wHAT IS iNNER hEALING AND WHY IS IT NECESSARY?

What is inner healing and why is it necessary?

I was talking to a woman one day about inner healing ministry.  She told me that she believed Jesus had healed our souls at the cross, so inner healing wasn’t really necessary. She also believed that Jesus did not die to save our bodies, being that they were designed to be temporary dwellings, and therefore, our bodies remained subject to sickness, disease and infirmity.  According to this woman's belief, these things were just a fact of life in this creation. Unfortunately, that seems to say that Jesus’ work on the cross was not a complete work, that in fact, it is NOT finished.

According to this woman’s belief, if Jesus death on the cross took care of the healing of our souls, why are so many Christians suffering from fear, anxiety, and depression? Why are there so many with mental and emotional disorders that limit them from living the full life Jesus died to give them? I wonder how many Christians believe as this woman does. 
 
The Bible has a lot to say about healing and the language includes the healing of our spirits, our souls, and our bodies. 
 
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (MSG) May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together – spirit, soul, and body – and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!

The Bible tells us that we are a person constructed with three distinct parts. We are first of all spirit. The Greek word translated spirit in this verse  is “pneuma” which means breath, wind, spirit (Strong’s 4141).  It was the breath of God that transferred life into the lifeless form of Adam. We are also a soul. The Greek word translated soul is “psuche” and it means the vital breath, the human soul, the soul as the seat of affections and will, the self, the individual (Strong’s 5590). Our spirit and our soul is that part of us that is unseen; but the body is that part of us that is seen. The Greek word for body is “soma” which means body, flesh, the physical body (Strong’s 4983). Clearly, we are a person constructed of three distinct parts.
 
Our soul is what Jesus died to save from the wrath of God because of our sin. Our soul is what satan wants to steal, kill and destroy.  Therefore, our souls – even though they have been saved from eternal judgment - are the target of a relentless enemy. It is the soul that is the access point Satan uses to break down our physical body’s defenses. A wound in the soul enables him to inflict our bodies with sickness, disease and infirmity.
 
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God forgives us of our sins and removes the guilt of our sins as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). But the consequences of sin are not automatically removed. That is why Jesus said we would need the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to sanctify or make holy and whole our spirits, souls and bodies through an ongoing process of transformation.  His goal is to move us forward from our spiritual infancy so that we become spiritually mature and complete, not lacking in anything.  Also, our spiritual senses need to become sharpened through constant practice.
 
Hebrews 6:1-2 (NIV) Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
 
This is not a work that happens automatically; this is a work that requires us to take inventory of what is stored up in our soul. David said it this way
 
Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV) “Search me, O God, and know my heart (inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding – Strong’s 3824); test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive (habitual wickedness– Strong’s 6090) way in me.”
 
The reason David asked God to do this was to explore and expose the places satan may have used to gain access to his mind, his emotions and his will. It is vital that anything hiding in our soul be exposed and dealt with so that we may be as Jesus described Himself in John 14:30, “the prince of this world...has no hold on me.”
 
Inner healing ministry is not counseling; it is a prayer ministry through which a trained facilitator assists the client in exposing and dealing with the wounds he/she has experienced that  have provided legal access for the enemy to wield his influence over their minds, their emotions, and their wills, and as a result, over their physical bodies. The way satan gains access is through:
 

1. the lies we have believed that we have not dealt with,
2. the iniquities passed down to us through our bloodline that have not been dealt with,
3. the sin we have committed and have not dealt with, and
4.  the traumas we have experienced from the moment of our conception that have not been dealt with.

 
The most effective method of inner healing uncovers and deals with the wounds in the inmost part of the soul.  God desires truth in the inmost part (Psalm 51:6, NIV). Our inmost part (or core as it is referred to in the Beth Shalom Ministries’ process) is programmed from the moment of conception.  In order to facilitate deep inner healing and bring deliverance from recurring destructive patterns of thought and behavior, the process must begin with ministry in the core. Once the core is clean and Jesus fully occupies the inmost part, the facilitator then works outward to bring down all the defensive mechanisms that were set in place, and exposes the root causes that have limited the individual from living a life of liberty in Jesus Christ. 
 
The word Shalom means “nothing missing, nothing broken, and the absence of chaos”. When Jesus fills the inmost part, healing occurs – healing of the spirit, healing of the soul, and healing of the physical body.
 
Matthew 11:28-29  "Come to me, all you who are weary (from self effort, both physically and mentally - Strong’s 2872) and burdened (overloaded with the consciousness of sin - Strong’s 5412), and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."

May you find rest for your soul! Be healed in Jesus Name!

Linda

©Linda Sue Harper 2018