Heart Healing

At a Center Lake Bible Camp staff reunion we were recently asked this question: how did Jesus do His ministry.  How did Jesus do His ministry?  One of the things the Lord has revealed to me about ministry through my time at camp is this: you have a choice of where you’re going to fix your focus.  Time and time again I see kids come to camp with behavior “problems”.  It may come in the form of running away, defiance, fighting, or even the refusal to eat.  I think we can all agree that these expressions are frustrating.  This is where the choice comes in.  We can spend the precious week we have with these aching kiddos by cracking down on the behavior and trying to force change or we can look at the heart issue.  We can pray and invite Jesus to heal the much deeper problem at hand.  Because that’s just it, Jesus was/is always focused on the heart, and when healing takes place at the root problem you see the real transformation of the outward expressions or behavioral “problems”.  

I think one of the greatest pictures of this is found in Luke 5:

“17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.  18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.  20 And when he saw their faith, he said, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’  21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’  22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, ‘Why do you question in your hearts?  23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?  24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the man who was paralyzed—‘I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.’  25 And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God.  26 And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, ‘We have seen extraordinary things today.’”

I think we tend to put an emphasis on the physical healing of outward expressions, but Jesus came to heal the heart.  He came to wage war on sin and He won.  This passage doesn’t put a lot of focus on the paralytic’s response to Jesus healing him—but I have to believe that the real freedom came not when he got up to walk, but when the weight of every evil word, thought, and deed was taken from him.  That’s freedom.  That’s weightlessness.  That’s true mobility.  The power and freedom that can only come from being washed clean—given new and everlasting life.  An eternity of moving and dancing and praising the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Clearly Jesus is faithful to heal physical ailments and outward expressions of inward brokenness—but I’ve just been challenged to ask myself where are you fixing your focus?  

Here’s the real kicker.  I think it becomes easy to see when we are focusing on someone else’s outward expressions instead of asking Jesus to come and heal their inward brokenness—which is always the root problem.  But, what about our own?  What about all the times we get so frustrated that our mind still goes back to that place?  Or we are still fighting that addiction, that bitterness, that jealousy?  This morning I was asking God to search my heart and lead me to repentance and He was faithful to do that.  Lately, I have been fighting against distractedness and longing for change.  My game plan was to focus on scripture memorization when my mind started to wander that direction—which sounded like a pretty good plan to me—until I asked God more about it.  He met me in that moment and this is what came flowing out of my pen and onto my journal:

“Lord I pray that you would search my heart and reveal to me if there be any grievous way in me.  Lead me to complete repentance and draw me closer to you. 

Lord, I confess to you that I have been living in dreamland and as a result have been living in jealousy.  But just like a child at camp when we become so focused on fixing the behavior ‘problem’ we forget to look at the roots.  Why are they acting this way?  What is the cause?  Jesus always looked at the heart.  You always saw a behavior problem for what is was—a deeper heart issue—and that’s what you wanted to heal.  That’s the bondage you want to free us from.  I confess to you that I have fallen into a trap of trying to ‘fix’ the outward expression of an inward sin issue.  Lord, I think my real confession needs to be that I haven’t been giving myself over to your sovereignty and trusting in your providence.  I’ve been worried that my future is not going to look exactly how I want it to and instead of bringing my heart/sin issue of lacking to trust your goodness and your plan I’ve been giving myself whiplash—every time my mind goes to picturing the perfect future I try to crank my focus the other direction.  I try to stop the trail of thoughts dead in their tracks and the worst part is I try to do it in my own strength.  I have been denying you a heart open to you healing the root problem—just like all those times at camp when we try to bandage the superficial wound instead of laying the deep heart wound at your feet.”

God wants to heal completely, not bandage for now.  I think we can be so hard on ourselves for continually going back to a mindset, to an idol, to an addiction—but what would happen if instead of focusing on all the changes that need to be made we asked for healing from The One who can change all things.  The One who came to heal and did.  The only One who has the power to rewrite, restore, and redeem.  I have been challenged to stop trying to change behavior and instead to lay the problem at Jesus’ feet, humbly asking to be healed.  God is speaking to me and my prayer is that He would be speaking to you too.  What is the deep heart issue you are longing to be freed from?  Jesus is faithful to heal.