Does God Still Heal? - Emotional Healing - Moving Beyond Treating the Symptoms, Part 1

We are living in a day of psychological meltdown and crises. Anxiety, depression are at levels never before. Here's the question, can God heal our emotions?

And if so, how? Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of this daily program is to intentionally disciple Christians through the insightful Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. And for the next handful of programs, we'll dive into our thought-provoking series, Does God Still Heal? Join Chip in James chapter five as he studies what God's Word says about emotional, physical, and spiritual healing. But before he gets going, let me encourage you to use Chip's message notes while you listen. They'll help you get the most out of what you're about to hear.

Download them under the broadcasts tab at livingontheedge.org, have listeners tap fill in notes. Well, if you have a Bible, go to the book of James chapter five as we join Chip for his message, Emotional Healing, How to Move Beyond Treating Symptoms. To begin our time, I did a little research, and as I did it, I discovered some things that probably don't surprise you. We've been in the last probably 30 to 40 years in a significant season of therapy and help. Never have been more drugs prescribed to help Americans and their emotional well-being than today. Never have more people engaged in psychotherapy or various forms of counseling than today. Never before have there been more treatment centers, more psychiatric hospitals, as there are today. Never has there been so much material, I mean audio, video, books, to help people with our emotional and mental needs as today.

Never have so many people been involved in Celebrate Recovery, support groups, self-help, free from addictions, 12-step groups. And so when you think about that, you would probably conclude that we're probably more emotionally healthy now than ever, right? I mean, we must be doing great with all that energy going toward counseling and drugs and groups and self-help, but you know the answer, don't you?

Of all the countries in the world, America is among the very, very top in stress, anxiety, the lack of emotional well-being. There's a reason why all those things have been created. And by the way, please do not hear, there's something wrong with those things.

Here's what I want you to get. My thesis is that we have been taught to cope with our symptoms rather than learn how to heal the source. And there's a proper time to get counseling, there's a proper time under a doctor's guidance where medication is needed, there's a proper time for support groups and help groups and small groups, there's a proper time for pastoral counseling and professional counseling, there's a proper time for all those things. But what I would suggest is that if you're not careful, and if we're not careful, what we really do is try and manage the symptoms. And by the way, there's a lot of improper ways that we manage our symptoms as well, aren't there? We're not hungry, but we eat. The obesity in our country isn't because people are hungry, it's called what? Comfort food. Whether it's eating too much or shopping too much or drinking too much or working too much, we do lots of things to quiet the pain.

We go on adventure, adrenaline runs. And what I want you to know is that God wants to heal not just the symptoms but the source. And he's going to give us a prescription for how that happens. That happens in James chapter 5 beginning in verse 13, and we have God's prescription for emotional healing. And even as I read this, you will be shocked at its simplicity.

In fact, you might be so shocked you say there's no way this can work. But I think by the end of our time, if you're willing to practice God's prescription, you'll experience some powerful things. God's prescription for emotional healing is for emotional distress. His RX is, you can write the word in, pray.

Pray. And I assure you it's not just some common prayer, but there's a type of prayer that brings emotional healing. He says in verse 13, is anyone among you troubled? The word means afflicted, suffering, enduring hardship, or distress, misfortune of any kind.

It's kind of the trouble, the emotions, the difficulty, the pain, the anxiety, the stress. Are you troubled? You lost your house, you've broken up in a relationship, health problems, you're discouraged, you're distressed. Are you troubled? And by the way, it's is anyone among you, this is for individuals. When you are troubled, when I'm troubled, when I'm sad, when I feel bad, when I feel discouraged, when I want to give up, when I'm angry, when I'm troubled, God says, pray.

