Hi all, 
I was 17 years old when a friend of my mom's asked me for prayer concerning nightmares she was having. That was 1975 in the days of the charismatic renewal, when the Holy Spirit was being experienced in the denominational churches but there weren't yet any independent charismatic churches. As a result there were many home based "prayer & praise" meetings and Bible studies attended by anyone who had been baptized with the Holy Spirit or was curious about it, because the people in the pews knew more than their priests and pastors about the Holy Spirit at that point. 
 
That is why my mom's 45 year old friend felt comfortable asking teenage me for prayer for her nightmares. As soon as I laid hands on her head and started praying I saw what I would call a 'closed vision', meaning when my eyes were closed I could see the vision, but when my eyes were open I couldn't. An open vision is when your eyes are open and you are 'in the Spirit' as John called it in Revelation 1:10 and 4:2, where everything disappears and you are in the Lord's realm, or your eyes are open and you see the natural world AND the spiritual world almost as an overlay (that is by far the most common one I have).
 
This wasn't that however. When my eyes were shut a scene played out before me. When my eyes were open I was in the natural realm like normal. The vision was of an event that happened to her when she was about 7 years old, which she acknowledged through tears as I described what I was seeing. I then prayed for her and the Lord touched her and completely healed the memory of that event, and she reported a couple weeks later she'd had no more nightmares since that time of prayer with me. 
 
Balance
Most of the ministries that advertise themselves as 'inner healing' ministries focus to one degree or another on a supernatural touch from the Lord to take away memories of past pain such as I describe above. If not that, then it is often deliverance from demons focused or about past generations as the blame for why that person is plagued by x problem or memory.
 
What we see in scripture is practical walk-it-out-yourself steps a person takes to regain emotional or mental health after a touch or revelation from the Lord. I started talking about the prophecy of Messiah from Isaiah 42:1-4 which says in part that Messiah will not break a bruised reed, and won't fail nor be discouraged until He has set righteousness in their lives - that is what we've seen in scripture.
 
There are times when the Lord will provide a word of knowledge about a past event and touch the person concerning that event, but even when that happens a person must 'walk out their salvation' to see His righteousness in their lives, meaning they have to rebuild their emotions and thoughts in a healthy (God's) way. The person who was abused by say, their father when they were a child, can be touched by the Lord about a particularly painful event with him, but when they see their father every week they still must apply that touch from the Lord to their relationship with him in order to see God's righteousness in that relationship and in their own emotions and thoughts. 
 
Most certainly the woman at the well received a touch from the Lord when He told her 'everything I ever did', but then she still had to go back into that city and live her life. The man who had the Legion cast out, who wanted to run away with the Lord in his new life in Christ, was instead told by the Lord to go back to his home and friends and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him. The woman in adultery was commanded to sin no more but to go and rebuild her life. They had to walk out that touch from the Lord they received. 
 
Did the chicken cross the road or did the road pass beneath the chicken's feet?
The people we've covered in this series had known issues - multiple relationships, demons in them, and so on. But one aspect of emotional healing we didn't cover concerns the unknown-to-the-person need for emotional healing. This is the person who thinks they are fine, unaware their priorities in life which they think are in line with God, are really not. 
 
The rich young ruler is such a case. When the need for emotional health isn't obvious like a woman caught in the act of adultery or a man with multiple demons, or a woman who has lived through multiple marriages, relationships and sexual partners, how does the Lord bring that person into emotional health?
 
Once again we see the Lord brings a person to the point they must make a decision for health and a rearrangement of their life. In Matthew 19:16-22 the Rich Young Ruler comes to Jesus saying, 'Good Master, what must I do to have eternal life?'
 
Immediately Jesus stops him and asks, "Why are you calling me good?" We read the verse without stopping, forgetting this was a real conversation, filled with pauses, reflection, and deep thought before each response. The man had just called Jesus 'good', to which Jesus replied, "There is no one who is good but God, so why are you calling me good?"
 
In other words young man, by calling me "Good Master" and knowing there is none good but God, are you therefore calling me God?" That was Jesus' question back to him - that was the big issue to his question, what must he do to have eternal life? We know it is believing in Jesus, but the young man may have just been trying to be polite calling Him 'good master' - Jesus used the moment to zero in on the issue: Do you believe I am God?
 
