Healing from Our Past

Humans often function on automatic pilot. We repeat tasks hundreds of times and pay no attention to the details along the way. Sometimes, "the devil is in the details".

We get tied up in the details; and the good things we run around accomplishing rob us of the best things, which God called us to do with our life.

We wear different hats according to the requirement of the moment at work, home, church and play. We segment our soul and personality to meet the expectations of those around us.

Some of us dissociate from parts of our identity and suppress the expression of those personality characteristics. Sometimes, we experience trauma from which we use dissociation amnesia to escape the memory.

We cannot remember parts or all of our past; and, at times, even present events. We function on automatic pilot in multiple personalities in order to fit in or to cope. We lose part of our true self with every trauma we experience in life.

Some of us are schizophrenic; we hear our different ego states conversing with one another and we fear we are going crazy. One part of our self may sabotage or fight against the other.

This dissociation identity disorder attempts to save our life from the extreme pain of our past. Once the Holy Spirit moves into our spirit, He sorts through the various alter egos we create to protect our self.

He heals the pain of our past and allows us to release our grasp on various personalities we used to defend our self. We realize that God is here to protect us now and we have no need to hide behind alter egos.

Prayer:

Father God, the indescribable pain which human beings inflict on one another is caused by rampant sin and suggestions by the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). Regardless of what we experience, however, there is healing in Your wings (Malachi 4:2; Psalm 91:4); and we can hide beneath them until we heal and gain the strength to face this world with Your perspective.

We sing for joy as we snuggle into your feathers and find safety, comfort and security from this world, which often frightens us (Psalm 63:7). Help us to serve as a lifeline to others who also face traumatic events in this life, and give us opportunities to share Your comfort with them in very real and tangible ways.

Thought for the Day:

We can ask God to strengthen the inner being of those we love by His Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts and they may also find His eternal healing. - Ephesians 3:16

Broken and Spilled Out

The idea of being broken means to separate into parts, usually by some violent act. This causes the broken pieces to have rough, uneven and disconnected edges. We are often crushed, cracked, strained and fractured by events in our life. We feel confused and fearful. We inadvertently injure others because of our own jagged, inner wounds. We have an imperfect life ruined by the ravages of sin. Jesus allowed His own body to be broken and His blood to be spilled out for our eternal healing in body, soul and spirit (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). He came to heal the brokenhearted by the anointing of God’s Holy Spirit (Luke 4:18).

Even if we are pressed in on every side by troubles, we are not crushed. We may be disheartened, but not driven to despair. Our enemies may hunt us down, but God never abandons us. Even if we are persecuted, it happens so that Christ’s character can be revealed in us. We share in Christ’s eternal life, even if we also share in His sufferings (2 Corinthians 4:7-12). God is always near to the broken hearted and He saves those who are crushed in Spirit (Psalm 34:18).

Our suffering here on earth cannot even compare to the unspeakable glory and joy that God will reveal in us and to us through the power of Christ’s resurrection. He comforts all who mourn (Matthew 5:4). God requires from us a spirit, which is humbly broken and contrite (Psalm 51:17). If we fall upon Christ by faith, we may be crushed; but He will save us. Conversely, those who reject Jesus actually expose themselves to danger, ultimate ruin and eternal destruction, because the rock of Christ will fall on them and annihilate them (Luke 20:18; John 3:16-18).

Due to their unbelief, the Jewish branches were broken off from God’s vine. This allowed the Gentile Believers to be grafted into Jesus, who is the vine (Romans 11:19; John 15:5). However, God will not allow the crushed stem to be completely broken or their feeble light to be put out entirely (Matthew 12:20). After the times of the Gentiles, when the Bride of Christ is at her wedding feast, the Jews will receive another chance to accept Jesus as their Savior during the Great Tribulation period (Romans 11:25; Revelation 7:4). Then together we will rule and reign with Christ for eternity (2 Timothy 2:12).

It is only after we humbly recognize our need for our Savior that we call upon Him. He will always answer us, and show us great and mighty things (Jeremiah 33:33). As God does His sanctifying work in us, we slowly come to a place where we completely surrender our plans for our life and follow God’s will for us instead. It is then that we wonder why it took us so long to submit to His unconditional love. In reality, we can do nothing less than offer our total life, broken and spilled out in our love for Christ. Through this sacrificial love we will change the world, one life at a time.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, just like the alabaster jar You allowed Your body to be broken and spilled out for the salvation of mankind (Matthew 26:7; John 10:18). Through this act of sacrifice, You gave the most generous, impossible and extravagant gift to the whole world that we can ever receive - the free gift of salvation through Your  blood. You opened the way for us to enter into the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 10:19-22); so that we can worship You together forever.  

Thought for the Day: A broken life becomes a willing servant of the Lord.