When it comes to healing from emotional hurst there is no really set checklist as to do this step then this one and so on. Each person is different and will heal differently. The only one true step that must take place first is that we confess our sins.
Confession Of Sin
This is the only step that has to be done in order. The reason is that without asking God to forgive us our sins God is un able to work in our lives. Does this mean dealing with bitterness? Yes, bitterness is due to our unwillingness to forgive the person that hurt us. Check out what John Piper said about bitterness, "This is probably not just a one-way thing and your fault only. But the solution is not to fix the other person. The solution is to gain a heart that is over-flowingly thankful for grace from Christ and that spills over with grace towards others.". You can read the rest of his article on bitterness at: http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-cant-i-overcome-my-bitterness-and-anger#
King David wrestled with unconfessed sin, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah" (Psalm 32:1-5 ESV)
Be Ready For Action
Once again in Job chapter 40, God tells Job to dress like a man in action, in other words gird up you loins. God is wanting Job to be read your to be on the move, nothing Getting in the way of his feet. Back then when a man would gird his loins, he would reach between his legs, grab the hem of the back of his garment, pull it between his legs and tuck it into hie belt in the front. That way his feet would not get tangled in it and he was able to move swiftly.
As a Cristian we need to be ready and able to move through life without anything getting in our way tripping us up. One of the best ways to do this is by putting on the armor if God daily. We will look in depth to this in our next study on prayer, for now: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," (Ephesians 6:13-17 ESV)
Put The Past Behind
By putting the past behind us we are no longer allowing it to control us. There is nothing that we can do to change it, thus it is perfect. It has shaped us into who we are. The only thing that we can do with the past is learn from it.
When we live in the past and keep reliving the hurt over and over again, it only makes it that much harder for us to forgive the person for the hurt. It just keeps feeding the bitterness fire. We end up hurting ourselves in the long haul by living in the past.
Get Rid Of The Poor Me Syndrome
What is the poor me syndrome? It is the negative self talk that we have going on in our head. This goes 100% against how God sees us. We start worrying and caring more about what others think of us than what God does. When we fail at something we keep telling ourselves we are no good, we can't do anything right and so on.
Poor me stands in the way of us being who God has called us to be. It hinders us from reaching out to others because of fear of rejection. Missing out on the blessing that God has in store for us.
I think the person that ever had the biggest case of the Poor Me Syndrome was Petter. Not only did he deny that he knew Jesus, he did it three times just like Jesus said he would, even after he swore that he wouldn't do it. That had to hit hard when the rooster crowed and he realized that he had failed to keep his promise. Can you imagine his negative going off in his head?
Be Confident In Yourself
God wants us to be confident in who we are and not in who other say we should be. There is no way we can live up to what we think others think we should be like. Let God's challenge to Job also be ours. Job lost everything even his pride was beaten out of him not just by what happened to him but by his friends. "“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor." (Job 40:10 ESV)
Be Confident In How God Sees You
So how does God see us? One of my favorite ways to see myself as God sees me is to read Psalm 139. He sees us as sons and daughters with full rights as Jesus has, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." (Romans 8:15-17 ESV)
We are a royal priesthood set apart to do good works, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV)
So when people tell you that you can't do anything remember that is not how God sees you. You + God = Can do ANYTHING!!!!!
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13 ESV)
Confession Of Sin
This is the only step that has to be done in order. The reason is that without asking God to forgive us our sins God is un able to work in our lives. Does this mean dealing with bitterness? Yes, bitterness is due to our unwillingness to forgive the person that hurt us. Check out what John Piper said about bitterness, "This is probably not just a one-way thing and your fault only. But the solution is not to fix the other person. The solution is to gain a heart that is over-flowingly thankful for grace from Christ and that spills over with grace towards others.". You can read the rest of his article on bitterness at: http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/why-cant-i-overcome-my-bitterness-and-anger#
King David wrestled with unconfessed sin, "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah" (Psalm 32:1-5 ESV)
Be Ready For Action
Once again in Job chapter 40, God tells Job to dress like a man in action, in other words gird up you loins. God is wanting Job to be read your to be on the move, nothing Getting in the way of his feet. Back then when a man would gird his loins, he would reach between his legs, grab the hem of the back of his garment, pull it between his legs and tuck it into hie belt in the front. That way his feet would not get tangled in it and he was able to move swiftly.
As a Cristian we need to be ready and able to move through life without anything getting in our way tripping us up. One of the best ways to do this is by putting on the armor if God daily. We will look in depth to this in our next study on prayer, for now: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," (Ephesians 6:13-17 ESV)
Put The Past Behind
By putting the past behind us we are no longer allowing it to control us. There is nothing that we can do to change it, thus it is perfect. It has shaped us into who we are. The only thing that we can do with the past is learn from it.
When we live in the past and keep reliving the hurt over and over again, it only makes it that much harder for us to forgive the person for the hurt. It just keeps feeding the bitterness fire. We end up hurting ourselves in the long haul by living in the past.
Get Rid Of The Poor Me Syndrome
What is the poor me syndrome? It is the negative self talk that we have going on in our head. This goes 100% against how God sees us. We start worrying and caring more about what others think of us than what God does. When we fail at something we keep telling ourselves we are no good, we can't do anything right and so on.
Poor me stands in the way of us being who God has called us to be. It hinders us from reaching out to others because of fear of rejection. Missing out on the blessing that God has in store for us.
I think the person that ever had the biggest case of the Poor Me Syndrome was Petter. Not only did he deny that he knew Jesus, he did it three times just like Jesus said he would, even after he swore that he wouldn't do it. That had to hit hard when the rooster crowed and he realized that he had failed to keep his promise. Can you imagine his negative going off in his head?
Be Confident In Yourself
God wants us to be confident in who we are and not in who other say we should be. There is no way we can live up to what we think others think we should be like. Let God's challenge to Job also be ours. Job lost everything even his pride was beaten out of him not just by what happened to him but by his friends. "“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor." (Job 40:10 ESV)
Be Confident In How God Sees You
So how does God see us? One of my favorite ways to see myself as God sees me is to read Psalm 139. He sees us as sons and daughters with full rights as Jesus has, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him." (Romans 8:15-17 ESV)
We are a royal priesthood set apart to do good works, "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV)
So when people tell you that you can't do anything remember that is not how God sees you. You + God = Can do ANYTHING!!!!!
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13 ESV)