Heal the Soul

                                                    Rev A.J.J. Dhas
                                                                                                                                                      

“ The spirit of the Lord is upon me to heal the soul” Luke 4:17, 18.
Soul sickness is the common problem of the day. It is also referred to as ‘Broken hearted’ or soul injury. This describes the inner
hurts of the soul. This eventually leads one to physical sickness and death of the body. It is what happened with the paralysed man
of whom we see in Lk 5: 17-26.
Many Christians suffer from painful scars of the soul. As a result they doubt the present and fear the future. They have their answers
in their head but not in life because they are unable to put it into practice.
It is difficult to be our best spiritually when we are sick emotionally or physically. When we are ill in mind or body it affects our
work and our witness to God. The flow of the Holy Spirit in life would be limited. That is why Apostle John prays ‘that you may
prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers.’ 3Jn:2
Spiritual problems produce soul problems and in turn they produce physical problems. An unbroken chain links the three. Many in
the ministry are not aware of the deeper levels of need in the soul of the people. To get the awareness firstly we need to know
I. The kind of hurts that make lasting injuries or heavy damages upon the soul.
Injuries caused by our parents or dear ones:
Unkind, unwise and unfair words and deeds can either cause fear or anger in the hearts of children as well as adults.
I. Physical abuse: Some parents, husbands and even some wives are very harsh and critical. They never praise and
encourage the other in the family. Some even resort to physical abuse and cruel beating. The personality and the emotions ie
the soul as well as the body gets severely damaged. The inner scars when not healed are often carried into the entire later
life.
II. Emotional Abuse: Far worse than welts and wounds are the unseen wounds of overly critical parents. The scars of the
soul develop emotional problem. It affects their relationships in the family , in school and or in all other working places.
They have low self-esteem, they cannot picture themselves in anything successful. They are afraid to take on new tasks
or even prepare themselves for a better position in life. They have been put down, berated, criticized so many times, that
they lose their hope and live under a cloud of self doubt and personal insecurity. All these some times lead them to
revenging activities, which results in guilty conscience.
Injuries caused by our sins:
God gave us laws from His fatherly love to keep us from injury, hurt and pain. When you break them you end up with a broken
heart or soul. Not only we but because of our sin others suffer too. For example, an excessive alcoholic not only spoils his health
but also injures his wife and children physically and mentally. They ignore the needs, welfare and growth of the children and other
family members.
Sexual sins dominate here. ‘ Who ever commits adultery physically or mentally or by looking at pictures, films of opposite sex or by
listening to simulative love songs of films is a total fool. He destroys his own soul. He will be wounded and disgraced. His shame
will never be wiped away.’ Pro. 6:32,33.
But society says differently. Modern society wants to lift all moral limits. Some say that as long as no one objects any kind of
sexual activity is all right. Open sex is considered to be the mark of maturity and freedom. But the word of God plainly forbids
immoral behaviour and warns of the painful results both to the individual and society. To ignore the truth is to invite tragedy.
Injuries caused by other sins: Peter asks to resist and remove yourself from the strong desires and lusts of flesh because these
things war against one’s soul. St. Paul lists some of the works of the flesh and warns not to 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. St. Paul further warns that these are not
only opposed to each other but they also prevent you from doing what you would Gal 5: 16 – 21
I. Effect of the Hurts in our life?
At first our life is affected. Works of flesh are planned and planted tactfully by the devil to damage the soul and to separate
it from the creator. It leaves us wounded and weakened from within. Our lives are robbed, wasted and destroyed.
A nation that permits and encourages such fleshy activities through media commits social suicide. It sows the seeds of death and
destruction among its own people. Thus the society is also affected. At the social level moral standards fall and crime rates rise.
When the people of a nation are sick how can that nation be well and safe.
I. Escape from these perils of death.
We have a choice and chance because God has given it graciously. Jesus warned His disciples, “Devil has come to steal
