We Need Healthy Souls!

Why Soul Healing Matters…(short excerpt from my third book-Overcoming Church Hurt & Abuse coming out this summer & Masterclass this June)

I have encountered so many people who go to church, pray, fast, tithe, forgive, read the bible and their life is still a mess. Some are physically ill and no matter how much prayer they receive, they do not recover.

There is hyper focus on the body and spirit in communities of faith. People sometimes ignore the soul.

The soul is comprised of the mind, will, and emotions. This part of a person does not instantly become like Jesus when a person repents and places their faith in Him. It is the part of the person that requires continual yielding to God and the mind needs renewed.

Along with renewing the mind, people often come to God with histories of brokenness. These things do not always just magically disappear. They can have a host of problems in their emotions, behaviors, habits, defense mechanisms, and after years of giving themselves over to sin or being sinned against suffer greatly in their soul. Some can read the bible all day and still struggle with lust, anger, rage, pride, insecurity, eating disorders, addiction, depression, and some cases they hear voices or can have a false Holy Spirit. Some have buried their trauma instead of offered it to God. They suffer in silence or some simply create relational dysfunction everywhere they go.

Unhealthy people hurt themselves or others. Unhealthy people also attract unhealthy people.

When there are wounds in the soul, people will overreact to things. Something that is small to one person becomes major to them. Those with soul wounds may have a distorted view of events. They may suffer from hyper suspicion, a hyper critical spirit, or struggle with intimacy.

A wounded soul may struggle to love or be loved. You can love a wounded person with all your might, and they cannot receive what you offer or they accuse you of bad motives.

Physical sickness can also flow from the soul, not originate in the body. I have worked with several cancer patients and their sickness was also deeply imbedded in the soul from unhealed trauma, cursing their body (I hate being a woman), overgiving/codependency, or generational.

The more the soul is healed, the more the person begins to see good fruit emerging in their life.

I have spent years working with dissociative people (those wounded so greatly their personalities split), victims of abuse/severe abuse, and those who seem stuck no matter what they try to do. What I have seen are those issues were living inside the soul. There were wounds as far back as in utero. Yes, babies in the womb can be wounded. Yes, they can hear when mom and dad are discussing things. Yes, they can sense when they are unwanted. I had a lady who struggled her entire life with intimacy because she was wounded as a baby. Her parents had no idea their actions impacted the rest of her life.

We can preach to people all day, yet are they getting better? Is anyone getting healed and made whole. Jesus made people whole.

A broken bone requires more than a bandaid. A broken soul requires more than prayer and quoting scriptures. If no one deals with the root, there remains the manifestation of fruit. Soul healing is inviting God into the places that are broken so He can bring total healing and restoration.

I have met with so many people over the years who had significant breakthrough once their soul wounds were healed. Some required extra sessions, help, therapy to deal with bad habits, yet in 95% of the cases they saw remarkable improvement. God loves to heal, not just the body-the soul.

If you are interested in soul healing, be sure to check out empowered-free.com. The upcoming Masterclass registration closes June 7th. Class is June 13-15 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. The class is best suited for those in inner healing and those who want to learn faith based tools. The tools used are rooted in Christian faith.

To join Masterclass, a 3 day (24 hours Intensive training), go to:

https://www.empowered-free.com/book-online

Love,

Erin

Closing Open Doors (The Spiritual House Series Part III)

  
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house,~Jesus (Mark 3:24-27).

Hello sweet friends. I hope you’ve been enjoying this series on the spiritual house. I started it because I’ve seen the good fruit of inner healing. I’ve also peer counseled several over the years who had issues of the soul, sins they couldn’t seem to break free from, and though their spirit was free and in Christ, their soul was sick and afflicted. 

The Bible says, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers,”~1 John 1:2. Our physical sickness can be the result of our soul sickness. When our soul is sick it causes relational problems, mental problems, and financial problems. I want to be healthy and whole. How about you? 

So, let’s talk more about open doors. How does our soul get sick? Last post I talked to you about lies. How believing lies opens the door for the evil one to gain access to our lives. Once we start believing lies, we begin acting on them because as a man thinketh, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). The body will go where the mind has been. 

Today I will touch on some of the other open doors. You ready for some house cleaning? 

Open doors list: 

  • Unforgiveness/Offense
  • Trauma/Abuse
  • Neglect/Abandonment
  • Gross Sin/Sexual Sin
  • Unbelief
  • Choices of Entertainment
  • Occult Involvement 
  • Generational Sin (Your Ancestors Opened the Door) 

I don’t have the space to touch on each one of these in detail. It’d be pages of information. I will once again share resources at the end so you can learn more. 

Door number 1: Unforgiveness and Offense. 

The Bible is very clear that if we don’t forgive others, we are not forgiven (Matthew 6:15). Jesus never gave us a pass on this one. We must forgive. What does not mean? It means we refuse retaliation or revenge. We surrender the offender to God. We pray for them. We cease carrying heavy stones in our pockets to assault the offender. Is it denying their bad behavior, no? Does forgiveness mean you have to be best friends, no? Does forgiveness equal reconciliation, no? Reconciliation is restoring the relationship. This is not always possible. 

