Robert Morris — Wounded Warrior
This message is entitled "Wounded Warriors". These two last messages in the series, are huge answers. In essence, we're going to talk about emotional healing this week, and then the last message, we'll talk about deliverance. And, I'll actually pray over all of you a prayer of deliverance during that last message, and I'm going to pray over many of you today for emotional healing.
So, look at Luke 4, beginning in Verse 16. It says, "So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place", I always find that funny to say "He found the place". I wonder how long it took Jesus to find Isaiah. Thinking to Himself, okay, Psalms, Proverbs, okay. That's even funny to me! Alright. "He found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord'. And then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him".
They were fixed on Him because this is a Messianic prophecy, and they all knew it, so they were wondering what He's about to say. And this is what He said to them. "He began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing'". Now, let me tell you what He was saying. He was saying I'm Him. I'm the Messiah. Your Messiah is here. Now, in this passage are the five foundational ministries of Jesus, and we're only going to deal today with emotional healing, but let me just show them to you so you'll know. These are five ministries, foundational ministries of Jesus He wants to do for every person. One is salvation, and the two phrases that relate to salvation are "preach the gospel to the poor", the gospel is good news, and "proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord". In other words, now is the time that you can accept the Lord and that the Lord can accept you, because your sin is going to be appeased.
The second basic ministry, or foundational ministry of Jesus, is Spirit baptism. He says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me". We know the Holy Spirit descended on Him when He was water baptized, and He says "He has anointed me", so every person needs to be anointed by the Holy Spirit. The third basic ministry, or foundational ministry, is healing. "Recovery of sight to the blind" is the phrase that refers to that. The fourth is deliverance. I know I'm going fast, but you may just have to write down the five words and then figure out which phrase it is later, or go back and listen to it. Deliverance, this phrase is "proclaim liberty to the captives", liberty to the captives. And then, emotional healing has two phrases also that relate to it, "heal the brokenhearted", and "set at liberty those who are oppressed". I came to heal the brokenhearted and set at liberty those who are oppressed. And the Old King James translates it bruised, to set at liberty those who are bruised.
So, I want to talk to you today. I only have two points, and then we're actually going to minister some healing in this area, but I want to talk to you about broken hearts and bruises. So, here's point number one, broken hearts. In the Greek, this broken heart is two words put together. The first word is suntribo, and it means to break in pieces, to shatter. It's like throwing a jar down and it's shattering in pieces so that it is unrecoverable. That's what He's saying. And then heart, this word in the Greek is kardia, K-A-R-D-I-A, kardia, which is where we would get our word, cardiac. It means the heart. So, He's saying broken in pieces, a heart that's been broken, or a heart that's been shattered.
Now, I want to ask you a question. Has your heart ever been broken? Well, everyone. Has your heart ever been shattered? Okay, that's bad. I understand that, but here's the good news. There's someone that can heal that. There's someone that can put every piece back together, and you don't have to live with a broken heart. That's good news. Now, I'm going to deal with two strongholds that come in, and many strongholds could come in through these things, but I'm just going to take two, one that comes in with a broken heart most of the time, a stronghold of the enemy, and one that comes in with a bruise. What happens many times when our heart is broken is the stronghold of rejection takes place in us. Our heart is broken over a relationship, or a friendship, or the loss of someone close to us. Our heart is broken, our heart is shattered over that, and rejection comes in.
I want you to just notice when rejection comes in what happens, but I want you to know that we are susceptible to rejection as human beings. And maybe you've never heard this before, but this is a theological truth. We are actually born rejected. We're born rejected from God. The reason is we're born with a sin nature, and God cannot have, a holy God cannot have a relationship with us unless the blood of Jesus covers our sins and we receive that atonement. So, we're born rejected, so we are very easily rejected in this life. Much of what happens to us as we're growing up fosters this wound of rejection.
Let me show you a few Scriptures. Numbers 14:34 says, "According to the number of days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection". Now, He's talking to the children of Israel, and here's what He says. He says, you're going to know. Because you rejected Me, you're going to know My rejection. And then, notice what happens when this happens. Hosea 8:3 says, "Israel has rejected the good, the enemy will pursue him".
Now, we're talking about that the enemy gets strongholds. He says, you've rejected Me, you've rejected My way. So, because you've rejected My way, you've now opened the door to the enemy. That's what He's saying. And I want to show you, under broken hearts, seven strongholds that come from the root of rejection, alright? And I want you to see these are emotional strongholds. Some people would call them personality disorders, and I understand that we have personalities, but there are emotional strongholds that keep people in bondage, and they all go stem back to the root of rejection.
