I’d like to introduce to you Ina, a Eurasian brown bear who lives in Romania. In 2021 a viral video of Ina lit the internet on fire with many sympathetic of Ina’s struggle.
Ina was held for more than twenty years in a very small cage at a Romanian government operated zoo. The room was so tiny she could only walk in a small circle, brushing up against the metal bars of the cage.
For twenty years Ina was held in captivity, until finally after receiving many complaints, the zoo released Ina to the care of the non-profit animal sanctuary “Millions of friends” in Zarnesti, Romania.
The video that astonished the world showed Ina the bear freed from her captivity, at the animal sanctuary 7 years later, but still walking in the same circle she walked for twenty years at the zoo.
Trauma is real, abuse is real, and pain is real. And sometimes those pains and traumas that we’ve been through can cause us to get caught in patterns that are harmful.
For Ina the bear, she became trapped in her past traumas and patterns, and they held her captive, in an invisible cage, that no one could see but her, long after the physical cage had been taken away. (Thankfully after 7 years of this behavior, Ina slowly stopped pacing in the circle after being freed)
What traumas and pains have you been through, and how have they shaped who you are today?
Are there patterns you find yourself caught in, things you do but you don’t understand why? Maybe it’s simply pain, a heart shut down, a sense of disconnection from the world around you, a hardness, that you’d like to be free from.
Maybe you know the wound, you’ve carried it for many years, and you long for God to heal the wound and take the pain away, but no healing has come.
Perhaps you’re sitting there thinking, I don’t have any trauma. I’m happy, I’m well adjusted, my heart overflows with love.
If so, that’s wonderful. But don’t underestimate the possibility that there is trauma that God wants to heal in you.
And I know for a fact that every single person on planet Earth has been through a trauma recently. In the last five years in fact. That trauma is the worldwide pandemic known as Covid-19. How do I know it’s left us traumatized? Because the world doesn’t want to talk about it, many pretend like it never happened.
So we understand today that we need healing. And it’s a good thing that we serve a healing God, our savior Jesus Christ, one of his names is the great physician.
As it says in mark 2:17 NKJV “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Now it is true that Jesus Christ did not come primarily to deal with our pains and traumas, he came to deal with our sins. And his death on the cross secured us forgiveness for those sins. Yet the word repeatedly speaks of healing. So we know Jesus came to heal us as well.
We’ve all been through a traumatic experience. We lost a loved one. Experienced a divorce. Lost a job. Witnessed or experienced abuse. We all know these experiences. But what happens after?
The aftermath of difficulties in our lives can be extended. They can manifest in racing thoughts, depression, anxiety, fear, lack of confidence, and crippling emotional states.
But they can also manifest as changes in our personality itself, and these changes can be very long lasting, they come to define who we are as a person.
Often times we slowly heal over time, as we pray and seek the Lord, but, sometimes when the hurts are deeper, God will take on something I’ve learned to understand as a “healing journey.”
Throughout this new series titled “the healing journey” we’re going to walk through different stages of how God heals us, we will look at how Jesus walks alongside us, and guides by the Holy Spirit toward different forms of contemplation, reflection, processing, deliverance, rock bottoms, and new heights, all different steps along the pathway to renewal.
Then, I encountered Jesus Christ, and he changed my life forever. I fundamentally went from broken to healed. I was born again, a new person. And that was the great turning point in my healing journey.
However, even after having come to Christ, I still found myself with so many wounds on my heart. Though Jesus had forgiven my sins and made me a new person, he did not instantly remove all the hurts and pains I’d gone through.
I did many things to attempt to gain healing in those early years of first becoming a Christian in 2012, but my attempts only yielded mixed results. I took many secular approaches to healing, and don’t get me wrong, many of these techniques are helpful. I utilized the twelve steps, I went to secular counselors, EMDR, journaling, workbooks, reading self help books, Christian books, and so on and so forth.
I put in a lot of work to find healing, more than most would, I read dozens of books, worked through several workbooks, attended groups multiple times a week, and healing came, but it was incomplete.
Maybe some of you can relate today, you’ve attempted different methods to experience healing, but all of it seemed to come up just short, and you find yourself feeling like your heart has holes in it, and you’ve accepted it as inevitable.
I felt that way, for years I had attempted healing, but I’d come up short, and there I found myself in my 3rd year of being a minister, realizing, I’m carrying wounds that are making it hard for me to succeed in what I’m doing. These wounds are holding me back from becoming all God has called me to be. But I had tried every method I knew of, and my heart was still badly wounded.
