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HOW DO WE KNOW THIS?
"He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds, we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5)
"I will restore your health and I will heal your wounds, declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 30:17)
"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3)
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One important way God manifests His love is by delivering us from our infirmities and by healing our wounds (Ps 30:2; Ps 103:2,5). Whether we realize it or not, we all carry wounds, be it spiritual, emotional or physical. They not only make our lives miserable but also hinder our faith and trust in God. This is definitely not what God wants for us. Rather, He loved us so much that He gave His only Son to redeem us from sin and to heal our infirmities (Isa 53:5,11).
Jesus, God’s beloved Son, came to earth to reveal the Father to us (John 17:25- 26; 1:18). He said about Himself: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) The journey to discover this truth and to experience God's healing starts with a decision to open our hearts to God, to trust Him and to allow Him to take lordship and the central place in our lives. Jesus wants to reconcile us to the Father. He loves us and wants to make us whole. With a child-like heart, we need to surrender to Him everything that we are and everything that we are striving to be.
SIN
God is the Father, and out of His great love, He created us and predestined us to be His beloved children. But, in the Garden of Eden, the human race rejected God and thus separated itself from God and His blessing. And yet, even though we weren’t faithful to Him, the Father never gave upon us. Therefore, He sent His Son to reconcile us to Himself. Jesus paid a terrible price for our redemption: He was beaten, scourged, crucified, and died a terrifying death on the cross. But by His death, He redeemed us from the power of Satan and liberated us from the slavery of sin. By His resurrection, Jesus opened for us the way to a new life in freedom. We need to humble our hearts and ask for His forgiveness. We need to repent and be sorry for everything we have done that offended and hurt His wounded heart. We also need to ask Him to show us everything that separates us from Him and the fullness of His blessing.
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Jesus gave us the powerful Sacrament of Confession where He himself, mysteriously hidden in the priest, wants to wash our sins in His precious blood. The power of this sacrament is in restoring us to God's grace and joining us with Him in an intimate friendship. Reconciliation with God is thus the purpose and effect of this sacrament. For those who receive the sacrament of Penance with a contrite heart, reconciliation is usually followed by peace and serenity of conscience with strong spiritual consolation. (CCC 1468)
UNFORGIVENESS
Jesus said, " Whenever you stand up to pray, forgive whatever you have against anyone so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins." (Mk 11:25) If we want to receive the fullness of His forgiveness, we also need to forgive others. Unforgiveness separates us from God’s grace and affects us physically, mentally, and spiritually and might be the main cause of emotional bondage and physical sickness. Holding unforgiveness is like carrying a heavy burden that binds us to the past and to a person who has hurt us.
Jesus wants us to be free from these negative consequences of unforgiveness. Sometimes, though, forgiveness seems beyond our human capability. This is when Jesus comes to us with His power and helps us forgive. Forgiveness is not a feeling - it’s a decision of the will. When we pronounce forgiveness, the power behind unforgiveness is defeated, and we may walk in freedom again.
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SPIRITUAL BONDAGE
Jesus defeated Satan and death on the cross, and He offered us a new life in Him. His Kingdom - The Kingdom of Heaven - is at hand, but we need to decide for ourselves that we want to choose it over the kingdom of darkness (Deut 30:15-20). That's why we need to consciously renounce Satan and sin, and renew our commitment to God. By renouncing Satan, his lies, and all his works, we declare that we no longer make a home for sin or the deceptions and power behind it, and we no longer agree with the lies that have been buried in our hearts and in our thoughts.
The word bondage is defined as: "the state of being a slave." So, the term spiritual bondage would essentially mean "the state of being a spiritual slave." In general, we could use the term spiritual bondage to refer to anything that keeps us from being fully submitted to the lordship and power of Jesus in an area of our lives.
By submitting to God and by renewing our baptismal promises, we open our hearts to God’s all-transforming love. When we choose to belong to Jesus, Satan and sin no longer have dominion over us (Rom 6:9-14).
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GOD'S HEALING
God the Father has restored His Kingdom on earth through His Son. During His earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed: “The Kingdom of God is at hand - the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised” (Mk 1:15).
Jesus’ heart is full of love and compassion for our infirmities. We know that Jesus wants to heal our emotional wounds, broken relationships, addictions, and physical sickness as He did when He was on earth. However, there's a great mystery around God's healing. Some people experience constant healing, others are being healed over time, and yet other people have never been healed. We cannot answer the question of why it is so. At the same time, we have witnessed many of God's miracles and healing, which give us the confidence to always pray with child-like faith and ask our Father in heaven to have mercy on us. We trust the words of Jesus who said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, He will give it to you in My name” (John 16:23).
RESOURCES
If you are interested in the topic of God's healing and deliverance, please check out the following ministries.
UNBOUND MINISTRY
Unbound Ministry empowers Christians to take hold of the freedom they have been given in Christ. Unbound is a simple, safe, and gentle prayer model that applies Scripture-based keys that lead to deeper freedom in Christ. By using the Five Keys in individual prayer sessions and in personal prayer, people experience freedom from the influence of deception and lies and embrace the reality that they are known and loved by the Father.
MISSIONARIES OF THE NEW EVANGELIZATION
MNE is a religious organization under the guidance of the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to the renewal of all God’s children through the Proclamation of the Word, Conversion of Hearts, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and Prayers of Healing.
MNE specializes in organizing parish missions, retreats, deliverance ministry training, and conferences for priests and laity.
