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| JAMES #26 I�ve spent the day living much of the lesson I�m about to write. I�m praying that somehow God will direct this so that you guys GET IT � because it�s a tremendous key to healing. Yesterday and the day before we talked a lot about �forgiving.� �Forgiving� has been a deep part of my life � something that seems to be an ongoing process. I�ve learned first hand that when we choose to �not forgive,� we open our lives wide open for Satan to build strongholds and dominate our behavior, choices and direction. We�ve covered that. I also have struggled immensely with �letting go-� something that I can tell you from experience is extremely painful. God gave me new insight and direction in this particular area today that has really released me emotionally and spiritually � allowing me to �pick up my bed and walk� so to speak � and move forward. Remember that according to James 1:14 each one is �tempted� when he is �Carried away and enticed� by his own desire � and we pointed out that the word for �desire� in the Greek is epithumia: meaning a �very strong� desire. God gave me a whole new outlook on this verse today � but before I go there with you I want to remind you that �desire� comes from where? WITHIN. Keep that in mind and turn to Mark 2:1-5 This is a very clear picture of the �joint effort opportunity� � not only between God and my heart � but between God, my heart and the hearts of other believers all working together. Look at verse 3. The first thing you see is the �willingness� of the paralytic. The guy could have said: �No � none of that religious stuff for me � � but he didn�t. He �hurt deeply enough� that he was �willing� to participate in the �joint effort opportunity� WITH THE HELP OF OTHER BELIEVERS. One of Satan�s greatest strategies is to convince you that �isolating yourself� and �figuring it out your own way� is the only way out. Where does that �desire� come from? WITHIN. What prompted it? Circumstances WITHOUT � �floaties� � we covered that earlier. Flip to Genesis 2:18 And the Lord God said, �It is not good for the man to be what? ALONE � so I will make him a �helper� suitable for him. This verse reveals God�s �earthly� picture of Jesus and you (Christ and the church). Who have we recently defined as �THE HELPER� � the �IN HOUSE RESIDENT TEACHER?� The Holy Spirit. The intent? Experiencing a �SUPPORTER� with �TOTAL IDENTIFICATION� �.just as a cloth dipped in dye takes on the color of the dye, and the two are forever connected � so it is with us and God. What�s the intent of God�s heart in this picture? �John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans: The word for orphans in the Greek is: orphanos and it means: alone in darkness, little esteemed and neglected and so forced, to wander in obscurity, - a child, abandoned by parents. Is the intent of God�s heart for you to isolate yourself and figure it out your own way? NO. �ALONE� in struggle is NEVER God�s way through. Back to Mark 2. In verse 3 we have the �joint effort opportunity� happening with the man who hurts and fellow believers. Note that the fellow believers �carry him� where? To Jesus. Ok- you answer the question: Who is the �healer?� The four guys �carrying him?� Nope. They are playing an essential part in the story � without them, the guy probably would have never made it to Jesus. The �healer� is Jesus. When you�re really hurting, it�s important to remind yourself of that �truth.� Look at Mark 2:4 - They guys �carrying him� at this point are located where? On the roof. They can only go so far in the �joint effort opportunity� � at that point the �joint effort opportunity� moves from a �threesome- God, helpers and hurting guy � to a twosome � hurting guy and Jesus. It�s at this point that God gave me some new direction I want to share with you. Most of the time when we�re hurting greatly the first several people we run to are just that: people. They can�t heal, forgive, deliver or set free..they, are people. We�ve talked some about the forgiveness process � we�ve also talked about the fact that �desire� comes from within. What we have not talked about is what most often �demands performance� of those desires. Desires range from unhealthy sexual desires, to desires to hate, desires to hurt and hit back, desires to be embittered and seek retaliation, desires to withdraw and hide in fear, desires to never trust again, desires to be angry and stay angry, desires to give up hope and fall into depression and despair, � question is, what�s usually behind these desires that make it extremely difficult if not next to impossible to not �kill� but �fulfill� them? PAIN. Yesterday when I talked about forgiveness I indicated that not only is there the �act of forgiving � the choice to forgive,� but it�s to be followed by �letting go.� We talked about �letting go of the memory- the experience � not replaying it over and over and over in my head.� There�s a problem with that. It doesn�t work. The memory is always there. However, the �replaying it over and over and over in my head� part can be rendered powerless - How? Time for more �truth.� One of the questions I�ve carried for a long time is � �Ok � so I forgive and forgive..