We start with this simple phrase: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
That’s the first line of Psalm 23, our foundation scripture for today.
The first point for today is this: Make the Lord your shepherd, in the healing process, and you will not want for healing. He will provide it. But, we must let go of the reins, and allow God to lead this process.
We often say God you’re in charge, then we grab the reins and take over again. That won’t work. We really have to continually look to Him. And we can.
So this first message today is the entry point. We’re getting our supplies ready. We’ve getting our backpack, shoes, canteen, sleeping bag, and we’re getting ready for a long journey. We’re packing, and beginning to look toward the road ahead.
The first hurdle to face today is this: Maybe you think you don’t need healing. Maybe it’s true. But maybe we’re so used to it, that we don’t see it. So if you’re someone sitting there today thinking I don’t need any healing, I want you to consider the possibility that maybe you do. And then ask God to reveal if that is the case.
Don’t let pride get in the way of something that could change your life. I don’t know about the rest of you, but as for me and my house, we will seek the Lord for healing. Will you join us?
Like I said, the first point is to let God be the shepherd.
Next verse 2, “He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.”
The Hebrew there for quiet waters, can be translated ‘waters of rest.’
Second point today, the healing journey is going to be an experience of rest for many of you.
When we’ve been through numerous traumas in our lives, we can end up a state of near constant high engagement of our adrenal gland, called fight or flight. It’s also called adrenaline syndrome or acute stress response.
Our body when it senses a dangerous situation, or a tense argument, our bodies begin to push adrenaline into our brain, for the God-given purpose of giving us strength to either fight or flee the situation we’re in. It’s a good thing.
But the problem is, when we’ve experienced long periods of intensity or trauma, we can get caught in fight or flight, where we are constantly in a state of adrenaline hyperarousal. Many are caught in that state long term, and over time it exhausts us, leaving us always fatigued.
God is offering us rest. This is a gift. But it is also a challenge. Rest is a gift. But it also means we have to slow ourselves down, and get out of fight or flight. Otherwise we won’t be able to experience healing.
David wrote this psalm as king, looking back on his life, and how God had provided safe places for him. The green pasture David writes about is our safe place.
We don’t need to be scrambling about like mad men and women, for God is our green pasture, our safe place.
Though I worry some of us, if we were to paint a picture of what it feels like inside our heads, it’s more like a dark stormy plain, than a warm sunny pasture. This series is going to help you heal, to turn that dark stormy place in your heart, to a green pasture of the presence of God.
Let’s pray for rest, and a safe place. (Take a few moments to pray)
Next, verse 3: “He restores my soul”
Ultimately, the goal here is verse 3, to bring portions of our soul before God, and invite Him to restore those areas.
Pray right now and ask God, which area of my soul do you want to restore Lord? And then wait, it may come as an image in your mind or a memory, or a thought. Once you’ve received from God that thing, I want you to pray, and invite God to begin to heal that part of your heart.
Friends I believe God has big plans for His church. Really big plans. But the journey ahead of us will be challenging, there will be many ups and downs. So God is bringing us through this healing series, yes because he loves us and wants us to be at peace, but just as much, he’s getting us ready. We won’t be able to win the battles ahead if we’re covered in past wounds. But if we find healing, we will be ready.
Second part of verse 3, “He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”
Healing is not a one and done thing. It’s a journey. In my healing journey, which has really turned a corner in the last year, God has brought me to things from my childhood, to bitterness from my first posting in ministry, to bullying during high school, to things from a recent dispute I had with a mentor, to the loss of loved ones, and to forgiveness I needed to offer to those who had hurt me. Step by step, along the road.
If Jesus brings something to mind again and again, don’t ignore it. Follow where he points.
Notice how it says, “He guides me.” I don’t guide Him. He shows me where to look for healing, and I don’t second guess what he’s saying. If he points to an incident I feel I’ve already dealt with, I need to open it up again. Because Jesus is never wrong.
Next, verse 4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil…”
After a traumatic event takes place, many times what we do is stuff it. It’s a very unhealthy practice, but it’s something I did as a kid. I would stuff it. Ignore it, hide it away, and pretend it didn’t happen.
Here is the hardest thing to understand about healing, and experiencing healing in the Lord:
There is no way around the pain. We can’t ignore it. We can’t hide from it. We can’t pretend it doesn’t bother us.