Here is where the road is passing beneath his feet
The man's need for an emotional rearrangement wasn't apparent. By the standards of the day, much like the 'Prosperity Movement' of 2 decades ago he equated financial blessing with God's endorsement of him and his lifestyle. Wrong. He was blessed not because God was blessing him for being righteous, God was blessing him so that he might see it was not his righteousness that brought him the blessings of wealth - God was doing it because He couldn't reach him any other way. God was trying to reach him through his idol of money and status, it wasn't an endorsement of his spiritual life. 
 
(We see the same in the church at Laodicea in The Revelation 3:14-22 who thought because they were rich and spiritual they needed nothing, but the Lord told them in His eyes they were naked (not righteous - no robes of righteousness) and blind and poor and wretched and miserable.) 
 
No answer is the wrong answer, so Jesus tried another approach
Upon not getting the honest response He sought, Jesus backs off and approaches the same issue of who he believed Jesus was another way, talking about the Commandments and if he wanted eternal life to sell all he had and come be a disciple of Jesus. The man went away sad. The conversation exposed his battle between money and status, and his desire for eternal life. Upon seeing the ugliness of his own heart he backed away rather than choosing to go through the ugliness of his sin and emotional need to lay hold on eternal life. 
 
It is the same with people today - it is all about the exposing of our heart, or our past decisions that put us where we are today, and then making the right choice. There may be a touch from God here and there along the way, but more often than not He simply gives us revelation about our heart, shines His light on past mistakes, and then gives us the opportunity to take a step in a new direction. 
 
That direction is towards emotional health, but it is not often the easy choice. Usually it is the more difficult choice as we've seen with the woman at the well who had to live in that city, with the woman in adultery who had to go and sin no more and restore her life, with the man who had Legion and had to go back to his home and friends. 
 
The difficult decision is very often the decision the Lord wants us to make and empowers us to do so, but it is an act of faith, a step into something new - emotional health. Healthy thoughts, healthy feelings, healthy relationships - these are what renew the mind and rebuilds lives. Even if there is a mighty touch from God along the way, you still have to make right decisions, discipline yourself to right thoughts and feelings - that is the only way to emotional health. It is the doer of the Word, not the hearer only, that lives the blessed life. 
 
New subject next week that is somewhat related, 'Controlling your emotions' - until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

Hi all, 
Today we'll look at the woman caught in adultery from John 8: 3-11.
 
This woman was caught literally in bed with another man and thrown into the streets to face immediate execution. Various versions she the scribes and Pharisees 'set her in their midst' or 'made her stand in their midst'. 
 
Ironically, Leviticus 20:10 says both the man and woman caught in the act of adultery should be executed, but religious people have a way of editing the Word to fit their beliefs rather than let the Word change what they believe, so we only see the woman facing execution. In ancient Israel the breaking of any of the 10 Commandments carried the death penalty, whereas the other 603 laws of Moses carried various degrees of punishment including down to simple fines for misdemeanors. 
 
An example is Joseph who upon finding Mary pregnant and could have had her executed, but instead didn't seek to bring charges and sought a divorce Matthew 1:19 tells us. My point is there was latitude even within Capital offenses, which is what Jesus offered the woman caught in the act of adultery. He wasn't breaking the Law of Moses, He was merely making the case for a lesser sentence - including freedom as it happened. And here is where the road to her emotional healing was prepared.
 
The day after the feast
John 7:37 tells us on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (When they lived in tents for a week to celebrate God living with man, specifically the wilderness experience after coming out of Egypt) Jesus proclaimed that those who believe in Him will have the Holy Spirit flowing out of them like rivers of living water. He said this because the Feast is also known as the Feast of Living waters, and John 8 tells us it was the next morning or the 8th day of the feast that the woman was caught in the act of adultery. 
 
The day after the feast, called 'Shemini Atzeret' is a separate feast of transition. The people are transitioning from tents back to their homes, and this is the transition Jesus presents to this woman. The day is like an encore in ancient times, a time of reflection - it will be 6 months before the nation again gathers for Passover.
 
Her affair was likened here in this context on the 8th day to have been like a tent, a temporary shelter, but now on the 8th day, the day of new beginnings, of Shemini Atzeret, a day she could transition back to her home, her life, her normal, sin-free life. This is what the Fountain of Living Waters was offering her. 
 
The context is important because it says Jesus wrote in the dust which caused the woman's executioners to leave them alone 'being convicted by their own conscience', one by one from the eldest to the youngest, until Jesus and the woman were left alone. I have a teaching series on 'Through Jewish Eyes' which explains what Jesus wrote and why among many other customs we misunderstand or just don't understand in the first place, but here is the basic information.
 
