Healing of the Soul:  Praying for Inner Healing
by Janet Biggart

"I'm always fearful and I don't know why."
"I've tried and tried to forgive my mother but I just can't do it."
"I'm very suspicious of all men."
"I know my behavior is wrong but I just can't seem to stop doing it."
"My father made my childhood miserable and now he's dead. How can it ever be resolved?"
"It's like there's a cloud of darkness over my life."

These are examples of some problems people have seen resolved in the Inner Healing ministry.
The Gospel is the good news. Part of that good news is that Jesus is our Healer. He loves us and wants to heal our emotions and bring us into freedom and wholeness in every part of our lives. Jesus comes to rescue us-not condemn us. He wants us to have an abundant life filled with love, joy, and peace.

Perhaps when you asked Jesus to be your Savior, you saw many changes in yourself. Some things were improved and transformed. But other things remained stubbornly resistant, and you have felt helpless to believe the Lord will change them.

The Gospel is also the Gospel of hope. Jesus is creative and has many ways to bring healing to you. Inner healing is one of them. Every experience with Jesus brings a degree of healing to your soul-your mind, will, and emotions. As your hurts from the past are healed, you are better able to know God and be in an open, loving relationship with Him. You are better able to forgive and love yourself, to forgive and love others, and to be a strong witness of your Christian faith.

Jesus knows you and understands you better than even you do. He knows why you feel conflicts, why you have sadness, why you become fearful, why you overreact to circumstances.

Your experiences in the past have emotions connected to them. Those have formed attitudes, which may still be a part of you. Those attitudes have been a basis for your behavior patterns. As the Holy Spirit leads you and your prayer team to consider some of the key memories of those early experiences, Jesus heals them. He doesn't change the history of what happened, but He can change your feelings about those events. This encounter with the living God can also bring health to your attitudes and behavior.

We regularly see three patterns in this kind of healing prayer:

1. God's grace and assurance as we encounter the love, wisdom and presence of Jesus
2. A different perspective of our memories
3. An increased ability to forgive and receive forgiveness at a deeper heart level.

Here is a list of scriptures with a brief summary of each that we consider relevant to the ministry of inner Healing:

• Luke 4:18 - Jesus comes to preach good news, to heal and set at liberty those who are
  injured
• Isaiah 61:1-3 - God can change ashes into beauty, mourning into joy, and heaviness into
  praise
  
• Romans 12:21 - God's desire is for us to overcome evil with good. (His love, which is
  Good, overcomes the effects evil has had in our lives.)
  
• Psalm 23:3 - He restores our souls. (He brings health and wholeness.)
  
• 2 Corinthians 1:3,4 - God desires that we comfort others with the same comfort we have
  received.
  
• Romans 15:1,2 - Those who have strength are to help and assist others so that they also
  may be built up in strength.
  
• Galatians 5:16-22 - We are to live by the Spirit. God wants us to move from the sins of
  our lower nature into the beauty of Jesus' character traits-the fruit
  of the Spirit.
  
• Ephesians 3:16-19 - The Lord wants to strengthen each of us in our inner being.
  
• John 3:17 - Jesus comes not to condemn (which we often feel those in authority do), but
  He comes to rescue (save) us.
  
• Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (His love and desire
  for our good is steadfast and never changes.)

PRAYER:
Lord God, thank you that you love me more than any other person has ever loved me. Thank you that you know me, understand me and want to help me. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you died for me so that I could be forgiven and set free from my guilt. You have given me the grace and ability I need to begin to forgive those who have harmed me or sinned against me. Thank you, Lord, that you want me healthy and whole in my mind, in my will, and in my emotions. Help me trust you. I need you, Lord, and I thank you. Amen.__________

Copyright November 1, 1999 by St. Luke's Episcopal Church
5710 22nd NW, Seattle WA 98107.