EPISODE 18 – THE HEALING TOUCH OF JESUS
In this Episode we are going to learn ways of involving and receiving the touch of Jesus into our lives
in this ministry we talk of TAKING JESUS THERE
To involve Jesus in our inner story as well as our outward walk is another aspect of discipleship.
There are many occasions when taking Jesus there
to our inner world brings comfort, healing or enlightenment.
It is open to us all to have a special, safe and personal place
where we can go in our spirit to meet with Jesus and spend time with Him. It might be a beach, beside a waterfall, a bedroom, a particular chair.
It might be a real place or one you create in your imagination.
If the world has never been a safe place for you this can be especially precious. So in this location that is meaningful, warm and secure meet Jesus.
There as you converse you will get to know Him well
and build a relationship that has depth and significance.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit to help us to understand our stories and to implement change
but it is Jesus who will minister, in very personal and creative ways,
the touch that brings our healing and wholeness.
As the Holy Spirit has been at work in us to restore our broken image and we have begun to replace the lies we have believed about ourselves with God’s truth, the damage that underpins the distortions will be raw. There are likely to be hidden wounds, uncomfortable memories
and unanswerable questions that need the touch of Jesus.
I was a Biblical counsellor for many years and much talking was needed to talk through problems and to facilitate healing-
the Holy Spirit was there but more in the background for guidance. TWFJ has opened up such a different way.
Now it is much more about the individual recognizing
it is the Holy Spirit’s ministry and working directly with Him.
Then when all is understood Jesus can step in
with all His creativity and healing touch.
The whole thing builds a robust relationship with the living God
and creates disciples who have an understanding
of the journey to wholeness and holiness.
So HOW DO I DO THAT? TAKE JESUS THERE
Well before we deal with the HOW let’s think about WHEN Healing is a process and sometimes we need to learn much before a resolution. Involving Jesus at an early stage in your healing journey
allows Him to speak directly and intimately
to you to give you the love, comfort, revelation
and the strength you need for the next part of your walk.
At the end His touch heals the root cause, changes life perspectives
and can bring closure.
Indeed anytime you want the wisdom of Jesus spoken into your life
He is available this way.
OK NOW THE HOW OF TAKING JESUS THERE In a quiet and relaxed setting go UNHURRIEDLY through the stages detailed below allowing Jesus to bring healing.
• I would suggest you journal or record both what Jesus says to you and what He does.
In your imagination go back to the event, the time and place that concerns you. It may well have been what was in the centre of your spider diagram.
Be back there, be aware of what surrounded you,
the sights and sounds and smells - feel how you felt.
• Now stand outside the picture - observing yourself in the scene -
Jesus is beside you. Pour out your heart to Him.
Don’t hold back but allow yourself to be brutally honest
about the way you think and feel.
• AND Jesus will respond.
Listen to what He wants to say to you.
Jesus will always act within His character and He will speak to you.
Have a conversation with Him. Ask Him questions.
Take time to dwell with Him. Absorb the moment.
• Often after the talking is done, Jesus will spontaneously take action.
Be ready for the creative wonder of the Almighty God to be released into your life. I love doing this with a group because the sharing afterwards of what Jesus did in these moments will regularly take everyone’s breath away.
The early defining moment of my life was being hospitalized
at 22 months, with a fractured skull
in the days when parents were barred.
When I poured out the pain of my heart about this experience
and its consequences. Jesus walked over to the cot and picked me up.
At once my life’s perspective changed.
I KNEW Jesus had been there all the time. I WAS NEVER ALONE.
I felt his love and my life view transformed.
• When healing people Jesus often asked, ‘What do you want?’ You can ask Jesus for what you want Him to do for you.
Let Him remove the burdens you hold inside you, unlock the chains,
touch the wounds, mend your broken heart.
Jesus is willing. It is why He came: Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed
me to preach good news to the poor.He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and
the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide
for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of despair.
• Stand in the Waterfall with Jesus see yourself washed clean and filled with the living water of the Father’s love.
DWELL THERE
• Jesus not only heals but gives – a crown of beauty, the oil of gladness, a garment of praise. Ask for His specific blessing
that comes to heart and mind for you.
• Do you need to forgive? Do you need to forgive yourself? Speak it directly to Jesus
• Thank Jesus for what He has done.
LETTING GO OF PAIN
When all is understood and the threshold of freedom is a step away, some people experience their most difficult battle.
It can seem so huge to let go of the pain and grasp the hope set before you. When you discover how pain has ruled your life it suddenly seems like a friend. If it is all you have known, you may question what will life be like
in the future without it: the unknown is a dangerous place. Does the pain you have suffered give you your identity? Ultimately, it is a choice to let go and move on, that means taking action.
Feelings will never change ahead of your thinking
so we need to be prepared to take the risk and bring it
into the waterfall and choose life.
The more you trust in the character of the Father, the less risky it becomes. Often a simple physical act can help the process of release
by burning a paper or stepping over a line.
Resolved pain will keep coming back unless we decide to move on. One exercise that really helps is to go into your mind and imagine the door, that the pain of sin and your past woundedness keeps coming through and with Jesus lock it and give Him the key. Talk to Jesus about what moving on looks like for you and take small steps to life.
As you see PAIN flowing out of you,
picture the Waterfall thundering down, drenching you inside and out and washing away the hurts and cleansing your wounds.
Filling you with the crystal water of the River of Life
that flows from the Throne of Heaven, bringing life where it flows.
It may take a long time to be free.
If you are struggling, do seek someone to walk beside you.
I hold hope for people who are dealing with dark feelings of the past
for this is the ministry of the Holy Spirit and
the landscape of our journey DOES change.
MINISTRY MATTERS
My ministry is about encouraging and growing disciples.
It is about helping people to travel to wholeness and to mature spiritually.
It is very much about transforming pain.
We can only take people where we ourselves have been willing to go
and so not only has it been a long journey but it is a present one.
Pain has changed for me.
In the early days as I understood my pain I would want to offload it onto Jesus but one day He came and asked me to carry it.
I understand now, that it is important that if you are working
in any form of healing ministry, staying close to the pain
you have experienced keeps you authentic.
However, it was not the raw pain Jesus handed back but the pain He had transformed; now it brings me blessing because I minister out of it.
Pain is never far away but now I’m on the inside, in the Waterfall and in trusting God I am privileged to work with God ‘shoulder to shoulder’, expecting and seeing His sovereign answers as the high adventure continues.
Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve Him shoulder to shoulder. Zephaniah 3: 9
In God’s wide plan we all have unique ministries and all of us need some measure of healing on the way to wholeness but what is certain is that God wants us all in the Waterfall of His love.
As we trust, He can open doors that bring others in.
The tears you have shed will not be wasted
but will be treasured in God’s economy
and will be part of your gifting that brings fruit for the Kingdom as you ‘comfort others with the comfort you have received.’
