Restoring Deep Soul Wounds - Part 2

Dearest Saints,

     I would like to continue on to help deal with deepest wounds that we often carry.  These wounds as we mentioned are the wounds we carry in our soul that have often been the result of traumas and excessive negative situations we may have had to bear with in the past.  As you took the time to write down many of your past wounds and any result of being offended from many of these past experiences, I pray the Lord will help me be a blessing to you by pulling out the very roots of these weeds that have poisoned your soul which is deep within you.  When someone does something extremely offensive towards you, its not so much the negative action that wounds ones soul, but it is how we have reacted towards it by being offended.  Holding on by being offended is what causes our souls to be deeply wounded. 
    
     Often times, it is when we harbour these things, rehearse these past experiences that the wounds often penetrate and get deeper.  One of the things I find very important is when someone offends you, we need to stop looking at ourselves as the victim and see that our oppressors are the real victims.  When you consider that God is not only a God of Love, but also a God of Justice (Isa 30:18; Isa 61:8), people are going to give an account before God who offends His Children to the degree of destruction beyond comprehension.  When I think of the consequences of their actions and see the eternal destruction that awaits them, I feel sorry for them which is having that Godly sorrow which brings forth life.  When we have what is called "worldly sorrow" in 2 Cor 7:10, this is when we see ourselves as a victim which the Bible tells us that causes death (that is often the result of having deep soul wounds).  We inherit that victim mentality when we allow the enemy to deceive ourselves by failing to see the big picture and see how our oppressors are the real victims.  This is an important mindset because when we can see how the enemy uses people to come against one another, people who oppress others are a victim to the enemy because they fail to see the eternal destruction of their actions whom the "god of this world" has blinded many (2 Cor 4:4).  When I saw a video on YouTube with Bill Wiese on 23 minutes in hell, my heart went out to those who do not realize the accountability of their actions. Although many think this is a hoax, Christ Himself is very clear about the absolute horridness of this eternal place of damnation.  I honestly don't think any video can ever identify the reality of hell itself.  This should cause us to pray for every lost soul, even those who savagely come against us because they remain spiritually blind.  This gives us the ability to be Christ-like to pray for our enemies like God admonishes us to do rather than have that "Woe is me" mentality like the devil would like you to remain being a prisoner of.  King David dwelt with self pity when he saw himself as a victim which caused him to become jealous towards wicked men by questioning God "Why do evil men prosper? (Psalm 73:3-16). Then, in vs 17, when he understood their end result after going to the Lord, his heart softened.  Knowing their destruction if they don't repent should soften our heart when we understand how they remain blind by being slaves in chains to the real enemy, satan.

     The story of the rich man and Lazarus is a key scenario about the torment and actual pain people experience.  Even if the rich man lived his life lavishly for a hundred years or more on earth while the beggar lived as he did for that entire time, that rich man is crying out to have Lazarus dip his finger in water to cool off his tongue.  This place of immense suffering is one crying out for help and not ever being able to receive any relief from pain and agony for all eternity.  I will be safe to say that the rich man would have been greatful to start again and change places with Lazarus to have lived like a beggar all his life instead just to escape the horridness of hell, even experiencing this for only a very short while in this dark prison of eternal torture.  The wounds that I had once carried disappeared when I considered these things that caused me to repent of my selfishness before the Lord.  If you truly believe God wants to heal you and restore you, we need to see that we have sinned before God by allowing ourselves to be offended and refuse to become a prisoner to this deception that caused deep wounds in our soul in the first place, no matter what the degree of trauma has happened to us.  

     If we are offended by circumstances that people may not have had any direct effect, we need to repent before God if we believe He is in control of everything.  When we become offended from circumstances, we are really blaming God without maybe realizing it.  When we blame God, we fail to see any responsibility of our own that we may have caused.  When you read Lamentations 5, you will see how oppressed Jeremiah speaks about the conditions they were living in.  Yet, in verse 7, he talks about this oppression he and others are enduring because of the sins of their forefathers.  It would hardly seem fair that we would have to repent because of our forefathers since he himself didn't exhibit any iniquity of his own.  But yet, many people are the burden bearers because of the iniquity of their forefathers.  This hardly seems fair, but if we want to be healed from carrying deep wounds in our souls from the actions of others (even our own forefathers), Godly repentance is absolutely necessary on our part.  We do this to our benefit and be liberated by being a prisoner of carrying these deep wounds.  Caring about whose fault it is should not be considered when we need our wounded soul to be healed and restored.  God tells us in Isa 58:9 He warns us about pointing our finger in scorn, which is finding fault with one another (even blaming God by blaming circumstances).  When we harbour this, we forfeit ever receiving His healing He mentions in vs 8 and will remain being wounded.