To which you're thinking, I've actually done that, but it's not working so well for me. The second one is for emotional delight, the RX is sing. Is anyone noticed specifically, an actual person, individually, are you happy? And this word means not just kind of like an emotional light or boisterous or I feel ooh, happy, but it's that attitude of inner delight, even if circumstances are bad. You know that flickering up inside of joy, that sense of satisfaction, that like, oh God, thank you. The connection of a relationship, the accomplishment of a goal, the sense of watching God work in people's lives. He says the RX is to sing. Now I'm not going to ask you to put up your hand, but I would be interested to know how many people privately sing to God.

Wow, that is so wonderful and so unusual. And you're going to find that there's a way to pray when you feel sad or even mad or bad and that the temptation will be to eat or to call a friend or to watch TV or to go shopping or to log on the internet and watch something that's not very appropriate or just bury it and deny it and work even harder or go to therapy. And all I'm going to say is before you go to counselors, I want to show you what the scripture says is to go to the counselor. And I would suggest that in centuries in the past, they didn't have a lot of clinics. They didn't have a lot of antidepressants, right?

You know, you couldn't go to the kind of the psychiatric hospital. And so God has some solutions. There's a place for all of that at the right time. But what I want to encourage us to do is say, what if rather than the symptoms, there is actual a way to come into God's presence in the way that he's shown us where he could heal what's behind why I go to the refrigerator? What's behind that addiction? What's behind the explosion in anger? What's behind why I shut everything down and work, work, work, work, work? Could God heal my emotions?

Turn the page and let's discover exactly what he says and how. Because I'm guessing some of you are saying, you know what, I've got struggles and I've got pain and I've got hurts and I've actually, I pray. I've really prayed, Oh God, you know, will you please help me and God, my job situation here.

And you know, I've got a breakup in a relationship here. One of my kids is struggling here. Our marriage is, and you've prayed and you've prayed. And you would say to me, and when I got done, I still felt kind of bad. I mean, it's hard to say out loud, but it's like I prayed and it didn't work. And so the question you'll notice on your notes is what kind of prayer, what kind of prayer brings about the kind of change that we're talking about? And I'm going to tell you that there's two kinds of prayer and one I'll describe by an experience many, many years ago.

I was teaching, coaching basketball, lived in a little apartment by myself with about two rooms and I was leading a college discipleship ministry. And there was a fellow who came and he's, now we've made great progress and, you know, I'm kind of allowed to tell this story. And so I'll be just very direct. And Bob had a very difficult, I mean, difficult childhood rejection by his father, multiple rejections afterwards. And if you've ever been around one of those people that, you know, they have this tape and the first time you hear it, your heart just goes out to them and you, Oh my gosh, yeah, you went through that and you went through that and you went through that and Oh wow. And you know, you listen and then you're with them again. And it's like, you ask him about something and it's like, they punch a button and the tape plays and you hear exactly the same thing.

Right. And then you're with them with someone else and someone says, how, how are you guys doing? And Bob plays the tape and Oh man, I went, I read my, when my childhood was terrible, my dad treated me this way. I actually, in high school, I was rejected in junior high. People make fun of me and you know, everywhere I've gone, you know, it's like, and I'm thinking like, man, I've known the guy three weeks.

I've heard this story like 14 times. And so you know, as a result of that, what happens is what we all do when people do that habitually, here's what we do, right? You start avoiding them and either in a moment of weakness or godliness, I'm not sure Bob said, you know, I don't have any place to live and I'm just passing through and you know, this seems like a great ministry and would you help me? I said, well, how can I help you?

Because I don't have any place to live. Oh, no. I said, okay, Bob in transition for two weeks. Okay.

You can move in and you know, there's this pull out couch out there for two weeks and let me help you get on your feet, give you a little money, get you, you can find a job. Well, about seven or eight months later. Okay. And I mean, you know, you're up till two in the morning and talking, talking, talking, talking, talking, counseling. And what about this, Bob? What about this, Bob? Bible studies together.

And so finally I said, Bob, I've heard this story 144 times. Why don't you just pray? He goes, I do.

It doesn't do any good. All right. Let's go to pray and we're going to pray right now. Okay. Get this thing out here.