� But after I �forgive,� I still hurt. It�s the �hurt� that continues to demand forgiveness � even after I�ve forgiven. Because it�s the �hurt and the pain� that continue to do what? Make the �desires within� start to SCREAM. So � the big big question here is � what do I do with the pain � the memory � and me? THIS is what I learned today - I�ve been taught to take the memory to Jesus. I�ve been taught to take my heart to Jesus. I�ve been taught to take those who�ve hurt me to Jesus. There was one thing I really really missed. Stay with me on this: I never got this: and this is cool! Go to Isaiah 53: 3-5. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with �grief� in the Hebrew is choliy: and it means �a feeling of being powerless and unable to cope with threatening events, induced through the mind, which manipulates behavior: pain � hurt. And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our what? Griefs: inability to cope, pain, hurt, trauma, anxieties He what? Bore-in the Hebrew: nacah: which means to pull forward so as to identify and carry: And our �sorrows� in the Hebrew is makobah: which means, great emotional pain-hurt-trauma-anxiety- Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. BUT- He was pierced through for our transgressions He was crushed for our iniquities: The chastening for our well being fell upon Him and- By His wounds what? We are healed. Ok- I got the part about Jesus forgiving my sins. I got the part about surrendering my life to Him. I got the part about taking those who hurt me to Him and forgiving them � allowing God to deal with them. I got the part about taking the memories to Him and confessing sin and letting go.. BUT � I could never totally �let go.� Why? BECAUSE THE PAIN WAS STILL THERE. What did I miss? I�d taken everything to Jesus �EXCEPT� the pain the hurt. The part I didn�t get in the crucifixion was that He carried the pain FOR ME so that I wouldn�t have to. We�re back to the �joint effort opportunity� again. What�s my part in this picture. What�s the part I missed? My part is to take the pain to Jesus and it begins in prayer � prayer that earnestly asks God to reveal the �truth� (we�re back to the belt again � the thing everything hinges on) �about what happened to me. God�s Spirit, the �resident teacher,� will speak into your heart the �truth� about what happened and in the process will ask you to open your hands and let go of what you�ve clutched and clutched and clutched: the pain. As you open your hands and release the pain � God will take it from you, and heal that part of who you are. Now.. let me ask you a question: If you have a tough memory and you remove the pain from the memory, how powerful is the memory? IT�S NOT AT ALL � Let�s look at the whole thing in chart form to see how the process works, and how letting go of the pain renders powerless, the memory: A) You experience a painful event: divorce, Abandonment, abuse, neglect, ridicule, Being left out, betrayal etc. C) You have a memory with pain in it The divorce memory holds rejection, hurt, betrayal The abandonment memory holds resentment, hatred, anger The abuse memory holds hatred, shame, embarrassment , fear The neglect memory holds bitterness The ridicule memory holds shame and on and on � B) You have appropriate emotional response to the painful event: hurt, resentment, anger, hate, etc- TIME PASSES: YOU FORGIVE: YOU TRY TO LET GO OF THE MEMORY: D) You still believe that the emotional response that you had when the painful event happened is real and in force now �this can be a constant thing, or it can be triggered. HOW? E) A person says something � a song plays � a sound happens � a smell reminds � a person�s voice or presence stimulates the reminder of the painful event. So where�s the lie? The lie that the person is believing is that the painful event is still happening: that the person or circumstance is starting all over again: AND IT�S NOT- The process for healing? Put on the �belt of truth� � by acknowledging and agreeing with God that what happened is not happening now. Put on the �breastplate of righteousness� by releasing to God what He�s already defeated and walking in obedience: opening your hands and letting HIM take the pain � IT WAS NOT MEANT FOR YOU TO HOLD. YOU ARE NOT EQUIPPED TO CARRY IT- that�s why HE carried it for you. Put on the �helmet of salvation� by CLAIMING all that God has given you through salvation: Being a �joint heir with Jesus Christ,� being an �adopted son,� having not only your �sins� paid for but your �pain and hurt� carried and defeated. Agree with God that Jesus died to take the hurt away from you � and raise the �shield of faith� � by allowing GOD to take the pain � how? By opening your hands and releasing it, trusting His heart. According to Ephesians 6:16 what does that do? It extinguishes all the darts: the PAIN. Now.. Go back to James 1:16 We�re �carried away� by what? �desire� that comes from where? WITHIN. Ok � you tell me: If PAIN is behind �desire� (unhealthy sexual desire, anger, greed, depression, etc-) if the PAIN is released � what happens to the power in the memory? It�s gone. What happens to the �desire?� It�s gone. I�ll leave you with the questions God asked me today: What are you clutching in your hands � Will you agree with Me that they were not meant for you to carry? Will you believe that I already carried them for you so that you could give them to Me and walk free? Will you trust My heart not with �what� hurts most: Will you trust My heart with the pain. Your friends can carry you � Only Jesus can heal you. Let go..so He can. Loving you, Robin �Copyright 2001 Jim and Robin Hibschman |
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