For the full week of Tabernacles/Living Waters a particular verse had been read - every day - which is Jeremiah 17:13: "O Lord the hope of Israel, all that forsake you will be ashamed, and they that depart from you (will have their names) written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of Living Waters."
 
The reason I'm going into such detail to explain why Jesus was writing their names in the dust of the earth is that He is in fact the Fountain of Living Waters they forsook, and He is about to offer this woman Living Water - everyone there would have understood these things - so she hopes He is about to offer some grace, some Living Water.
 
Notice once again the pattern to her emotional healing
The fact she was caught in bed with her lover is known. When the executioners leave, Jesus asks her: Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?" to which she replies the obvious as it was just the two of them, but His question has a higher purpose - that of acknowledging where she is right at that moment. "No one, sir."
 
Just as with the woman at the well, just as with the man who had Legion, here Jesus gets her to acknowledge where she is right now. And once again He offers no opinion, no judgment, just a point in the present when both the Lord and a person He created meet at one point in time to acknowledge where they are. In each case that is the pivot point around which their life changes and a new future is about to embark. It is the turning point, the launch pad - but none of the 3 realized it at those moments. 
 
The questions about how she got herself into that situation, questions about the double standard like why didn't they bring her lover out too, questions about what in her heart caused her to take a risk she knew if caught could mean her death - all laid aside for now, perhaps to be answered in heaven one day. 
 
Here is comes...
"Neither do I condemn you. Go. Sin no more." John 8:11
 
What did 'Go' mean to her? Go meant a release from the death sentence. It meant freedom to restart her life. Jesus is always empowering people to take charge of their life. Think about the emotions involved. Her once secret affair was now public knowledge. Her reputation was ruined. Her emotions shredded like so much cheese going into a recipe, for in fact the recipe of her life has now changed. She will have to rebuild her reputation, maybe get a job, certainly be whispered about for weeks to come...but go through it and rebuild! Grow a back bone because your heart is set on seeing justice, righteousness, in your life. 
 
"Sin no more." What was Jesus telling her? Break off the affair. Go - but not back to the old, rather break off the relationship and rebuild your life. 
 
Maybe the man ruined his marriage. Maybe she ruined her marriage. Maybe she was married and he was single. Maybe he was married and she was his mistress, the man providing an apartment for her, maybe a living allowance, maybe paid for that fancy chariot she has parked outside her home. What were her emotional ties to the man? He made her feel loved, whole, needed, appreciated, wanted. It didn't matter: "Sin no more." Not a suggestion, but a command.
 
How badly do you want a life that is whole, at peace, going in the right direction? Then break off the relationship. Be caught up in the 'Go', for that is empowerment by the Lord Himself. It is you taking charge of your life, you being in charge in complete freedom - Go! You are free, there is no condemnation - Go! 
 
Today we have pop Christian emotional psychology
If she lived today this woman might have attended a workshop to break soul ties. Maybe she would sign up for an inner healing course which might ask her to imagine Jesus present for all of her affairs and abuses she suffered through the years with the idea of healing her emotions. If she lived today there is little doubt someone would suggest she was promiscuous because she had a spirit of lust and other demons that needed cast out. And if she really wanted to get to the core someone would suggest she go to a deliverance and inner healing ministry that would lead her to renounce the sins of her forefathers and mothers to the 10th generation. 
 
Thankfully Jesus didn't know any of those methods back then, imagine that, He simply said grow a strong will for righteousness and justice and do what is right, put down your emotions to this guy and break it off - and not only him, but stay out of bed with other men too - Sin no more. Go...but sin no more. 
 
Jesus is the Fountain of Living Waters
The path to life is often obscured behind conflicting emotions and difficult choices...but if you have that revelation and you want to establish justice in your life, first it must be in your heart, and you must hold before you that your destiny is through the churning emotions. Your destiny is through the difficult decisions. In each case Jesus empowered people and then let them rebuild their lives. 
 
