Session Seven


The Condominium Concept


It is difficult for us to face the reality of how we feel about ourselves. It is therefore difficult for us to be honest with God about how we feel. God can handle the truth about us. Once we get a handle on how we really feel, we can approach Him with complete honesty. He already knows how we feel, so we drop our facades, and ask Him to help us get through our problem.

One way to approach God concerning specific incidents in our lives that had a negative effect upon our personalities is to visualize a high-rise condominium. The condominium should have one floor for every year of our age. Let's say, for example, we are 37 years old. That means we will have a 37-story condominium to visualize.

Now, let's say on the 32nd floor of our lives we invited the Lord Jesus Christ to come live in our condo with us. That is when we received the Lord. Prior to that time, there were 31 floors in which we lived according to our own lifestyle.

When Jesus came to live with us on the 32nd floor, there were some messes on that floor. There were some rooms, or areas of our lives, which were unclean. The first thing Jesus did was to help us clean up the 32nd floor. Jesus didn't want to live in that mess. In effect, He became our roommate, and He helped us clean up everything.

Since the time He came to live with us, together we have kept a pretty clean house. We have been able to keep floors 33 through 37 clean and livable. Not too many messes have been made.

Problems still exist from floors 31, on down. We realize there are some messes on the lower floors, but we don't necessarily want to go down and clean up any of them. Even though we can remember those messes and can still feel some of the hurts from them, we are now living on the 32nd floor and it is clean, so we don't want to go back down and experience those messes again.

The Lord isn't willing to leave those messes the way they are. The stench from the lower floors keeps getting stronger on the 37th floor. So the Lord finally gets through to us that we must get
on the elevator and go down to one of those floors. We get on the elevator on the 37th floor, a 37 year-old man, together with Jesus. We go down to the 10th floor, to an event that happened when we were 10 years old.

As a 37 year-old man, we recall an event that happened to a 10 year-old boy. But this time, the Lord is right alongside the 37 year-old man. We ask Him questions about that event. We may ask Him, "Why did this happen, Lord? What made this happen? This hurt very much."

Let's say our father had come home drunk and slapped us against a wall. The slap didn't hurt very much, but something else hurt inside. It was the rejection, the fear, and the unworthiness that came upon us.

We need to let the Lord show us that event from a different perspective. The 37 year old needs to be healed from the feelings of that 10 year-old boy. As we watch this event again in our minds, we usually begin to feel the pain of the 10 year-old boy.

We may ask the Lord, "Lord, where were you when this took place?" He will show us where He was. When we were thrown against the wall, the Lord was the one who picked us up. He was the one who got us through the situation. He was present all the time and He cared for us. He will let us see that it hurt Him as much as it hurt us.

This exercise is not some kind of hocus pocus mind game. This is the way we get in touch with significant events in our lives. This is the way the Holy Spirit heals us. As we look at that situation with the Lord at our side, we will probably begin to feel the hurt again. We may begin to weep. But the Lord will be there with us. He was there when we were 10 years old and He will be there when we are 37 years old.

When we ask Him why He allowed it to happen, why He allowed a 10 year old to be slapped by a drunk father, His reply will probably be that there are a lot of things which happen to us that grieve and hurt Him.

We will be able to visualize Jesus, and see that it really did hurt Jesus. We will see also that He experienced the same thing we experienced. He was despised, rejected, slapped and abused. And He will show us that the way to get rid of the hurt and the pain is to forgive the person who slapped us.

That is just one event down on the 10th floor. Recalling the first event will be the hardest. We will recall the event just as if it happened today, but there will be a major difference. This time the Lord will be with us. We don't go back through it to get revenge, but to be healed of the hurt. And the Lord will go with us. We will discover we can ask God questions and get answers, because He cares about us.

We don't like to look at our negative memories because there is always some pain involved. That 10 year old is still inside the 37 year old, and he is still hurting. Subconsciously, he is adversely affecting our lives.

Fortunately, the Lord can heal us while we are on that 10th floor. When we leave that floor, we may be able to feel sorry for our father. We won't hate him. We won't be angry with him anymore.

CONDOMINIUM


THIS IS YOUR PERSONAL CONDOMINIUM. EACH FLOOR REPRESENTS ONE YEAR OF YOUR LIFE. AS YOU VISIT EACH FLOOR, TAKE JESUS WITH YOU. ASK HIM TO REVEAL INCIDENTS HE WOULD LIKE TO HEAL. RELIVE EACH INCIDENT, THIS TIME AT YOUR PRESENT AGE AND WITH JESUS ALONGSIDE YOU, ASK HIM QUESTIONS, RECORD HIS ANSWERS, ALLOW HIM TO HEAL YOUR MEMORIES.

There may still be some pain remaining, but not nearly so much as when we were going down in the elevator.

After we clean up this mess and come back up to the 37th floor, we can rest awhile. Then we will be able to go down to other floors and clean up other messes. Other people may have caused some of those messes. But a lot of them are ours, especially those caused by our addictions.

When the Lord accompanies us to those areas, we can ask Him, "Lord, what do I do to clean up this mess? What should I do to make this right?"

