Inner Healing and Freedom; For audio only PPN;
Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner brings you Inner Healing and Freedom. Examples will help you identify your own need for Inner Healing and Freedom. When you go against the base of salvation it can cause various issues in your life. It steals your peace, it can destroy your faith, it can affect your body, it can cost you your very life—your eternal life.
BLOG
One of my first encounters with inner healing was when a friend of mine asked me to pray for an elderly man she worked with named Lazlo. I found out later that Lazlo had been a gymnast in Communist Hungary as a young man and had walked over the mountains to freedom. As Lazlo continued to get worse, my friend was very upset about it. I asked her if she would like me to join her at a hospital visit and say a rosary together. My friend had never said a rosary and she had her son write out the Hail Mary for her. There was a lot of inner healing that needed to take place in this family according to my friend. As we gathered in the hospital room, the family said the Doctor told them that Lazlo could die at any moment. His wife was glad we were there to pray but told us her English was not good and she so said the rosary in Polish. I had taken an extra rosary with me and I gave it to Lazlo’s wife. My friend brought her son’s ‘glow in the dark’ rosary. As I led the rosary the Lord gave me a meditation to say at each mystery. A lot of it was concerning forgiveness. The Lord was showing me that this family had a lot of anger in between each other and at the world around them. It was awesome and so meaningful. I could tell that the Lord was touching their hearts and giving them peace. The Lord overcame the bitterness and resentment that Lazlo had help on to, all his life. The Lord gave them the chance for repentance, forgiveness, understanding, and healing. Their hugs as we left were an affirmation of God’s power. Lazlo died the next morning. My friend told me that during the funeral service she felt a true peace and her sorrow was lifted. With the forgiveness the family gave one another I am sure Lazlo attained everlasting freedom, the freedom he had been seeking since his trip over the mountains from Communist Hungary. His wife also found freedom and inner healing from a life that had been filled with the bitterness of the past.
We forgive because we were forgiven. This is the basis of salvation. Let that sink in. When you go against this base of salvation it can cause various issues in your life. It steals your peace, it can destroy your faith, it can affect your body, it can cost you your very life—your eternal life.
The Gospel parable of the seed sown on hard ground is like the Word of God spoken to those who have hardened their hearts to protect themselves from the same kind of pain that harmed them in the past. The hard ground has been pounded into concrete by unforgiveness, even when the rain of grace falls upon it the seed is just washed away without taking root. The seed sown on the ground covered with weeds is like the Word of God spoken to those filled with fear and anxiety; it is choked from bearing fruit. What frees up the hardened ground and gets rid of the weeds?
You are listening to Truth of the Spirit. I’m your host, Patti Brunner. Today we share Inner Healing and Freedom with you. Inner Healing will soften your heart and dissolve fear and anxiety.
How do we learn to forgive? The simple answer is to look to the cross. Nothing that has ever been done to you is greater than that which Jesus took to the cross and yet Jesus forgave them. In fact, that which harmed you was also at the cross. The Lord invites you to participate in his forgiveness.
Let’s look at the consequences of unforgiveness. It compounds the original offense. It takes a hairline fracture that could heal with time and turns it into a compound fracture where the bone is shattered beyond the surface. If it remains that way healing is impossible and infection and decay can set in and the loss of life and limb is possible.
How does unforgiveness steal your peace? The peace that surpasses all understanding comes from God; when you reject forgiveness you reject God and thus you reject not only his presence but his peace. Turmoil, aggravation, anxiety–each enter your thoughts and cause sleeplessness and loss of immunity. From these come openness to infirmity. Unforgiveness is like a poison you take, thinking you are getting revenge on the person who harmed you. Instead you compound the fracture.
How does unforgiveness destroy your faith?
When you refuse to forgive, you turn your back on God for allowing the injury against you. You label God as unloving—He who is love! You decide to believe this lie and turn your back on Truth. God is Truth! The pain of your injury—whatever it may be—destroys your hope and you reject God. For some this rejection is in little ways at first but rejection leads to rebellion and rebellion leads to loss of eternal life. Forgiveness does not minimalize the harm done to you. It does not accept the wrong as right. Forgiveness asks God into the pain and suffering caused by others. Forgiveness takes the sin done against you and lifts it to the cross where the blood of Jesus redeems it.
God loves you. God also loves the people who fail to love others and sin. There is always hope for sinners to repent. Whether or not sinners repent they are loved by God. Failure to repent is equal to failure to forgive. The Lord Jesus has taken these sins to the cross. Let go of unforgiveness and enjoy the peace and life that the Lord offers to you.
The kingdom was earned through suffering, but was not earned for suffering. No, indeed, its purpose is for joy and peace, which are based and found in love.
I have discovered that people who battle addictions need inner healing for complete freedom. The faith in our hearts tells us how much God loves those who battle addictions. The evil one takes a strong hold on their hearts, though. He reaches in and grabs that which is in their hearts that leaves them broken and sick of heart.
The evil one uses this injury to constantly feed his own power and thus does not release his grasp. The Lord calls us to: Heal the brokenness. Heal the pain. Scrape the scab—like a soaking whirlpool, soak the injury in prayer. Until no scar remains, the addicting spirit will reattach or not let go completely until the healing is complete.