So, let me show you these. We won't be able to go into them very much, but I'll go into them in just a little bit of detail, because there are seven of them. Here's number one, is anger. People who have outbursts of anger actually have a spirit of rejection. They have rage in them. They have anger, and many times they can't control that anger.
I had such a spirit of rejection that anytime I thought Debbie was rejecting me, when we first got married, I got very explosive, very angry. I never hit her, but I'd hit things. I would get angry. I remember we lived in a mobile home when we first got married, and everything was donated to us, furniture, everything, you know. And the refrigerator had been given to us by one of her family members, and I got very angry one time in the kitchen because she said something, and I just turned around and hit the refrigerator and put a big dent in it. And she went out, you know, and I'll never forget. I feel so sorry for her now, but she went out and she bought the largest magnetic sunflower.
Isn't that sad? To put over this dent, you know, so her family wouldn't see that, you know, so her family wouldn't see that when they came over. Okay, that's rage. I felt like, and some of you can relate to this. Some of you have had rage like this. I felt like I had supernatural strength when I got angry. And there was a television show back in the 70s and 60s, 70s probably, called The Incredible Hulk. I said it last night and not many people related. So, a few years ago there was a movie called The Incredible Hulk, but if you remember, I think that in the movie, yes, they did, but in the TV show, this is what I remember. You know, this David Banister was a scientist, and his eyes would turn like this, and he would say, "You don't want to see me when I'm angry", you know, because he would turn into this supernatural strength monster, okay?
That's the way I felt. I got beat up many times as a youngster, and then I had something happen in my life that put such a rage in me that if I got in a fight, I would get so angry you couldn't win, because it was just supernatural strength. And so, it was a spirit. I had a spirit of anger that entered me because I had a spirit of rejection. Let me just give you one example. Saul disobeyed God, and 1 Samuel 15:26 says, "Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the Word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king of Israel".
And then if you remember what happened right after that, it says, well, I've got to read it to you. It's too good. 1 Samuel 19:9 says, "Now the distressing spirit from the Lord", the distressing spirit, I do want you to notice, from the Lord. This word, distressing, by the way, is in the Old Testament 663 times, 442 times it's translated evil. The Authorized Version translates it evil, an evil spirit from the Lord. I'm going to tell you why later it was from the Lord. "Came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing music with his hand. And then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence, and he drove the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night".
Okay, when Saul was rejected, now, he rejected God first, but when he was rejected, he opened the door for an evil spirit to come on him, and when that evil spirit would come on him, he would have uncontrollable anger and rage, so much so he tried to murder someone. So, people that have anger like this, I'm telling you that it could be a spirit.
So, here's the second stronghold, insecurity. People who constantly need attention, people who are concerned about where they sit in a meeting, you ought to watch them in boardrooms. They come in and they try to pick their chair out. They just don't come in and grab a chair. They want to make sure they're noticed. They need to be recognized. If I'm leading the meeting and I complement two or three people, a person with a spirit of insecurity, I'm not talking about a personality, I'm talking about a spirit. A person with a spirit of insecurity will come up afterwards and say, well, why didn't you say something about me? It's a spirit. You need to get free from that. And I'm thinking there's staff people here thinking, is that me, Pastor Robert?
Number three is pride, people who portray themselves as having it all together. Let me tell you something you'll notice about prideful people, they talk a lot. They have to give their opinion on everything. If you're leading a small group, they want to answer every discussion question. You know, what's amazing is it's fun to preach, because you can see me, but I can see you. So, it's fun to watch a spouse do this. She's thinking, you're getting this? Then in a minute I'll say something else, and he does this. Are you getting this? You know, I mean, okay, so.
Number four is independence, a person who, I can make it on my own, I don't need anyone. It's very difficult to develop relationships with them, meaningful relationships. They won't listen to counsel. They're going to do what they want to do, no matter what. This could be from a spirit of rejection, so that they develop this stronghold of independence.
Number five, those easily offended. These are people who take comments very personally. You can't joke with them. You have to be very careful. Sometimes you're joking, and all of the sudden you go over the line. See, we'll talk a minute about a bruise. You know, a bruise is inward bleeding, and it will discolor on the inside and it will discolor your skin, but then it can go away. Well, what I understand about bruises, those capillaries are still wounded and you can bump it again, and it will discolor again and start bleeding again, even though it stopped bleeding, but once it gets bumped again, it'll start bleeding again. Okay, that's exactly the way it is. Someone has said something in the past that has wounded you, and so you're at a meeting and someone bumps that bruise, and it starts bleeding again. But, here's the good news. Jesus can heal that. He can heal those things. These are people you feel like you have to walk on eggshells when you're around them. You have to always be careful what you say because they're easily offended.