 

     When we go over our list that you have written down and give these past hurts before the Lord, I want you to picture the glory of the Lord Jesus reaching down towards you with outstretched arms to receive every wound, by giving him every fragments of your life.  When I read (John 6:12,13) Christ tells the Disciples to pick up every fragments (broken pieces that are left over) from feeding the multitudes.  He also tells them "and let none go to waste."  This is an illustration that He wants us to give Him our "fragments" and believe that He wants to do something special for you.  When you do, smile and give your heartfelt thanks to Him.  You can believe and declare His promise for us in Isaiah 61:7 "Instead of your [former] shame you shall have a twofold recompense; instead of dishonor and reproach [your people] shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double [what they had forfeited]; everlasting joy shall be theirs."  He can't bless us with double recompense when we continue to harbour and carry soul wounds by remaining being offended.  He wants to give us blessings, but He often can't because we inhibit Him to do so when we don't release these before Him.  This is proof of His Word "He is able and willing to do exceedingly and abundantly for us than we can ever ask or think (Eph 3:20)."  He always wants to do more for us.  Are we tying His hands from doing just that?  I would like to carry on next week and see an addition to healing, to being restored.
 

Please share my Blog with others who you know can be blessed from it.  Be blessed and share the blessings by helping one another.    

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Restoring Deep Soul Wounds - Part 1

Good Day Dear Saints

     I would like to open up a series to deal with the deepest inner recesses of our being which is dealing with soul wounds.  In order for us to have real victory over any area of our lives, we always need to get to the root causes of why we act or react to situations in a negative way and realize that this may be caused from some negative circumstances dating back from recently to many years ago.  Like myself, I truly believe that the reason why many people do not react favorably in many circumstances is not because of the actual circumstance itself, but because of having scarred or wounded souls deep within which many have not properly dealt with because they may be ashamed and are trying to cover it up, which does not eliminate the source of the problem.  These wounds that are deep within our soul are often caused by trauma, negative circumstances, negative words spoken against us, being harrassed, bullied, rejected or betrayed of confidence by others and many other situations alike that could have negatively affected ones life.

     Many people try to cover up these wounds, but often times, the scars remain deep within simply because we have never dealt with them as God would want us to.  An example is like when a person has been told by another person who may have had negative influence over them, that you cannot amount to anything in life. So the person who has been told this becomes a perfectionist who may do well and accomplish alot in life.  This person may think that he/she has victory over this wound, but in the meantime, this person remains a perfectionist and the result of this compulsive behaviour has its negative effect simply because these negative words once spoken to them gave them a wound deep within their soul.  So they try everything to counteract this by being busy, being a perfectionist and valuing themselves of what they accomplish in life.  I often find that the root causes of maintaining these soul wounds is that we hold and harbour offences and we try to overcome them as part of our "defence" by defending our rights or reputation that will never erase these offences that causes soul wounds that many continue to carry deep within them.  It's like sweeping dirt under a carpet or spraying air freshener without getting rid of the garbage causing the stench in the first place.

     The question some may wonder is how do I know if I am carrying these wounds within my soul?  I believe if you dwell on, or have recurring thoughts about a certain negative situation you were involved in, or you find yourself reacting negatively to any normal circumstances, or maybe your mind tends to wander off, chances are that you may have deep soul wounds which the Lord wants to help you.  Sometimes, we need to get to a quiet place and think about what we have been thinking about.  As it may sound funny, we really need to do this.  When I think of reacting negatively when God tells us that we need to bear fruit from being patient as an example, we may find ourselves often very impatient when we have to wait in line at the bank, grocery store longer than we care to, or at slow moving traffic.  It could even be a result of one having to deal with pornography because of a deep rooted issue from a wound that remains in ones soul.  When we take the time to reflect on areas of our lives that do not promote bearing fruit Gal 5:22 (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control), are we finding out that we are not bearing fruit as effectively as we could be or should be?  The example of the person who is always busy trying to be a perfectionist from the result of harbouring festering negative words spoken against him/her is not the result of allowing God to help heal their wound deep within their soul.  God never tells us to be "busy", but admonishes us to be "fruitful".  Alot of people today are busy, but are doing nothing or they are accomplishing very little to advance the kingdom of God.  They may be busy, but failing to do what matters to God or have very little relationship with Him.  When we harbour bitterness by being offended and hanging on to it, this is one of the major issues that has caused many Christians to walk around with penetrating wounds in their soul that often is a real hinderance from moving forward with the Lord, having any postive impact towards others as we should be doing or having any quality time in the sweet presence of God.  People often have isolated themselves from others which is a major issue of allowing themselves by being offended.  When the enemy can isolate a member, this is where the wolf likes to make its most effective attacks because of their vulnerability of isolating oneself from others.

