A Heart Condition

There is something so beautiful about the love of a father. There is a sense of covering and protection, guidance, strength…it’s presence is so powerful. Yet the absence has its consequences. My heart is weighed with compassion for those who couldn’t release themselves to celebrate during this season of honoring fathers. I sense that there are many of you that suffer from heart conditions. Not the type of heart conditions that must be diagnosed by medical doctors through natural devices designed to determine such conditions. But by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. During my quiet time, the Lord placed on my heart that the difficulty that many experience in fully engaging with Him as “Father” is directly associated with the disappointment and hurt experienced by their natural fathers. These disappointments manifest in many areas, whether people are willing to admit it or not. For the man who witnessed and often experienced the wrath of his alcohol and drug induced father…he repeats the cycle with his wife and children. For the man who was sexually abused by the man who was supposed to cover and protect him, namely his father, he now finds himself trying to wash the shame of his wounded masculinity in the bed of virgins. For the woman who’s father walked out and left or was never there…she tries to find the approval of a man through the roller coaster rides of relationships and promiscuity not realizing that the void will never be filled. This list of disappointments can go on and on. I myself have during a season of my life suffered from the same ache and pains in my heart that many of you experience today. It’s an unexplainable grief. A grief of either what used to be, or what never was. But my encouragement to you today is that there will only be peace and inner healing for you as you began to live life through the Spirit. Romans 8:12-16 (NIV) says, “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation - but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeed of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba Father.”” Beloved, when you no longer live and play by the rules of the world, you are no longer subject to the effects of the world. By all means, I don’t mean that you do not have to live according to the laws of the world we live in. I am speaking of something much more than that…much deeper than that. It’s the inner healing I’m after today. When you are hurt in an incident, and you desire the pain to go away, do you seek medicinal healing from the thing/one that caused you the pain? Hopefully not. If you do, then there is yet another heart condition that we need to discuss besides this one. But when you have experienced pain, you go to a physician. I’m merely telling you to allow the Great Physician to bring you that healing. When, and not if, He heals you, then the cycle of pain is broken! Do you hear what I am saying? It’s done! You are healed! That comes through life through the Spirit. I encourage you to evaluate your road on life. Are you living according to the nature of the flesh? Then everything your flesh experiences, you will feel; guaranteed. But if you ever step over into the realm of living according to the Spirit, then you can only experience life!