I've run out of room, we'll close it out next week, until then, 
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]

Hi all,
We are now leaving the woman at the well example having seen the methods Jesus uses to bring emotional healing to people. These same principles will be seen throughout the gospels: 
 
Acknowledge where you are without judgment or opinion - own it, be in the present. By revelation from God reset your understanding of your history, and entrust Him with the unanswerable questions until you get to heaven. Tell others about the revelation you received and how it has changed you. Make decisions to extricate yourself from the mess you are in. You will feel alone, but God cannot make that decision for you. What did the woman at the well do about man #6? Jesus wasn't there to make the decision for her - she had to own her life and make wise decisions. 
 
The man with a legion of demons
A Roman Legion in Jesus' time consisted of 2,000 soldiers, which tells us the man in Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8: 26-39 had been into heavy sin. Mark 5:2 says he had an 'unclean spirit'. While that could be used in a general sense of a person having a demon, in context it means a specific type of spirit. In the same way the Bible uses the word 'brethren' which is a reference to men and women and even children who believe, in a smaller context it may mean just a group of men. 
 
In context 'unclean spirit' refers to a sexually unclean spirit, which explains the man's nakedness, cutting himself, perhaps the attempts at binding him with chains was initially related to his particular kind of sexual perversion. We don't know other than the original sin of the man was sexual, and it led to having 2,000 demons in him. 
 
This candid assessment is important to this study of how Jesus heals emotionally, for this man certainly had all sorts of emotional hurt and baggage. 
 
Acknowledge where you are right now
But the man still retained some control, for Mark 5:6 says 'When he saw Jesus far off, he ran and worshipped Him'. Verse 15 says after Legion and his subordinates were cast out the man was found: "Clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, and in his right mind". 
 
The worship of Jesus was the acknowledgement by this man that he had a demonic problem, even as the head demon started talking to Jesus - it was all there for Jesus to see: He was naked, was bleeding from self-inflicted cuts from rocks, had scars from his cuttings, remnants of chains may have been dragged along - this was the moment the woman at the well had, the moment the person acknowledges where they are before God and everyone. Literally. 
 
Revelation that resets your history
Once again we see no opinion expressed by Jesus about this man and his demonic and sin problem or history. Jesus confronts his history differently than He did with the woman at the well - here He casts the demons out - with the woman at the well He just revealed by words of knowledge that He knew all she ever did. Both cases involved the manifestation of the power of God; words of knowledge in once case, casting demons out in another. 
 
I want you to notice the ease the man felt before Jesus. Clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus (Luke 8:35), and in his right mind. The revelation that Jesus is God and He made no judgement call on the sins which caused the man to become home to 2,000 demons, caused the man to sit with ease at the feet of Jesus. What do you think he was doing sitting at the feet of Jesus? He was learning. He was hearing teaching that changed his mind about his life, his history, and reset his ideas about his life. 
 
Tell someone about the revelation and change of heart and mind you've received
In Mark 5:18-20 and Luke 8:38-39 it says as Jesus and the disciples were getting into their boat to return across the lake, he begged Jesus to allow him to come with Him.
The area of the Gadarenes is known as the Decapollis, the area of 10 Greek cities (deca- ten; polis - city) in what is modern Jordan. It wasn't a Jewish area and at that time having a Greek disciple ministering to those in Israel about their Messiah just wasn't an option. So Jesus told him 'No'. 
 
Think about the emotions this caused the man: "Jesus, I want to follow you!" "No". Once again, just as with the woman at the well, Jesus leaves the man with decisions to make. They are decisions he alone would have to make, Jesus wasn't going to make them for him. 
 
"Return to your own home and to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had compassion on you. And he left and went throughout the Decapolis telling everyone what Jesus had done for him, and all men marveled." Mark 5:19-20
 
Think through this man's history and emotions for the Lord does the same today with us
Jesus told the man to first go home, and then to his friends. Peter said in I Peter 4:10: "As everyone has received the grace, so give that grace to others, for you are now stewards of the (various forms) of the grace of God."
 
The man had decisions to make that involved him returning home to family and friends and rebuilding his life. The woman at the well didn't move out of her community because she had a tough decision to make with man #6 - would they get married or break up? The man delivered of Legion wasn't allowed by the Lord to pick up and move where no one knew him. Like the woman at the well the Lord made him own up to his past and learn from it, and rebuild his life with right decisions where he lived. 
 
In both cases thus far we've seen the Lord bring emotional healing to people using the same methods - and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He hasn't changed. SO many Christians lie when they say 'God is leading me'. That isn't God, it is their weak spine talking, their distaste for making hard decisions all on their own. They hide behind spiritual platitudes and emotional reasoning that are half-truths that lead to an appearance of progress but which will be revealed to be nothing more than window dressing to their lives within a few months. 
 
