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C. Personal
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This section of the Ministry Guide relates
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Part C. Because of its length, this section is broken up into four web pages. If you are reading this online, you will be able to click "Next Page" at the end of each page.
Section Outline: II. Suggestions for Dealing with Specific Issues In this section we are identifying particular areas that need ministry. The suggested procedure, as summarized in the previous discussion on dealing with spiritual wounds, is to invite the reality of Jesus’ Presence and truth into the area of need and to release to Him the wounds or traumas that we have received into our inner being. We can invite Jesus into the area of our heart where the wound or sin is located (Proverbs 20:27; Psalm 139:23; Revelation 2:20), and ask Him to take the wound on Himself (Matthew 8:16-17) and to replace the wound with His truth (Psalm 51:6). We can help people know the reality of David’s declaration:
The Holy Spirit will reveal specifically how to pray for and minister truth to those who come to you for prayer. In the following discussions, we are only giving some suggestions on how to begin praying for particular needs. Remember: we are not trying to get the person to attempt in his own strength to apply Biblical principles. This puts him under legalism. Rather we are seeking to speak to the person a "word" from God, given to us by the Holy Spirit. When we speak a word from the Spirit of God, the same Spirit who gave us the word will also give to the person the ability to hear, receive, and act on that word. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will minister the needed "word" directly to the person as the reality of Jesus’ Presence comes into the wounded or needy part of the heart. People who are plagued by anxiety or fear can be released as they allow the reality of Jesus’ Presence to come into the area of their heart where the wound exists. As they invite Him into these areas, and receive the peace and other revelations of His Spirit, the truth begins to take root. Then they are able to release the fear, etc., and to let the peace and/or love of God come into this place. Sometimes particular events will come to mind which have been the root cause of the wound. In that case, help the person to release to Jesus the negative emotions associated with the circumstance, and to see, know, and receive the reality of the care and love of Jesus for them at that time. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, wants to impart His peace to us, enabling us to participate in the Peace that He Is. The person might question why God allowed this to happen, and we might not be able to give them a "reason." We do know that evil exists, and that God will ultimately deal justly with all evil. We do know that God will work all things for His better purpose, to conform us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:28-29). We do know that God is willing to share in our sufferings, and to give us an abundance of comfort so that we can comfort others with the comfort He has given us. (2 Corinthians 1:2-4). Some of the Scriptural principles to remember in dealing with fear and anxiety are:
People can be overburdened with the cares of life, causing depression. People can be weighed down with guilt and shame, causing depression. People can have deep anger or resentments which they are "holding in," causing depression. People can feel hopeless about life or their circumstances, causing depression. These and other reasons, some of which are physical, can cause depression. God is a joyful God. He has joy, even in the face of our rebelliousness. He is looking beyond our present state and sees the end from the beginning. He has a plan to bring all things under the dominion and rule of Jesus. He knows His ability to accomplish His plan and purpose for us and for the world. He has provided the answer to us and for us in what Jesus has done and in what He is able to do for us.
Some Scriptural principles to remember in dealing with depressed people are:
God wants us to know and appreciate Him and His ways and provision for us. He calls us to have joy in His plan. Some people have failed to know or search for and experience God’s grace in their circumstances, and therefore they have become bitter. David prays, "Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation" (Psalm 51:12 NKJ). People who live in bitterness have often been plagued with difficulties that are beyond their own abilities to deal with; thus they have been overwhelmed. The bitterness they develop causes them to embitter others. But God has grace (Divine power at work in their hearts) for them. He can free those in bondage to bitterness. He can give them His perspective and joy. He has grace to give so that people will learn to rely on His grace. He can give us the ability not only to cope, but also to rise above our circumstances and to see things from His perspective. As we let the reality of Jesus’ love and Presence into our pockets of bitterness, we will be able to repent of having harbored resentments and bitterness, give these things (along with the hurts causing them) to Jesus, and receive God’s grace to rejoice in Him. Because of Who God is and Who He wants to be in us, we can have joy even in difficult or seemingly impossible circumstances. Some Scriptural principles to remember:
God is excited about bringing all things under the dominion and rule of Jesus. He has a zeal to see His people knowing and worshiping Him. Jesus had a zeal for accomplishing the things of God. He overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple because He was consumed with zeal for His Father’s house (John 2:17). God desires that we too have a zeal for His work and His ways. He is able to impart this into us through His Spirit. Some are apathetic to the ways of God. They may have lost their zeal, or they may never have had it, because of having lived in an environment in which emotions were never displayed or were even frowned upon. Jesus came to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He can give us a zeal for the things of God--His zeal. We can help those who are apathetic, to be filled with the Holy Spirit of fire. We can pray that they will receive the gift of repentance for their apathy; that they will let Jesus and His zeal into their emotions; that they will receive from Him the ability to worship God with all of their being, emotions included. As we come to Him for it, God will fill us with His zeal. He warns us that He will spew out of His mouth those who are apathetic. He says to those who are lukewarm, "Be zealous and repent." He is faithful to empower us to do that which He commands us. Some Scriptural principles to remember:
