The
Inner Healing Ointment
Inner
healing usually brings healing and prosperity to those "external
issues" that we are so concerned with.
3 John 3 says, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all
things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
Notice the "even as" in this Scripture. That means that to the same
degree your soul prospers so does your health and prosperity.
Most
inner wounds are caused by shame, rejection, lack of love and
primarily broken relationships, especially with father figures. God created us for relationships and to the degree
our prime relationships have been less than perfect, which includes
all of us, to that same degree we acquire inner wounds.
Jesus'
mission as stated in Isaiah 61 and as He spoke in Luke 4 is to set us
free from the things that enslave us through forgiveness.
"And
He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened
the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the
LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to
the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim
liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at
liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD." Then He closed
the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the
eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began
to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.""
Luke 4:17-21.
The
acceptable year of the Lord referred to the Year of Jubilee as
described in Leviticus chapter 25.
The was the Sabbath of Sabbaths.
The Sabbath was every seventh years during which time people
were to allow their land to rest for one full year.
However each 50th year was the Year of Jubilee.
This is when all slaves were set free and all mortgaged land
and loans were forgiven. In
short, this was the "Year of total forgiveness," and Jesus was
proclaiming the final fulfillment of this promise in Him.
This Year of Jubilee began on the Day of Atonement which was
the one day per year that the priest went into the Holy of Holies
with the blood for the forgiveness of sins.
Jesus was proclaiming that His primary mission was forgiveness.
What exactly is forgiveness? First, it is not excusing someone or someone's sin. Neither does it carry a demand to go back into an abusive situation to be abused, controlled or manipulated by another. It does not mean that authority figures like governments and parents cannot exercise their proper discipline. David should have arrested Absalom for murder; Eli should have forcefully stopped his sons from sexual perversion at the temple of God.
The Bible is clear about distinguishing between punishment given by a godly authority and forgiveness in the spiritual realm. They do not contradict one another, but we will not go into detail here.
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Forgive
means to separate. It is the same word used in
the New Testament for death. To
die is to be separated. To
forgive requires cutting the sin away from one and putting on
another.
Forgiveness
defined: (Greek) aphiemi - means
to remove ñ to send away, to remove, the remission for the
punishment due to sinful conduct, the deliverance of the sinner from
the penalty.
To forgive
someone means to account their sin against you as having been done,
not to you, but to Jesus, and to agree to allow the sin and its
penalty to rest there and there alone!
Forgiveness
runs in two directions; for the sins we have committed and for the sins committed
against us. Isaiah 53:5 says, "But He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement
for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed."
Sins
committed against us are transgressions, and for those Jesus was wounded. Iniquities are those inner wounds that could be
the result of inherited and generational iniquities or curses, or
they could be actual deeds committed against us.
Notice in this Scripture that Jesus was bruised for our
iniquities. Bruises are inner wounds
which are the price He paid for our inner wounds or iniquities.
Humans
attempt to medicate their inner wounds with "outer ointments." The problem is that we do not even realize that
our outer issues are usually the result of inner wounds, so we try
all sorts of medications and activities, none of which work, indeed
they make things worse.
Forgiveness, as we will demonstrate
later in this chapter, is the ointment for inner healing.
The
Lord gives us a clear message and a warning in Matthew 18. This is the parable of the unforgiving servant.
Matthew
18:18 says, "Whatsoever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven and whoever you loose on earth will be loosed
in heaven." You receive what you don't
forgive, memories, thoughts, deeds.
You will experience those
things. This is a law.
Matthew
18:21 says "Peter asked Jesus, if my brother sins against me, how
many times must I forgive him? Seven? Jesus said, no seventy times
seven. In other words, there is no
limit.
""Therefore
the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle
accounts with his servants. "And when he had begun to settle
accounts, one was brought to him who owed him
ten thousand talents. "But as he was not
able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and
children and all that he had, and that payment be made. "The servant
therefore fell down before him, saying, 'Master, have patience with
me, and I will pay you all.' "Then the master of that servant was
moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. "But
that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed
him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the
throat, saying, 'Pay me what you owe!' "So his fellow servant fell
down at his feet and begged him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and
I will pay you all.' "And he would not, but went and threw him into
prison till he should pay the debt. "So when his fellow servants saw
what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their
master all that had been done. "Then his master, after he had called
him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt
because you begged me. 'Should you not also have had compassion on
your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' "And his master was
angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all
that was due to him. "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if
each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his
trespasses"" (Matthew 18:23-35).
Why
did the original servant have to pay the penalty for the smaller hundred
denarii debt that was originally the fellow servant's and not his
original penalty for the ten thousand talents?
We
always pay the penalty for the sin we do not forgive in others.
You
get what you don't forgive, memories, thoughts, deeds, you will
experience here and/or in eternity.
This is a law.
Notice
the penalty was to be delivered to the torturers or tormentors. Unforgiveness will always
result in torment.
Who
are you not to forgive?
"I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
If, as
the Scripture verifies, you have indeed been crucified with Christ,
and He now lives in you; then who are you to keep Him from
forgiving?.
His
very essence is forgiving. That
is who He is! If you do
not forgive you are denying Him.
It is a very serious matter.
If
we find ourselves in that position with a wicked heart, we can get rid of it
with I John 1:9 which says "If we confess (agree with God's judgment)
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (take them
away from us and put them on Jesus) and cleanse us from ALL
unrighteousness."
Notice
the progression of events in Luke
chapters 4-5.
Jesus
proclaims His mission. The
people try to kill Him. Then
He casts out demons. He
preaches the Kingdom of God. In
Luke 5 He calls His disciples and cleanses a leper.
Then in Luke 5:17 He exercises the greatest gift of all,
forgiveness as an inner healing to a paralytic.
The
same story is also recorded in Mark chapter 2, which says, "Then they came to Him, bringing a
paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come
near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was.
So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the
paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the
paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And some of the scribes
were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, "Why does this Man
speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" But
immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned
thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about
these things in your hearts? "Which is easier, to say to the
paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up
your bed and walk'? "But that you may know that the Son of Man has
power on earth to forgive sins" --He said to the paralytic, "I say to
you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he
arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so
that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw
anything like this!"" (Mark 2:3-12).
When
this man received forgiveness he was totally healed of
his outer infirmity. Jesus
called him "Son" or in Greek, Teknon.
That word infers that this man had been born of a family but
has no relationship there now. Most
likely he had experienced broken relationships with his family and
those were forgiven. This
man knew that not only were his sins forgiven, but also Jesus
absorbed those perpetrated against him on his behalf.
Jesus was bruised for his iniquities.
Jesus
told him to go to his house. Why? Perhaps to take his Dad in
his arms and say, "I forgive you; I love you."
"And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the
day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil
speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ
forgave you" (Ephesians 4:30-32).
When
you take up your cross, and allow Jesus in you to forgive, you are on
the overcoming path.
In
Revelation 21:7 God calls the overcomers "sons." However this time Teknon is not use, but rather
huios which means a son who looks like Jesus in solid relationship
with God the Father and His Body here on earth.
""He
who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he
shall be My son." Revelation 21:7)"
Remember
who you are
A
vessel filled with God