Romans 12:2 flat out states how to change your life - how to undergo in the Greek a metamorphosis - 'renew the mind' while making your body a living sacrifice to God. Period. You have to change your thoughts in order to change your mind. That means you have to change your emotions. God and you acknowledge where you are, refrain from making judgements, take a step of faith letting some things be unanswered until you get to heaven, reset your understanding of your own history by learning His perspective on it, share what God is doing, and then rebuild your emotions and life. 
 
In part 1 of this series I brought out Isaiah 40:2-4 which said the Lord will not fail nor be discouraged until He has set justice in (your) earth. This is how He does that setting of justice - He sends us right back to where we are, which we've already acknowledged, but with new life - and then leaves us to our decisions as He watches. IF we make wise decisions in Him, He is able to set justice in our life - balance, righteousness, godliness - justice. If we make wrong decisions, He will be there again to repeat the attempt at a healing process in our emotions...some people go around and around that mountain and never learn. Others like these 2 examples above, learned. 
 
Another example next week...are you starting to see a pattern in your own life? Until then, blessings, 
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
 

Hi all,
In the first two parts of this series I brought out that Jesus first and always acknowledges where a person is at that moment, without opinion nor judgement. 
 
With the woman at the well it was very clear: 
"You have truly said you have no husband, for you have had 5 husbands and the man you are now living with is not your husband. This you have truly said."
 
We will see this pattern over and over again in the gospels as Jesus set about to heal emotions, first step; Acknowledge where you are right now. 
 
Perhaps not so ironically, this is also foundational to every non-spiritual program that helps with emotional issues, from addictions to depression, from financial ruin to ruined relationships people have brought on themselves. All these non-spiritual programs and methods have inadvertently been following the way the Lord starts the healing process for the emotions: Acknowledge where you are right now. 
 
In modern words we would say 'take responsibility' for you life. Own up to where you are right now - no judgement - just own it. This is very different from the feel good seeker friendly, non-confrontational, no tough decisions gospel now presented by what used to be cutting edge charismatic (even Word of Faith) churches. So much of the social gospel is just ask Jesus into your life and He will make it all better. But Jesus' methods are quite clear: First step is admitting where you are. Own it. 
 
Second step...
Is to allow the Lord to reset your ideas of your own history. This woman had gone through 5 marriages and that produced a lot of memories and emotions that formed her opinion about herself and her life. When Jesus 'told me everything I ever did' it reset her understanding of her own history. She had to allow that. She had to even allow herself to have questions like, 'If you knew all this and saw all this and watched me go through all this, why did you not intervene? Where were you?'
 
Second step part A
IF she had questions like that He offered no explanation. A person who is emotionally bruised must come to a point they realize they will not have all the answers this side of heaven. Emotionally and spiritual healthy people can work through the how's and why's and move on, content to let answers come in heaven, while a bruised stem cannot - they dwell on the how and why. 
 
Jesus offered this woman no explanation, nor will He offer any other people in the examples we'll see in the gospels any explanation - some things must wait until heaven to be answered. To be emotionally healthy a person must be willing to lay aside the unanswerable questions in a step of faith and trust. 
 
Paul in II Timothy 1:12: 'I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded He will keep that which I've entrusted with Him until that day." Trust Him with those questions.
 
At the point of her 'Jesus moment', He had moved on from her past and was focused on the here and now - the conversation right then. He was not allowing her to bring up her past, to ask questions about it, to look over her shoulder once again, sobbing with questions for God in the flesh who was standing before her - He was in the present. 
 
It reminds me of something He said to me once in a play of words in English: "I AM, which is always present. So to be in my presence you must be in the present."
 
When you are in the here and now, in His presence, there is no concern for the how and why of the past. He didn't bring up why she had gone through 5 marriages, He merely acknowledged it and got her to admit it as well. Then He moved on.
 
Third step to emotional healing...
When He told her He was Messiah in John 4:26 she 'left her water pot' and went into the city which led to Jesus being invited to stay there 2 days. She told others about this revelation. God accepted her as she was, for what she had been through, and changed her opinion about her own history. Now she told others how she had changed. 
 
That admission of her re-set of her own history is another vital element we see used by Jesus over and over again. Acknowledge where you are, allow God to bring revelation to your understanding of your own past which resets your thinking, then tell others how you've moved on based on the revelation from God you've had.
 
