Identify Your Blocks

Knowing what blocks to healing we have in our lives is important. We must know what we need before we can begin healing. It takes introspection and a strong sense of self to discover our fractured parts. Introspection takes courage. We must be brave and honest with ourselves about our character behaviors, shortcomings, and flaws. Knowing ourselves honestly and intimately will lead us into understanding our fractured parts.

We can identify our fractured parts by journaling, talking to a professional therapist, and asking a trusted friend. But our first path is always Jesus. Jesus and Holy Spirit should be our first “go-to” Helpers when it comes to removing blocks to healing that we have in our lives. They know exactly what we are going through and what we need to be healed.

We must be able to hear the Lord and be sensitive and discerning of the Spirit to understand how to move forward. Below are several ways to get started on the process of healing.

Practice Self-Care

Preparing for healing takes self-care. When we care for ourselves, we are honoring the temple that God gave us to steward in this life. Self-care is for the mind, spirit, and soul as much as for the body. We must care for our whole person, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. When we are out of balance with our self-care we are out of balance with God. One of the best ways we can practice self-care is with love.

God lives in us when we love, 1 John 4:12–13, TPT reads:

“…But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us. And he has given us his Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that he lives in us and that we live in him.”

With God in us, we are able to heal. We must love ourselves in order to fully love God and others. Loving ourselves takes some work when we’ve been unloved as a child, rejected, abandoned, or otherwise traumatized. Any form of child abuse will leave us unloving as adults. We become unloving because we feel unacceptable and unworthy of love. The truth is that we are worthy of love. God can show us how to love again through trust and patience. We must be willing to leave pain and suffering behind to love again.

While in pain and/or suffering, we are vulnerable to new traumatic events as well as re-experiencing past events. It’s a catch-22 that being ready to heal makes us vulnerable to more traumatic events and to re-experiencing traumatic memories or flashbacks of trauma. The very same vulnerability can work for us to heal but can also leave us open to new pain. Being vulnerable takes courage and hope that in the process of healing, even when we feel more pain, the hope can bring us through to the other end of it all.

Courage and hope lead us in the process of self-care and healing. The more we love ourselves, the more prepared we will be for our healing. We must find hope in our circumstances. There’s a lot of hope in the Bible. There’s hope in Jesus as the Lord of our lives. Jesus gets started on healing us from the second we believe in Him. And Jesus always finishes what He started. Jesus is the Finisher of our faith.

Use Love & Kindness

Satan and his minions hate to love, so love is what we must do. When we are down, depressed, anxious, or in any other bad place, we must love God, ourselves, and others. When we are not doing well and we are kind to others, love increases and the darkness leaves. There’s instant freedom for us as we practice love for ourselves and one another.

Practicing love for ourselves and others sows love into our whole being. Remember, according to Scripture, we reap what we sow (See Galatians 6:7). If we want more love and kindness in our lives, we must love and be kind. Being loving and positive will prepare us for healing. When we are positive, we are more open to processing painful events and memories. No matter what we sow, we must keep our eyes on the Lord.

Focus on The Lord

We must keep our eyes on Jesus and everything He is teaching us as we prepare to heal. Peter learned above all the apostles to keep his attention on Jesus. Once, Peter courageously walked on water with Jesus. Here’s what happened: Peter took his eyes off the Lord, began thinking on his own, and feeling frightened he sank. In Matthew 14:28–31, TPT, we read:

“Peter shouted out, ‘Lord, if it’s really you, then have me join you on the water!’ ‘Come and join me,’ Jesus replied. So, Peter stepped out onto the water and began to walk toward Jesus. But when he realized how high the waves were, he became frightened and started to sink. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he cried out. Jesus immediately stretched out his hand and lifted him up and said, ‘What little faith you have! Why would you let doubt win?’”

Peter doubted what he was doing and sank. We learn here that doubt is one of the biggest ways we can turn away from the Lord. When we aren’t focusing on Jesus, it focuses us on the world and our flesh. Yet, Jesus is never far away from us. Listen to what Mark 1:15, New King James Version (NKJV) says:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus and the Kingdom of God are never farther away from us than our own hand at arm’s length. We are the ones that keep Jesus away, but He’s always near to us. Jesus is always ready for our repentance and reconciliation. Jesus wants to heal us, but we have to let Him into our lives in order to do so.

Pray & Prepare for Healing

Pray for healing. We can prepare for our healing by continually praying for ourselves. Praying for ourselves readies us for healing by opening up our will to align with God’s will for us to be healed. When we pray for ourselves, we are asking the Lord in intervene on our behalf for healing. It’s advisable to pray as much as possible until the healing has happened, or we’ve been set free. Praying in the Spirit, in our angelic tongues, helps heal us even more.

When we pray in tongues, we are praying in a language unknown to us, unless we are given the interpretation. According to Galatians 5:16, we are to walk in the Spirit, rather than the flesh. In order to walk in Spirit, we must be set free from the enemy of God. Praying in tongues can free us from what we don’t know we need freedom from. Praying in tongues is a proactive approach to healing. Tongues give us a direct connection to God. If you don’t have tongues, just ask Holy Spirit to give them to you and/or get help from a Spirit-filled friend.

Use the prayer model below or pray on your own:

Lord God, I repent for having blocks to healing in my life. In preparation for my healing, I repent for allowing false idols to enter the life that has kept You away from me. I repent for allowing false idols to sit in Your position in my life as the One True God through Christ Jesus. I repent for ____________ (name as many false idols as you feel you have used, such as a person, career, possessions, etc.). God remove these false idols from me. Lord, remove from me all of the ungodly false idol gatekeepers I have put in place. Wash me cleanly in Your blood. Cover me and fill me in the areas I have fallen. My desire is to be healed fully mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.