus most days?
John was not “the light”, and neither am I. On my best day I am merely a sinner saved by grace who is to do my best at reflecting HIS LIGHT. How often do I carry the burden of others as if they were mine to resolve? That is my old co-dependency placing guilt and shame on me over stuff that is not mine to carry. And then again, how often do I try and solve my own problems alone as well? Jesus is the one who promises to carry all of our burdens, and it is Him alone I should be talking about and leaning on.
To all who believed AND accepted are given the right… Interesting. I suppose even the devil believes. So what sets my faith apart from the demons? Am I just a fan of Jesus or merely believe he was real? Do I deep down simply “wish” this was all true? Or have I truly accepted Him as my eternal salvation and my strength and hope for everything in this life?
Prayer
Father God, it is so easy for me to lose sight of the foundations of my faith. When I get “lost in the weeds” it is only because I forget Your Power and put too much emphasis on my troubles and weaknesses. I repent Lord, I renew my faith here and now and once again cast aside the demons of disbelief, fear, self-condemnation, hopelessness, and lack. I am blessed beyond measure Lord, just like Mephibosheth, I am worthy because you called me to the table, not because my actions in this life earned it or my character makes me worthy. I will dance again, albeit with a limp. May You get all the glory and honor You so richly deserve, today and forevermore.
I’d love to hear about your personal observations, applications or prayers regarding this specific passage, I encouraged you to join the conversation.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Scripture | Observation | Application | Prayer
I don’t know about you guys, but I do enjoy a good Bible Study.
I’ve got to thank my Church Fellowship Monrovia for continuing to push this Bible Study process (SOAP) on us season after season. And this fall they created a Life Journal which provides suggested daily readings and other resources to make the process very simple.
Powerful worship service, a good sermon and times of prayer are all rewarding experiences, but an intentional time of getting deep into God’s Word seems to draw me closer to the heart and mind of Christ unlike anything else.
It’s like a cup of coffee with a mentor, where you find yourself hanging on every word because each word matters.
I haven’t been very disciplined with this practice lately, I pick it up when I have some extra time or I “feel” like it. But as I press deeper into my own addiction recovery and Discipleship Journey and attempt to find my voice through my new Life Coaching endeavor I realized I have been developing several new positive daily rituals.
My Daily Rituals
Ramping up in the morning with a mental, emotional and spiritual priming exercises is a great way to start the day. Currently, I’ve been using a Tony Robbins video for a morning blast of endorphins.
Mindfulness meditation helps me to re-center my wandering thoughts and rogue emotions which attack with seemingly no rhyme or reason at random times throughout the day. Whether 5 minutes or 30, these are super helpful in self-regulation. Currently, I’m using a Muse Headband and the Headspace App for guided intervention.
Of course, stretching and exercise, healthy eating and intentionally cutting out sugary drinks and sweets while increasing water intake are a must throughout the day.
My nightly ritual includes a 1.5 hour time of winding down with comprehensive hygiene (read: flossing and washing face take effort to not blow off), journaling my awarenesses and gratitudes of the day, both highs and lows, and zero electronics 1 hour before bed. I find reading or listening to music slows me down nicely.
And having a fixed sleep schedule 7x days per week has proven to be the most healthy for our minds and bodies. Running on 5hrs of sleep during the week and then binging 10 hours on the weekends is not helpful or healthy. Figure out what is best for you and stick to it.
I do a daily devotional most days, and I pray and consider each meal a sort of communion with God so I haven’t been lacking in my spiritual life. However, I realized this morning that I don’t have the study of God’s word specifically built into my routines.
Surely I could get up a little earlier and make SOAP a part of my morning routine.
And of course, why not share that with you guys!
We don’t spend enough time together. I’ve drawn distant from my blogs, and that’s not OK. Connecting with others, even through an online medium such as this (or my other endeavor Life Mastery Project), can be great community connections where we get and give encouragement, insight, and support.
So, we’ll see how this goes. I would love for it to be a daily ritual, but I usually start out overly zealous with a project and then settle into more manageable routines.
What is SOAP
This process is about discovering God’s word in a new way that delivers something tangible and meaningful. It is about building a relationship with God’s word. There are no rules here.
There are many resources out there that take the time to explain SOAP better, but I will provide a brief overview here.
Scripture
There are a ton of Reading Plans out there, choose one that you like. It should be something that gives you several verses to read daily but not be so overwhelming as to require an hour of grinding through text. Many study bibles break out groups of verses together within a chapter so reading one section could work well.
