Your Healing Begins Now
Did you know that it’s God’s will for you to live in Joy and Peace? Psalm 23:6 is a promise to All of us, “Surely Goodness and Lovingkindness Will Follow me ALL the Days of my Life, and I will dwell (remain) in the House of the Lord Forever.” The Word Goodness in this verse is the Hebrew word, Tob, and it means: Happiness, Welfare and Prosperity, a Good thing. Jeremiah 29:11, God promises, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, “Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you Hope and a future.” Another promise that comes to mind is, “Every GOOD and Perfect Gift comes down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow,” James 1:17.
There are many words described in the scriptures that teach us about God’s Goodness, Psalm 103 says, “Bless the Lord, Oh my soul, and Forget Not All His Benefits; who pardons all your iniquities (guilt) Who Heals All your diseases, who redeams (delivers) your life from the pit (grave), Who Crowns You with Lovingkindess and compassion; Who satisfies Your Life with GOOD things (that’s the word Tob again, Happiness, Welfare (another word for Good things) Prosperity) so that your Youth is renewed like the Eagles, V6, The LORD performs righteous deeds, and judgments for All who are oppressed (oppression, trauma, bad things – in simpler terms, God who is our Savior, our Deliverer, who brings Only Good things, Delivers us from oppression.) The Lord is compassionate and Gracious, slow to anger, and Abounding in Lovingkindess (goodness, lovingkindness, faithfulness) V11, so as high as the heavens are above the earth, so Great is His Lovingkindness toward those who fear (Fear: to honor, respect, reverence, stand in awe of) Him. V13, Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. V17, But the Lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, To those who Keep (Keep: Guard, Observe, Give Heed) His Covenant, and Remember His precepts to Do them. V22, Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In All places of dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
If you notice, just in these verses alone, we see that the Lord is GOOD! He does now bring hurt or harm to anyone, that is oppression, and oppression is not from God, they are evil forces at work. Psalm says that evil is Not permitted in the presence of God. James 1:13, which says, “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.” This verse emphasizes God’s Goodness, and that evil is contrary to His nature, as the word of God says, that “God is Love.” 1 John 4:8. Psalm 107:1 says, ‘Oh give Thanks to the LORD for He is Good.” Again that word Good in Hebrew is Tob, and it’s referenced 364 times in the Bible.
The reason why I wanted to spend time on the Biblical fact that God is GOOD, and that there is No evil in Him, is to help us form a mental picture in our “mind” that any evil that we have encountered, or are experiencing now is Not God, nor is it His will for us.
When we look at the Life of Jesus, we Only see and read how “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing GOOD, and healing All that are oppressed of the devil, for God was with Him.” Acts 10:38. And in order for us to walk and Live in Health and Healing both for our soul (mind, will emotions) and our body, we must understand and “renew” our mind that God is our Helper, our Deliverer, and our Healer, and He did it All through the person of His Son Jesus Christ. So that when situations arise that are NOT Good, we can quickly begin to think about what God and His Word says about that situation, we can KNOW that evil behavior in others is NOT the will of God for them nor for us, and we can begin to learn and know that this evil behavior is inspired by the devil, and for the believer, we have the ability to Resist this temptation of evil that does not come from God, but is from our enemy, the same enemy that presented himself in the Garden of Eden to Tempt both Adam and the Woman, and that because of Jesus, He has given us His Name, His Authority, and the Promise of His Word, so that when the evil day is present, we can “Stand” and Not get knocked down, but to “Stand” by putting on the Armor of God. This armor is not a physical armor, but is of His Spirit, through the Power of His Name, His Word and our Prayer of Faith will help Change the Course of our Life!
We see this Armor that Comes from God, that is designed to help deliver us, and help us Overcome any evil that presents itself: Let’s take a look:
THE ARMOR OF GOD, Ephesians 6:10-18, “ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,”
Notice the beginning of this context: “Be Strong in the Lord, and in the Strength of His Might, PUT ON the Full armor of God…” Did you see that? We’re encouraged and equipped to Be Strong, by PUTTING ON, the FULL Armor of God. This means that God does not do it for us, we have a role to play.
I understand that many have been told that God is in control, well, that is partially true, but God gave us a Freewill to “choose.” Yes, He did Deliver us through what His Son Jesus did on the Cross, but we have a Role to play, we are instructed to do something, to take Action, by Putting On His Armor.
The Best way I can help you to understand, and what helps me every time evil presents itself, is that, along with the rest of God’s armor, two major elements that play a major role in this armor, one is the “Shield of Faith” of which I will Quench EVERY fiery dart of the evil one” and the second is, “and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” and Pray; Pray by speaking His Word over the situation, and also Praying in the Spirit.” This my friend is How we have Victory, and this is how we Overcome the evil in this life. 1 John 5:4.
In order to do this, you are going to have to read the Word of God for yourself, and find out “who” you are in Christ Jesus, and that Christ Jesus Himself is in You, “The Same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, LIVES IN YOU” Romans 8:11, Knowing this gives us confidence that we are Not alone! And not only is He by your side wherever you are and wherever you go, (Psalm 139 NLT) He, Jesus Lives in you by His Spirit, and remember His Word is Spirit and Life, and it is this Word, this Powerful Word, that when Spoken will cause the enemy to flee, yes, Satan the devil will Flee! “Resist the devil and he will flee” James 4:7 says, that we are to “Submit therefore to God, RESIST the devil and he will flee from you. V8, Draw Near to God and He will draw near to You.”
When we call out to God to Help us, yes, He is there, but He also requires us to “Stand” Speak the Word of God by Faith, and the Lord promises the devil will Flee!
And when in a situation where there is strife, don’t fight by lashing out at the person who is being unkind with their words, go to a quiet place, (as the scriptures tell us, “Where there is strife, there is confusion and Every EVIL work.” James 3:16.) Pray to God, and begin to declare the word of God over that situation, dont’ allow words of strife to continue, because there is No good in that, as James 3:6 says, “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by Hell itself.” Such words can cause “corruption” to the body, this means they can produce sickness, disease, and mental anguish, we don’t want that. This is why it is imperative that we speak God’s Word, which are always Good over that person and situation, “Kind words are like Honey, sweet to the soul and healing to the body.” Proverbs 16:24.
We cannot control how others treat us, But we Can control how we respond and what we “think” about the situation. Our “thoughts” have Power, whether Good or bad, we want the “Good” because when we constantly entertain bad thoughts about a person(s) greatly affects our life; our thoughts about the situation, (past, present or future) can either be toxic, (the Bible identifies these thoughts as Strongholds, High thoughts, (2 Corinthians 10:5) and these toxic strongholds can become barriers to our healing,) or, our thoughts can produce Peace and tranquility, and this Peace helps initiate Healing to our soul (mind) and to our body. “Now may the God of Peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit, and soul, (mind, will and emotions) and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23.
In future posts, we will continue to talk about our thoughts and how to replace the bad with Good. we will also look at verbal abuse, how to recognize and learn about these behaviors in others, and what we can do about it, and bring healing to our lives and relationships.
If you are in physical danger call 911. National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, in Florida call, 1-800-96abuse.
