Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is
an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.
We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website ecb .asia or our
mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. Good morning. So today
we are resuming the study on the book of Psalms.
And next week will be the last study of the series
with Pastor Phil. He will be concluding the study.
And the purpose of this series that we did was
to give you just a few songs to put in your repertoire.
songs for your journey, because as we are following
the Lord, there are different experiences that
we go through. And the book of Psalms is a collection
of songs that were written, ancient songs, each
one of them with a very specific message for
us. And as you have seen the studies, each one
of them touching on a very different aspect.
So today I will... Lead the study on Psalm 147.
But before we do that, please join me as I pray.
Lord, it is powerful to know truth. Truth that
can break through chains and deception and reach
the deepest parts of our being to free us, to
heal us. And I'm asking you, Lord, that today
you will use your word exactly for that purpose.
Will you use me in your power and your grace?
In Jesus' name, amen. Psalm 147 is one of the
psalms that is known as the psalms of praise.
Now, do you remember how many chapters are in
the book of Psalms? 150, right. This is the longest
book in the Bible. The last five chapters of
the book, there are songs that are called the
Hallel Psalms, the Hallelujah, Praise the Lord
Psalms, because each one of them starts and ends
with a call to praise God. But each one of them
has a very different background in the story.
Now, I know, I write songs myself, so I know
that different experiences inspire you to write
certain songs. And in this particular song, we
know what the background is. So you are in for
a treat because we'll be able to understand a
little bit of what was the background before
we even read the song. And the first thing that
you have to picture in your mind is catastrophe.
Think about it as a time of war, a time of destruction,
a time of everything, worst case scenario, happened.
And now after going through all this trauma,
all of this suffering, a nation is going to start
experiencing a new beginning. And we are told,
at the end of the book of 2 Chronicles, a summary
of what this period of time was like for the
nation of Israel. There was about two decades
in which the nation, before they experienced
the destruction, started going through decay,
and then political crisis, and eventually war,
and it kept deteriorating. Imagine two decades
like that. And we know that the years in which
Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel during
that time, invaded Jerusalem during that time,
was these three occasions in 605 before Christ,
597 before Christ, and 586 before Christ. And
during all of this time, 2 Chronicles summarizes
these two decades simply saying these words.
The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word
to them through his messengers again and again
because he had pity on his people and on his
dwelling place. But they mocked God's messengers,
despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets
until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against
his people and there was no remedy. They set
fire, this is the Babylonians, set fire to God's
temple, broke down the walls of Jerusalem. They
burned all the palaces and destroyed everything
of value there. So you can imagine the level
of catastrophe, invasion, destruction, sacred
places, places of political significance, everything
ruins. And on top of that, it says he carried
into exile to Babylon the remnant who escaped
from the sword. Yeah, because thousands of people
were killed. And those that survived became captives.
And they became servants to him and his successors
until the kingdom of Persia came to power 70
years later. So if you do the math. 20 years
of decay until destruction. 70 years of captivity.
That's 90 years. So that's about a century of
turmoil and catastrophe in the nation. Until
suddenly God starts taking them into a season
of restoration. And now that they are experiencing
the season of restoration. After hoping and grieving
and being wounded for so many years. Finally.
They start coming back. And that's why I call
Psalm 147, Wounded Soul. Because this nation,
this group of people were in a season in which
they had experienced so much suffering of all
sorts. And their souls were wounded. But can
God meet them there? Will God do something about
that? And the reasons why I want to share this
psalm with us today is because I understand that
a wounded soul was not just the experience of
their journey, but it's the experience of our
journey too. If we would make a big circle here
and everybody got to share their story of their
journey, you will discover so much pain and grief
and things that are unimaginable. And we will
not have enough tissues to pass around. As we
hear these stories. Our journey has also been
marked by trauma and things that have happened
in our lives. But that is not the problem. The
problem really is have I healed from those wounds?
Have those traumas been addressed? And have I
encountered God's healing power in my life? Or
I have simply learned just to survive, just go
into that survival mode, and just try to ignore
the wounds, try not to think about them, and
yet continue to follow God even though I'm wounded.
You see, that is the problem. The problem is
that we have learned to just follow God without
addressing the wounds. And what Psalm 147 will
do for us, is that will give us a perspective.
So as we read it, one of the things that I want
to do is that because each one of the three sections
of the psalm starts with the call to praise,
I highlighted it. And that will be the hint for
you. When you see the beginning of the section
highlighted, you will read that out loud and
I will read the rest. So let's see how we can
sing this song together without actually singing.
Here it goes. How good to sing praises to our
God. How delightful and how fitting. The Lord
is rebuilding Jerusalem. And bringing the exiles
back to Israel. He heals the broken hearted.
And bandages their wounds. He counts the stars.
Calls them by name. How great is our Lord. His
power is absolute. His understanding is beyond
comprehension. The Lord supports the humble.
