Inner Healing, Emotional
Healing and Theophostics


Introduction - Questions and More Questions

Is there healing in Jesus Christ for a person whose physical body is OK but whose mind and emotions are tormented? Does redemption extend to the soul? Or is it just for the body and spirit? Is there such a thing as a "broken spirit" or a "defiled spirit" and can Jesus fix these things? What has God to say to the shattered and traumatised people from wars, shootings and tragedies? Is there help in God for people who have "been through Hell?".

Has the Church been given authority to deal with our inner life? Is it right to cast out demons? Are there such things as curses and can they damage our lives? Do witches have any real power at all? Can involvement in occult activities do us spiritual and emotional damage or are they just harmless past-times?

These are controversial questions that we must ask if we are to extend redemption to the soul and spirit as well as to the boy and to deal with emotional afflictions as well as physical afflictions. I believe the Scriptures indicate the answer is "yes" to all of the above questions and that in Christ Jesus we have solutions that the secular world only dreams of but which we have barely begun to utilize.

The Opposition To Inner Healing

Inner healing has gained a bad reputation because of certain unprofessional and misguided practitioners who perhaps went searching for traumatic memories or who imposed "their own stuff" on people they were trying to help. Also there is a genuine reservation among people who are bible-believing because "it isn't in the Bible". Not like physical healing is anyway. While we do not see any "inner healing" sessions as such we do see the various components of inner healing scattered throughout Scripture. A concern for broken people and setting the captives free; a concern for breaking bondages; the destruction of occult objects and idols; teaching on curses, the sins of the fathers, and demons; exorcism; exhortations to the renewing of the mind; a concern with restoration, forgiveness and acceptance; an emphasis on the spiritual life being a stable and peaceful existence - and much else. There is a lot of emphasis on the "inner man".

Inner healing techniques bring all these fragments together into something that can be practiced and passed along. At their best they simply apply Christ to the damaged soul or spirit. However there are better and worse ways of doing that as we shall see!

The Wrong Way

Inner healing is not just "baptized" secular therapy. By that I mean that inner healing is not just a basically secular therapy or technique given a Christian coating - for instance it is not Rogerian therapy given another label. Inner healing that is just "baptised" secular therapy works in the same slow and partial ways that secular therapies work. If the emphasis is on the technique rather than on Jesus Christ you will get the results that the "technique" deserves. The healing power of Jesus Christ is free, immediate, complete, liberating and lasting.

Inner healing is not charlatanism, hypnotism, or New Age nonsense. It is not reliant on spells or formulas. It does not hypnotize anybody. It does not alter the truth nor does it deny the memory. Inner healing is not merely spiritual healing - it is Christian healing. It is redemptive work done through Jesus Christ alone.

Inner healing is not meddling in the past. Inner healing focuses on the solution - getting well - grabbing hold of redemption - not on the causes of the problem in the first place. If you have a flat tire in the car you can have an all day conference about how tires get flat or you can take out the jack and the spare and fix it and get on the road. Inner healing is there to get you back on the road of life as quickly as possible. Inner healing should not be overly concerned with every bit of emotional residue from the past. That tends to create unhealthy anxiety and neuroticism. It should take an attitude of moving into healing and wholeness as quickly as possible.

The Right Way

True Christian inner healing has the following characteristics:

  • It is focussed on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Scriptures.

  • Afterwards the person is more able to obey God and to pursue sanctification.

  • However it does not pretend to be a form of sanctification or to substitute for sanctification. Sanctification is more than emotional healing - it is the development of character - the character of Jesus Christ.

  • Afterwards the person tends to "just feel normal" . The pain has gone and they feel normal, whole and able to function.

  • It involves healthy relationships between the counsellor and the counsellee. There is no dominance, intrusion, "headship" or control. The relationship is healing and freeing.

  • Memories, if explored are neither manufactured nor denied but simply treated as facts.

True Christian inner healing is firmly grounded in all aspects of the truth, biblical truth, factual truth and moral truth. The person is brought into the light of God's Word, the light of logic and right thinking and factuality and the light of repentance and forgiveness.

Inner healing is the application of the grace and peace of Jesus Christ to the pain and confusion of the damaged emotional life. It is bringing our emotional world "right side up".

The practice of inner healing is varied but inevitably involves encountering the truth of God and the presence of God in a secure atmosphere of loving and believing prayer. It is "in Spirit and in Truth".

Putting Memories At The Foot Of The Cross
In this technique the person places their painful material at the foot of the cross of Jesus and leaves it there for Christ to deal with.

Dealing With False Shame
Most abiding shame is based in false understandings of God or of ourselves or the situation where the shame occurred. The counsellor helps the person to see the truth about their situation then prays through that situation with the person asking God to speak and reveal His truth to the client.

Breaking Of Curses And Occult Bondages.
Some emotional pain is due to spiritual factors such as: occult involvement, spiritual attack or ancestral practices, Masonic and other secret vows, deals with the Devil and curses. Poverty, mental illness, confusion and sharp intense "stabbing" psychic pain often accompany such situations. In these cases the occult origin of the psychic pain is dealt with and the human spirit healed of the damage that has been done to it. A prayer of renunciation of the occult and affirming Christ's power over curses is generally part of the proceedings. Click here for an entire article on curses and here for an article on the human spirit and the ills that can beset it.

Theophostics or Light Therapy
For a full article article on this highly effective therapy click here . Theophostics involves bathing the person in prayer, letting the Holy Spirit lead the person to a memory and then having Jesus speak the truth about that situation to the counsellee It is the direct Presence of Jesus Christ ministering, in spirit, His personal healing power. It has been highly beneficial both in my own life and the lives of many other people I know.

Summary

Inner healing is part of Christ's redemptive work in our spirit and soul. For wounded and hurt people it can be a huge step forward in their Christian walk, enabling to relate to others, and even to God with greater clarity and without the static of emotional pain. There are quite afew effective and useful techniques that have been discovered, the best of these is, in my opinion, Theophostic counselling. Healing from emotional pain enables people to reda the Scriptures in a more balanced way and be less erratic in pursuing their sanctification. Inner healing is not a substitute ford iscipleship or holiness but can be useful "roadside medical attention" in the race called life.

by John Edmiston

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