You have probably heard it a MILLION times. Just walk free! It's a gift....take it. Etc...etc...etc... But unless you have wrestled with emotional trauma, you may not truly understand what someone is going through who HAS been molested, raped, physically abused, cheated on, beat down, beat up, put down, verbally abused, abandoned....the list goes on.
Now there are some people who are never going to be free but that is not because freedom isn't available to them. Freedom in Christ is available to anyone who asks. But some people, quite frankly, will not be free because they don't really WANT that freedom. Some folks crave the attention their pain and woe gets them. Some people are so comfortable in their pain that they are too fearful to live without it. Some people simply refuse to completely trust Christ with their baggage, feeling that they can better deal with it than the Savior of the world. We have to understand there are people in those categories. We have to love them, pray for them and keep speaking words of life to them. But ultimately it is THEIR decision as to whether they will be totally free. And no matter how bad we might WANT to shove it down their throats, we cannot. Jesus don't roll like that. Don't play judge and try to figure out who is who....let Jesus do that. You be compassionate!
Maybe you have seen this a thousand times as well.....people with "issues" coming to the altar ALL THE TIME. One Sunday, they pour it all out and get "delivered" and the next Sunday, there they are again...praying for that same old issue. If we are not very careful, we can get frustrated and even angry with these people. But we have to guard against that and love as Christ loved. Believe me, the altar is the RIGHT PLACE for them to be...continuing to work through that mess and continuing to give it back to Jesus. Their trauma didn't happen in one day, so we need to be compassionate and understanding as they work through things that some of us could not even imagine! Just praise God they are in the altar! And if you feel a "plan" needs to be put in place to help these people move into greater freedom, then BE the change you want to see! Disciple these people. Let them KNOW you are praying....and then here is a novel idea....ACTUALLY PRAY!
Now to the person that is longing to be free from the turmoil. You want OUT of the dungeon! You are desperate and sick of the pain. Sick of how angry and hurt you get when the memories arise. And they WILL arise won't they?! That's the whole "haunting" thing. But there are some keys that will cause those memories to no longer have power over you and you will end up with the one holding the power!
REMEMBER THIS: Jesus said to John on the Isle of Patmos in Revelation 1:18, "I Am he that lives and was dead: I am alive forevermore amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death."
JESUS HAS YOUR KEYS!
Now listen, I don't claim to be some educated, high-minded, master of divine studies but I do have a degree in the school of hard knocks! Some of the trauma has been because of decisions I made and had to deal with and some have been things that have happened to me and my family that was completely out of my control. But in ALL cases, I have come to know my sweet Savior on a level...and with a level of trust I have never known before. It is BECAUSE of the mess I have been through that I have come to know Him better. Some trials have been easier to overcome than others and some trials I thought would completely take me out! I am proof positive that if you make up your mind to come away from hurt, you CAN come away from it and walk free from it.
And that is key # 1. A MADE UP MIND.
You have to be stubborn. Just as stubbornly as you have held on to hurt, you gotta rid yourself of the hurt. Actually, you need to be even MORE stubborn in pushing it way. Grit your teeth and keep telling the pain it belongs in hell and NOT on your mind and heart! Make up your mind once and for all that this pain and torture is NOT going to be a part of your life...that you are fed up....you are done. Rebuke Satan, then worship Christ! IT WORKS.
I am not saying what has happened to you does not hurt. I KNOW all too well that it does. I know you think of it as the most unfair thing ever and that you never deserved what happened to you. And you are RIGHT. You did not deserve what was out of your hands. BUT, your past hurt does NOT have to be your future pain. Believe me, there is someone that has it way worse than you! God can use YOUR experience to help you lead someone out of the same hell but you MUST HAVE A MADE UP MIND that come hell or high water....that nobody what the enemy throws your way....you won't go down. You won't quit. Your refuse to wallow in grief. Clench your teeth...get up on the front of your little boat...stare the storm in the eyeball and tell it, "IT IS NOT BY MY MIGHT OR MY POWER THAT YOU WILL BE DEFEATED BUT IT IS BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD ALMIGHTY WHO HAS INSCRIBED ME IN THE PALM OF HIS HAND AND NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME WILL CONTINUE TO PROSPER AND THE DEVIL IS DEFEATED!"
Take the power BACK out of the devil's hands. I cannot promise you he won't bug the life out of you and try his best to crawl back in there and set up camp. He will. He hates you. He hates what you can do for God's Kingdom. So you HAVE to have a made up mind. Just keep reminding yourself that...greater is He that lives in me than he that lives in this world. You ARE an overcomer. Jesus is FOR YOU! Don't forget it!
I have OH so much more to say. I have so much more I feel the Lord leading me to give but I am going to try and break this down into a few days worth of blogging. I am praying for you! If you want to join this discussion on facebook you can find me at Evangelist Shara Horne or Shara Long Horne or Grace Unleashed Ministries. GOD BLESS!
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