Joyce Meyer - Healing Of The Soul (08/17/2019)
This message focuses on the healing journey from past hurts, using Isaiah 61:1-3 to show Jesus' mission to heal the brokenhearted and restore what was lost. It emphasizes that healing is a process requiring active faith and letting go of negative attitudes, not just passive waiting for a miracle, and encourages believers to aggressively pursue God's restoration.
The Healing Journey is a Process
These scriptures were so helpful to me in the early days of my healing journey with God. And I think it's good to let you know right up front that it is a journey. It is a process. But you know, if you have a real serious disease, you don't just go to the doctor once and walk out and everything's over. Many times, there's treatment and medicine you have to take and follow-up visits you have to do. And so, we have to understand that it takes us a long time to get into the messes that we're in. And we can't get bent out of shape if God hasn't fixed us up in two or three weeks. We need to at least give God the same amount of time we gave the devil. Who can say amen to that? Amen.
So, these are such powerful scriptures. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." This is Isaiah prophesying about Christ. "Because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor, and the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up and heal the broken hearted." A broken hearted person is someone who's been hurt really bad. And they're hurting inside. They need emotional healing. They have a wounded heart. Or I like to say sometimes they're broken in personality. The way that they should be functioning, especially in relationships, has been damaged. And God wants to heal that area of your life.
That may be brand new news to many of you. You may have thought that God only cared about your afterlife. That when you received Christ, that took care of you going to heaven. You got a ticket to go to heaven when you die. But I'm announcing to you today the good news: that Jesus came to heal everything in your life that is broken. And to restore to you everything that the enemy has taken. God is a God of restoration.
Jesus Opens Prison Doors
"He came to proclaim Liberty to the captives. And the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound." Now as I said on Thursday night, Jesus has already opened prison doors. We don't have to stay in the prisons of our past. The prisons of bad habits or addictions or any other kind of prison. The prison of worry or the prison of anxiety. The prison of depression. The prison doors have been opened. Jesus has already paid for our deliverance. But he also says "and to open the eyes of those who are bound." So I think at least part of that is my job as a teacher: to teach you the truth of God's word, which is the only thing that's really going to override the deception that we live in.
Do you know that there are people sitting right in here today, and although you love God with your whole heart, you still believe lies? I do. Yeah, for example, I spent years even as a church member, born again, I was saved, but I believed that because I had been sexually abused by my father, that I would always have to have kind of a second rate, inferior life. It wasn't even a real aggressive belief. It was just something that I had accepted when I was little. And it just was in me that my life would always just not be what it could have been had I not been abused.
The Shout to Come Out of the Tomb
It was a little bit like the whole thing when Lazarus died. And Mary said, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died. If you would have been here. Why weren't you here, Jesus? If this just wouldn't have happened." And he said, "your brother will rise again." And she said, "well, yes, I know that he'll rise again. You know, after, in the afterlife." He said, "no." He would raise him to life. And the story is very interesting. Because when he approached the tomb, and he said, "roll away the stone," they said, "oh, no. I mean, he's been dead three days. He stinks." So maybe some of you think, "well, you know, maybe if God could have caught my problem right away. But man, I've had this issue now for 30 years. I mean, this thing stinks. I mean, this is not... I just don't have a dead mess. I've got a really dead mess in my life." Or maybe you even think, "I'm too old to start this." Or, you know, whatever. Whatever.
And Jesus said, "roll away the stone." And then he shouted for Lazarus to come out. And I think there's a great shout going out from the Spirit of God today, saying to all of you that have been bound: "Come out! Take off those grave clothes. And begin to live the life that God really wants you to live." Now, I'm all for miracles. But I want to tell you something. I urge you not to just sit back passively waiting for some miracle to come your way. I urge you and encourage you to be aggressive in faith, praying for God to heal you, asking God to show you if there's any action that he wants you to take that's going to start unraveling this mess in your life.
Beauty for Ashes Requires Letting Go
He may lead you to certain resources or to books. When I was walking my healing out, there were many books that really, really, really helped me. There were timely things that the Holy Spirit led me to in my life. Verse 2, Jesus came "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of his favor. The day of the vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. To comfort all who mourn. To Grant consolation and joy to those who mourn in Zion. To give them beauty instead of ashes." Thus, the title for this book and teaching that I have done for many years. Because he has given me beauty for ashes.
However, one of the things that I've shared this weekend is that you cannot keep the ashes and expect to get the beauty. So I'm in the process of trying to teach people to let go of the bitterness, the resentment, the self-pity, the chip on your shoulder, the bad attitude. Can I just say a quick word about attitude? I am telling you, your attitude belongs to you. That is one thing that you have that nobody can take away from you. And if you do not let them, nobody can alter it. And if you choose to have a good attitude, a thankful attitude, a happy attitude, no matter what your past has been like, and no matter what's going on right now, you will end up with a blessed, blessed life.