A Healed and United Heart

Inner healing has received a bad name just like deliverance because of wrong emphasis by some teachers and ministers. In the case of deliverance, some people become more focused on the devil than Jesus. With inner healing, some become more introspective and focused on themselves than on Jesus. But I am not going to shy away from sound Biblical principles and doctrines just because some have preached or taught these things wrong. Jesus is still the Healer of the broken hearted, and my wife and I have been recipients of this type of healing.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18).

“Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

What He did when He walked the earth, He is still doing today. Jesus IS the Healer of the brokenhearted. He also still sets at liberty those who have been bruised. Bruises are hurts beneath the surface. There are many hurt and wounded people carrying much emotional baggage in the church among the list of born again Christians today. Have you ever met one of them? Have you ever been one of them? I certainly have, but praise God for Jesus’ healing power to remove the inward hurts and pain from our hearts.

How is it possible for a Christian to be wounded, hurt, offended, or full of pain, unforgiveness, and judgment in light of the following verse of scripture?

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).

This verse is speaking of the condition of our spirit man at the new birth. When we are born again, our spirit man is brand new and old things are passed away. All things in our spirit man have become new. We have a brand new nature, the nature of Jesus! But this is not automatically true of our souls. Our souls can still become wounded, hurt, and offended while our spirits are sealed and remain just like Jesus all the time. The following verse is very revealing about the makeup of the heart.

“But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price” (I Peter 3:4).

Our heart is comprised of our spirit and our soul. Our spirit man is the “hidden man” of the heart this verse in I Peter chapter 3 speaks of. Our spirit man possesses the nature of God, is just like Jesus, and is sealed at the new birth. Our soul (mind, will, and emotions) must be renewed and conformed to the image and knowledge of Christ in us in order to prosper.

A heart that is not united is caused by a soul that is not prospering. There is an alignment or agreement problem between the soul and the spirit. Negative life experiences can wound our souls. We must allow the revelation of His Word and Jesus’ healing touch to bring healing and wholeness to our souls so our heart is one.

The Godhead (the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) is one in mind, intention, motives, and actions. We were created in His image and His likeness. In other words, we were created to be one, spirit, soul, and body. That means one in mind, intention, motives, and actions. When the soul portion of our heart becomes wounded through negative life experiences, many times we allow our souls to become disjointed and out of alignment with our spirits. We attempt to protect ourselves because of fear of further wounding. These negative life experiences can also cause us to believe lies of God, ourselves or others that do not agree with our spirits and the truth of the Word. A heart that is not united is caused by a soul that is not prospering. There is an alignment or agreement problem between the soul and the spirit.

Let me share a personal example of what I am talking about. Early in our marriage, my wife and I were owners of a very prosperous business. We could buy anything we wanted, but many times we differed greatly on how to spend our discretionary finances. Being brought up in a low-income household, it made me feel good about myself when I could purchase something of value as a young adult. My wife did not feel the same way. While I was a compulsive spender, she was a compulsive saver. She would hide stashes of cash in many places in our home. Every time we moved I would find cash she had hidden and forgotten about. One time I found $2,000 behind a picture. This was a temporary blessing but also revealed a symptom of a greater problem in each of our hearts.

As we began to seek the Lord together about the condition of our hearts, He led us to meditate on the following passage from His Word:

“For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God” (II Corinthians 4:4-5).

The context of this passage is Paul refusing to come under the judgment of false apostles and others under their influence. Paul responded to them by telling them he was not under their judgment and neither did he trust himself to be objective enough to judge his own heart. He said he was not justifying himself because of this. Rather, he decided to judge nothing before the time until the Lord brought to light any hidden thing of darkness in him and revealed the true counsels of his heart.

This is one of the ministries of the Lord to His present day church. He will, by His Spirit, reveal to anyone who seeks Him, if there is any hidden thing of darkness—any wound, unforgiveness, bitterness, or judgment—we are harboring in our souls. He will also reveal to us the counsels of our hearts: what we really believe is truth from the Word and what we believe about ourselves, God, and others. He is speaking here about what is going on in our souls, not our spirits. There is no hidden thing of darkness or lie we believe in our spirits. But it is possible for us to allow these things in our souls.

As Janice and I meditated on these verses, we asked the Lord to show us our hearts the way He sees them. We asked Him to show us if there were any lies we unknowingly believed about Him, ourselves, or others in our souls. We asked Him to reveal to us if we were harboring hurt, offence, or unforgiveness toward others. We also asked Him to show us if there was anything in us that was un-Christ-like and did not line up with the Word and His nature in our spirits.

He showed me that as a young teenager I had taken on a poverty mentality. I believed a lie that there was not enough because I could not afford to buy clothes that were in style and go to the places some of my friends could afford to go. I made a vow to myself I would never live that way when I grew up. The Lord showed me I was obsessed with spending because of the vow I made as a teenager and my failure to trust Him to provide for me. My soul was not aligned with my spirit and though we had money, it became a source of strife instead of blessing for us.

The Lord showed Janice an event that happened when she was six years old living on a farm in rural San Antonio, Texas. One day she came in from playing and was very hungry. When she opened the small refrigerator, all she found to eat was a stick of butter. She was so hungry she ate the entire stick of butter. The Lord revealed to her when she ate that stick of butter she agreed with a lie, “there is not enough for you.” This lie she embraced in her soul caused her to respond to any prosperity that came her way by hoarding and becoming obsessed with saving money.

Once the Lord revealed to us the lies we had believed, we both renounced these lies and were able to embrace the truth of God’s care and provision for us. The result of this was first of all peace and harmony in our marriage in the area of our finances where strife had previously ruled. The greatest impact was now each of our hearts was one. There was a real alignment between our souls and spirits in the area of finances. Our souls were now prospering and we were able to enjoy the blessings God had provided for us.

What I am sharing with you is not psychology. It is the Word of God revealing the distinction between the soul and spirit and God’s purpose for them to be one. A prosperous soul is a healed and united heart where there is agreement and alignment between your soul and spirit. Look at this verse with me:

“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

God knows our hearts and what is going on in our souls and whether that lines up with our spirits or not. Ask Him to show you your heart the way He sees it. Don’t try to figure it out yourself with your own understanding or reasoning. Also do not become too introspective about this. Simply give the Lord permission to reveal your heart to you. We know your spirit is pure and righteous and holy and healed if you are born again. But how is it with your soul? If you seek Him about this and He does not reveal anything to you, don’t try to manufacture something or “dig up old bones” from the past.

If He reveals you have believed a lie about yourself, God, or someone else, simply renounce the lie and embrace the truth of His Word and freedom will come. If He shows you that you have been holding on to the pain or hurt from some rejection, betrayal, or abuse, make a choice to forgive the person or people responsible. Then release them from any debt they owe you and apply the cross to the bitter waters of your soul. Exalt the cross greater than your pain and loss and you will receive healing from the emotional wounding in your soul. I speak over you a healed and united heart: a prosperous soul!

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s book, A Prosperous Soul.