Observation
Once you have read the 1/2 dozen or so verses for the day, take a moment to reflect on what the overall message in the few verses means to you. Then take each verse individually and explore what you believe the author was trying to say. Then pick out some very specific ideas that stand out to you.
I truly get some deep AHA moments during this part of the process.
Application
What I’ve found has been working well for me is framing questions from the observations. My thought process is something like “this is what the text is saying, how do I do or don’t do these things in my own life”. (more specific examples later in this article)
Prayer
Through this process, I usually discover an area in my life that I have been complacent in. Or God breaks my heart for a cause or provides ideas on someone else in my life who could use my encouragement. Without fail, the prayer usually flows easily once I’ve spent a 1/2 hour in God’s word and intentionally sought to extract what God wants to say.
Sample SOAP
This is my actual SOAP exercise from September 28th that has really sat with me for a few days and which I believe may be what is spurring me on to want to kick off this new discipline.
The Scripture
Luke 24:28-35
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
My Observations
Jesus continued on “AS IF” he were going farther.
They “urged Him strongly to stay”.
Jesus broke the bread and blessed it then gave it to them
Once their eyes opened He disappeared
Life Application
Jesus pretended to continue on? That alone is fascinating but then seeing that the guys then begged Jesus to stay with them shows that Jesus wants us to want Him. How often do I “beg” to spend time with Jesus? Does He truly mean that much to me?
Jesus shared his meals. We are meant to be in a community. Much like the church of Acts, they came together daily, they sold their possessions to care for each other. Our faith is not meant to exist in a vacuum. How am I intimately sharing my faith walk with others in my community, both inside and outside the church?
Once their eyes opened He disappeared. How much do I actually need hand-holding and constant affirmation from God? What do I do when He disappears? Am I bold and confident or do I become insecure and fearful again?
Prayer
Forgive me, Lord, that I treat you like many of my acquaintances – I ghost you until I desire you. I’m often driven by guilt or a sense of obligation when seeking you – not an overwhelming desire that blots out every other priority in my life. Renew my fire for you Lord.
And that’s all there is. The whole process really doesn’t take more than 20 minutes once you get into a rhythm and begin to get a feel for how to let scripture speak to you personally.
I will also use a Study Bible, Life Application Bible, and online Study Tools to get more in-depth understanding of scripture when it beckons for greater understanding.
The point is, the Bible is alive, it is how God speaks to us, along with the Holy Spirit who stirs our heart and Jesus Himself who set us free.
Find your own rhythm, your own song, your own dance with Christ then sing like nobody is listening and dance like nobody is watching.
Join with His Spirit and revel in the majesty of God’s word. Make it personal, make it real. His promises come alive when we savor the relationship.
Blessings in Christ,
George
p.s. If I stay on task this will be the intro to a new series that I will link in the header. Come back often to join me in my journey and please be encouraged to share your own experiences and insights in the comments of this or any post.
Do you ever feel like you get caught in the weeds going round and round over the same old ground and nothing ever changes? Have you noticed that in one or two areas of your life things may be going great and in others it’s a trainwreck? Wanna know why? Check out this post from my other blogsite!
It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation at a tiny cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California; a time to reconnect with God and refocus my priorities… a revival of sorts.
And I knew how it was going to go. I would get to the mountains and spend my time journaling and hiking and figure out the meaning of life and have my batteries completely recharged by the time I was done.
Before I left I prayed, “Lord, meet me as you always do, show me what’s important to you, come close I invite you into this space”.
And He did just that, but things sure didn’t go the way I had planned or thought they would. Sometimes He’s gotta let us break down before He can be built up.
To read more about how my trip went and see some more pictures from Lake Arrowhead, check out my latest post on The Life Mastery Project called WHERE DID THE 7.5 BILLION PEOPLE GO
We know that Christ purchased our freedom, but yet so often we don’t “feel” or “act” free.
We can feel trapped by our circumstances or miserable in one or more of our relationships.
But so often, it is us who creates the problem by what we believe and then choose to give our power and freedom away to people or circumstances unqualified to hold that power over our well-being.
I explore this idea in-depth through my latest post on the Life Mastery Project entitled Do You Give Your Freedom Away.
I would love to have you check it out and get in on the conversation 🙂
Few would argue against the statement that fear sits at the top of the list of self-limiting thoughts that keeps us from excelling into our future dreams and endeavors.