Fourth step to emotional healing...
Because I have so many examples of Jesus healing emotions in the gospels I am not spending a lot of time on each principle in favor of showing you a variety of people and how these same elements were applied to them - but finally this last point with the woman at the well. 
 
In John 4: 41-43 it tells us that Jesus stayed 2 days with them, and then He left. He left the woman at the well with new life, and a decision for her to make. 
That is an important method of the Lord - He left her with a decision just as He does us today: Specifically, what is she going to do with this 6th man she is now living with? 
 
We don't know what emotional trauma she suffered in her first 5 marriages, but we do know that there was a reason she was just living with the 6th man. In modern terms, for people are the same today as back then, it may have been fear in some form or another - not wanting to bury yet another husband, not wanting to commit just to have him leave her for a younger girl friend - or a host of other reasons then, just as today. 
 
Jesus left her so she could decide
There are many examples showing that the Lord often plays the role of Observer, just watching to see what we will do. If you're like me, you've had many times in the midst of decision making that you've been aware the Lord is watching, waiting, staying in the background to see what decision you will make. 
 
"And when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, He opened her womb..." Genesis 29:31
"Don't rejoice when your enemy falls, don't let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the Lord see it and it displeases Him..." Proverbs 24:17-18
"And Peter said, 'Man, I don't know what you are saying'. And immediately the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned, and looked at Peter..." Luke 22:60-61
 
And so it was that Jesus left the woman at the well with a decision before her face: What will she do about her living arrangements? He being God, would watch from afar. I like to say it this way: "Often times God is not in the event; He is found in our response to an event." He will let you make a decision without His influence at all - you know enough to make a godly decision - and He may be found in the right decision. 
 
Wanting God to make the decision for them
I see this gospel of 'let God decide for me' repeatedly: Christians who won't move for the spiritually good sounding reason of 'I don't want to miss God', but in reality it is 'I'm afraid'. "I'm afraid of change." "I'm afraid of the difficulty financially and emotionally." "I'm afraid because it is all new to me and what I have and where I am, though miserable, offers some degree of comfort because it is familiar." Jesus left this woman to make her own decisions about her living arrangement. The emotionally bruised person just feels alone, not realizing they are alone only in the sense He is stepping back because the decision is there. He IS there, just in the background out of view. 
 
And I've run out of room - sorry to cut it off there - we'll pick it up next week with another example of emotional healing in the gospels...until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
 

Hi all,
I've raised the issue that we don't see Jesus laying hands on someone for emotional healing in the gospels, yet clearly the healing of emotions is part of the work of the cross. So where do we find emotional healing in the ministry of Jesus?
 
Foundational scripture provides a clue
Isaiah 42:1-4 is a prophecy about the Messiah, and says in v3-4: "A bruised reed He will not break. A smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice; He will not fail nor be discouraged until He has set justice in the earth..."
 
We've established a person in need of emotional healing is compared here to a bruised plant stem and a barely burning oil lamp, but I want you to see the Lord's point of view, for it provides us the understanding of what the Lord's purpose is when He brings forth emotional healing.
 
First understand "He will not fail nor be discouraged"
This statement that the Lord won't be discouraged with us is huge and SO gracious the Lord included it in this prophecy about Messiah. This is because an emotionally bruised person, a person barely keeping their light lit, feels discouraged, hopeless, and they feel they have most certainly disappointed the Lord.
 
This says He won't be discouraged until He has '...set justice in the earth'. That means He is moving in the direction of bringing you justice - He WILL set justice, in your life. In your emotions. In your sense of right and wrong and fairness in life. He won't be discouraged and will in fact bring forth justice. 
 
It says He will do so 'in faithfulness'. He will be faithful to you when no one else has been. He will set justice in your life when no one else has been willing or able to do so. 
He will not further bruise you, nor will He extinguish your barely burning light, but will in fact heal you by bringing justice into your earth, your life....how does He do that?
 
You must remember this...
I cannot emphasize this enough - everything we are about to see in the gospels of how Jesus brought forth justice into an emotionally damaged person's life can be traced right back to the above verse. This is important because the natural man's way of viewing justice means whoever hurt you will get theirs in the end. Whoever caused you the emotional pain will pay for their sin. That is the first place natural man goes to when we read 'He will bring forth justice."
 