Part of healing is going back to the original memory, and accessing the emotions attached to the memory. The emotions flow out, often in the form of tears, or anger, or sorrow or regret. And we feel those emotions. And we process them. One of the greatest ways to tell that healing is happening, is because tears are flowing. And it may take time, days, weeks, even months of processing.
So if the process begins, simply embrace it. And you’ll find yourself reframing the events in a new way. You’ll begin to go from anger or sorrow at the loss of your mom, to thanking God for her life, and being grateful for the years you had, and having a desire to honor her memory. The purging of the emotions brings a new way of seeing the outcome, from a higher level, a level God brings you to.
Part of this series will be walking through the valley of the shadow of death. We will walk you to the pain, and through the pain. There’s no way around, the only way is straight through.
But remember also what it says: We will fear no evil. There is nothing to fear here. God is walking us through. So no evil can touch us.
Second part of verse 4: “for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
This is the center point of Psalm 23, the simple statement: “You are with me.”
God’s presence is the very centerpiece of the healing journey. If we can cultivate times of experiencing God’s presence, we will experience His healing touch.
At the prayer meeting this Thursday, Chelsey, Ilienne and I were praying. Normally we simply do intercession, praying for family, schools, police and firefighters, and so on. But this time, we simply spent time seeking God’s face. And after a few minutes, God showed up, and we were in tears.
That is something every one of us can experience, by spending time with God in prayer, not making endless requests, but by seeking His face, His presence, and quietly waiting upon Him for extended periods. If you want to learn to do this, please attend our prayer meeting, it’s amazing what God is doing.
Prayer: Lord, help me in my prayer times, to simply seek your Face, to incline my heart toward you, to turn my heart toward yours, help me to cultivate quiet times Father, deep quiet times, to seek your presence, in Jesus name, amen.
Second portion, of this scripture, your rod and staff comfort me.
There is a great deal of comfort that comes through all this. A comforting from God as we go on this journey. God is one who comforts the hurting. He sees your pain and he is with you in it.
He provides both a rod of correction to us in this, and a staff of protection. He won’t bring too many memories at the same time, he protects the healing process, keeping it at the right pace. He also corrects, if I’m trying to ignore something, God will correct me, bring it out and gently ask me to deal with it.
Next, verse 5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil;”
This sort of tender hospitality from the Lord, a table prepared before us with all sorts of choice foods, drink and delights, the anointing of the head with oil, shows us the abundant mercies of God in the healing process.
And we are able to say, “My cup overflows.” I am abundantly blessed.
So many times, I’ve walked through the pain with God. I’ve shed the tears. I’ve written down the memories in my journal. I’ve gone into prayer and sought God’s face. God brought such memories, such emotions to the surface. And then I prayed and asked God to heal the heart wound he had just exposed. I would lift up my heart to God, and place it in the hands of Jesus, and he would heal it. And then a few days later, I wake up realizing I feel so much lighter. My heart wound is healed. And I have a new peace, when each day used to be so much anxiety and fear. And I’m able to declare, “My cup overflows.”
Prayer: Lord, bring the overflow in my life. Bring the healing touch. Lord I lift my heart up to you. I put my heart into your hands Lord Jesus, I release my heart into your hands. I ask you to heal it completely. I receive my heart back from you Jesus, healed, in Jesus name, amen.
Verse 6 says, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life…”
So even after the pains of the past have been healed, and I’m walking in shalom, I’m able to know that even into the future, God will be with me.
And as new difficulties occur, he will guide me into healing again and again and again. I won’t be carrying around the past anymore. I’ll be battle ready. God’s goodness will guide me.
Lastly, verse 6b: “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Though this verse speaks of heaven, of being in the New Jerusalem, what I want you to notice here, is that the house of the Lord is like the temple.
And there are three parts of the temple, the outer court, the holy place, and the most holy place. And I’ve found in my journey with God, as we develop our relationship, it’s like slowly walking, in intimacy, from the outer court, to the holy place, and into the most holy place. This occurs in our heart, because we are God’s temple now.
Through this healing process, if we seek the Lord and find healing, our hearts will be healed. And our healed hearts will be much more able to love God and love others, because the broken places will be repaired. And our relationship with God, now spurred on by the healing, will prosper, and we will have the opportunity, to dwell in the house of the Lord within our hearts, the most holy place unfettered by past hurts and traumas.
Prayer: Lord, let us always view our lives as a steady journey of walking from the outer court, to the holy place, and into the most holy place. Guide us to always be on a journey to seek you more and more deeply, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
