How To Heal Your Life

Many talk about healing but it's amazing how few people -- even the experts -- know much about it. When I developed a book proposal for my healing workbook I went to secular and Christian bookstores to find out what books were available on healing. In the secular stores many therapy type books talk about healing but they usually only deal with giving intellectual advice. One popular author with many books on healing writes solely on nutrition, as if diet alone can heal you -- and he's very overweight!

Real lasting healing doesn't happen from the neck up nor does it depend on what you eat. It's far deeper than that. Healing is in God's domain. It's is a spiritual issue. I love the statement, "The physician sets the bone but God heals the break." Let's face it: only God can truly heal.

Having said that, how exactly does He heal? Even the Christian books I looked at didn't seem to have much better answers than secular ones. Some famous Christian therapists are merely baptized medical psychiatrists, pinning their hopes on prescription drugs to treat emotional disorders. One man who wrote a healing workbook had some good advice but it was 20 years old and really didn't explain how to get healed.

Neither drugs nor advice heal anything, they merely treat symptoms. That has virtually nothing to do with a God who promised to heal ALL our diseases. So again we're left with the question, how does God heal?

Jeremiah was known as the healing prophet. In the 31st chapter of the book of Jeremiah we learn much about healing. First we learn that our wounds are incurable (vs. 12). Next we discover that drugs won't help us. No medicine can cure what's wrong with us (vs. 13). Then we learn that God has wounded us (vs. 14). In that same verse we learn why. It's because of our sins. Sins are bad choices that make our life worse, not better.

If Jeremiah stopped there we'd really be in trouble. Thankfully he doesn't. In verse 17, the Lord promises to restore our health and heal our wounds. That's a relief. He then goes on to tell us all the wonderful things that will happen because of our healing. Verse 18-22 list ten terrific benefits from healing, including freedom from bondage, experiencing lovingkindness, restoration of our fortunes and glory -- which is far better than self-esteem. You'll also experience thanksgiving, self rule, significance -- this is all good stuff! Jeremiah ends the chapter by inferring this will all happen in the last days.

Those last days began with Jesus. Very few people understand the profound implications of Jesus being the Christ. Christ means anointed, empowered by God. Three of the six things Jesus says He was anointed to do involve healing the inner person. Jesus was anointed to "heal the brokenhearted, deliver the captives, and liberate those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18).

The Lord knew that the end times would be full of emotional pain. Where sin abounds pain abounds, and these last days are characterized by more sinful living than any time in the history of mankind. There's no such thing as a sin that doesn't hurt anyone. Sin at the very least hurts the sinner. Too often it hurts others as well.

Ironically, our age of sexual liberation has taken many prisoners. Before the age of 18, one in four girls are raped. This is usually a date rape but too often, it includes molestation by family members also. Alcoholism, divorce, drug abuse, abortion, work addiction, and many compulsive behaviors are rampant today. All these things take a toll on the human psyche; all wound the soul very deeply. Few if any Americans today escape even adolescence let alone life unscathed. Almost all of us are walking wounded; we've just learned to hide it very well.

Because these wounds break our hearts, the damage they do affects us emotionally. Cognitive therapy -- even good pastoral counseling -- is very limited in its ability to help us. That's why so many people are disenchanted with counseling. A woman recently called to tell me she has gone to counselors on and off for 23 years and is no better off! Why doesn't it help us more? We only remember 10% of what's happened to us. That means at best counseling leaves 90% of our problems untreated.

So what's the solution? God knows everything that ever happened to us. He knew us before we were in the womb! Better yet He's given spiritual gifts to His people -- intuitive knowledge and wisdom that can uncover the hidden things in our darkest past places. Finally, He's provided His Spirit to literally heal all our dis-eases.

At our Quantum LEAP Healing Retreat we show you how to do this. We train people in the simple yet profound methods that gently open old wounds and tap God's power to heal them. That's why we can almost guarantee that you will experience profound healing and transformation in just a weekend. You won't be perfect, all your problems won't just evaporate, but you will take a great step forward in healing your life, and you'll have the tools that will help you continue your lifelong healing journey more successfully.

I believe these are the last days Jeremiah talked about. I also believe that Jesus yearns to heal the things that bind us and hold us back. That's wonderful news, because healing improves everything in our life.



About the author:

Ken Unger operates Sunrise Retreats, a ministry that has led powerful Spiritual Growth and Healing Retreats all over the US and Caribbean for over 25 years. He is also a published author and spiritual therapist in Los Angeles. His website, SunriseRetreats.com, offers a free newsletter to assist you in your own spiritual growth and healing.