What if God's perspective on justice in your life is different than what you imagine? Assuredly those who sinned against you will stand before the Lord to give account, but that is off in the future. What about the here and now? What will He do to help you heal of the damage? What if His sense of bringing forth justice in your life involves not only making sure that person who hurt you stands before Him one day, but also helps you sort out what happened to you and provide direction? 
 
Example #1: The woman at the well
In John 4 Jesus is at a well and asks water from a local woman. She is a 'person of peace' towards Him, not yet realizing who she is talking to, she is just interested in talking to the man. In verse 16 Jesus asks her to call her husband, to which she replied she doesn't have one. To this statement Jesus reveals that He knows (by what we call a word of knowledge) she has had 5 husband and she is now living with a 6th man. 
 
At this point we need to speculate a little. Think about people you know around you about why this woman was married 5x and was living with a 6th -for people are the same now as then. Why would she not want to marry the man? Does #6 want to be married but she doesn't? Does she want to be married but #6 doesn't? 
 
Did she bury 3 husbands and divorce or was divorced by 2? Did she bury all 5? Did she divorce or was she divorced by all 5? Did she bury 2 and divorce 3? 
 
You see, if we are to believe as Isaiah 53 states, that our emotional griefs, sorrows, and pain were carried by Jesus at the same time 'by His stripes we are healed' then that means with every physical healing there will be an emotional healing as well. The reverse must also then be true: If there is an emotional healing then there will be a healing in the natural world as well, either literally physical or maybe a healing of circumstance, of relationships, of life in general. You cannot separate the two for they are presented as one work by Messiah's sacrifice. 
 
She didn't need physical healing, but her emotional healing brought about healing to her life in the natural 
No matter the reason she had been married 5x and was living with a 6th man, to have been married 5 times and now being single reveals she had emotional baggage. There was a reason in that day and that culture that she and #6 were living together. 
 
She would later say to her neighbors in v29; "Come see a man who told me everything I ever did!"
 
This tells us there was much more to the conversation she and Jesus had then what John was led to write down that became our John chapter 4 - obviously Jesus shared more details of what He knew of her life than what John 4 states - He told her everything she ever did. 
 
Healing method #1 - Acknowledge where you are right now
Notice the Lord simply said, "You've told the truth, you've had 5 husbands and the man you're now living with isn't your husband. This you have spoke truthfully." (v18)
There is no judgement, no condemnation, no opinion expressed at all - He just acknowledges where she is right now at this moment in time. This is the first step, to be brutally truthful with yourself and God about where you are right now. There is no opinion nor emotion attached - Jesus simply stated the truth and got her to do the same. We will see this pattern in the gospels over and over with Him - first step, He and they acknowledge where they are right now, no veneer, no explanation of why - just truth. 
 
Healing method #2 - Reset history by the Holy Spirit
This woman went through her 5 marriages and was living with a 6th man, clearly at this point of her life not concerned about God's thoughts on her living arrangement. We can conclude therefore she felt rather alone in losing to death or divorce husbands 1-5, perhaps asking where God was when she was going through relationship after relationship only to find each end. She had lived through 5 husbands and entered into a 6th relationship apparently unconcerned about God, and that was her perspective. 
 
That was her reality. God was no where to be found in those first 5. All she wanted was to be a wife and mom, and man after man, marriage after marriage ended. She wanted stability, peace, and she had questions - so much so that after Jesus initially revealed that He knew about her 5 marriages she changed the subject to a spiritual one. She was deeply spiritual, but confused, Jesus telling her point-blank that 'you worship you know not what'. (v22)
 
Her understanding of her life was that she had made it through on her own. She was tough. She was inwardly strong. She had soldiered forward in spite of what life had thrown at her. Where was God? Who cares, I like man #6 so I'll move in with him. God has demonstrated He isn't interested in my life. 
 
Reset - Jesus saw all, Jesus was there
Jesus gave her revelation that reset her understanding of her own history: He knew what she was going through. He was there. He proved it by telling her of her 5 marriages and all she ever did. He brought her to this point for a reason. She had to change how she thought about her life, about how she thought God wasn't there. The bruised person must have an experience with the Lord by His Spirit where He is allowed to reset their idea of their history. A history that reveals He was there after all.
 
We will see this pattern throughout the gospels in various applications - Jesus revealed to the emotionally bruised person facts which reset their ideas of their own history. And I'm out of room for today so will pick it up there next week  - until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]