“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
-Luke 4:18-20
I don’t believe these passages that reveal what Jesus came to accomplish are separate from the oppression and prison our minds can be in from past sins or trauma from people and life.
Jesus came to set the captives free, and this freedom includes healing for our minds.
Do you ever experience flashes of past scenarios that interrupt your daily life, instantly taking you back to a painful or negative memory? Jesus can heal that part of your brain that has stored the traumatic moment and take that jarring sting away.
Do you have flashes of past sexual relationships, or did you struggle with porn, opening yourself up to images that you can’t blink away? Jesus can remove them from your mind.
Have you been diagnosed with a mental illness that is causing you to struggle in your daily life from past hurts and traumas? Jesus can meet you in the brokenness of your mind and take you on a journey to restoration.
What’s going on in your mind that is leaving you in a head-war, confusion, frustration, bound with worry and fear? You have access to a sound mind that will lead you to the peace that transcends human understanding.
Trauma, life stressors, and wounds from our experiences can trigger the most intense panic attacks that require divine intervention from our Healer. Jesus wants to come into every broken place in our hearts and minds, including all the residual effects of life’s overwhelming experiences. We don’t have to do this in our own strength, but it will require partnering with Him in ways that may feel impossible. Especially when flashes of past scenarios are running through our minds and they are coming in sharp, fast, even creating physical pain. We can bring these painful moments to Jesus and ask for His help.
With Him, all things are possible.
I have encountered so many people who live with a belief that what they’ve experienced explains their mental and emotional limitations. Many live under what life (and people) did to them instead of what Jesus came to accomplish. But that’s not God’s will for any of us. He sent Jesus to redeem and restore everything — this includes healing our minds.
Today, I’m encouraging you to believe for more, and out of this believing mindset, you will receive more healing and greater breakthroughs.
My ex-husband would pin me against the bed or wall with both of his hands around my neck. He dragged me down the stairs one night by my arm and hair, and on another occasion, he pinned me on the stairs with his bare hands, crushing several of my ribs. I still have pain in my chest from that particular night.
When I was going through the divorce, I would get nightmares of him coming back, and life scenarios would trigger flashes that would send me into an intense panic. I struggled going out on my daily runs, in fear I would see him driving down the road, or felt instant panic when my phone would ring, wondering if it was him calling to cuss me out for some unknown reason.
I felt tormented when random scenes of his raging fits came flooding to the forefront of my mind, interrupting the newfound peace in our home. I even felt panicked if one of my kids came up behind me and wrapped their little arms around my neck for a hug, sending me back to those scary nights where he would put his hands around my neck and pin me to the wall.
I didn’t just go through a grieving process after my divorce.
I needed Jesus to heal my mind from the trauma.
Every time I would experience these triggers and flashes, I would bring that memory before Jesus, inviting Him into those painful moments, and He healed them. One by one, layer by layer, those scary flashes from my past no longer carry the power to interrupt my current daily life.
They are gone.
So are all of my other past triggers that created panic or an anxious feeling. Jesus has restored my mind, and He continues to every time I experience something painfully overwhelming in my life.
When our minds need the healing touch of Jesus, not only do we feel the pain of the current situation, but if there are past situations that have traumatized us, those incidents can take us all the way back to that initial bad experience in our current pain, intensifying it. Sometimes the memory is so intense, we completely shut down.
But that’s not what God’s heart is for us. He doesn’t want any of us to live any part of our lives shut down, paralyzed, or even hardened from life’s pain. Instead, He wants us to turn to Him for healing.
When past traumas surface, use that moment as an opportunity to go to Jesus, invite Him into that memory, and ask Him to heal your mind until those past flashes no longer invade your present life.
Be encouraged through the process and trust that God is at work even if the healing doesn’t happen at once. Sometimes healing is a process of becoming consciously aware of why you’re experiencing a strong emotion, asking the Holy Spirit to show you what’s going on, even in the subconscious areas of your mind, and then invite Jesus into the memory or feeling. You can do this each time something surfaces until those triggers are gone.
And here’s the beautiful thing about the healing nature of Jesus and how He can heal the brokenness in your mind…
You do not need to dig up the past, try to create an emotion, go through a strategic step plan, or plug into another ministry for freedom — just walk with Jesus. As you go through life with Him, and something triggers a strong emotion, stop and bring it to Him. Invite Him into that place of pain, release the one who hurt you through forgiveness, and let the soothing love and healing nature of Jesus restore your mind.
P.S. If today’s devotional spoke to you, you’d love my book, Ripple Effect: A Transformational Journey into God’s Heart that Will Change You from the Inside Out.
