I want to start this week’s post with a bold statement. God can heal the emotional pain in your soul. The reason it seems such a bold statement is that many people are not experiencing the healing the Bible describes.

Jesus Heals the Brokenhearted

Here are a few of the Scriptures that speak to God’s heart toward those who have experienced deep, emotional pain.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3)

He restores my soul (Psalm 23:3)

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:4)

Despite the truth of these Bible verses that the Lord heals the brokenhearted, many of us have wounds that we have carried with us for years. I was talking with someone this past week that has carried pain in her heart for well over fifty years.

If Jesus is the healer of broken hearts, why do we carry around so much pain? Why aren’t we experiencing the freedom that the Bible talks about?

Barriers to Healing

I’d like to talk about three common reasons that could be hindering you from receiving healing for your broken heart and what you can do to receive healing.

Your Pain Becomes Your Identity

Many of the painful things that happen in our lives take place when we’re children. They have a way of shaping our thinking and our identity. The pain is with us every day and has been with us as long as we can remember. It is hard for us to think about ourselves apart from what has happened in our lives.

I have ministered to many people over the years that struggle to release the pain because they don’t know who they’ll be if they release it and are healed. Even though they hate the pain and want to be free from it, the fear of a loss of identity is more frightening than remaining in the pain.

I have actually had people look me in the eye and ask, “If I give this up, who will I be?” When you’ve had your identity wrapped up with the pain you’ve experienced, it almost seems as if you are ripping out a piece of yourself if you receive healing.

The good news is that you will actually become more of who God created you to be. The pain and its consequences are not who you really are. In most cases, the pain distorts who you are and restricts the true you from shining through.

Your Coping Mechanisms Stop You from Coming to Jesus

Every one of us has ways that we’ve learned to deal with the pain we’ve experienced in life. They are called coping mechanisms. The problem with coping mechanisms is that we are seeking to deal with our pain apart from Jesus.

Another problem with coping mechanisms is that they never heal the pain. They only give temporary relief, while the pain remains. Here are six ways that we attempt to cope with pain:

1. Ignore it. If I ignore this pain, it will go away. It never works.
2. Stuff it. If I stuff the pain down, I won’t have to feel it. It always pops back up.
3. Accept it. Pain follows me everywhere I go, it must be my lot in life. You never try to change it.
4. Rehearse it. You relive your pain over and over and over again to whoever will listen. The pain only grows deeper.
5. Medicate it. You use drugs, alcohol, sex, shopping, gambling, etc. to make you feel better. It’s always temporary. The pain returns plus more.
6. You emulate it. You become like those who hurt you and hurt others. The pain multiplies.

There is only one way to truly deal with the pain and that is to bring it to Jesus.

A Piecemeal Approach to Healing

I believe that the third major reason that some of us don’t receive the healing that the Bible talks about is that we approach healing in a piecemeal fashion. We think that if the pain is gone, then everything will be fine. But there is more to healing than just getting rid of the pain.

I’ve been involved in the healing and deliverance ministry for the past twenty-one years and have found that healing a broken heart is very possible, but it requires more than just asking Jesus to take away the pain.

That is why the first video course I created for Experiencing His Victory is called Healing Your Broken Heart. The goal of this course is to teach you proven steps that I’ve learned over the years that have healed my heart and the hearts of many of those I’ve ministered to.

In this course, I give a personal testimony of how the Lord healed an area of my wife and my life that caused us trouble for over thirty years of our marriage. It’s funny how the Lord can heal a wound in an afternoon that has plagued us for years.

I also explain how Jesus knows your pain and wants to heal you. Jesus died to set you free. He wants you to experience healing in every area of your life, that is what he died for.

I’m a teacher and an important part of anything I do is to define the various concepts that are important to know to understand a process. I lay out ten key concepts that are necessary to understand to receive your healing.

I’ve also designed a workbook you can use to prepare yourself for the ministry time. It has all you need to be ready to receive your healing.

The final portion of the course is the actual ministry time where you will walk through each of the key steps to receive your healing. It is critical that you:

• Give the Lord each painful feeling you experienced,
• Deal with any ungodly beliefs you picked up during the situation
• Repent for any actions you took as a result of the pain
• Forgive those who hurt you
• Ask the Lord to heal your heart
• Repulse any demonic influences connected to the pain
• Ensure that your healing is complete
• Receive God’s blessing

This course could change your life forever.