Gregory Dickow - 7 Steps to Emotional Health and Healing
- Watch
- Audio
- Buy this sermon
- Donate
- Store
John, chapter 15, verse seven, Jesus says something very powerful. He says, if you abide in me and my words abiding you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. You shall ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Now, notice the secret here or the the the answer here. The solution here is, first of all, Jesus is not saying there's anything wrong with having desire. So he's actually saying desire is good. He said because you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you. But notice the condition in which your desire will be done for you. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you.
Now, here, our desires are completely controlled and our desires are completely influenced by what's abiding in us, he said. If my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you. Now listen, if God's words are not abiding in you, your desires are going to be perverted. Your desires are going to be twisted. This is the cause of every crime and every bad decision that a human being ever makes is that they have wrong desires and wrong desires is not because a person is an evil person. In most cases, wrong desires is because of what is abiding in you. Look, he he's not saying he's he's showing us a process here. If you abide in me that's being born again.
Now you're in Christ, being born again. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you. So your desires will be God blessed desires when you're his words abide in you. What's abiding in you right now? Sometimes anger is abiding enough, sometimes anxieties abiding enough. Sometimes fears abiding enough, sometimes negativities abiding enough. Sometimes hatred is abiding. Sometimes a sense of inferiority is abiding in us. What's abiding in you is what determines what your desires are. And that's why people have perverted, twisted, lustful desires. Because that word, one of the definitions for the word lust is the condition of a diseased soul, the condition of a diseased soul so twisted or wrong lusts wrong desires which we call lust, because lust really is the word desire. But when it's lust that is contrary to God's will, God desires, then it is the desires that emerge from the diseased condition of the soul, the disease condition of the soul.
We want soul health. We want soul healing, because as a man thinks so is he. And when the soul prospers, your whole life prospers. The Bible says right in third John verse two, he says, Beloved, I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers or in proportion to your soul's prosperity. But here he talks about desire and he says, if my words abiding you. So the question is what's abiding in you is fear about hiding in you, then your desire is going to be twisted and you're going to you're going to try to obtain your desire in some other way than it being granted to you or it being done for you. So you have to do it for yourself when you have a perverted or twisted desire. But when his words are abiding in you, it causes your desires to be the overflow of God's promises and the overflow of God's word. And you end up desiring what God desires.
And when you ask for that, it'll be done for you. But when you're what when what's in your what's abiding in you is corrupt, when it's abiding and you is wrong thinking. When what's abiding you is wrong is emotions that are uncontained and uncontrolled and unchecked with the word of God, then you have twisted, perverted desires and you will and God will not do those for you. Those desires will not be done for you. So you will go and try to do them for yourself at the harm and expense of others and at the harm and expense of your own future people. Souls are suffering in silence and it's time to be healed. People's souls are suffering in silence and it's time to be healed.
What is abiding in you? If there's a hole in your soul, there will be holes everywhere else. What's robbing us of our success? What's robbing us of our God given desires and. Dreams is what's abiding in us, is their hate is their bitterness, is their fear, is their selfishness, is their anxiety. This is called soul sickness, soul sickness. I need to say something to you is very important that you get a hold of this, that mental illness, depression, addiction, alcoholism, sexual crisis, identity crisis, suicidal thoughts. These are not character flaws in a person's life. They are illnesses. They are diseases. Listen to me. These are not character flaws. Well, you just have a character flaw. You just need to work on your character and you won't be an alcoholic. You just need to work on your character and you won't do drugs. You just need to know these are illnesses and these are sicknesses.
But here's the thing. It's one thing if I were to say to you, these are illnesses and sicknesses and you'll have to deal with them and you'll just have to stay sick and ill the rest of your life. But Jesus said something different about that in Matthew, chapter four, verse twenty three. And I need you to see this. And Jesus was going through all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. So we know he was teaching and we know he was preaching. But the third thing we sometimes overlook and forget what he was doing and that was healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. Jesus heals every kind. Look at what he says. He healed every kind of disease in every kind of sickness. That means physical sickness. That means emotional sickness. That means mental sickness. That means addiction, sickness.
Jesus is the healer. There is hope in Jesus and soul sickness is where every one of these things emerge from and other things. Being a workaholic flows from soul sickness. Being angry at others flows from soul sickness, mistreating people, treating people like dirt that comes from soul sickness, feeling loneliness comes from soul sickness. Feeling hopeless comes from soul sickness. Listen, we're going to be healed in our souls today. At least we're going to start being healed in our souls because listen, this is soul. Sickness is characterized by feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, and you feel incompetent for what you're up against. It involves vague, unexplainable symptoms and soul sickness can be healed and it starts here. It starts with understanding the value of life and the value of your soul, Jesus said in March eight thirty six. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
And we've always thought, many Christians have thought, well, that scripture means, you know, a, I gather things because and then you're going to lose your soul. If you if you gain the whole world, you lose your soul. Well, look, you could have millions and billions of dollars and not lose your soul and you could be broke. But have lost your soul and going to hell, he's not saying it's wrong to have things. What he's saying is he's making a comparison. He's saying even if you could gain the whole world, that is that does not compare the value of gaining the whole world is not equal to the value of your soul. The value of your soul is so much greater than gaining the whole world. I'm not here to condone your choice. You have the freedom to choose whatever you want to choose, whether you think that's how you're born or whether you think that's a choice.