It's a hard wooden floor. I mean, we're going to be holy about this. Get down on our knees, Bob. Okay, Bob. Okay. Right, Bob, you go first and then I'll pray. All right. I bow my head. He bows his head. Oh God, you know what my father did to me. You know where I've been through. You know how I was rejected in junior high.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like he's whining to God like he's whining to me. He got done and I said something like, God, please help him. I can't. And see, there's a kind of prayer that God uses and there's a kind of prayer that really doesn't work. Whining in the presence of God where you're the victim, telling God how difficult everything is and asking him for magic bullets to make everything go away rather than facing the cause. I feel rejected. I feel hurt.

Is there a place and is there a person that totally and completely loves me for who I am and what does it mean to be in Christ and being accepted and be a son and be a daughter and to believe that I have an inheritance and that I'm adopted and that I'm special and that I'm loved and to live out of who the new I am. And I heard another guy named Dave pray when he was going through a rough time. Dave had been through a horrendous life.

He was very fluent in a weak moment, committed adultery, later killed someone in a moment of pride, actually made a decision that caused thousands of people to lose their life. And I heard Bob pray on my living room floor. And when I heard Dave pray, I thought, I think that might be illegal. I can't believe how he talks to God. And the Dave that I'm talking about is the David of scripture.

The David who when God heard this man and saw this man, in spite of his tremendous failure and sin said, this is David, a man after my own heart. One third of all the Psalms are called lament Psalms. And there's a type of praying in a lament Psalm where you meet God, where you don't deny, you don't make excuses, you don't blame, you don't whine, you face what you really feel, you get raw at a level and you bring it to God.

And there's a three-step process. And in the midst of this, God heals our emotions, sometimes instantaneously, sometimes over time. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and Chip will be back to continue our series, Does God Still Heal, in just a minute. But let me quickly tell you that we are more than a broadcast ministry. We're supporting pastors globally, developing helpful resources, and sharing the gospel with this next generation. So if you'd like to join us in these efforts, become a monthly partner by going to livingontheedge.org. And thanks for your support.

Well, here again is Chip. Prayers that heal emotions include three parts, and they're called laments. About 50 of the 150 Psalms are in this category. Well, what's the pattern? Number one, you recount your pain. You recount it.

Not I'm a victim and whine about it. No denial, no repression, no stuffing, no self-pity, no complaining. You recount it. Second, you recall God's character. When you recount it, there's honest emotions.

There's graphic language. Some people take all the hurt they've ever had, and they've been stuffing it for years. And when you stuff it over here, it comes out in addictions over here. Some people, like Bob, what Bob found was when he would tell everyone all of his problems, initially he would always get sympathy, and he'd get people's ear. Some of you and some of us have unconsciously and habitually learned that you tell people your struggles all the time because you get interest and affirmation for a while. And you would rather have someone feel sorry for you than you get better. Some of you have never dealt with why you feel so mad or sad or hurt, and have never been willing to look squarely at this is what happened to me.

You make excuses for your father, excuses for people, excuses for them, because you can't face the reality as he rejected me, she rejected me. That was wrong. That was bad. That was sin. But David doesn't do that. He's raw.

He's earthy. The Lord is near to those who call upon Him. Psalm 145 18, to those who call upon Him in truth. Genuine healing always is about grace, but grace and truth are always connected for healing to occur. Open your Bibles to Psalm 13.

It's a song of lament. He recounts his pain. You'll notice he's going to recall God's character. And then number three, notice there's a choice that he makes. He resolves to trust.

So this is really, really simple. You want emotional healing when you're going through difficult times. Number one, you recount the pain specifically and honestly. Number two, you recount God's character.

Wait a minute. This is all how I feel. This is what I've been through, but this is who God is. And then you resolve.

You make a decision, not because you feel like it, but to trust. And that's what begins the healing process. Listen to Psalm 13. If I was a psychologist and I was sitting on a couch and I was listening to this, see, we don't live in biblical language. We live in therapeutic language.