This is when we find it is not a mind game. God will give us mental visions. He will take us back to certain events in our lives. One of the things that can help us in this Biblical imagery is to remember how Jesus was with little children. He always invited them to come to Him. He never turned them away. God can put that image in our minds. He can show our little 10 year old that Jesus was there at the time of our pain with His arms reaching out to us.

That can begin a healing process in us. Our 10 year old, at the moment of the incident, felt as if there was nobody in the world to turn to. Nobody he could love, or who loved him. That feeling has stayed with us for 27 years. It has put doubts in our minds that are still present 27 years later, because it has never been dealt with. But Jesus will bring the healing.

Vividly recalling our past can be very painful. But beyond the pain is the peace and serenity only the Holy Spirit can give. Jesus said in the Gospel of John that He would give us peace. Not the peace that the world would give to us, but His peace. That is what makes us whole and healthy.

It is not necessary for us to turn over rocks, looking for things to bring to the surface. God will bring up what He wants to deal with. God will put His finger on whatever He sees that needs healing at this time.

God puts His finger on one important issue at a time. He will not point out the 10th floor, the 12th floor and the 14th floor at one time. He will only point out the 10th floor, and say, "Let's go together and deal with that." After we have cleaned out that mess, there will be a period of rest. We will not have to go immediately to the 12th floor. God never puts more on us than we can handle.

We can't change the events of the past, but God can minister to the pain that grew out of those negative events. If we are willing to deal with our part of it, the anger, fear, hatred, and unforgiveness, God will see to it that healing takes place.

Once we start this process, our lives begin to make a positive change. There will probably be some messes on every floor of our lives. But now we have learned that every time we make a mess we can clean it up with Jesus.

We will no longer be inclined to close the door, leave the mess and never go back into that room again. When the Lord comes to live in us we clean up our messes as we go. We deal with the issues as they come up. We allow Him to lead us and we do what we have to do.
Let's take a moment to see how Jesus re-creates an event in order to accomplish an inner healing:

John 18:15-27: And Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into the court of the high priest, but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought in Peter.

The slave-girl therefore who kept the door said to Peter, 'You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?' He said, 'I am not.

Now the slaves and the officers were standing there, having made a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were warming themselves; and Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.

The high priest therefore questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. Jesus answered him, 'I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.

Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; behold, these know what I said.

And when He had said this, one of the officers standing by gave Jesus a blow, saying, 'Is that the way You answer the high priest?' Jesus answered him, 'If I have spoken wrongly, bear witness of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?'

Annas therefore sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, 'You are not also one of His disciples, are you?' He denied it and said, 'I am not.' One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, 'Did I not see you in the garden with Him?' Peter therefore denied it again; and immediately a cock crowed.

That was the story of the denial of Jesus by Peter. Now watch closely, as we see Jesus arrange events in a way to accomplish a healing in Peter.

John 21:3,4,9, 15-17: Simon Peter said to them, 'I am going fishing.' They said to him, We will also come with you.' They went out, and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. And so when they got out upon the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid, and fish placed on it, and bread.

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love You, He said to him, 'Tend My lambs.

He said to him again a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me?' He said to Him, 'Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.' He said to him, 'Shepherd My sheep.
He said to him a third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love Me?' Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, 'Do you love Me?' And he said to Him, 'Lord You know all things; You know that I love You.' Jesus said to him, 'Tend My sheep.

Jesus arranged the same circumstances to heal Peter. He restructured the same type conditions:

1. It was early in the morning.
2. There was a charcoal fire.
3. Jesus required a threefold confession to repair the breach caused by the threefold denial.

Peter had returned to his old trade of fishing because of his shame and guilt and his feeling of unworthiness. We have a tendency to react in a similar way when we experience damaged relationships.

Jesus told Peter to tend His lambs, to shepherd His sheep, and to tend His sheep. That is restoration; that is healing. Peter's relationship with Jesus was restored.

When we observe that Jesus recreated the event in order to heal Peter, we see the value of returning to the event so Jesus can accomplish our healing. It is very important that we allow the Lord to take us back to the painful events.

Sometimes when someone has hurt us, we need to ask Jesus, "Do you love me?" Other times we have to ask, "Lord, do you forgive me?" At other times we will feel compelled to say, "Lord, I love you!"

Some of us walk around with constant pain. God wants to heal our pain. The only way for us to be healed of our past hurts is to let the Lord do this for us. No medicine can accomplish this type of healing. He will gladly do it.

The memory of that incident will stay with us the rest of our lives, but we will no longer feel the pain. We will not be angry, or fearful, nor will we feel rejected. That wound will have been healed.

Because we have been healed in certain areas of our lives, we will be able to reach out and minister to other people who have personal hurts in those same areas.




HOMEWORK: Pray and ask God to reveal past hurts and pains which He wants to heal. Write each of them on a piece of paper and prepare yourself to take them to the Lord.

Session Seven . . . The Condominium Concept

Personal And Group Exercise (see page 112)


1. Why is it important for us to know how we really feel about ourselves?






2. Why is it important for us to have one floor in our condominium for every year of our lives?






3. Why should we not be reluctant to vividly recall past painful experiences?






4. Why is it important for us to handle only one important issue at a time?






5. What is the similarity to the way Jesus handled Peter's healing and the way He handles
our healing?






6. Why is it important for us to allow Jesus to select which areas of our lives He wants to heal and the order in which He wants to heal them?


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