Inner Healing Of Emotions

Inner healing is a process through which the background causes for dysfunctional behavior and emotional distress are discovered and dealt with through prayer. A recognizable sequence of events often occurs in the effective ministration of inner healing.

Many sincere Christians remain defeated in their personal and emotional lives in spite of repentance and the exercise of will power. When priests and pastors find they cannot help them, the sufferers are referred to psychiatrists. In many cases, the only result of this kind of therapy is that the patients acquire a vocabulary to describe their problems. Intractable emotional problems usually produce a profound sense of guilt in the Christian, who knows that a believer's life is supposed to be an example of God's power and victory. Christians should experience inner peace and joy, delight in the knowledge that God loves them, relate to others in community, and live a life free from anxiety. Yet a depressed person can do none of these things. In some cases, God becomes the enemy because it appears that God is refusing to respond to the earnest prayers and efforts of the emotionally disturbed person. The Rationale for Inner Healing In 1966, Agnes Sanford published a book entitled The Healing Gifts of the Spirit (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1966) in which she introduced the concept of "?healing of the memories.?" Mrs. Sanford explained that many people are affected not only by what they themselves have done, but also by the sins of others and by entrenched evil in the world. For example, a child who is deprived of love will lose the ability to love and trust other people or even God. As an adult, the person may deeply desire these relationships, but be unable to achieve them. The basic concept of inner healing is that the Jesus who healed during his earthly ministry, and who is "?the same yesterday and today and forever?" (Heb. 13:8), can remove the poison of past hurts and resentments, heal the wounds thereby inflicted, and fill the injured person with his love. In such cases, there will be a need for repentance and possibly also for deliverance. Prayer for inner healing should be considered any time a person becomes aware that he or she is in some way incapacitated or bound by old hurts. This bondage may evidence itself in feelings of worthlessness, erratic periods of anger or depression, anxiety and unreasoning fears, compulsive sexual drives, and other similar problems. The Process of Inner Healing The process of receiving inner healing involves asking Jesus Christ to take us back in memory to the time of the emotional injury and to free us from its effects. This involves two steps: (1) bringing to light the things that have hurt us, and (2) praying for healing. It is usually best to talk through our hurts and their possible cause with another person, since exposing the incident can sometimes render it powerless and facilitate healing. In prayer, we ask the Lord to heal the wound and nullify its effects. Some psychologists now believe that many of a person's deepest hurts are sustained at a very early age, sometimes before birth. It is thought that a mother's rejection of the unborn baby or her anxieties can have an emotional effect on the child. Adult patterns are usually set in the first three years of life, before the child is capable of understanding what is happening to him or her and before a person is free to make personal decisions. If a person has always felt unloved or unlovable or is chronically restless or fearful without apparent reason, it can be helpful to examine those early years for emotional injuries. The Setting for Prayer Because the revelation of painful and sometimes shameful memories can be difficult and embarrassing, it is best to arrange a private setting for this activity. The afflicted person must never be forced to pray about personal matters in a large group or with someone with whom he or she feels no affinity. Given the sensitive nature of the matters that could be disclosed, he or she should be able to select persons with whom to pray. Sometimes this can be done in the confessional setting, with the sacrament of reconciliation being extended to include the prayer for inner healing. In any case, the one who is called upon to minister inner healing should be qualified by a gift of the Spirit, should have knowledge of psychology, and should be sensitive. The prayer counselor should not initiate prayer for inner healing, but should wait until the hurting person volunteers information concerning a need and indicates that help is desired. This can take place in very informal settings, such as at morning coffee with a friend or neighbor. In cases of depression, the sufferer will probably not feel that he or she has sufficient faith to believe God for healing. It is possible that the sufferer has prayed about the problem previously and is convinced that God does not care about the situation. The counselor must not require a demonstration or statement of faith from the person, but must assume that if faith is required it will come from the one who is ministering the healing. It is important to allow enough time for the problem to be confessed and for the prayer to be unhurried. Arrangement should also be made for follow-up. Excising the Wound Before praying it is often helpful to ask a few specific questions. For example, in order to locate the origin of the hurt one might ask, "?Did you have a happy childhood??" If the answer is "?no,?" an explanation of the reason usually reveals the basic problem. If "?yes,?" one can ask when things first began to go wrong. As a general rule, the problem will date to childhood. Another question that can be asked is, "?Do you have any idea why this happened to you??" The answer to this question may reveal broken relationships with parents through neglect, harshness, or even death. When hurting people do not know what happened to cause their symptoms, the counselor should pray for God's revelation or wait until such time as the painful event comes to consciousness. If people can remember how the problem began and why it occurred, they should ask Jesus to walk back into the past with them while the counselor describes the Lord's healing of each of the principal emotional hurts they have sustained. Because it is the inner child of the past who is being healed, the prayer should be couched in a simple, childlike style. When a person reveals his or her inner hurts, they may sound inconsequential to an adult mind. However, they were probably very traumatic to the immature victim. Both the counselor and the one for whom prayer is offered should attempt to experience the pain as a child would have done in the situation. Filling the Void After the prayer for healing of the hurt, a prayer should follow for the filling up of the empty places the traumatic early experiences may have left in the life. Such a prayer usually involves asking for a filling with God's love, since a perceived lack of love is almost always the root of the original problem. In many cases, it is the love of the child's father, which psychiatrists now recognize is vital for healthy self-esteem and emotional development that was missing. Jesus prayed that the love with which the Father loved him could be in the disciples (John 17:26); this is the essence of the prayer that should follow healing of memories. The prayer can be personal and graphic. For example, the counselor might ask God to hold the hurting child in his arms or take him or her by the hand and assure the person of God's love and care.