BACK TO TOP God calls us to forgive as we have been forgiven. Sometimes people cannot seem to let go of their hatred. Through Jesus we can receive the ability to forgive. He is both our Source and our Model, as He prayed that His Father would forgive those who crucified Him. [See the section on Forgiveness for more on this subject.] We become confused when our minds become fragmented. We become "scatter-brained" when we have many masters or many idols or many arenas we are trying to live in. We become unstable when our minds are focused on multiple or conflicting ideologies. Sometimes people create an imaginary world because the real world seems too difficult to cope with. Sometimes people feel inadequate and escape through their minds or imaginations into a place where they feel loved or where life is less stressful or where things go their way. If they spent much time in these imagined habitations, their minds become confused as to what is real and what is imaginary. Sometimes people have had traumatic experiences with death, or with war. Because they are unable to deal with the reality of what has happened or what they have done, their minds become confused. . Sometimes demonic spirits inhabit some of these imaginations. People who have dealt with spirit guides from satanic sources often become confused. Satan, himself a liar and the father of lies, is the author of confusion. Jesus came to deliver those who come to Him. He came to renew our minds so that we could be like-minded with Him. He came to restore us to God’s purposes and to deliver us from the things that have ensnared our minds. The healing of the confused person can take some time. The confused person needs to let the life of Jesus come into him, giving him a sense of peace and rest, so that he knows it’s safe to be himself and to live in reality. We need to help him come out of the imaginary places into the reality of living in the Presence of God. We can offer hope that, with the reality of Jesus’ Presence and of His forgive-ness and healing power, the confused person can face the traumatic events he has been through. Jesus said that if we continue to receive and live in His Word--in what He through the Holy Spirit is saying--we will know and experience the truth of God’s love, His care and His provision for us to live as His child in the real world. The fears, traumas, shame, and lies the person has believed and received can be removed, and those who have lived in confusion can realize and express the reality of Christ living with and in them. The Bible says that we can live in peace if our minds are centered upon God. Through Jesus this can be a reality. God calls us to live as priests, serving Him in His kingdom. To those who live as His priests He promises: "For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double; everlasting joy shall be unto them." (Isaiah 61:7 KJV) Some Scriptural Principles for Meditation:
[See discussion on abandonment in the next section.] Inferiority / Putting things off / Perfectionism / Rationalizing The person living in inferiority typically feels that others are better than he is, that the tasks of life demand more than he has, and that he will never be able to measure up to his or others’ expectations of him. He typically is self-focused, concentrating on his inadequacies rather than on the promises or abilities of God working in him. He needs to know his identity in Christ and all God has for him in that relationship. The person putting things off often does this to compensate for feelings of inadequacy, feeling that if he doesn’t finish a task he cannot be criticized for doing it poorly. Indecision about the best way to complete the task might also contribute to this behavior. Once again, finding and realizing their identity in Christ can bring healing to these people. The person living in perfectionism is making demands on himself such that he is destined to fail. He knows he cannot live up to his self-imposed standards. He often seems to enjoy having others expect perfection of him. Perfectionism and inferiority are often opposite sides of the same personality. The person is beating himself up for his lack of perfection, or he is finding his needs for attention met through focusing on inadequacies. In both instances, a major need is to find God’s acceptance in the midst of inadequacies, to identify with God’s promises to give the strength needed to accomplish His tasks, and to know His commitment to accomplishing His purposes in and through the person. The person continually rationalizing his own aberrant behavior often needs to rest in the truth that without Christ we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things. We do not need to make excuses for our sins, but rather we can confess them, receive forgiveness, and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to do what God has asked of us. Many self-help groups or 12-step programs call sinful behavior like drunkenness a disease, rather than a sin. In this light they use phrases like, "I was born with this defect," to excuse their behavior. We were all born with a sinful nature. However, in Christ we can be forgiven and receive the grace to overcome our sinful desires and actions. In Christ, we have no excuse for sinful behavior, since He promises us the power to overcome it. In Christ we can confess our sins; if we have explained away our sins rather than bringing them to the cross of Jesus, we will live in the guilt that they bring. If we confess them to Him and repent of them, we can be set free from their influence and power in our lives. When praying for people with the problems listed above, help them find their identity in Christ. Pray that the Holy Spirit will give them revelation of their identity in Christ. Pray that they will lose themselves in Christ. "In Christ" means that I am focusing on Him--on His desires, His will, His life. I am letting His life come into me and become my life. "In Christ" means I am focusing on releasing the life and nature of Christ, Who lives in me, into all of my being and then into all my circumstances. When I am truly living "In Christ," I have no room for the problems listed above. Some Scriptural Principles for Meditation:
