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.
Category Archives: “Getting Healed”
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.
This week let the Lord draw your attention to any feelings or emotions that may be out of proportion to the circumstance. Regardless of the trigger or stress, if an emotional response lasts longer than 24 hours or is out of proportion altogether, it likely indicates a wound. Ask the Lord if this is a wound He’s ready to heal, and if so, follow the normal procedures to get it taken care of quickly. As always, test the voice to make sure it’s the Lord: “Lord, is that you?” Listen for the voice of the Shepherd in contrast to the voice of the butcher.
Have a great week!
God’s idea of healing may be different than ours. Often, we just want to deal with the symptoms, we just want to feel better or get out of a stressful situation. But God wants to get at the root-causes. “Getting Healed” means being freed and restored from unhealed wounds, whether in the body or the soul, not just the unhealed wounds or afflictions in our physical bodies, though that’s certainly included. But very often the wounds, the burdens, the afflictions that we are carrying in our physical body are the result of wounds in our soul that have not yet been healed.
We are always in the process of being healed. God wants us to be active participants in that process, and He doesn’t want us to settle for anything less than complete healing. Knowing that it’s His idea for us to receive healing, we can actively rely on Him, assured that He will provide the training, He will provide the teaching, and He will provide the insight and the light to show us how to depend on Him for healing. All we need to do is show up for class.
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