Whether it is a critical business decision, a career choice, a relationship issue, or a health concern. No matter the Pillar of Life that is at stake, self-limiting fear and worry breed resistance to change that can quickly immobilize us… read more on The Life Mastery Project website…
Luke 10:29-35 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply, Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[e] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
How can it be that after 8 years of being an “all-in” Christian that I still battle with depression and anxiety? I thought God was going to take it all away. I believed Him. I’ve pursued Him, I’ve studied His Word, I am in a relationship with Him.
Or am I?
The doubts, the inner-turmoil, the self-condemnation.
How could God love me when I still struggle so bad with sin and brokenness
Am I even a Christian at all
I’m told I’m a new creation
I’m told I’m adopted, forgiven, saved
I’m told the Armor of God will keep me safe and that I will never be tempted beyond what I can handle
I’m told that my name is written in the book of life, but how can that be.
I’m still so selfish, so sad, so lost, so alone, so empty, so fearful
On any given day over the last 8 years that was me, struggling to hang on. I put on a brave face to those around me, I even served in my church and preached the gospel and lead recovery groups.
But how can I give away something I clearly don’t possess myself. Do I even believe what I preach?
I see the pastoral staff squirm when I try and talk to them about this. At best I get prayer, at worst I get dismissed and avoided.
And I know I’m not alone.
It’s why recovery groups get delegated to the back rooms, it’s why head pastors are sheltered from the most hurting and instead seem to celebrate the most healthy from the congregation, putting spotlights on the flashy ministries that bolster the churches resume’ and bring in bigger tithes.
“You just need to pray more, read your bible more, you must have a little-g god”. So many well-meaning scriptures cited that somehow feel more damaging than helpful.
How do we approach mental health in the church?
The first step in any healing relationship is to first establish rapport. If we don’t know how much you care, we will never care how much you know.
As I see it the issue is 3-fold. Cognitive, Spiritual and Emotional.
Any approach that doesn’t take into account all 3 areas is like a one or two-legged stool, it can’t stand on its own and if you try and sit on it, you will fall and likely get hurt even greater than you were before.
That was my experience.
Cognitive – I love to study God’s word. I put on the armor daily, I am doing everything in my power to “renew my mind”. And I’ve done hundreds of hours of cognitive-based therapy to deal with past traumas – but alone it hasn’t been enough.
Spiritual – And Lord knows I’ve prayed, and I’ve been prayed over. I can spend an hour praying in tongues, I have received Deep-Inner Healing sessions. I cry every time I watch the passion of the Christ, I truly believe I am in a relationship and have experienced the love of Christ.
But somehow that too hasn’t been enough.
Emotional – The real problem as I see it; to admit that the Bible and Prayer don’t seem to be enough is to invite being treated as a blasphemer, it seems to threaten fellow Christians and especially pastors; they seemingly write you off as “really messed up”.
And Lord knows that is how it feels inside as well; as if nobody understands; not even the church. It is shaming, isolating and condemning.
And the devil just laughs.
Emotional Wellness is an entirely different beast that if minimized or worse attempted to be ignored, can erode even the strongest faith at the core.
And as with any problem, the first step in solving it is acknowledging it. You can’t move toward a destination without a brutally honest assessment of your starting point.
And if that starting place of brokenness, hopelessness, fear and unrelenting pain is shunned by those around you, especially the church, the true journey to wholeness and healing will rarely even get out of the starting gate.
So many churches are making a valiant effort at creating “safe spaces” by tackling harder subjects such as the pervasive influence of pornography and infidelity which destroys marriages at the same rate as non-Christians, but it is still addressed from the “stop sinning” perspective.
Yes, sin creates its own repercussions and pain, but the anger, depression, lust, fear, isolation, and so many other hurtful conditions are simply the visible blood from a very real wound.
Talking about the need to mop up the blood does nothing for the wound. To focus on the behavior is to miss the person who, just like Paul, finds themselves locked in a battle of “doing what they don’t want to do”.
As I find myself emerging out of those horrible years of self and public persecution I can see where even well-meaning Christians and pastors still missed the true point of the gospel.
John 3:17-21 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
People will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
Jesus walked among the lepers, the good samaritan crossed the street to administer mercy and healing.
Until mental illness is decriminalized, there are few places someone hurting can go and be told it’s ok, they are not alone, and they are not freaks, not broken, not beyond healing, not beyond hope.
The Word of God was not meant to be a weapon, it is supposed to be the salve that heal.
Emotional healing takes something very different than wise words and prayer alone, it takes physical contact. It takes hugs, it takes compassion, it takes patience and understanding, it takes mercy.
