The more healed we get, the more we recognize and experience our need for God. The more dependent we become, the less control our soul (mind, will and emotions) has over its environment. As we are healed, we become less and less under the influence of our own thoughts, decisions, and emotions. This will at times feel and look like being out of control, though we are actually coming under the greatest spiritual discipline, the strictest control of our spirit. This too will bring separation from both the world system and other believers that haven’t experienced this freedom.
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The more we experience healing, the more of God’s life is flowing to and through us. Part of that life is the desire to carry out His purposes on this earth. He chooses how He works through each one of us, yet in every circumstance He is also teaching us to grow up into the full stature as His Son Jesus learned while He walked this earth. Though the task of redemption has been completed, each of us has a project (or projects) God wants us to be working on while we are here. Not because He needs us to do it, but because part of our dependence training is learning how to wisely steward our inheritance, the Kingdom.
As we are healed, we not only agree that God is everything, but that He is enough. We become content to the degree that if our circumstances never changed, that would be okay. If the promises that He has made were never fulfilled, that would be okay. If we never felt His presence again, that would be okay. As we are healed we realize that ministry, relationships, even supernatural experiences do not satisfy. Only knowing God through dependence fills our needs, which is why Jesus Himself could say, “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me.” As we are healed we are satisfied with the freedom to work, and the contentment of His rest to enjoy that freedom.
We are spending a good deal of time on the process and details of getting healed because it is important to God as well as to us. It is imperative, however, that we not form a new identity of being a “Wounded Person,” even a “Wounded Person Getting Healed.” Who you truly are, in your spirit, is NOT wounded, and doesn’t need healing. Your true identity is as a spirit being, whole, complete, perfect and entire NOW. Keep things in perspective; though we give this learning process the time and attention it deserves, we don’t give it ALL of our time and attention.
Conclusion: Overcoming Hindrances
Overcoming the hindrances to getting healed is a process that can be learned. As in all other aspects of the relationship between our soul and our spirit, there is a dichotomy of activity. We don’t get healed, or even learn to get healed, out of our own strength, but we join God on His terms in the teaching and healing He is doing in our lives. We recognize what He’s doing, asking for ways to join Him, willingly making mistakes as we learn. Success will not depend on how we feel, think or act, so don’t count on it feeling good (or bad), being easy (or hard), or making sense (or no sense). The results of learning to get healed are worth the effort, though, as we’ll soon see.
Part of entering into rest is learning to step back and look at our situation practically and objectively. We need to remind ourselves of the restrictions that God has allowed in our lives, such as our physical limitations, temperament, personal history, and flesh patterns. This will hopefully keep us from blowing things out of proportion. For instance, maybe you’ve had to miss sleep in order to finish a work project. You find yourself short-tempered with your co-workers and critical of yourself and those around you. Don’t assume that there is a hidden wound! Though there may well be, it is just as likely to be a physiological reaction to physical stress (lack of sleep). Step back and assess what the stresses are in your life from a practical perspective, then ask God for His perspective: “God, is there a wound you want to heal here or is this just from being sleep-deprived?” The answer may be both, but at least you will be responding according to the truth of the situation. You will then not only be able to apologize to those you’ve been rude to, if necessary, but you can let yourself off the hook as well by depending on God to either bring you healing or provide you instruction on the practical matters, such as how to improve your work or time management habits.
God doesn’t like it when we decide on our own which wounds need to be healed or which we think we have to learn to live with. Whatever our need, we are to ask the Lord to meet it. Whatever our wound, we are to ask the Lord to heal it. Talk to Him about it, giving Him time to respond, asking Him to reveal any hindrances, and be ready to respond. Respect Him, personally and directly, regarding all your needs. This will bring you into dependence as the initiative and motivation for our lives is transferred from us to Him. We learn to actively abdicate our rights, turning them over to His government, trusting Him to lead us into all truth, acknowledging that though we don’t know what we need, He does, and has it waiting for us.
God’s purpose is to teach us in practical terms how to walk in this life in freedom from the influence of the world, our flesh and the devil. That doesn’t mean that He removes us from their influence, or that He removes them from this earthly realm. It does mean that as we learn to walk in confident victory day-by-day we become impervious to their influence, like brushing the dirt off of our shoes. This is one of God’s major goals, and He spends 24 hours of every day doing nothing but thinking about us and arranging our lives and circumstances to draw us into perfect union within our being and complete unity with Him.
Another of God’s jobs now is to consume our flesh. It is particularly important to remember that this is His job, not ours, and that He is always working on this. Our flesh is the only thing that truly stands in the way of our resting and relaxing in our new identity, and it is the only thing that interferes with God’s life working in and through us. So it is His priority to consume the flesh, though because of His love for us, and because He knows how fragile we are, He doesn’t strip us of all our flesh at once… we just couldn’t stand it. So He’s got His own time-table, and we can rest assured that He’s working on what’s most important to Him, though it may not be what we want Him to be working on. It’s also reassuring to know that by the time He makes us aware of an aspect of the flesh He’s working to consume, the vast majority has already been dealt with, so we’re involved only in the bonfire of victory.
Remember here that God, though He hates the flesh, doesn’t hold it’s presence against us. He knew from the very beginning that we would create the flesh that we’re contending with today. From the very beginning He has been arranging circumstances to expose our flesh, so that we can receive healing and enjoy having our needs met.
We are on God’s side in this; who we truly are — spirit beings — is in full agreement with what God is doing; but flesh doesn’t want to die, and our soul has never been this way before. Here we cannot be reminded enough to be patient with ourselves and with God — God Is Love, and He Is a Consuming Fire! He will finish what He’s started! Jesus will put His finger on what stands between us and knowing God, which is eternal life. Though we often don’t understand what He’s doing, we come to understand that although there is a way that seems right to us, its end result brings separation from the things of God. We cannot expect God to share His dominion and authority with our flesh.
God wants to reveal Himself to us in part so that He can direct us. Very often we want to be led by Him, following after Him, but as we grow to depend on Him, more and more He wants to point out the way, then move with us as we proceed. This may seem contradictory to walking in dependence, but what actually happens is that our confidence in our resting and abiding deepens. Likewise, our actions and behavior line up to such an extent that we find ourselves moving in Him and “obeying” Him without thinking or deciding to. As our soul and body line up with (come under the control of) our spirit, there is a unity that truly knows the way to go, and goes, without the need for signs, confirmations, or proof-after-the-fact. The knowing of confidence becomes all. This is an experience that is better “felt” than “telt,” but we must hold out for knowing Him by spirit, rather than settling for the natural and supernatural manifestations of the Lord we will experience as our supernatural and natural senses are tuned.
One of the ways God gives Himself to us and through us is by revealing Himself to us and through us. Each of us needs to have our senses tuned to His wavelength, so we can recognize Him and learn to know Him on His terms. Though God often manifests Himself to our natural senses, and enjoys doing so, He is always manifesting Himself spiritually — in the spiritual realm, His Spirit to our spirit — and desires to make Himself known, to manifest Himself, more and more clearly on the supernatural level. But this requires ears that hear and eyes that see on our part, so that we don’t insist that He only reveal Himself to our natural senses. None of us can possibly have any idea how He wants to make Himself known — what He has in store for us! But as we become trustworthy, and pursue Him with expectation and persistence, we will come to a place where whatever He is doing or saying, He can share it with us.