1 John 3:21-22
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.
One of the challenges to receiving our healing is our own hearts. Sometimes our own heart condemns us so that we are unable to accept the healing that God freely offers. Worst of all, these condemning thoughts and beliefs are often buried deeply enough that, lest we take some serious time surveying our beliefs, we likely do not realize the rubbish our hearts are holding on to. The damning beliefs are not in the thoughts of our minds, but rather the beliefs of our hearts. Therefore, a person may take account of their thoughts and pass their check-up. It’s only when we go deeper into the firmly held beliefs of our hearts that we find the truth. The thoughts that we have secreted away in our hearts are the ones that affect our health, for good or ill.
The two ramifications of this kind of heart disease is that, first, we make ourselves sick with our toxic emotions. We have nasty junk that is buried in the fertile fiber of our hearts. It is like planting a cancer cell in nice, rich, moist loam. It takes root and begins to grow and spread. It may take a year, two or twenty but eventually those unhealed emotions make our bodies sick. The body will fight it off as long as it can, but those noxious seeds will eventually bear fruit, bad fruit.
The second result, as today’s scripture makes clear, is that we cannot receive our prayer answers. Our hearts will not allow us to receive the goodness that God is sending to us. No matter how often you pray or who prays for you, your heart could block the reception. It’s just like an American football receiver who doesn’t make the catch because a defender has batted the ball away from his hands.
Two of the worst culprits are unforgiveness and unworthiness. It you believe, not in your mind, but down in your heart, that you are unworthy of God’s grace, then your heart will condemn you and you will not be able to receive God’s goodness. His healing will be blocked by your own heart and feelings of unworthiness.
The same is true if you are living with unforgiveness in your heart. Frankly, there are people who don’t deserve your forgiveness. They don’t deserve grace or mercy, but this Word of the Day isn’t written for them. It is written for you. I want you to forgive them so you can get well. I want you to forgive them so that you don’t make yourself sick.
Emotional healing is often the way to physical healing and emotional healing is part of the health package that God sent Jesus to deliver to us. Jesus can heal those emotions as easily as he can heal a body. God made your spirit and soul, not just your body. He sees the scar tissue and injuries on your spirit even if you can’t. There are actual scars there and He wants to heal them for you.
You’ll have to take some time with God and that is why some people don’t heal. People are in such a hurry these days, so busy that they don’t have time to spend in quiet contemplation with God. I mean, it may take a whole half hour. It may even take longer. What is it worth to you to be whole? The other obstacle is that people are afraid of their emotions. They are afraid of emotional hurt. I get it, emotional hurt is painful. However, if you deal with emotional injuries, the pain is short term, surprisingly short, in fact. Suppressing emotions is what becomes not only chronically painful but causes sickness in our bodies. Many people would rather bury their hurtful emotions allowing the pain to continue for a long time than to face them and be done with them once and for all. Don’t be like those naïve people. Allow the master to touch your emotions and deep-seated beliefs. Be healed in your emotions; be healed in your body.