So I'll give you a picture of how this might go. Here's David praying. How long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me? In our day, we'd say he has abandonment issues. He does. He's not experiencing God. He prays, nothing happens. He feels alone. He feels isolated. He feels discouraged. But what's he doing?

He's not processing those emotions and going different places. How long, God? How long? You made me, you loved me, you died for me, you rose from the dead. I don't like this. Are you gonna forget me forever? Are you gonna hide your face from me? I want to know. When's the last time you prayed like that?

See, we've got some really weird things. Now I lay me down to sleep. Oh Lord, my soul to keep. Hello Jesus, meek and mild.

It's just me. Would you make everything wonderful? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? You know what anxiety is? You ever been there where you can't think on one thing, and you're bombarded by thoughts, and you don't know where to go, and this thought is, and you leave something in this room, you go to the next room, and then you try to start on something, and you're distracted by something else, and you feel like, at times, like you're almost going out of your mind. I'm bombarded with my thoughts, and then he says what?

Every day sorrow in my heart? He's depressed. He's sad. He's bummed out. He doesn't feel good. He feels absolutely abandoned. He has high levels of anxiety, and he's depressed. How long will my enemies triumph over me? And now if it's really happening, he's realizing I've got external circumstances that I can't control, and they're winning.

And if it's purely psychological, maybe he's paranoid. Here's a guy that his emotions are in a very bad place, and there are no therapists in his day. Look on me and answer me, O Lord my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I'll sleep in death. I don't know if I can keep going. You ever been there? You ever felt like, I just can't take this another day. I can't go on. God, if you don't intervene, if you don't do something, I can't go on. That's what he's saying.

It's raw. It's honest. My enemies will say, and then if I bail out, my enemies will say, I've overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

Notice the turning now in the Psalm. What he has done, that's how I feel. That's how I really feel. That's not, you know, I was one of the youngest kids. My dad really gave me much attention. My older brothers were really down on me when God told me he's going to use me. You know, I kind of have a personality that is a little bit more sensitive than others.

I think we spend a little bit more time trying to figure out why we are the way we are. I think what David does here is say, this is where I'm really at, but I trust in your unfailing love. By the way, at the heart of curing every addiction and every problem, what I need, what you need, what everyone is looking for, and whether we look forward in sex or work or shopping or a bottle or fame or a drug or from a counselor, we want to be loved. There's a miraculous thing that happens is you, just for you, apart from anything you have done, will do or could ever do, that you, just for you, are an object of deep unfailing love. And he says, I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation.

He's looking back to what God has done. I'm going to focus now on the facts. You've delivered me. My feelings are in the toilet, but I'm going to choose to look at the facts and who you are and what you've done. And then notice, I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me.

Notice, I will. It's a choice. Bob, often I would talk with him and we would try and work through issues and I'd say, Bob, you can't pray like that. You need to pray like that. I just can't. I'm just too down. I'm just too blue. And finally, Bob, do you want to stay the way you are forever?

No? Then stop making excuses and start making choices. The most loving, kind, available, powerful being in the universe is waiting for you. In fact, in the words of Isaiah, he would say this, you come and state your cause.

Let's have an argument that you could be proved right. God is longing to hear from you. And not some little prayer on the side, not some, you know, help everything to go okay.

Bill me out of this situation. Just listen to your prayers sometimes. How often your prayers and mine are really about, God, fix this, change that, make this work. Why? So I can be happy, so I can feel like I'm back in control, so I can feel like things will go.

God says, wait a second. Why don't you come and why don't we get not to coping with the symptoms. Let's get really, really honest. How do you really feel? Where have you really been hurt?

And why don't you lay it out as straightforward and painfully, and then I want you to stop and remember, I love you. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Emotional Healing, How to Move Beyond Treating Symptoms, from our series, Does God Still Heal? Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Do you know someone fighting a lifelong stress disorder? Do you know someone fighting a lifelong disease, battling depression, or wrestling with their faith? In this insightful series, Chip tackles the question that haunts many.

