Healing Insights

The Reward Trap - Part 1

9/17/2012

The need to be seen as special, as part of “the group,” is a major driving force in our lives. We are born with this need and will probably have it until the Lord calls us home.

We were created to belong, to be enriched by fellowship and live in the natural comfort and safety of close relationships. But few of us seem to live in that atmosphere we desperately need to have a full rich life and be at rest.

Very few of us have this blessing; and as a result, we strive to do whatever it takes to be accepted and loved, to be seen as “special.” In our striving, we are easily swayed and trapped into patterns of behavior that keep us from coming into God’s rest.

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The Reward Trap - Part 2

9/17/2012

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When we have grown up learning and believing there is no such thing as a free lunch, one of the hardest things to do is receive something without having worked for it. We think a gift always requires a pay-back in kind. Anything of value has to be earned. We don’t understand having someone else pay a price and freely give us a thing of value. Therefore we persist in trying to gain the grace of God by feverishly working for Him, hoping to gain the favor which had already been given to us.

John 1:12-13
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

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Rejection - Part 2

7/3/2012

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The Fear of Rejection
His word declares His deep concern, care and love for us.

Psalm 139:13-17
For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

God always sees us as special. He has always intended for us to believe this truth and learn to embrace it, believing His incredible good will for us.

But we strive none the less, and one of the reasons for our striving is fear.

One of the great fears we face is the fear of not belonging, not fitting in, whether it be in our families, with friends, neighborhoods, schools or our community. We all have a need to be special, to be loved and valued, and to be a part of “the group.” When we don’t belong we feel and are rejected.

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Rejection - Part 1

5/3/2012

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Introduction
One of the greatest issues we face is the pain of not being valued, understood and cherished by the people around us and by the world at large—in a word, rejection. Rejection has been called “the greatest undiagnosed and therefore untreated malady within the body of Christ today.”

We cannot get away from rejection; it is all around us.

It can begin at the moment of conception and follow us from childhood, when we first learn how to relate, on into our adult lives until the day we die.

We can get rejected by strangers, friends and family; we can even reject ourselves.

We may learn to live with it and even be able to ignore it, but we are never immune to it. Whether it is done deliberately or totally unintentionally, the result is the same. Depending on the level or depth of the rejection and our reaction to it, our view of the world will be altered; the way we feel about ourselves and then decide to relate to others will determine to a great extent how our lives will go for us.

When we are rejected we can be tempted to sin through our reaction/response to the pain. We do not have to give in to the felt need to reciprocate; we can rise above it. Jesus did.

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Anger is Universal

3/3/2012

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The Bible does not condemn anger; it recognizes the validity of anger, but it admonishes us not to sin in our anger.

Eph. 4:26
“…’be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger’

Anger needs to be dealt with in such a way that it does not give the enemy a foothold in our lives.

This article on anger is a springboard for a series that will look at the causes and sources of rejection, but first we need to look at anger as one of the major consequences of rejection.

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Principles of Healing

1/3/2012

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Principles of Healing
Most of us long and search for healing; we want an end to our suffering, We travel long distances, and pay large quantities of money, to see the ‘best’ in the field, looking for relief. While seeking wholeness in spirit, soul and body we may have overlooked a key biblical principle in our search: Forgiveness.

Without forgiveness there is no real healing. It is always a vital part in the process.

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