S71P3 – What God heals: the spirit
Luke 9:42-43a
While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God.
He was just a foolish kid who thought everything was fun and games. Other kids had used the spirit board at parties, and it seemed like they were having a good time. He decided to buy a board of his own and have his friends over to ask it questions. Things progressed quickly, and the fun times became serious times. The party novelty turned into a daily ritual. Before he knew it, they were diving into occult literature, trying their hands at casting spells and making things happen in the spirit. This led to a spiritual attachment which would ravage his mind, heart and body. It would take the hand of God to deliver him from that bondage and heal his spirit. Only then could he become a slave to righteousness.
The Bible speaks so much about spiritual bondage. We know that we are born slaves to sin, and our spirits are longing for deliverance from that slavery. Not only that, but they long to be slaves of righteousness, bound to God and his holiness. Because we spend time in that spiritual bondage, there is spiritual healing that is required to set us on the right path. Spiritual oppression is similar to physical oppression in that it causes damage and may leave scars. Being delivered in our spirits does not mean that there is no additional healing to be done. We still must care for our spiritual wounds the same way we care for physical wounds. Scripture even warns us about spiritual re-infection (Luke 11:24-26) and guides us on how we manage the healing process through spiritual maturity.
We must remember that the spiritual healing offered by God is not just a moment of deliverance by which we are granted spiritual freedom from our oppressor. There is a healing process that goes well beyond that instant and requires a time of care. This is especially true when we have opened ourselves up to spiritual connections over years because those connections do not want to be broken. The enemy and his army do not want to relinquish any control we have given them. We must continue to contend daily for our spiritual healing, making sure to keep old wounds from reopening. Father, thank You that You heal our spirits, and keep us vigilant to tend to our spiritual wounds.