But he brings the wicked down into the dust.
End of first section. Second section. Sing praises
to our God with a harp. He covers the heavens
with clouds. Provides rain for the earth. And
makes the grass grow in mountain pastures. He
is the one who gives food to the wild animals.
And feeds the young ravens when they cry. He
takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse
or in human might. No. The Lord delights in those
who fear Him. Those who put their hope in His
unfailing love. End of second section. Third
section. Praise your God, O Zion. For He has
strengthened the bars of your gates. And bless
your children within your walls. He sends peace
across your nation. And satisfies your hunger
with the finest wheat. He sends his orders to
the world. How swiftly his word flies. He sends
the snow like white wool. His cutters frost upon
the ground like ashes. He hurls the hail like
stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold.
Then at his command. It all melts. He sends his
winds. And the ice thaws. He has revealed his
words to Jacob. His decrees and regulations to
Israel. He has not done this for any other nation.
They did not know his regulations. Praise the
Lord. And that is the end of the song. The song
of the wounded soul. I do not know your journey
of woundedness. But despite the different journeys
that we all bring. Whether it be the ancient
journey of this song that we just heard. Or your
own. The symptoms of a wounded soul are very
similar. We suffer from addictions. We engage
in behaviors that bring us shame, and we don't
want them in our lives, but there we keep going
back to them. We call those compensating mechanisms.
There's a wound that needs to be addressed, but
because I have not addressed it, I am compensating.
There's anger. You become easily angry towards
your children in your job. There's this feistiness.
There's this thing. Why do you feel that way?
You do not know. But you're trying to manage
anger rather than heal the source of it. There's
also the overachieving. We focus on things so
that we don't have to pay attention to the wound
and the pain. So we succeed and we focus on the
things we're good at because those bring praise
from people. But it doesn't matter how high you
are in your job or how much money you have achieved
all of these years, you have no peace. And there's
no amount of money that can heal your wounds.
And we experience all of these symptoms throughout
our lives and we have learned to follow God by
managing the symptoms. Well, all along, what
God wants to do is to heal us, not help us manage
it. That's why this psalm is so significant.
Because a wounded soul, if it's ever going to
experience healing, will have to ask some important
questions in that journey. And the first question
that we have to ask as we are journeying with
our wounded soul is, Who is God? Because if I
believe that God is the very person who is guilty
and responsible for my wounds, it's like, why
do I want to even follow that God? It's almost
like the woman that was raped and then is forced
to marry the person who raped her. It's like,
why would you do that? And if you think that
God is the one that is against you, Understandably,
you will want to have nothing to do with that
God. But what if God is actually not that? What
if God is a different God altogether than the
one you are picturing? That's why this psalm
matters. Because it tells us after everything
that had happened. And all the catastrophes that
the nation experienced. This is what the psalm
says. God heals the broken hearted. And he bandages
their wounds. Would you read that aloud with
me one more time? He heals the broken hearted
and bandages their wounds. This is who God truly
is. He is interested. In your wounds. And your
healing. And this is the very first hint. That
helps us in the journey. Of the wounded soul.
Because you know. There's a big difference between
being fixed. And being healed. Let me say it
this way. My car can break down. And I send it
to the mechanic. And I say to the mechanic. you
need to fix my car. I'm not going to say, you
need to heal my car. No, fixing is like, I put
this part here, here, here, done. So I will tell
the mechanic, look, I really need the car in
three days. And he says, no problem. Pay me extra,
I'll just work extra hours and get your car done
in three days. Fixing. Healing. I break my arm.
I go to the doctor. And I said, doctor, I broke
my arm. You need to fix this. So I need my arm
fixed in three days. And he says, okay, sure.
Pay me extra and three days your arm will be
healed. No, it doesn't work that way, does it?
The doctor cannot heal my arm. She can give me
a treatment. But the body will have to heal it.
And the person can tell me it may take between
two to three weeks. Before you can move it again.
And it ends up being three months. And in the
healing process, as it's healing, maybe I mess
up. And now the wound becomes worse. And now
healing takes a year. Healing is a messy process.
It's not in a timeline. It's much more in a direction.
And did you notice what God is interested in?
Is he interested in fixing you or in healing
you? Ah, he's interested in healing your wounds.
He knows you have a broken heart. And he cares
about that. Right, of course, when we're in the
midst of the pain, we can be under the deception
that God doesn't care. Because if he really cared
to start with, this wouldn't have happened. It
makes sense. But it happened. So God does really
see me? Does he really care about my pain? That's
why the following verse says right away, look,
God counts the stars and calls them all. By what?
By name. All of them. Not even today with the
technology and the telescopes that are in orbit
today. We know all the stars. We know that there
are too many to count. And astronomers give some
of them a name, a number. But God knows all the
stars by name. And his understanding is beyond
any comprehension. His power is absolute. Which
means that I am in that place of pain with my
wound. I have to understand that I'm not going
to understand why God allowed this or not. There's
no way I will ever figure it out. It's beyond
my understanding but not beyond His. And if He
knows the stars by name, He knows me by name.
