Holy Rewired - "Emotional Healing"

In this chapter on emotional healing, the author contends that our "sinful behavior is emotionally based."

Phillips points out that in Galatians 5:16-22 there are two key words related to the sins of the flesh: 'crave' and 'desires'. "These are emotional words, not rational or logical words...The journey towards wholeness takes place when the Spirit replaces our broken emotions (that express discontent with ourselves, others, and God) with healthy emotions that express a person's life 'in Christ.' We live out of our emotions so to bring wholeness we need emotional healing."

For example, if we erupt in anger at a person in another car who cut us off on the highway, it could be an emotional reaction to a distant memory, or it could be simply fear in general. In either case, it's an emotional response.

Here is where the disciplines spoken of in the previous chapter are important for our healing and progress in faith. For example, by spending time reading and meditating on the Word of God (under the inspiration of the Spirit), "we allow the Holy Spirit to bring to mind the motivation behind our behavior, which will be emotional."

If it is general fear which all fallen humans experience, then continual immersing of our hearts and minds in the truth about God in His Word will incrementally renew our fallen mind to increasingly trust His control over our lives. This doesn't mean we ever reach a point of not experiencing the emotion of fear, but it loses its power to paralyze us and to keep us from advancing in Him and in His purposes.

If our sinful reaction is rooted in a past emotional memory, then it's important to deal with that unhealed memory. This "requires that the person confront his emotional pain rather than avoid it. The person needs to re-experience the emotions and feelings associated with emotional memories so that he or she can understand them and accept them as being a part of life. By 're-owning' experiences, the person understands he has a right to the resulting emotions...he can (then) develop hope."

This hope arises when one realizes that he is the agent (not a mere victim) involved in the feeling and therefore can do something about it. "While a sense of agency may not yet provide a concrete plan of action, there is a feeling of confidence that action is possible and that change can occur. As a person experiences hope, he becomes excited about the possible future...Hope engages the spirit and raises the energy level, causing the person to act.

"Hope believes that there is a chance for a future that is positively different from how we live and act today...That hope, however, must not be misplaced hope...The hope that can transform us is not hope in ourselves or hope in another person. Hope is found only in Christ. Nevertheless, like so many aspects of relationships, hope must be developed. It is a process. Romans 5:1-5"

The chapter ends with the author reminding us that our present experience as believers in Jesus is not only one of peace but of suffering. However, this suffering is part of a larger storyline that ends with a magnificent hope.

So even our experiences of being emotionally wounded, when dealt with in the context of the cross and hope, are part of what it means to suffer in this age. Committed into the hands of Jesus, this suffering can produce "endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment..." Romans 5:1-5 (NLT)

"Sufferings, struggles, and times of testing put stress on our life, and that stress reveals our heart. Our emotions are revealed, creating an opportunity not only to demonstrate how those emotions drive our behavior but what circumstances trigger that behavior. If we can uncover the experience, we can release the experience (into the hands of Jesus), providing emotional healing. The experience does not control us any more. God's enemy, Satan, cannot use that pain to manipulate us or deceive us any more...Others are unable to manipulate us. The testing and trials develop endurance, or patience. Patience...is contentment, not with ourselves or our situation, but contentment in the One who has placed us in that situation...As character develops, people are unable to guilt us into action...Character gives us a foundation of living that allows us to put in place boundaries that keep emotional manipulation from occurring."

The next chapter will deal with the practicals of rewiring the brain so that our emotions align with truth. Have a blessed week in the love of God!