Forgiveness is saying, “I refuse to hold on to what you have done. I lay it at the feet of Jesus. He paid for all sin, yours and mine. He will repay according to His perfect love, mercy, and judgment.” God has a far better way of dealing with people than we can imagine. He’s just! He’s fair. He’s good. 

So let’s close some doors in our lives! 

Prayer: 

Holy Spirit, search our hearts. Please reveal anyone or the people we are holding grudges against. Please reveal anyone or people we are harboring offense against (pause and listen). 

Father right now I choose as an act of my will to forgive ______________(insert name), for their sin of __________(insert offense). I ask God you would forgive them as You’ve forgiven me. I ask the sins of unforgiveness and offense would be washed from my heart and soul in Your Son’s cleansing blood. I shut the door to unforgiveness and offense in my life. I freely receive Your forgiveness and freely give it away. 

Holy Spirit release Your dunamis power into every wound created in my soul by these events and being sinned against. Heal my soul of all wounding caused by sin. Flood my soul with Your incredible resurrection power. Heal every place that was hurt or wounded. In Jesus powerful name, amen. 

You may need to forgive yourself or God. Some are angry with God. He is sinless, yet if we are holding a grudge against Him, we need to surrender it to Him. 

Door 2 and 3: Trauma, Abuse, Neglect, and Abandonment

We were created by God to be accepted, unconditionally loved, cherished, protected, adored, and cared for. We were created to feel safe. The original design was a mother (woman) and father (man) would bring up children in an atmosphere of God’s incredible, unconditional love. There was no trauma, abuse, neglect, or abandonment in the Garden prior to the fall. These doors open us up to spirits of rejection, the orphan spirit, self hatred, insecurity, fear, fear of man, rebellion, control, and more.

I unfortunately have tons of experience with these two doors. I wish I didn’t, but I do because of the sinful choices of my ancestors and family members. Rejection and fear were spirits I battled for a long time. I still have things I must take to God so He can do an even deeper work. I won’t elaborate here, maybe later in a testimony post. 

Prayer: 

Father I thank You for the cleansing power of Your Son’s blood shed on the cross. I forgive every person who has traumatized me, abandoned me, rejected me, hurt or abused me, or caused great harm by withholding love, affection, or acceptance. I release them and each situation to You. I ask right now Your Holy Spirit would go back in time to every entry point of wounding and open doors to my soul. I plead the blood of Jesus on those moments. Cleanse me of all wounding and I ask for Your resurrection power to fill my soul. I ask for complete healing of my mind, emotions, memories, and body from trauma, abuse, neglect, and abandonment. Fill me to overflowing with Your perfect love! Bathe every memory in Your love and purging fire. Consume any dross in me as a result of being afflicted. Give me a deeper understanding of Your unfailing love! Fill me to overflowing. Break off anything in me that would attract me to people who would abuse, neglect, reject, hurt, or abandon me. Send those filled to overflowing with Your amazing love! 

Eviction notice prayer for those in Christ:

Any spirit that attached itself to me due to these open doors I command them to leave and go to a dry uninhabited place never to return. Holy Spirit flood every place with Your love and light. In Jesus powerful name, amen. 

I ask for a release over each of you the peace of God, spirit of adoption, and increased awareness/reception of the love of God. You are loved, cherished, adopted in God’s family (if in Christ), wanted, fully accepted based on what Jesus did, free of being an orphan or outcast, and given a new identity in Christ! 

Door 4: Gross Sin/Sexual Sin 

The Bible is very clear that sexual sin impacts us differently than other sins. Why? Because it’s sin against the body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. And sex was intended to join us (glue us) to another person physically, spiritually, and in our soul. It’s stronger than super glue. Have you ever super glued two things together and then wanted them apart? I have. You notice there’s a ripping or tearing when you get them apart. There’s residue on one and brokenness on the other. It’s scientifically proven that our brains do not know the difference between actual lawful sexual intercourse which releases hormones in the brain and all other activities that release those hormones. 

God designed sex and sexual release so humans would be drawn back to each other over and over. Hence the body’s craving for stimulation once activated. So no matter the source, it leads to bondage or addiction if not placed in its proper place within marriage (man and woman). Check out Moral Revolution for more information on sex and sexuality. 

We are also told not to keep on sinning (on purpose) once saved. Gross sin is: you know something is wrong and just keep on doing it without any repentance. Does this mean we strive for perfection? Ummm…no! We abide in Christ and confess our sins to Him. We rely on His empowerment, the indwelling and powerful Holy Spirit. Our spirit is saved if we are in Christ. We can still choose to sin which opens the door for the evil one to get a foothold or eventually a stronghold in our lives. 

Prayer: 

Holy Spirit search my heart. Please reveal any unconfessed sins so that I might repent of them (listen). 