Number six, excessive shyness or loneliness. Now again, I'm not talking about a personality here. I'm talking about excessive shyness or loneliness, a fear of people. Jimmy talked about that some last week.
Number seven is control and manipulation, and I want to talk about this for a moment, because every person that I've ever met that has a difficulty with control and manipulation, let me just take it a little further. Not just a difficulty, but a stronghold, a bondage in this area, has the spirit of rejection. See, when you have a spirit of rejection, you're very susceptible to being a manipulator, because you have to control people around you and control their responses so they don't reject you. And what it really boils down to is you're so hurt, because you've been rejected in the past, that you want to control them so they don't reject you in the future.
People who have a spirit of control and manipulation interrupt a lot. They will interrupt you in a conversation because it triggers something inside of them. They don't even know it's triggering, but something starts to remind them in their subconscious, not even in the conscious mind, of a wound in the past, so they've got to somehow interrupt you and stop you from talking, especially when you're confronting them. If you're confronting them about something, instead of listening to you, they keep trying to interrupt you and stop you. They also will try to turn it back toward you.
You know, you do the same thing. You know, you have this problem too. They're trying to, just let me turn the spotlight off of myself. That's what they're doing. And I'll tell you another way people manipulate, crying. Let me just start crying. I'm telling you the truth! Listen to me. It's amazing how many smiles we're getting today. It's because you start confronting, they start crying, and basically what they say is you're hurting me. You're hurting me! Stop, stop hurting me, stop hurting me! And they're crying to get you to stop because it's not just what you're saying, it's what everybody else has said that has never been healed. See? And it's manipulation, and I can tell you why, because they can stop. Think about this. Have you ever had a child, just throwing a fit, just crying, wailing, throwing a fit, and you say, you want some candy, and they stop just like that?
Okay, here's the second. We've talked about broken hearts, let's talk about bruises. Bruises, and I could have put the words Jesus heals in front of both of these points. Jesus heals broken hearts. So, if you want to put that, you can. Jesus heals broken hearts, and Jesus heals bruises. Remember it says, "to set at liberty those who are oppressed", and the Old King James says, "to set at liberty those that are bruised", and a bruise is inward bleeding, but here's what I really want you to notice. It says, "to set at liberty", to set free people who've been bruised. Okay, let me just show you what that means. That means that a bruise can hold you in bondage. See? If Jesus said I came to set people free that have been oppressed, and bruised, and crushed, then that means that a bruise can hold you in bondage. This word means crushed.
Well, I asked you a moment ago, has your heart ever been broken? Sure it has. Let me ask you this question. Have you ever been crushed? Has something ever happened that it just crushed you? The loss of a marriage, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a family member. Now, I'm not trying to be insensitive when I say these things, because I know they're real. But, it crushes you. Well, what happens is the enemy comes in, and here is one of the strongholds that happens when that happens, is unforgiveness comes in.
And now, in Matthew 18, I don't have time to read the whole story, but Jesus said, "How often should my brother sin against me and I forgive him"? And Peter said this to Jesus, and Jesus said, you know, seventy times seven, and then He tells this story, and He says a certain man owed, and what he owed in today's currency would be about $52 million. And he went to his master, and his master forgave him. Okay, that represents salvation. So, Jesus is talking to us about a believer, a saved person. And He says, but the same person went out and found someone who owed him $44 in today's currency, $44, and he threw him into prison until he should pay what was due. And then He says, what do you think the master is going to do about this?
And I'm going to pick it up then in Verse 32. It says, "Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, "You're a wicked servant! I forgave you all of that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry", now watch this phrase carefully, "and delivered him", or turned him over. "Delivered him to the torturers". I wonder what the torturers would represent. One version says tormenters. "Until he should pay all that was due to him".
Now, I want you to notice very carefully, Jesus tells the story, but then He says something that we really need to notice, Verse 35. "So", so, "My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother", he's talking to believers, "his trespasses". So, what will the heavenly Father do if you don't forgive? He's going to turn you over to torturers. Now, I want you to remember that an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul. I want you to remember, Jesus said, My heavenly Father will turn you over to the tormenters, the torturers, if you don't forgive.