Most often, especially in childhood trauma cases, the pain is stored in the body.
Have you ever seen an abused dog who was rescued yet still cowers in a corner afraid to be petted? No matter how much you may love that animal, it’s past memory tells it that hands coming towards it are not safe.
Healing comes through patience, understanding, compassion, grace, mercy, time, forgiveness, getting only as close as is allowed without expecting them to “get better faster” or worse expect they should just “get over it”.
1 Corinthians 13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Yes, it is very difficult when oftentimes the person dealing with so much internal confusion and pain does things that victimizes the people around them, especially those closest to them like friends and family; but to condemn them is to move away from the heart of Christ.
How is someone who is debilitated with emotional struggles supposed to stop self-condemning when the people around them don’t treat them with understanding and compassion?
And this isn’t to say there isn’t a dual responsibility. Most critical is that if you have given your heart to Christ and have been trusting Him for healing then know it is already done… we are just trying to figure out to live in the freedom that has been purchased for us.
Just because we don’t get it fully doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Throw out self-doubt and self-condemnation, it doesn’t serve us.
And of course, prayer and being in the Word of God is a critical component to the renewal of our minds.
But, once finding a safe community, the person suffering must press in and stay committed to the process.
Get counseling that not only provides cognitive therapies to understand where the damaging beliefs and behaviors are coming from; but also addresses the body-stored reactions through more abstract approaches like NLP, Gestalt, EMDR, Art, Music or other “feelings” based connections with the body-trauma.
For me that last piece was the missing component. I had no idea that the “feeling” of anxiety had a life of its own that was separate from my mind or spirit, it was a stored response to social situations.
Just like a Pink Floyd record I had as a kid that skipped in the same place every time I played it. When I heard that same song on the radio it actually annoyed me because “it didn’t sound right”, even though that was the way it was meant to sound.
If a wounded person doesn’t know what normal feels like, we won’t like how normal feels. I had an ex-girlfriend who used to “put me on a pedestal” as I saw it.
The truth was she was just a very loving person and treated me like I’ve never been treated and I had nothing to reference it against, so I broke up with her thinking something was “wrong with her”.
It’s the same struggle I now realize I’ve had with God. How could He love me after all the bad things I’ve done.
Obviously, this topic goes so much deeper than a single blog post, but there are some very specific takeaways on my heart.
If you have someone in your life who is suffering from any form of mental or emotional illness; compassion and the biblically accurate definition of love is the only thing that can reach him/her. If you can’t find a way to not take their behavior personally you may be part of their continued problem and not actually part of the solution, no matter how much you “think” you love them. If you continue to get angry or defensive over their “inability to get better” as fast as you’d like, then you may need to look inward at the expectations you place on the people around you. Love is messy. (trust me, this is a double-edged sword that cuts me too)
If you are in the clergy; stop avoiding emotionally wounded people. Your best opportunity is to model how to love on the broken, not avoid out of your own emotional discomfort or feelings of powerlessness. Make time for a cup of coffee if asked, make eye contact, offer healing touch even if just in the form of a hands-on prayer, encourage, include, provide a prophetic vision of full healing, comfort, exhort, assure them they are not evil or beyond grace… delegation is often received as rejection. Just be honest, obviously you can’t spend dozens of hours with everyone but one single conversation to love on them and let them know what resources the church has for them can make life-changing connections.
If you are the one suffering; you’ve got to develop self-love before any deep healing can begin to take place. You’ve got to know you aren’t alone, you are not beyond hope, you have not been forsaken, God isn’t ignoring you and the cross covers your sins, just as it says in God’s Word. Believe it, be where you are, ask for help and trust that God will finish what He has begun. Be aware that “being the best Christian you can” will actually cause more problems if it is coming from a place of trying to “earn love”. If you’re anything like me, there is no level of achievement that will ever be enough, choose to love who you are now, just as you are, just as Jesus chose to meet us all…
Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Lord my prayer is simple, help us to see ourselves through Your eyes, and help us to have Your compassion when dealing with others. We just need more of You, and gratefully that is what you have promised us. We hear you knocking and we gladly invite You in to dine with us. In Jesus name, we pray…
Feel free to share your experience strength and hope with others in the comment section below.
And know that my passion and purpose is to help others discover who they truly are and what they are capable of… to reignite the dreams and passions that may have died out years ago.
If this is you, please don’t hesitate to reach out for a free life-coaching consultation; I’d be happy to connect with you. The link below will take you to my coaching website.
One Man's Journey of Redemption 