Bitterness, resentment as well as true injury cause the brokenness to not heal. God created the immune system in the body to fight infection and to aid in the healing of cuts and bruises. In the same way, his Grace – when it is allowed to operate – brings healing. But the layers of resistance to grace are hardened by fear and pain. Soak them with the Blood of the Lamb. Soak them with unconditional love. Bind the actions of the evil one to prevent additional injury –for know this, there is no doubt about this, the evil one increases the injury and the pain as he feeds on the open wound. He drains life from his victim and leaves death and destruction that affects all those surrounding his victims. And then like a mosquito bite causes an itch so does the evil one begin to feed on those loved ones that are hurt in the process until the weight of despair collapses all goodness and the relationships turn from love and compassion to distrust, despair and hatred.
Yet, as the inner self of the person is healed, those around them are also set free. This is why the evil one holds on so tenaciously. The person with an addiction is a power source for evil.
Jesus Christ, true God and true man, conquered Evil. It is in accepting God and his Grace into your hearts that freedom is received. Man is weak and is helpless against the attacks by the devil. Only in the Lord is man strengthened. In Him all things are possible. Where two or more are gathered in His Name, He is there. Gather in the name of Jesus. Ask. Wherever you are, He Is! The darkness in your heart shall bubble to the surface as you turn your face toward Him.
The smallest request for his Presence will provide permission of your freewill for him to enter. Accept his love, his peace, his joy. Allow his grace into the dark recesses of your heart, your mind, your soul and you will be free. Freedom does not come without a price. Jesus has paid the price. You are ransomed. Accept it.
When I was a young mother, a neighborhood teenager broke into our house while we were out of town and stole many small items of value, especially things hidden in our bedroom. I felt quite violated. The police said that the boy’s mother told them she took the items and threw them in the river.
The next time my husband was out of town I heard noises in the house and in a panic I called the police. After they left, I calmed down and I realized that the noise came from the heating and air kicking on and off. Several months later I began to have night terrors when I was wide awake. My doctor decided I had a chemical imbalance in my brain and gave me medication to repair it. In the next few months we decided to leave that house for something bigger and found a brand new house in a great location, and I put these things out of my thoughts.
After we had moved to a couple of different towns and my children were grown, I was in a study group of Johnnette Benkovic’s book “Full of Grace” and her lesson on inner healing. I was already familiar with inner healing yet as I answered some of the questions I realized that I, like all of us, had need for inner healing. I prayed for the Lord to show me specifics and He brought to mind the break-in from so many years before. Looking back I realize that it is highly possible that the young man left behind a dark spiritual presence that found an opening due to my trauma. I forgave the boy and I forgave his mother. I invited the Lord to heal me, to complete forgiveness and repair. To help me heal, the Lord allowed me to know the “good” that came from the break-in of our home. Terrible as that was, it led us to a new house which opened a financial prosperity to us as we cashed in on rising housing markets. I asked the Lord to bring the dark area of memories into his redeeming love, his redeeming light. As I prayed, other incidents popped into my memory—even sinful acts that had been confessed and forgiven but were obviously not healed.
As I look back on my non-specific prayer journal notes, I have no idea what those other things were. They are completely erased from my heart.
Like me, you probably need inner healing, too. The enemy tries to penetrate the helmet of salvation not by hitting us over the head but by getting under it with thoughts and memories of failure and temptations. But the strength of the helmet of salvation is that it has been worn by all those who came before you. Each saint, each holy man and woman have their memories to share. The helmet of salvation was worn—indeed it was forged—by Jesus Christ himself. He continues to wear it with you and thus your strength comes from this. 1 John 4:4 says, “You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them, for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” This is truth! “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.”
You are empowered to forgive because you were forgiven; salvation redeems mankind but also the individual and the graces that flow can only be quenched as man refuses to accept it. When lack of forgiveness solidifies the heart into stone how can there be openness to God’s love?
Conversion is a process of openness to Grace brought about through grace. Not unlike the old question: which came first the chicken or the egg? It is more clearly seen when it has already happened. God’s Grace calls you to conversion; conversion opens you to God’s grace. Inner healing opens you to His grace; His Grace brings inner healing.
The tool of the Helmet of Salvation calls attention to the protection of thought process because a helmet protects the brain especially when you are hit over the head with a bombardment by the enemy. The brain stores memories and part of the enemy’s tactics are to ‘hit you over the head’ with memories of every failure and every weakness. If not for the helmet of salvation you would quickly succumb to this tactic. Original sin places in the memory of your life the complete failure caused by sin. Adam and Eve set this memory in place and every generation recalls it in their body and soul. Only the grace of salvation can free the soul of this ‘memory’ of total failure. Of course it is more than a ‘thought’. This memory is made present in every soul due to the devastation of sin and the rejection of God’s plan by mankind.
The Shield of Faith as we hunker down, allows us to tighten the strap of the Helmet of Salvation until we remember God loves us, until we know that we know that God redeemed us and has forgiven us our trespasses and will continue to do so if we repent.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is called the Sacrament of healing for a reason—and it is all about forgiveness.
You can learn more about the Sacrament of “Healing” from our series on the Sacraments and more about the Helmet of Salvation and the Shield of Faith in our series on the Armor of God. There’s more on Inner Healing in our YouTube Playlist, especially in our “Healing is Beyond Skin Deep” and “Healing the Family from the Inside”.
More on Forgiveness is in an early episode “Allowing the Lord to Bring Healing through Forgiveness”. To discover more about conversion check out the episode “Conversion of Heart through the Holy Spirit”.
I’m Patti Brunner. You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit. You can find a blog of this and other episodes at PatriarchMinistries.com. And then come back for more, With the Holy Spirit there’s always more! Amen.