It's irrelevant to me because I'm not here to condone or to judge your choices. I'm here to cultivate your worth, because if I can cultivate your worth and I mean like truly cultivate it and truly get you to see how valuable you are, how God ascribes value to you, how God thinks you're worth much valued, much loved, much approve, much accepted, much we cultivate worth, we cultivate worth, we cultivate worth. And the person who has a cultivated sense of worth will make biblical choices. I'm telling you, folks, there are a lot of people that make biblical choices, but they have low self-worth. Those are choices they make out of fear. They fear, so they make the right choice.
And God doesn't want you to make the right choice out of fear. He doesn't want you to make the wrong choice, but he doesn't. But God is not looking at your life based on the choices that you make. He's looking at your life based on the value that you place upon yourself, for the worth that you place upon yourself, because we need to get our sense of worth from how God views us, not from our color, not from our money or lack of not from our size, not from our physical appearance, not from our not from whether we're tall or short or skinny or fat or anything in between our value and our worth should come from the one who paid for us with his own blood. And when we cultivate that sense of worth, you're a human being. It doesn't matter what color you are, you're a human being. It doesn't matter to me what political party you're from. You're a human being. It doesn't matter how old or young you are. You're a human being.
It doesn't matter to me if you're struggling with your gender and struggling with your identity. My job is not to tell you who you are in your physical sense. My job is to tell you who you are in Christ and show you how valuable you are, how much worth you have, and then let your worth, let your cultivated worth determine your choices. How do we break through? How do we break through this this place of darkness, Psalm one 19, verse 30 says the entrance of his word brings light as we flood the light of God's word. Listen to me. As we flood the light of God's word into our lives, then you will experience the darkness, fleeing loneliness, fleeing depression, fleeing some one 19. Verse 30 says the entrance of his word brings light. When you're going through a time of darkness, the only solution is light. And the entrance of God's word into your heart brings light.
God's word coming into your life brings light. God's word is bringing light to your life right now as the word of God is being preached. There is light coming to you, not light to expose something bad in your life, but light to drive out the darkness. Light to drive out the fear. Light to be like a laser of light that drives out the sickness and disease, that drives out the soul sickness. That drives out the loneliness, that drives out the anxiety. That drives out the worry. Barrage sign for your light is coming. That's how the glory of the Lord rises upon you. It is the light of God's word entering into your life. It gives understanding and it gives light. And it brings change. And it brings clarity and it brings warmth.
You think about what light brings. It brings warmth. Light brings direction. You can't go around in the dark. You're going to bump into things all the time. But when there's light, you can get anywhere you need to go. Light is beautiful. Light is warm, light is healing, light is loving, light is God and God is light. And when the entrance of his word comes in, then light comes and darkness flees. You know what? If I'm if I'm going through a time of darkness, I can pray against that darkness. It's not going anywhere. I can fast against that. Darkness is not going anywhere. I can march around that darkness seven times and that darkness is not going to leave. But you know what? If I will just switch the light on, which is as effortless as you can get, you just switch the light on in the darkness, Flea's.
That's why he says the entrance of his word brings let's go back to Psalm 143. Let me wrap this up, Seven steps to emotional healing and health in five minutes. Ready? Here we go. What does he do when the enemy's pursuing him first for look at what he says. My spirit grows faint within me. My heart is dismayed. What is the solution? Burst, but no one is found in verse five. I will remember the days of long ago. I will meditate on all thy works. So the first step to emotional health and healing is to remember what God has done and to meditate on what he has done, to remember what he's done and meditate on what he's done.
Memory and meditation. Remember and meditate, remember and meditate. You would be surprised if you would realize how much of your emotions every day of your life are the result of what you're meditating on, how your your emotions are the byproduct in the result of what you're remembering. Your memory is powerful. And if you remember the hurt and if you remember the pain and if you remember what people have done to you, then you will feel sad, you will feel bitter, you will feel angry. But if you will remember what God has done, remember his works of long ago, remember when he healed you remember when he healed your kid? Remember when he got you out of that accident? Remember when he got you out of that ticket? Remember when he got you out of that bar? Remember when he got you out of that sickness? Remember when he got you out of that fear? Remember when he got you out of that disease? Remember where he got you out of that bad relationship? Remember, remember, remember? And healing will flow like a river.