Is there real hope for those suffering physically, emotionally, and spiritually? Journey with Chip through James chapter 5 as he unravels the true meaning of healing and what it looks like in our modern world. You'll also discover prayer's influential role in navigating life's most difficult trials.

You're not going to want to miss a single program of this meaningful teaching. Well, Chip's back in studio with me now, and Chip, over the next handful of programs, you're diving into a topic that really impacts every single Christian. So if you would, take a minute and share what your goal is for this teaching.

I'd be happy to, Dave. You know, we all have challenges in the world, and we have challenges with all kinds of issues. And it's interesting in this book written by Jesus' half-brother, James, that he is very, very practical about how to respond to adversity. And he's very practical about our speech and practical about relationships, talks about money.

It's called the Proverbs of the New Testament. And here by chapter 5, he addresses the issue of healing. And he talks about emotional healing, he talks about spiritual healing, and he talks about physical healing. And I think this is an area that's very confusing for people.

It's easy to find extremes in these areas. So I wanted to walk people through what the Bible actually says about emotional, spiritual, and physical healing, because this is what I know. God doesn't always choose to heal us the way we would like. He doesn't always choose to do it in the timing that we would like.

But God does heal spiritually, emotionally, and physically. And we're going to learn all about that. Sounds exciting, Chip.

Thanks. Well, I hope you'll join us for this entire series. And because this teaching from James chapter 5 is so meaningful to every believer, invite a few friends to listen with you, either through the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge.org. Well, with that, here again is Chip to share a few final thoughts. As we close today's program, I want you to just lean back for just a minute. You and I have been living in a world where anything that goes wrong, anytime we feel bad, whether it's emotional or physical, we've been brought up with a mindset and with commercials that there is a pill or a magic bullet that you should feel wonderful all the time.

And I just think it's important as we begin is to say, wait a second. You know, suffering is normal. Even occasionally getting sick is normal. Grief, pain, emotions that respond in a variety of ways is very normal. It doesn't mean something is actually wrong with you.

It might mean you're going through something and that your emotions are actually protecting you. You hear Jesus tell us that in the world we're going to have tribulation or difficulty. James would write earlier in this book and say, consider it all joy when you encounter, not if you encounter, various trials. And so all I want you to do is get a little perspective and realize that what you're going through doesn't mean God doesn't love you or you necessarily have done something terrible or wrong, but it's part of life in a fallen world. The second thing we touched on here is some of the suffering that we experience, we unconsciously either blame on someone else or God, what's wrong? And I walk through some very specific reasons why sometimes we suffer because we sin or we make a bad decision.

And I think it's freeing just to pause and realize I just need to own that. God understands. He loves me. I can be forgiven and He wants to restore me. And what I love is when I read the Psalms, I read a full third of the Psalms are written and they're written about people going through difficult, painful, emotional times. And so I gave you four or five Psalms and a way to go about them, these lament Psalms.

I just want you to know there's a place to go, maybe even before a counselor, maybe even before you talk to a friend that you can actually go to God and say, Lord, as I read Psalm 13, I realize I'm not the only one that's been here. And you pour out your heart to Him. We're going to talk in our next broadcast about how to respond to various emotions using God's word, and then when and how to get outside help. So stay with us. I think this is going to be a series that is really going to help you or maybe someone you love. Well, that's our prayer too, Chip.

Thanks. Hey, let me take a second before we go and thank the generous people who support this ministry every month. Your faithful gifts help us inspire Christians to live like Christians. Now, if you haven't partnered with us, would you prayerfully consider joining the Living on the Edge team? Now you can set up a monthly donation at livingontheedge.org or by calling us at 888-333-6003. Again, that's 888-333-6003, or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate. Well, join us next time as Chip continues his series, Does God Still Heal? Until then, I'm Dave Drouy, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.