Setting the Captives Free!

It Is Never To Late!

My testimony is that it is never too late to be healed from trauma. I had PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) for over forty years before it was discovered. After a few years of counseling at the Veteran’s Medical Center, I was okay and out of crisis. It was meeting with a Christian counselor that changed my life completely. She asked me one question. What should you have felt when that image or memory comes to mind? Suddenly, that question gave me permission to feel! All my life I had been taught not to respond or act out because I would be ignored. When my counselor gave me permission to feel anger, fear, or helplessness it opened a closed door of emotions. I was a mess for a few months. I had emotional meltdowns, but it released years of unmet needs in my life.

Many of us were taught not to act out or children were to be seen and not heard. Our emotions were not allowed to be handled in a healthy way. This causes unmet needs and limits our voice as being unimportant. We didn’t learn to go to God when injustice happened to us. We just carried the lie that it wouldn’t change or heard the voice in our heads to quit being a baby.

God created our emotions. Yes, we need to learn to deal with the unfair and traumatic things in life. We are allowed to have a voice that cries for justice in bad situations, but it needs to be voiced to God. That is what Psalms are all about. It shows us how to manage our emotions.

Jesus wept! He cared so much about the whole person, including our emotions, that he sweat drops of blood. He willingly dealt with his emotions of being separated from God to save us. He went to isolate himself when he found out about John the Baptist death. The people followed him. Instead of sending the people way, he redeemed the circumstances by healing them.

We all have emotions. This is part of our soul. Walking with the Holy Spirit helps us process what we are feeling. This gives us a voice with God and others. A great example of this is Joyce Meyers. She was molested as a child. She turned that trauma into a worldwide ministry that has set many people free.

Even when those around us may not want to hear what we have to say, God wants to hear us! The key is when we go to God, expect an answer. He may say, forgive them or give you a God hug. A God hug is when we are unsure what to do but we get a scripture, or someone says something that brings us peace. It is like when Jesus spoke to the storm and the waves calmed down.

Emotions are real and need to be processed. It is when we let them rule us instead of believing God’s word that we run into trouble. When you are overrun with mind twisting emotions, just ask God for help to process how to manage your emotions. If we are willing to allow God to work, He will show us how to redeem all the hurts and traumas in life. You got this because God love you!

Below are some Healing Prayer Guidelines to help you process your trauma and to allow you to pray over others with compassion. One of the ways we take back what was stolen from us (friends, family, health, good job, etc.) is stepping out and praying over other people.

Healing Prayer Guidelines

• Welcome Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to come into your prayer time.
• Bind and cast down any imagination, lies, and falsehoods the enemy has planted that aren’t in line with God’s kingdom truths.
  • Matthew 16:19 AMP Bind means to declare unlawful or lock away. Loose means lawful or to unlock. Jesus gave us the delegates authority (Matthew 18:18).
  • 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (See verses 3 through 5).
• Invite God’s Spirit to come and reveal what the real problem is and prepare their heart to receive the answer. If you have a prayer language, pray quietly to by-pass your brain, and tap into the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:2).
• Ask Holy Spirit to reveal the answer to this person and to you.
• If emotions start coming to the surface in the person, ask what they are feeling.
  • Ask why they think they feel this way.
• If they see a person or incident:
  • Ask what this person or incident represents to them. Note: Don’t put your interpretation on it unless Holy Spirit is revealing something. What we might see could be different than how that person sees that person or incident. Allow Holy Spirit to work.
  • Ask how they felt about the incident or person.
  • Ask what they should have felt (anger, fear, injustice, trapped)
  • Allow them to feel what or how they should have felt.
• If forgiveness is needed, ask if the person is WILLING to forgive those involved (Matthew 6:12-14).
  • If there is an aversion to forgive others, explain that forgiveness releases them from being tied to that person. It places control back into their hands.
  • Explain that unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die (Joyce Meyer quote).
  • Unforgiveness, bitterness, and jealousy can chain a person to the past.
  • If the person is unable or unwilling to forgive then graciously ask if you can pray for them to received God’s love. This allows God to work on their heart.
  • See the power of redeeming an unjust situation below.
• If they are willing to forgive, have them pray to forgive this person or incident out loud in front of the prayer team. Include forgiving themselves for allowing this person or incident to stop their progress with God.
• Then invite Holy Spirit to come in to redeem the loss that this person or incident caused in their lives.

Redeeming

Redeeming means when we let go by forgiving people, it allows God to bring about justice. Joseph let go of what his brother did to him, and he became number two ruler in Egypt (Genesis 37 & 41). David had Uriah killed to take his wife, Bathsheba. He lost that baby, but God redeemed it by giving him Solomon. We all make mistake and people hurt us, but when we choose to forgive and give it to God, he can bring blessing another way. It is when we hold on to those hurts that cause them to rule over us instead of God.

Prayer

Father God,

Help my emotions are a mess. I am not sure what I feel, and I am asking you to show me what I need to do. Heal my emotions and bring them in line with your word. Show me how to express my needs without emotional meltdowns. Heal the traumas that have caused me to shut down. I forgive those who have stolen my voice. I ask that you bless them with your truth and set them free from lies that steal people’s voices.

Thank you for taking over this emotional roller coaster and bringing balance back into my life. I am choosing to walk through this healing process. I ask for God hugs along the way. Redeem those hurts by setting others free so we can bring your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Declaration

Father God, I ask that all people who read this blog will have their voices restored. The traumas that have plagued them will now be used to redeem those around them. Let these emotional traumas be balanced by Holy Spirit. Let the scars be turned into badges of honor that will redeem many lives for your kingdom. In Jesus’s name and by His blood, amen!

Scriptures

Jeremiah 3:33, Psalm 27, Romans 8:28-29, John 11:33, & Matthew 14