BACK TO TOP People caught in the grip of pride might find the preceding section helpful, as things like inferiority are often the flip side of pride. Many have said that pride is the basic sin of man, in that it describes the basic flaw in the nature of Satan. People in the grip of pride often say "I can do it," "Look at me," "I have the answer." Jesus showed us humility. He lived a life dependent upon the leading of His Father. He said, "I am gentle and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29), and "the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do " (John 5:19). He lived dependent upon the Holy Spirit for direction and power (John 14:10; Hebrews 9:14). In His mercy, God will teach us to trust in and rely on Him, living in close communion with Him. He will break us of our pride and self-will. He will lead us to cry out to Him for deliverance. He will, when asked, give us the Spirit of Christ, developing in us the life and nature of Christ. He will lead us to seek deliverance from the ways and nature of Satan. When praying for someone who has admitted to the bondage of pride, remember that his first act of humility was to recognize and confess the sin of pride. Commend him for this. Pray that God will reveal the roots of pride and of the need to receive honor from people. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help him to find his identity in Christ and to come to the realization that in his flesh dwells no good thing. We can have pride in our mental abilities, in our physical appearance, in our race, sex, family name, denomination or nationality. Pray that each of these works of pride will be confessed and destroyed through Jesus’ blood. Pray that we all will receive and walk in the humility Jesus offers us in Him. Some Scriptural Principles for Meditation:
Those who feel inferior often criticize others. See the above suggestions for dealing with inferiority, in praying for people in bondage to this behavior. Pray that they can see the plan of God for those they are criticizing. Help them to forgive those who have criticized them. God sees us as we are going to be. He calls us "saints." Pray that the Spirit of God will help those who live in a state of criticalness, to come more deeply into Christ. Some Scriptural Principles for Meditation:
The word God speaks has power! The words God spoke at the time of creation brought forth the world (Psalm 33:6). Jesus healed people through the words He spoke. The Spirit of God empowered the words Jesus spoke and they brought life and healing to the sick (Luke 7:7). The words we speak can also have power when we speak God’s words under the direction and anointing of the Holy Spirit. Similarly, we can receive words spoken by another human being who might be under the influence of another spirit. We ourselves can speak words that might damage the spirit of another when we are under the influence of anger, wrath, jealousy, and the like. Peter at one moment spoke a word from God to Jesus, acknowledging Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:17). The next moment Jesus told Satan to stop using Peter to distract Him from going to the cross (Matthew 16:23). On another occasion, Jesus told His disciples that they did not know what kind of a spirit they were of (Luke 9:55). The Bible has warnings and admonitions concerning the words we speak, and concerning the words that have been spoken to us. Our tongues can be used to bless, and our tongues can be used to curse. Our first task in receiving healing from verbal abuse and teasing is to ask God to forgive us for the ways in which we have hurt others by the words we have spoken. We should ask God to cleanse our tongues. We should pray that God will heal those we have hurt with angry or unkind words. We need then to offer our tongues as instruments of God’s to bring His blessings to others. The Bible says:
After asking God to forgive us, we can then ask Him to heal us from the effects of abusive, unkind or angry words that have been spoken to us. We can forgive those who have hurt us and bring the hurt or the wounds in our spirit to Jesus. The Bible says:
As we bring the wounds to Christ, we can trust that He will speak His word of life, comfort, encouragement and edification to us. This might come directly to us or to those we are praying with, or they might be brought forth through a prophetic word, or a vision or visual picture might be given. The point is, the Word of God will bring forth the life of God into the particular area we are ministering into. He will, at times, use us to speak His word of life to others. The Bible says:
As we receive life from the Word of God, written by Him, spoken by Him directly to us, or spoken by Him to us through others, we will know that God knows the wounds in our heart, and that He is able to speak life and truth into those wounded areas. We will know that He will bring forth His plan and purposes for us through His Word. We will be encouraged to memorize and meditate on His Word and to seek to minister it to others. The Bible says:
As we let God’s Word overcome the wounds caused by verbal abuse and teasing, we will be able to live in the security of God, and no longer fear the words of men or the words of Satan through men. We will also be able to help others who have been wounded, to come into the experience of the power of the Word of God in the lives of His people. The Bible says:
As you minister the reality and power of God’s Word to others, pray that the Holy Spirit will continually give life to the word that you have given them. Trust God to use you to bless others with His Word as He has blessed you. One of the blessings God works out of our having been abused is that we are then able to understand and minister God’s healing to others who have been abused. Jesus modeled this also. The Bible says:
Steps to Healing of Verbal Abuse
1. Ask God for forgiveness for any ways in which your words have hurt others. 2. Pray for healing for those who have been hurt by your words. 3. Ask God to cleanse your tongue, and offer it to the Lord as an instrument of blessing for others. 4. Pray that you would be healed from the effects of abusive words. 5. Forgive those who have hurt you in this way. (Receive Jesus’ ability to forgive. If necessary, ask Jesus for the willingness to forgive the person.) 6. Bring the wounds and the pain to Jesus, remembering that He suffered and died for our griefs and sorrows. 7. Ask the Lord to minister His Word of healing, life, comfort, and truth to your heart. 8. Meditate on portions of Scripture that speak to your vulnerable areas. 9. Be prepared to be used as a vessel of healing for others. BACK TO TOP |
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