Inner Healing Notes
I had read about this topic for years and never really “got it” until a friend with much experience prayed with me and I began to see terrific external, circumstantial changes from it.
For instance, we prayed about a "wound" in me regarding music and right after that I received several distinct blessings, such as an electric guitar I could not get to work properly for years, suddenly operating perfectly. In various areas of audio, this happened eight times in three weeks. It was a flood of flavor.
General
Every area where a person cooperates with the ugly lie that God does not love them, will be an area of unnecessary suffering that needs healing.
However, frequently this is unconscious to a person, who is unaware the pain is a result of a break with God.
Candidate Areas
- Any area where you experience pain can/should be brought to God, the Healer.
- Often a person will fail to address the root cause because it’s too hard to deal with. This is analogous to a person who has a bullet in their leg and keeps taking sedatives rather than removing the bullet. Unfortunately, this is the normal coping method.
- To address the root issue, a person must be willing to go into the areas of the heart that have the deepest pain. This requires courage, but it’s the healthiest response you can make. You're not to focus on the pain, but simply see it as a clue to the bullet location.
- If an area in life has a pattern of consistent, persistent failure (as if it’s under a curse), especially where God has promised you blessing, then this is a candidate area for healing prayer. (Note: It may feel like you can’t get ahead no matter how much effort is expended. But it doesn’t matter how much money you are making, if the devil is stealing from your bank account. You’ve got to stop the leak first.)
To help the healing, let’s decipher four terms used by inner healers:
Vows, Systems, Soul Ties, Wounds
1. Vows
- A “vow” is a promise to a lie, usually as an unhealthy response to a wound. This act of the will is not merely a cooperation with the lie, but a promise to it. (Note since there are good vows, like marriage vows, perhaps it’s better called something like “an unhealthy vow”.)
- This can be an unconscious promise. For example, when someone gets hurt they may implicitly say “I’ll be in total control next time and never let this happen again.” If this is the statement your spirit is making to God, then unnecessary trouble will result —because you're relying on a lie that you can cover for yourself independent of God.
2, Systems
- A “system” is a set of related lies. (You can also have a vow to a system.)
- Because system lies are coordinated, harassing demons need not exert as much effort, since you are already submitting to the prison system. But when you try to leave the prison, that's when you get attacked by the prison guard, and will remain in bondage. (The attack may be felt in the form of things such as unusually bad "luck".)
3. Soul Ties
- Lies may be passed from another person (e.g., a family member) who has cooperated with the lies. A common avenue is via a “soul tie”, which is an unhealthy trusted connection with another person, esp. a manipulative person. (God's freedom never comes from submission to manipulation.)
- A soul tie is an open, automatic flow from one to another, like having a login share on a network for access to certain folders – you’ll receive the good and bad from the other; e.g., clean files and viruses. (Note: the phrase “soul tie” usually refers to negative connections, but can be positive ones too.)
- A good soul tie requires that the two parties are free (not under manipulation), and that the relationship leads to good; e.g., more love of God. (Note that even if the soul tie is good, it may not necessarily be God’s will for that time.)
- A soul tie can go two ways, where both are hooked. This may be because two people have “opposite wounds.” For example, one person feels they must control another, and the other person feels they must be dominated.
- (A “hook” is a quality that can act as an opportunity for another to establish a soul tie. You are snagged because of an open weakness. Technically, there are good hooks, but they are not usually referred to as hooks.)
4. Wounds
- Here's where it all starts. A common entrance for vows, systems, and soul ties is via a “wound” which refers to any place of suffering where you haven’t been healed on the inside. Any wound acts as an opportunity to invite God in or not. This is the key.
- The act of relying on the self for healing and keeping God out is called a “self-protection”. Self-protection allows an evil spirit an opportunity to access your spirit, since it's not protected by the Holy Spirit.
- Someone can have God in their life, but still experience bondage in a particular area, if that area is self-protected.
Now that we have a foundational understanding, here’s the process for release.
Healing the Individual
- The key to healing is significantly allowing God into the area of the wound.
- A person should break agreement with the lie and then invite God into it. It's helpful to do this vocally, with another person, and repeated if necessary.
- When the lie is rejected, God will work in the opposite action in the truth of love.
- Ask God’s forgiveness for any role you’ve had in cooperating with the lie.
- This one is absolutely central: Forgive anyone involved with the issue, who may have consciously or unconsciously cooperated with the lie. Refuse to hold a grudge.
- The prayer is normally experiential, though you may or may not sense an immediate release.
- If possible, go to the pain, experience it in your heart and bring God into it. Shared experience is a bonder and this will help move God's heart and/or solidify your healing.
- It’s extremely helpful to have at least one person involved who has a prophetic gift.
- When speaking the prayers of healing, listen in your spirit for any that "jump out" that the Spirit might be trying to highlight to you and then bring God directly into them.
- God’s Spirit is love. God’s help will result in genuine change.
Here’s an example:
I was expressing to a friend heavy frustration at the pathetic preaching of a local church when she said we should bring God into it for healing. In my self-righteousness, it didn’t initially occur to me as a candidate for healing prayer, but made sense after she brought it up.
So I invited God into the issue, clearly and directly, in front of the other person. I asked God’s forgiveness for the bitterness, and I forgave the church.
The next day when I drove by the church I was shocked to notice that the automatic, involuntary revulsion that normally happened to me upon passing it, did not happen. I felt a surprising peace about it. The preaching hadn’t changed there, but I was healed of its negative impact on me.
Generational Healing
All the topics above affect not just individual people, but also family lines.
- Remember that God deals with groups as well as individuals. God will relate to you directly, but also via your family. In part, your being is a result of those that contribute to your identity (e.g., your parents).
- Someone must invite God into the family line and act as a representative intercessor. Ideally an authority for the family does this, but too often the authority becomes defective. When this happens, it can be like a child who is in better standing with God, acting as a spiritual representative for the parent. You can stand in the gap when the current authority fails. Another analogy for this is when a soldier dies in battle, a war photographer can pick up his rifle and fight. The normal authority is superseded based upon mitigating circumstances.
- When your family is in bondage, the same healing prayers must be applied to the family by at least one representative. (Generally, the more family members that can participate, the better.) Often the first one in the family to break the prison system will experience pressure from the demonic prison guards.
- However, when God’s freedom is released for one, the family may begin to experience release. Prayers for the family will expedite the process for everybody.
- God is familial; a community of one. This is why the prayers for the family have such a powerful, synergistic effect.
Getting Free
You are not a prisoner—do not act as if you still are. Christ has set the captives free and you are free indeed. Do not let the devil deceive you into believing you are bound. I have given you the keys to be loosed from all your chains forged in this life.
Even in the times you appear imprisoned, I say "you are free." Like Paul and Silas, though in jail, their freedom was there all the time. And as soon as they acted on the grace apportioned them for that situation, down came the walls, and the enemy scattered. Are you any less than they as God's children?
I long to keep you free so you can take the keys of freedom to them that are still truly bound. My people are free, they are joyful, able to enjoy life as I have created it to be lived. Walk in your freedom—stand tall. If there's one thing I need for My flock, it is they be free—free to love, serve, and obey. For it is in this freedom that I can know you and see you and you can experience My life for you.