 

     When we hang on by being offended by others unfavorable actions towards us, this not only negatively affects our spiritual well being, but is often a major cause of emotional stress that often leads to high blood pressure, tensions and major causes of physical ailments.  God never intended man to carry this burden of the results of being offended, because man isn't meant to carry such burdens.  God tells us to cast all our cares upon Him for He does care for each of you (1 Pet 5:7), He loves you and wants to help you.  Have we tied His hands to help us?  This is why we need to consider that any time we have remained offended is a sin against God.  This is why this goes against what God tells us in His Word.  When a person develops a root of bitterness, it often is a result of harbouring offence which is again, a major cause of having our souls wounded deep within.  It has often been said that people who are hurt within themselves (by carrying an offended spirit within them) often hurt others because of it.  And if we do things to hurt others, do you suppose God is pleased with us, even though the other person may be the initial instigator?  In the end, it is not going to matter what people do to us, but how we reacted and whether we have sought the Lord to help heal us deep within.  We are not going to be responsible for a persons actions, but we will be responsible for our action and how we reacted to any given situation.

 

     When God was dealing with me about soul wounds, the first thing we need to do is to write down any negative experiences that you feel you have been dwelling on.  Or if you find yourself being more impatient than you know you should, or not being able to show kindness and doing good as we are called to do, this is when we need to ask the Lord to reveal anything from our past that is the root issue causing ourselves to act a certain way that does not bear fruit.  What situation have we harboured on from our past that may be causing us to act ungodly?  This may take a bit of time, but is well worth the time invested to heal our wounded soul and for our soul to be fully restored so it can be said of us that it is well with our soul.  Whenever we want to be healed, we need to have every negative root in our lives to be pulled out, just like weeds in a yard.  Before you throw grass seeds on the ground, you want to get rid of the weeds first.  Then you will be able to throw grass seeds down and attend to these seeds by watering them over and over for a period of time and fertilizing those seeds to make it strong and healthy.  I would like to share how to go about dealing with the root issue and see so many people set free and become strong and healthy spiritually, physically, emotionally.  The parable about the one who sows tares amongst the wheat is the result of the enemy (satan).  To me, this is when we try to cover up our wounds, but don't deal with them as God would have us, which is the result that we have allowed the enemy to sow "tares" in to our lives that disrupt the good harvest that the wheat is considered to be.  I would like to finish off here and continue this session.  This will allow many people who need to take the time to write down any past experiences and to bring them before the Lord.  

 

     When we deal with this first step to write down any past experiences, it is utmost important to have the mindset and say this to yourself audibly.... that God loves me, He cares for me, He is interested in me and wants to reveal His passionate help to not only heal, but restore me to total divine health like He tells me in His Word which is His will in 3 John 2.  We will never know the power of His help, His goodness and mercy for us if we never needed help from Him in the first place.  God wants us to experience the joy of not only being healed, but fully restored because of His excellent  Grace and Mercy towards us.   

 

 

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Is God Trying to Tell Us Something?

Dearest Saints

     When people often pray for the windows of Heaven to open up and pour out a blessing, I believe the Lord was revealing something to me.  When we think that God has shut the windows of Heaven on His people, it is not so much that God has shut the windows on us, but I believe it is more like we have shut the windows of Heaven from allowing God to work on our behalf.  In other words, God always wants to pour out rich blessings in abundance in every arena of our lives because Christ Jesus mentions that the thief (satan) is the one who wants to kill, steal and destroy our lives, but Jesus came to give us not only life, but life in abundance to the full, til it overflows (John 10:10 Amplified version).  To me, it's not so much that God purposely hinders us from receiving His blessings, but we have tied the hands of God who wants to do so much in our lives.  The things that I find that we have hindered God from opening up the windows of Heaven is often because we are filled with doubt, we fear, we worry or we simply don't believe He cares and loves us like He tells us.  We fail to believe His Word to the extent we need to.  We may not tell God in direct terms by our doubt of His care for us, but we may often act with doubt.  The doubts that often come is thinking we are never good enough for God to answer our prayers, or that He will hear the prayers of others, but not yours.  The only times I know that He won't hear our prayers is when we harbour iniquity in our heart (Ps 66:18), when we doubt (James 1:6-8), when we don't honor our wives (1 Pet 3:7) or perhaps not honoring His Word like we should (Prov 28:9).  We put ourselves in a difficult position when God is often trying to get our attention to get us to deal with our heart. 

 

     Other times we may find ourselves shutting the windows of Heaven when we fail to put Christ first in our lives.  In the parable of the Banquet feast (Luke 14:16-24), the master invites His Chosen ones to join with Him in the Banquet.  There were three types of people He speaks about.  One of them just purchased his land which he wanted to go see instead of accepting His invitation.  The second one had just bought 5 yoke of oxen and wanted to examine and approve of them.  Then the third type of person is the one who made the excuse because he just got married.  Each of these types of people will always make an excuse rather than putting the Lord first.  Each of these people represent a number of Christians who may be making excuses.  The first type of person is the type who would rather put their worldly possessions ahead of Christ.  He would rather count and see what he has.  The second person who purchased the oxen to do the work is the type of person who puts work or their employment ahead of Jesus.  In other words, he or she allows work to consume their lives that often interferes with advancing our relationship with God first.  These people forget that God is the true employer we really work for.  The third type of person who mentioned about being married relates to the people who put relationships with one another ahead of Jesus.  Although it is important to have good relationships with one another, however, it is wrong in Gods sight when it interferes from putting our relationship with Him first and foremost.  When I watched a video that mentioned this, it was a real eye opener and mentions that just because we call ourselves Christians, we need to question ourselves about putting any of these ahead of our Lord Jesus?  He mentions in vs 24 of that parable that the ones who were invited who made excuses will not be able to taste His Supper He has prepared for them.  In other words, when He comes to receive us, will we be prepared?  Many Kings in the Old Testament were made right in Gods sight when they had to break down idols that were previously built.  Could these be one of many idols we have built up ourselves?

 

     Perhaps when we do go through trials, could it be that we may be falling in to one of these traps and the Lord is trying to get our attention?  Have we been consumed with focusing our total attention on what we can get out of this life, rather than living by fulfilling His purposes to why we were created in the first place (Isa 43:7).  When I realize often that I make a determined decision and commitment to serve the Lord, it is through one of many trials that causes me to examine my ways and redirect my life that I needed to be focused to seek the Lords direction by putting Him first.  Often times from my past, I was so focused on fulfilling my lifes interest while leaving little concern for others.  It may not seem like He cares when we do go through hard times, but when I look back on my life, He uses these situations to put us in a position to prepare us to be mightily used or at times, to redirect our lives and to help us stop putting too much of our attention on this temporal world we live in.  When we question God about circumstances and complain to Him about why we go through what we do and become rebellious, do we think that we will ever outsmart Him or be justified by remaining to doubt and question Him?  When we think we can ever be justified questioning God, we will always find ourselves being ashamed of overlooking situations He was trying to get our attention what we realize we need to heed to.  When we do go through trials, we need to stop questioning God and humble ourselves before Him, ask and expect Him to lead us to what He is trying to lovingly teach us.  We will be able to hear from Him when we get ourselves in a position when we are ready to give Him our full attention and seek His counsel and direction.  We need to remember that His thoughts outnumber the grains of sands of this world (Psalm 139:17,18) while our finite minds may fill only one sizeable bucket (if that)!  

 

     When I think of messages like this, it is one that I believe is a turning point for each one to get our perspective right before Him and put our life priorities in the right sequence by putting God first in our lives.  When we do, we will never look back with any regret.  We will be able to look back and thank Him for caring enough to try to get our attention to move forward in the right direction, even though it may be getting our attention through trials.  May this be a turning point for you to receive richer eternal rewards because of it. 

Please check out my website below.  Proceeds from my books will go in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia.  All monies donated go to the poor and needy.