1 Corinthians 5, there was a man living in sin. Paul said, turn him over to Satan. "Turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved. Deliver such a one to Satan". Okay, why? Why would God ever do this? Listen to me very carefully. Think again about the Old Testament. When Israel would reject God, God would turn them over to the enemy. Why? So they'd repent, and so they'd come back to God. So they would know what bondage is like, and they would not stay in that bondage, because if you stay in that bondage, you die.
So, if you're going to not forgive someone, He's going to allow you to be tormented so you will forgive, because otherwise you're going to live a miserable life. He wants you to say, I don't want to live this way. I want to come back to God. The reason I'm saying this is, you need to understand. You can't be delivered until you repent. God is the judge. James 4:7 says, "Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you". Please hear me. You can't resist the devil until you submit to God.
And by the way, there's another Scripture on forgiveness to show how Satan takes advantage of us. 2 Corinthians 2, by the way, 1 Corinthians 5, Paul said, turn him over to Satan. But, this guy they turned over to Satan repented. So, in 2 Corinthians, Paul says forgive him now. Forgive him, receive him back into the family. And this is what he says, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11. "Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. If indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ". Now watch why Paul says we forgive. "Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices".
Okay, now let me tell you how Satan takes advantage of us, and explain to you how a wound opens this up to a spirit coming in, a spirit of anger, or a spirit of unforgiveness, or a spirit of fear, or a spirit of rejection, or a spirit of bitterness. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says, "Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of the light". Transforms himself. Now, this word, transforms, the root in the Greek, and some versions will even translate this word this way, masquerades. It's like going to a masquerade party, and you've got one of those faces that you hold on a stick up in front of your face so people can't see who you really are. So, this is what Satan does. He pretends to be a good angel, but he's not a good angel. Now, I want you to think about this. The Holy Spirit is a comforter. Satan is the tormenter. Okay? But what he does, when you get hurt, is he holds a mask up and he pretends to be a comforter.
When I was young, about 13 years old, some boys surrounded me in a barn, and they were, you know, we're going to beat you up. And there were like, four or five bigger boys, older boys, and I thought they were, and I got so scared, I started crying, and then they started mocking me and making fun of me, and you're not even worth beating up, you know, you're just such a little girl, a little sissy and all, and they left. Well, boy, I'm telling you, Satan came in that barn and he started comforting me. And it's never going to happen again. You're never going to let this happen again. And rage came in me, and the next time I got in a fight, I hurt the guy seriously, because rage came, a spirit of rage, and that was in me again after I got married, and I had to go back in time and allow, submit that memory to the Holy Spirit, and allow the Holy Spirit to heal that memory.
I remember also, I made a vow that I'd never cry again. I didn't cry for 23 years, 23 years, in that time I never shed a tear, and let me tell you how that happened. After I got healed, the guy that took me through emotional healing, I was telling him how I never cried again. He said, well, the Lord will lead you. He'll lead you and there will be a time when you'll cry. And a few years after that, I couldn't sleep one night, and I had just gotten a new Reader's Digest, and so I got up to read the funny parts, Humor in Uniform, Campus Comedy, you know, Laughter is the Best Medicine. So, that was all I was going to read, and then the little things at the end of stories that are funny, you know? And so, I was just flipping through.
Well, I was reading one of the, let's say Laughter is the Best Medicine. When I flipped over to read the second part of it, on this page, just like that, I saw a headstone at a cemetery, a little girl standing there releasing a balloon, and the title was "When Daddy Doesn't Come Home". And I thought, I'm not reading that! And my daughter, Elaine, was about three years old at the time. I thought, I'm not reading that, and the Holy Spirit said to me, yes, you are. I said, no, I'm not. I'm not reading that, Lord, because that'll hurt. I don't want to hurt. I'm not reading that. He said, yes, you are. He said, you're going to read it, and you're going to cry, and you're going to like it.
I said, I don't want to cry, and I don't want to like it. He said, you're going to read that. You're going to read every word of it. It took me about two hours, and sometimes I'd just read one word. And I cried, and I cried, and I cried. And the Lord healed something in me that happened when I was 13 years old. Now I'm telling you, God wants to heal you from past hurts and past wounds.
Isn't it wonderful that Jesus said He came to heal the brokenhearted? I want you to know that if you've been hurt by someone, that person may never, ever ask your forgiveness. He may never get on his knees and ask for your forgiveness, but let me tell you who will, Jesus. Jesus got on His knees and washed the disciples' feet. He came to heal the brokenhearted. Those places where your heart has been shattered, He wants to heal. Take a moment right now and submit those memories, those horrible memories, to the Lord, and ask Him to heal your broken heart. I'm going to continue this series next week, and next week is the most important message. I'm going to tell you how you can be set free. I'll see you next week.