This afternoon a very dear friend called to share with me a bit of disturbing news. Someone he had the opportunity to teach in Sunday school, a person who grew up under him in children’s church, and the church’s youth program, a child he had the pleasure of watching grow and mature into a productive young man, someone he over the years had come to admire had taken his own life. What could be so bad I thought as my friend shared, what would cause someone to take their own life?
During our everyday lives we encounter individuals who appear to be the picture of happiness, they appear to be physically and emotionally healthy, while clandestinely they are coming apart at the seams. They are little more than walking vessels of despair, deep rooted pain, and unimaginable hurt.
Hurt constantly pokes, prods, and picks at all of us desperately seeking an entrance into the lives of men, women, and children alike any way it can. For many, hurt has come in through an absentee father, an abusive mother, an unfaithful spouse, a slight, or something as simple as one unkind word. The repertoire of Hurt is limitless. All of the symptoms of hurt share a common and well known conductor Satan.
It was in the Garden where Satan appeared as a serpent for the precise purpose of moving Adam and Eve from their trust in God and in all He had spoken. Satan’s strategy was to deceive the minds of Adam and Eve. His entry point into their minds was through their emotions. Satan has not changed after all if it ain’t broke don’t fix it he uses the same tactics to gain entrance into our lives today. He has the same motoes operando he is still attacking the minds of individuals through their feelings, which are governed by emotions.
We know everything God created is for His good purpose. However, like all things that begin as good but are later perverted by the devil, hurt is a negative emotion and he wants us to share his pain and torment.. Hurt’s aim is to rob God’s beloved of all He says they can be and everything He says they can have.
To feel emotions is to be alive. Sadly, people often hide their feelings and sometimes try to artificially alter their feelings with drugs, alcohol or ready-made distractions. Negative emotions will try to talk to you, and it is common for the hurt and emotionally wounded to listen to them. This only makes their situations worse, because emotions and feelings often fluctuate. They are a most untrustworthy source
Some other misguided self-help attempts by those who have been hurt are: hurting others to try to feel better, pretending the pain does not exist, hardening one’s heart, and forming relationships upon a foundation of hurt. All of these efforts are doomed to fail. Today’s neuroscientists have discovered that chronic stress actually causes physical damage to a part of our brain, the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory.
To deal with hurt successfully and to go forward in life, one must refuse to use pain as a point of reference. Determine to stop “bringing it up.” You can change! Do not believe the lies of the enemy—you are NOT powerless! Moreover, you have been given authority over hurt, which covers attacks against your mind and emotions. The Bible says in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you” -Luke 10:19. This is not to say you will never stub a toe or bump a knee. It is saying, though, that for the Christian, there is a part of you that is protected from sin, hurt, and harm—even from Satan.
It is your born-again spirit, the “real you.” According to Ephesians 1:13, our core being, our spirits, are sealed by the Holy Spirit when we accept Christ. Godly emotions are developed by studying God’s purpose for living. He wants us to experience the “joy” of salvation -Psalm: 51:12 and “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” -Philippians 4:7. Our responsibility is to renew our minds by “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” – 2 Corinthians 10:5 We are to do this daily with the Word of God. As a result, emotional hurt must back off.
I encourage you, no I dare you, to share your feelings with God. Exchange your hurt for prayers and praises to Him. Before you know it, you will begin to feel a sense of Peace, God’s Peace and God’s wholeness, all of a sudden everything is coming together for your good, settling your mind, your emotions—your world. Soon you will surrender completely allowing Christ to displace your worry, hurt, and pain, or any other negative emotion you have as He assumes His rightful place as the center of your life.
God Peace!
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