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  

His Amazing Ability Through You

Dearest Saints, 

          It's amazing what He can do through anyone and whom He is able to choose to do extra-ordinary works that confounds the wise and prudent (1 Cor 1:20-31).  When we want to sow blessings of encouragement in to other peoples lives, He will also encourage us because He creates everything in the natural and spiritual law of sowing and then reaping.  God doesn't only use the intellect, He can use anyone!  There is NOT one person in this world who has any legitimate excuse to believe that God cannot mightily use them if we would only dare to believe.  He chose 12 people to change the course of the world, of which most were not highly educated or scholars by any means.  It is when we have that barrier of doubt and unbelief that He is unable to use us.  If we relied on our intellect rather then on His Grace, we would simply be telling God that we are relying on our own abilities and not His Power.  It is by receiving the goodness of the power of His Spirit that we can do amazing things for Him when we believe and allow Him to work through us.  It is a dreadful barrier when we choose to doubt His ability to work through us.  Just like He was not able to do many miracles in His own hometown because many had unbelief (Matt 13:58).   

          I use myself as a prime example.  When I was younger, I considered myself such a failure and because I believed that, I was not able to accomplish much in life and my life was heading in a downward spiral.  I even questioned God why did He waste His time creating me?  For someone like myself who was never good in school and did not see myself ever accomplishing anything worthwhile in life, it is amazing what God has been doing through me in His ministry and in my employment.  Who could have thought that I could ever mentor, teach, minister and bring encouragement to so many broken hearts throughout the world in over a decade, but allowing God to work through me.  Or publish two books, when back in High School, I was practically be at the bottom of my English class.  Therefore, I can only and honestly say that I could never have accomplished any of this through my own ability, but to encourage you of how God is able to use anyone who will simply BELIEVE that He is willing and capable to work through each of us, no matter how insignificant you may feel.  We need to stop listening to the lies of the enemy and be bold to believe the Lord, because it is Him who gives us the ability to do anything in the first place.  When you desire to be a real blessing to others and want to encourage others, it is amazing how He can and will work through anyone who will dare to believe he/she can be used to do the works that only a person anointed and empowered by the Spirit could ever do.  

          In the natural, there was no way that a little shepherd boy named David could kill a giant like Goliath.  But when he was bold and dared to believe the Goodness and Bigness of God in his life, he was able to do extra-ordinary because he relied on the Lord to do a great work through him (1 Sam 17:45-47).  He certainly did not trust in his little stature, but He boldly relied on the One who is able!!  We need to stop looking at our own abilities/inabilities and be amazed at what God is able and willing to do through us, when we choose to believe who we are in Christ; what He should mean to us and what He wants to do through us to fulfill the greatest mandate in all of creation.  God blesses people who will dare to believe because the Bible tells us that the Righteous are as bold as a lion (Prov 28:1) and when we do not cast away our fearless confidence in Him, He promises that we will be greatly rewarded (Heb 10:35).  Although Peter fell many times, the Lord has a special place in His heart for Peter because He saw the boldness and determination of Peter.  The Lord never gave up on Peter no matter how many times he fell.  The Lord never gave up on David after he committed adultery and murder, and yet, He mentions after the fact that David was a man after Gods own heart.  Talk about TOTAL Forgiveness.  That is that agape love we should know about our Lord.  That is the reason why we can be confident and bold in the Lord, because we first come to know and receive His great love for us and know that He is caring and wants to bless us with His power and use us to do great things for the Lord.  Unfortunately, many Christians are believing and giving in to the lies of the enemy whose aim is to rob, kill and destroy any way he can (John 10:10a) and he continues to rob the peace of walking in being totally forgiven (after we repent) and deceiving Gods Children from knowing who we are in Christ (John 1:12) so we can live in the wonderful promises of God in every area of our lives (3 John 2). 

          I want to encourage you to ask God to believe He can use you to do great and mighty works, simply because we know we are greatly loved by Him and He wants to use us to do great and mighty things to advance His Kingdom.  We need to BELIEVE this, RECEIVE this and BOLDLY declare like Paul does "I CAN do ALL things through CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS US (Phil 4:13).  This is where our self confidence has to be crucified and be God confident in all we do when we know we do His good and perfect will.  I am confident that when we want to do all for the glory of God and desire to be a blessing to others, it is amazing what He is able to do through a person like that.
Purchases of my books will go to support HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia @  http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife 
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayer