God’s Master Key to Wholeness

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Ask 10 different people what the word wholeness means to them and you might get 10 different responses!

In this incredible guest post, my dear friend Carol, shares with us God’s master key to wholeness. If living in freedom and drawing nearer to God’s heart are subjects of interest, you don’t want to miss this!

Carol is one of my favorite people on this planet. Her heart for Christ and people is apparent in all she does. Her words of encouragement, hope, and wisdom have gotten me through some very dark days.

She also happens to be one of my all-time favorite writers. She is gifted, anointed, and a true friend.

If you haven’t already, I highly recommend you get a copy of her book below! You will reference it time and time again.

You can also find her at her own blogs where she inspires and challenges us to live our best lives in and on purpose.

Click the links below for more wisdom & encouragement.

A Purpose-Driven Achiever
Women of Warfare

💡 Don’t forget to get your copy of Carol’s book, “Petitions from My Heart: A Scriptural Guide for Effective Prayers.” Click HERE to get yours on Amazon today!

Thank you Carol for blessing me with the honor of featuring you here at Wholeness Haven! You are always welcome!

As a note to everyone reading, we will be splitting this guest post into two parts. This way, we can really unpack and digest the message.

We can live free as followers of Christ. God’s master key to wholeness can transform us from emotionally barren to radically blessed. Here’s how! #Christian #God #wholeness #freedom #spirituality #Jesus

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God’s Master Key to Wholeness
Our ‘Wholeness’ Issue
Has God Forgotten Me?
So Why Are We Not Whole?
Facing the Big “U” Factor
- Click here to read part 2

God’s Master Key to Wholeness

Holly first came across my radar in November 2018, when the Lord used her to minister a prophetic word to me, at a time when I desperately needed reassurance from God. We have developed a virtual friendship ever since and I count it an honour to be asked to write this guest post for her blog community.

I do love the name and concept of Holly’s blog. I love that she is all about offering a nurturing place of safety and rest to those of a similar mind-set, who are seeking a spiritual balance in their lives, so I’ve decided to focus my post on the topic of wholeness.

Now, I imagine if you’ve been drawn to this blog, then you are possibly someone who recognises a deep inner need for healing and/or wholeness. I pray God uses my words to minister to you, on a level that adds to your spiritual well-being in Christ Jesus.

And now let’s get down to brass tacks!

—–oooooo000oooooo—–

After consulting several dictionaries, I’d like to share the following definition:

WHOLENESS:

undamaged,
no part removed or left out;
not injured or broken.

A life of wholeness does not depend on what we experience. Wholeness depends on how we experience our lives.

Desmund Tutu

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Our ‘Wholeness’ Issue

Let me kick-start my message with the following:

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

John 5:6 NKJV

One of my favourite Bible versions is the King James’ authorised version. Here, Jesus’s question to this man is recorded with a slight difference. He asks the infirm man whether he’d like to be made whole.

On the face of it, this seems to be a rather ridiculous question – but is it?

Here lies a man who has been in a state of incapacity for 38 years (you can read the entire account in John 5:1-15).

It made me think about my own life and about the struggles of many around me, which have been ongoing for many years. Do we not want our situation to improve?

Of course we do!

Yet there appears to be a significant gap between what we desire and what we experience, between what God’s Word promises and the reality we live in. Now I’m guessing that I, and other fellow believers in the Body of Christ are not alone in this, so let me ask you:

Are you suffering from some kind of spiritual or emotional or psychological malaise?

If so, do you want to be made well? Do you want to be whole?

Has God Forgotten Me?

Returning to the above Bible text, I can imagine that over the significant time frame which had elapsed, this man whilst waiting by the pool for a miracle, felt forgotten. Perhaps family members or friends had carried him there, then got fed-up waiting and left him.

Have you ever felt forgotten by God?

Allow me to reassure you today. You have not been forgotten!

Hebrews 4:13 advises:

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Isn’t that precious?

Now I realise that the above scripture is given in the context of God being able to discern our thoughts and intent, but I think we can apply the same truth to the fact that there is no injustice or act of abuse that God does not see.

There is no hurt, no pain, no wound, which has escaped God’s eagle eyes. Likewise, there is no individual who has either inflicted or sustained that wound, who escapes his notice!

The story of Hagar in Genesis 16:1-13 is a beautiful illustration of this. If you’d like to read my post relating to this, please click here.

In case you don’t feel inclined to, or don’t have time to read it now, let me reveal that Hagar is overwhelmed by the fact that a God she does not serve, has taken notice of her and cares about her predicament.

Now, if God takes note of someone who is a complete stranger to his covenant, how much more will he take notice of me and you, who are his beloved children?

Dear friend, let me repeat – God has not forgotten you!

So Why Are We Not Whole?

Okay. So if God has not forgotten us, why do we experience that gap between what his Word promises and what is often a negative and painful reality in our lives?

Why are we not whole?

May I be blunt?

Usually, it is our own fault.

I believe wholeness begins in our minds. As the writer of Proverbs rightly observes: as a man thinketh (i.e. thinks habitually), so is he!

For years I went around thinking, believing, saying that I was a victim. And I truly believed I was justified in thinking this way.

If I chose, I could regale to anyone who had an ear, the specifics of my mistreatment by work colleagues, family members, even church folks. I certainly rehearsed it in my mind. Often. And when there wasn’t anyone to whom I could confide, then I’d throw myself a prolonged pity party.

woman hiding her face — Photo by Deeana Creates on Pexels.com

Facing the Big “U” Factor

What on earth is the “U” factor?

I’m referring to the first letter of the word Unforgiveness and I am also referring to the text-speak version of the word YOU (i.e. both me and you), as seen from God’s perspective.

The thing is, I knew God’s Word required me to forgive, yet (even though I didn’t articulate this to the Lord), I felt the scale and frequency of the offences suffered, gave me special dispensation. I did not feel inclined to forgive.

I could not and would not. “They” didn’t deserve my forgiveness anyway but, even if I did forgive them, how would I feel when they continued to mistreat me? The Enemy lost no time in pointing out that I’d feel a first-class idiot! I’d feel a bigger victim than I already did. Why set myself up for more hurt?

And so guess what?

As well as the pain of everything I’d endured, seeds of resentment and bitterness began to grow and gnaw away at me. And no matter how often, or how hard I sought healing, those wounds would continue to open up.

Over time scabs or calluses grew over them, providing temporary relief. I mistakenly believed that I was healed, but new incidents of emotional abuse and mistreatment exposed this to be far from the case.

In her book, The Power Of A Praying Wife, Stormie Omartian observes:

The past should not be a place where we live, but something from which we learn.

Stormie Omartian

I not only lived in my past, I wallowed in it!

Have you lived, or are you wallowing in your past?

It has been said that it is foolish to keep repeating an action which does not produce the required result. Like the man in our opening text, the result we desire is to be healed and made whole.

Yet failing to forgive others, is an action we Christians tend to repeat again and again and again, thus undermining the very thing we need and desire. And then we wonder why we are not feeling complete, or happy, or have not progressed spiritually.

Friends, it took decades for me to realise this. However, I eventually graduated from that well-known university (Doing-It-The-Hard-Way), having learned that no amount of silent bargaining with God, of flouting the principles of kingdom living, would bring about my inner healing and deliverance, let alone wholeness.

It is a hard ask. To forgive. To let go. To pardon.

Our damaged self seeks reparation on our own terms. And if our disobedience and stubbornness means the only option available to us, is to apply a plaster to the festering wounds of our damaged hearts and self-esteem, well so be it!

Meanwhile, we either grasp every opportunity to tell all and sundry the sorry details of our unfortunate experiences, or (if you are anything like me), we don a poker-face and tell those who ask how life is treating us: I’m fine!