My reading of Scripture tells me that there is a civil war going on in the soul of every follower of Jesus.

Here is how the Apostle Paul puts it to the Galatians: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (5:16-17 ESV)

My reading of my own life as an ardent follower of Jesus leads me to the same conclusion. As much as I want to never be unloving towards God, my wife and my friends, I probably daily blow my opportunities to be Christ-like. I’m not always burning for Jesus.

I am secure in my identity as a son of God so these failings have nothing to do with salvation or self-worth. They have everything to do with a deep down, Spirit-bred, desire to be increasingly conformed to the image of Jesus.

It is because of this internal tension that I advocate for the healing of the soul. Jesus had no unforgiveness, no bitter roots, no judgementalism in him. He did not base his life on false beliefs. Yet we do … all the time. We hold onto grudges, constantly make unwarranted judgements, are often full of bitterness and live our lives based on lies that we have (unconsciously) believed.

When I dedicated my life to following Jesus wholeheartedly I knew I had to change some things that were wrong. Some of these fell away overnight. I just stopped “cold turkey” with no effort. However, there were some other behavioural patterns that stayed with me that I couldn’t shake – even after becoming a missionary! I lived with the powerlessness that being a victim brings, even though my ministry showed outward signs of success.

It was not until I came back to Toronto, began to attend a church that specializes in healing the heart, that I found freedom from these lifelong chains. Not only was I freed (over 20 years ago), I learned tools to manage my inner life better and to help others in their journey to freedom from brokenness and demonic forces.

Yes, indeed we are a new creation when we are born again by God’s Spirit (2 Cor 5:17). A newborn baby is still as entirely human as a fully grown adult. Yet a newborn baby hasn’t matured (been perfected) into her humanity and this is her lifelong task.  Similarly in the spirit, the goal of a newborn son of God is to grow into his mature image – the image of Jesus.

Let’s embrace the lifelong task of growing into the image of Jesus by pursing deep-level  healing. Let’s avail ourselves of tools that help this process.  It’s all about becoming what we already are in him.

 

Here are two other related blogs: Lies We Believe ;  Processing Our Family Tree 

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash