Photo credit: artwork by Kevin Carden
There is a debate circulating about inner healing and deliverance being "self-centered." They say that it causes a person to be self-focused instead of denying the self.
This argument comes from those who are ignorant of what inner healing and deliverance is, and it's purpose. These people who argue this have a huge misunderstanding. I don't believe we should debate things that we haven't researched ourselves. I'm not talking about looking it up on google for five minutes. I'm talking about extensive research with the Holy Spirit.
I agree that we are supposed to pick up our cross and deny ourselves. We should deny ourselves of all the different lusts of the flesh, and whatever temptations come our way, or whatever may displease the Lord. I agree with this. But saying that inner healing and deliverance is self-focused is just flat out wrong.
Many will say that we should forget about our past and look to the future because we are a new creation and the old self is dead and buried. If you are born again then the fact that you are a new creation is true, but does that mean all the baggage from the past just disappears like it was never there? There may be some deliverance that takes place when one surrenders their life to the Lord, but it's only a small portion of the deliverance that is needed. In my personal testimony, the Lord set me free of some things when I repented, surrendered to Him, and buried my old life through water baptism. But this was only the beginning, I still had more deliverance and inner healing to go through.
The Lord Jesus wants to bind up (heal) the broken hearted, just as it states in scripture. Jesus wants us to be whole, He wants to pick up every piece of our broken heart or soul and put them all back in their rightful place where He created them to be originally. Jesus also desires a deep relationship with us, an intimate relationship. Facing your past wounds with Him and allowing Him to heal them is one of the deepest forms of intimacy with Jesus. He loves to do this for His children. This is absolutely not self-centered or self-focused.
There are many reason that having unhealed wounds from our past and from childhood can be very problematic. Allow me to list a few...
Unhealed wounds can...
Be a legal right for demons to come back, or for demons to stay in someone's life. If a demon has a legal right to stay, it will not leave no matter what. Someone could try to go to all kinds of deliverance ministries for a problem, but if the evil spirit has a legal right, the minister could try casting it out all day long and it would do nothing. The legal right has to be taken care of, and sometimes the legal right stands within an unhealed wound. Once the wound is healed by Jesus, deliverance comes to that area.
Be the reason that someone has a core belief system based on lies from the enemy. The wounds that we have from the traumas of our past create lies that we believe about ourselves and who we are etc... This becomes part of our core belief system for the rest of our lives if we don't allow Jesus to heal these wounds and correct these lies with His truth.
Be the reason that hindrances, blockages, and delay keep happening. These things get in the way of our God-given purpose and destiny. If we have these unhealed wounds, and carrying around demons, we will not be able to properly carry out our purpose here on this earth. We will not be able to become the man or woman that God created us to be. I don't know about you, but I want to become the man that God created me to be, and I don't want demons or unhealed wounds to hinder this at all. It is the Lord's will that we carry out our purpose and plan that He has created each and every one of us for, and He loves to work with us through inner healing and deliverance to help us get there. From Glory to Glory with Jesus, becoming more and more like Him, as long as we let Him do it, He loves to do it! He loves to heal and deliver!
I could go on and on and on about this, but I think by now you get the point. It is just not true that inner healing and deliverance is self-focused. This idea is based on ignorance of the subjects, and much misunderstanding. EVERYONE has wounds from their past from hurts and traumas, and Jesus wants to heal those wounds. It is a lie that we should neglect or ignore these things. These things are detrimental to our progress in our walk with Jesus. Jesus wants to take your hand and walk with you through a journey with Him, from Glory to Glory!
With all of this being said, there is a way that deliverance can be dangerous. Deliverance can be dangerous to someone who is seeking deliverance but not seeking the Deliverer Himself. This can cause all kinds of problems. This can result in falling down a cycle that I call "The Deliverance Rabbit Hole." You can read all about that in my blog post called "The Dark Side of Deliverance Ministry."
In this article, I have only scratched the surface of this topic. If you'd like to know more about what was talked about in this post, check out the resources in these links below. Make sure to sure to check out the other blog posts as well. Much blessings!
Trauma & Mental Illness
Books Written by Mason Ledbetter
Online Courses
Book a Session With Mason
HFD Ministries Community Group
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