and destroy , but I have come that you may have life, full and overflowing” Jn 10:10
Sin is not cheap . It costs a great deal to serve the devil. But when we draw near to God , He draws near to us. Jms 4:8. You need
not pay anything. God desires to reach out to the afflicted through our hands and hearts. The pain of being rejected or put away or
divorced can be healed only by His love and acceptance.
Jesus healed every kind of sickness and diseases. The diseases mentioned in Mt 4: 23,24 are related to each part of man’s total
being.
Demon’s possession – spiritual sickness
Torments – soul sickness
Paralysis – Physical sickness
The medical field speaks about Holistic healing although they don’t know it. But we can do it, because Jesus went about healing
men and women completely ie holistically. Wherever sin had broken into spirit, soul and body, Jesus forgave, cleansed and healed.
D. To the Healing of soul there are five important steps to be taken seriously and prayerfully in Faith:
The first three steps are found in Jesus’s comforting and hopeful words in Mt 11:28-30
I. Come to Jesus: If we go anywhere else or look for some other resource we will be let down and disappointed. So repent
and turn to Jesus to be restored. Delay in any way may lead to disaster.
II. Take His yoke: Devil lies that you’ll lose your freedom; but devil’s bondage of sin becomes heavier and painful the
longer we carry it. Only God’s grace can set us free. Many Christian suffer under the will of their own making. They
confess Christ but want their own way in their life. One must commit their life fully to Jesus and profess Him as their Lord
and saviour. To your joy, you will find His yoke easy and light as feathers of a bird. Total submission to Jesus means total
healing to your soul. This is the only way to true spiritual freedom.
III. Learn of Him:
When you accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour you become His disciple. A disciple is one who watches and listens to
Him and learns from Him.
Did Jesus suffer?
Was He ever injured?
Was Jesus ever wounded in soul?
If so, how did He respond to such a pain? How was His soul restored?
In His humanity He met all such problems and sufferings daily and finally on the Cross. So we can definitely learn solutions for our
life.
Next during the stress and strain on His soul, during those awful hours, how did he protect His soul from destruction?
It was by forgiving His tormentors Lk 23 –34 “ Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing”. This is what we have to
learn. It is the key to inner healing.
Jesus gave the paralytic [Lk 5] this forgiveness and inner healing first. At the words of Jesus’s forgiveness his soul awakened from
the valley of the shadow of death. He looked for the next command to rise up and walk. To prove the promised forgiveness which
already activated on him, Jesus then commanded his physical healing which is easier for Him.
I. Come as little children: There is healing for the whole person in the kingdom of God which you can experience here on
earth. Heb 6:4 says - you taste the heavenly gift and become the partakers of Holy Spirit and taste the goodness of the word
of God and also the powers of the age to come when you are enlightened.
As you surrender yourself to Jesus as a child the enlightening power of Holy Spirit surrounds you empowers you and heals
you from all painful events that occurred in your past times. He enables and helps you to forgive others as Joseph did in Genesis
and to experience His indwelling peace in your inner life.
5. Commit your soul to God
The ready grace of His forgiveness can quickly put out the fires of anger, resentment, jealousy, fear and self-pity. Before they hurt
you and others, our soul gets His peace fully and rejoices in His love. Thus you could find a true sense of self worth. Now the Spirit
of the Lord who was upon Jesus and who enabled Jesus to heal the wounded souls wants to enable you too. To heal the wounded
and sick souls.
Conclusion: If you are in the valley of darkness, bondaged to some secret sins or any confessed sins as the Spirit of God enables
surrender your life. Ask the Lord to “ Search me, O God,… Try me, know my thoughts and see if there are any unconfessed sins,
unsurrendered parts in me and lead me in the path everlasting.”
If you have committed to Him. He is here with you to keep you perfect until His coming in His might.
Now look around, There are many children, youth, families, old people are wounded sick and decaying in their sins.
Jesus was going around looking for people to share the goodness of the Kingdom of God; to heal them and to bring them back to
the kingdom of God; Can’t you walk around to heal the sick souls and establish His Kingdom in and around you?
As the spirit of God enables, you commit yourself to Him. He wants your legs to walk around your locality.


Courtesy  : P2P Organization