Emotional Healing Work
In truth, I would call this work “heart healing” and not “emotional healing,” as the term is more biblically accurate. But regardless of the language I use, the experience is the same: you’re deeply hurting, you feel stuck, and you know deep down there’s a spiritual component to this whole mess that simply can’t be ignored.
I can help bring that spiritual component into your RE|formation process.
I use the term “heart healing” because that’s the actually word used in scripture. The Word doesn’t talk to us about our emotions being in turmoil, it talks to us about our HEART:
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
The problem, though, with using the word “heart” is that different people mean different things when they use the word “heart.” So we have to bring clarity to what it means to focus on healing the HEART.
Most think the term heart simply refers to one’s “emotions,” but this is not actually the case from a biblical perspective. Whereas Americans tend to see people as having three separate “parts,” like so—
—in both the Old and New Testaments, the word “heart” was actually used to refer to ALL THREE. The terms refer to that which is at the center of the person—that which is central to who they are—not merely the emotions. Like so—
So when we’re talking about the HEART, within the context of our Christian walk, we are talking about our emotions AND our thoughts AND our will. So any discussion of just “emotional healing” leaves out two very important components of our inner experience from a biblical perspective—and since they are all very interconnected, we cannot pay attention to one of them and neglect the others, or the healing will not be complete. We have to bring healing to all three.
This means, IN THE ABSENCE OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL ISSUE, we’re paying attention to, among other things:
- The effects of our own misdeeds or sins, to use the biblical term [guilt, shame, fear]
- The effects of sins committed AGAINST us [anger, shame, bitterness, depression, etc.]
- The effects of living in a fallen world [loss, grief, despair, discouragement, loneliness, fear, etc.]
- Things we believe to be true about God, ourselves, and the world that are not biblically accurate
- Our inner posture when faced with a choice
- The decisions we actually make (or refuse to make—which is, in and of itself, a choice)
- Our conscience (the conviction of the Holy Spirit) and how we respond to it
- Our relationship to God, self, and others
To approach healing in these areas, we might incorporate some of the following:
- Scripturally based imaginative prayer
- Various corporate spiritual disciplines, such as lectio divina
- Experiential exercises intended to replace our inaccurate beliefs with biblical truth
- Biblical lament
- Expressive forms of praise and worship
- Interaction with scripture in a variety of different ways
- Different models of prayer to facilitate things like surrender, confession, renunciation, the binding of spirits, and the acceptance of truth and grace
- Learning what it means to be spiritually healthy—in our emotions, thoughts, and will