Father please forgive me for ________(insert infractions). I’m sorry for choosing my way above Yours. I receive Your forgiveness. Help me to say yes to Your will. Father any place I’ve surrendered my purity for sex outside of marriage (man and woman) or engaged in immoral sexual activity I ask for Your forgiveness. I ask for the power of Your Holy Spirit to restore my hormone balance so I am not addicted or in any bondage. Any part of me that’s attached to another, I ask that it be returned to me washed in Your Son’s cleansing blood. Any part of another person that’s attached to me through immoral activity I ask that it be returned to them washed in Your Son’s cleansing blood. The spiritual super glue that bonded us together in unhealthy ways to receive the breaking power of Your anointing. I ask for wholeness in my soul. Holy Spirit heal my soul from all the wounds inflicted through gross sin and sexual sin. I want to be whole and walk in purity. Holy Spirit release Your dunamis power into every wound in my soul. In Jesus powerful name, amen. 

Eviction notice prayer for those in Christ:

Any spirit that attached itself to me due to these open doors I command them to leave and go to a dry uninhabited place never to return. Holy Spirit flood every place with Your love, purity, and light. In Jesus powerful name, amen. 

I ask for a release over each of you the purity of God, self control, comfort, and cleansing of the mind. 

Next time I will cover the other open doors. You are loved sweet friends! Let’s continue on this journey to wholeness in Christ. 

Resources: 

The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson
Soul Decrees by Katie Souza
Deliverance and Spiritual Warfare Manual by John Eckhardt
The Naked Truth about Sexuality by Havilah Cunnington 

Father thank You that You’ve given us everything we need to be free: sin cleared by Your Son’s blood and healing in the power of Your Spirit. We want to be whole; mind, body, soul, spirit. Do a deep work within so our souls look like Jesus. Heal every wound. Thank You Papa. May we receive fully all You have paid for. In Jesus powerful name, amen. 

Love in Christ, 

Erin 

Your Real Enemy (Part II)

I normally don’t write two posts back to back, but I hope this post will be a blessing. I recommend reading yesterday’s post, Your Real Enemy, as well. I wanted to write about people today. People have been tagged as our enemies for years. If I were to ask you who your enemies were, I bet you could name a few people. It may be a leader, family member, boss, sibling, parent, co-worker, or ex-friend/spouse. I want to tell you once again, people are not our real enemies. People can be used by God or the devil. At any given moment a person can be used to bless or curse. Even people who go to your church can be used by the evil one, if they are not walking under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Here is an example from my own life.

My first job out of college I encountered a manager who hated me for no reason. This person started out by telling me how I would not be successful. This person then spent the next 4 years sabotaging small things on my programs, bad mouthing me to our boss, trying to get me fired, yelling at me in public, and basically making life at work unbearable. I did tell this person on numerous occasions they could not treat me poorly, but they feared no consequences from management. I prayed a lot during that time. Honestly, I prayed this person would be terminated or quit for they not only harassed me, but others. Some of us banded together to speak with human resources to no avail. In my mind this person was an enemy. I did not hate this person, but I could not see past their actions. I saw an evil person instead of a person God loved who did not know how much they were loved.

As a young person who loved Jesus the only things I knew to do were 1. Pray 2. Try to never retaliate 3. Seek help from God and within our organization.

Fast forward, after extensive prayer, I was removed from under this person. There was a battle to be moved, and I lost all the programs where I had invested time and energy. I went from overseeing 9 programs to 1. I had to prove my worth and competency. At first I was angry because my clients loved me; I worked non stop. I was not doing anything wrong. I had great reviews from everyone except this one person, but this one person was able to plant a seed of doubt in my boss’s mind even with over a dozen other people complaining. Let’s get to the good part of the story. This person after years of harassment approached me one day to tell me they knew I was a Christian because I never retaliated against them. They are now a born again believer. Yeah Jesus! Forgiving them wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. We can’t hang on to the things people do to us. Holding on only leads to our detriment.

When we want to retaliate against people, the thing to remember is that the person attacking us is someone God deeply loves. When people attack, harass, slander, hurt, persecute others, are unloving; they have not fully received the fullness of God’s love. A person who is filled with the love of God normally won’t knowingly harm another person. A person walking in the Spirit normally won’t either. Does that mean a person filled with God’s love and Spirit won’t ever hurt others? No. As humans we stumble. We are not perfect. We can hurt people without even knowing it. If we’re listening, God will let us know if we have strayed from the path of love.

Also, there are times when we are hurt and others are hurt and it’s because of our sin or perceptions.

Our Role in Loving People

The goal is to point people to God. The goal is be an instrument of truth and grace. It is not unloving to tell another person they cannot speak hatefully to you, especially if it’s someone you’re connected to (friend, family, spouse, co-worker, child). The goal isn’t to be the world’s doormat, but to show the world that evil does not have to lead to evil. Good conquerors evil. If it’s someone close to you, you may have to set boundaries with them. Check out Dr. Cloud and Dr, Townsend’s books on Boundaries. We are called to point people to the truth.

I hope and pray that we can see people as God does. I am still praying this for myself. We may not be able to be the best of friends with everyone, but we are called to live at peace with everyone as far as it is up to us. We are called to pray for our enemies, bless and not curse, to not do harm to others. May we live loved and love others.