Two, I will spread out my hands to you in verse six. I will spread out my hands. See, what does this speak of? OK, let me give it to you real quick. I will spread out my hands to you. Oh, man. When you spread out your hands, you're welcoming God's embrace. You're spreading out your hands for a hug. I will spread out my hands to you to embrace God, to embrace his love. I'm spreading on my hands to worship God and adore him. And I'm spreading out my hands to receive what God has for me. I'm spreading out my hands. I hear this now. I'm spreading on my hands to embrace the Lord's embrace. I'm spreading on my hands to worship and adore him. I'm spreading out my hands to receive all that he has for me. I will spread out my hands. This will heal you. You spread out your hands in this way it'll heal you.
Three, four, seven says answer me speedily. Answer me quickly. Lord, what does this mean? How do we how do we apply this in our lives? We must expect answers from God. We must expect from God. Hopelessness is a lack of expectation. The reason we feel hopeless is because we lack expectation. The thing that will give you hope is when you expect God to answer, you expect God to come through. Don't be moved by what you see or what you feel. We walk by faith, not by sight. I will experience God's answer. I'm expecting God to answer, he says. Answer me quickly, Lord.
Expect an answer quickly. Expect an answer today if it doesn't come today when you wake up tomorrow, expected tomorrow. If it doesn't come tomorrow morning and expect in the afternoon. If it doesn't come in the afternoon, expected in the evening. If it doesn't come in the evening expecting while you're sleeping. If it doesn't come on, you're sleeping, expect it when you wake up. If it doesn't come when you wake up, expected at lunchtime, if it doesn't come at lunchtime, expected in the mailbox, if it doesn't come in the mail box expected from Amazon, if it doesn't come from Amazon, expected from UPS, if it doesn't go from UPS, expected from USPS, if it does come from USPS, expect it from DHL. If it doesn't come from DHL. Expect, expect, expect, expect, expect.
This is how you heal your soul. Expect from God, not from people. He doesn't say, answer me quickly, husband, he wants to answer me quickly, wife. He didn't say answer me quickly church. He says, answer me quickly, Lord. He doesn't say answer me quickly. Government agents, answer me quickly. Politics, guns. They answer me quickly, Senator. Yunfei answer me quickly, President. He says, Answer me quickly, Lord. Well, you start expecting from God and you'll be healed because the only thing makes our soul sick, one of the things that makes our soul sick is when people let us down or we let ourselves down. It doesn't he doesn't even say, answer me quickly. Self says, answer me quickly, Lord, no. For let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love. Well, you need to wake up every day meditating on God's love, find a scripture on the love of God. I wrote this thing a few years ago called I Will Greet This Day with God's Love in My Heart.
Number five, he says, Show me the way that I shall go in verse eight. In other words, ask God for wisdom. Show me the way verse eight says. Show me the way that I shall go for I to you. I entrust my life. Show me the way I should go for you four to you. I entrust my life. Show me the way. Show me the way. Ask God for wisdom. Ask him to show you the way you want to be healed. Get your wisdom from God, not from people. Get your wisdom from God, not from your opinion. Get your wisdom from God. Not all the experts. There's nothing wrong with learning from people. But we need to get our wisdom from God. Lord, you show me the way that I should go. Everybody's got an opinion on what you should do. Get yours from God.
And then number six, teach me to do your will, make your good spirit lead me. We need to welcome and invite the Holy Spirit to lead us into teach us stop being afraid of the Holy Ghost. We got to stop that. We got to stop being afraid of the Holy Ghost. We got to stop thinking that preachers that talk about the Holy Ghost are too crazy for us to while for us stop being so prideful and invite the Holy Spirit to lead you. If you went to a church where they didn't teach much about the Holy Spirit, I apologize on behalf of the preachers that are afraid that people will leave the church. If you talk about tongues and if you talk about the Holy Spirit and if you talk about the baptism of the power of God, I'm sorry, but that's the only way you're going to live victoriously is with the help of the Holy Spirit. No one can do it alone. No one can do it alone. This isn't psychology. This isn't psychology. You can get that without God, but you can't get the Holy Spirit without God.
And number seven, I know it's over time here, but I'm about to kick the field goal and it's going to we're going to win. I'm not hitting the goalpost twice. That's a Chicago joke, verse 11 says. Remember, for your namesake, Lord, preserve my life in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. OK, now listen to me now.
This is the final point. Number seven, the final step to emotional healing and health is embracing the gift of righteousness and use learning to identify with who you are in Christ and the righteousness of God. The opposite of righteousness is shame, guilt, condemnation, self-righteousness, pride. Listen, he says, in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble. Our own righteousness is as filthy rags, the Bible says. But his righteousness, which he gave us as a gift, will bring us out of every bit of trouble. The righteous will prevail. The righteous will get up. When they fall, the righteous can pray and have answers prevail. The righteous move mountains. The righteous are bold. The righteous are walking in divine healing. Identify with the gift of righteousness. Fill your mind with who you are in Christ and you will be healed of soul sickness.