And if He knows me by name, He knows about my
journey. He knows about my wounds. And He tells
me, I care about you and your journey and your
wounds. And if you would just let me, I want
to take you through a process of healing. Because
I can give you peace. It makes such a difference
to understand who God is. Because if we have
the wrong perspective, we will never invite him
into that healing place. We will keep him away.
There was a young guy in the U .S. that did not
have a good relationship with his parents. So
especially dad, he felt abandoned by his father.
But he started growing as a teenager and then
he became an adult. Whenever you have that trauma
with your dad or the absence of your dad, we
call that the father wound. Because you learn
to just move on with life. But a bad relationship
with your father wounded you. And the effect
of that can last for decades. And so it happened
with him. As a teenager, he got into music. He
was good at singing. He got together with some
friends. They were all Christians. They believed
in Jesus. They were following the Lord. And then
they started getting some gigs here and there.
So they started singing in different venues.
And before you know it, they became a famous
band. So he was the co -founder of a band called
Newsboys. And as he became very famous and he
started... Giving big concerts. And making lots
of money with his band. John James is his name.
He realized that. His father wound. Never healed.
And you know what happens with a wound. That
is not healing. Gets infected. So now the pain
is worse than when it started. So by the way.
Take your antibiotics for that reason. In the
process of healing something. Because it gets
infected. It gets worse. More pain. But also
if it starts developing certain kind of infection.
Then it starts stinking. And with the wound of
the soul. It's kind of like that. For John. He
started focusing on his career. The success and
everything. But because his wound had not healed.
He was engaging. And immoral behaviors on the
side. And he started having a dual life. Imagine
being invited for a Christian concert with the
goal of ministering spiritually to everybody.
While during the week he is engaging with women
and other things. So he was feeling miserable.
But he could not break it. He kept going through
all of that time after time until it became known
to the band. And the band asked him to step down.
Then his wife that tried to work with him says,
you know what? This is the end of our marriage.
He lost his band. He lost his marriage. And now
that he has hit bottom, he is wondering about
this God that he follows. And he prays, he talks
to God in a moment of desperation. And he says,
God, how are you ever going to fix someone like
me? Because that's how you feel as a wounded
soul. It's disorienting. I keep making a mess
out of my life. And I hate it, but I keep doing
it. So God, am I beyond redemption? Am I beyond
your power? But one thing that John had to understand
was that he didn't need fixing because he was
in a car. What he needed was healing. And healing
is painful. Because now you have to be willing
to start talking about things that you decide
that you would prefer to forget. You have to
start getting face to face with truth and the
shame. And all the complications of what it has
done in your life. That's why he says, letting
God heal the wound of the abandonment and the
rejection and the unfaithfulness. I can tell
you, it was the most God -wrenching experience
of dying to self I ever, ever had in my life.
But that pain was healing pain. And that is what
started leading to restoration in his life. And
that is where he started experiencing God as
the one who heals the brokenhearted and bandages
their wounds. That's why he concludes in his
testimony and he says, I believe that God is
not only the God of the mountaintop, but the
God of the valley, of the storm, of the grief,
of the shipwreck. Of the loss. Of the pain. And
he is there. Every step of the way. It has to
be. Because if God is interested in your healing.
He is going to walk with you. Until the healing
is complete. And some healing. Will never be
complete. Until you are in God's presence. That's
why the apostle Paul says, I'm confident that
the one who began the good work in you will complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Because if
God is the healer, he will walk with you through
the process, but be ready for the pain. I remember
somebody once described it like holding an onion
in your hand. Would you imagine you have an onion
in your hand? All like this, pick it up. Okay,
now you have to peel it. Ah, well, you go through
one layer, out. Oh, there's another one there.
Let me take it out. Oh, there's another one there.
So many layers. And the time you peel one and
then you peel the other, what starts happening
to your eyes? Oh, you want to cry, right? It's
like, I cannot contain my tears. It's like, I
don't know what's happening. Welcome to healing.
You are that onion. Your wound is that onion.
You have so many layers. And you think you're
done. Thank you, Lord. And God says, no, look
at it. Really? Okay. And then another one? How
long is this going to take? As long as you...
Because I see you and I want to heal your broken
heart and bandage your wounds. Would you let
me? And if you need to cry all along, I'll cry
with you. God heals. Would you let him? The first
question that we have to ask in the wounded soul
journey is, who is God? Do I see him as the one
that can heal me deep inside or not? Because
if that is true, as long as you are trying to
find healing anywhere else, you will never be
able to experience healing. Only fixing. The
second thing the psalm tells us. Is that there's
a second question of the wounded soul. And that
has to do with what is my attitude. About the
pain I have and the wound I carry. Because one
of the things that will happen. If you are going
to be in avoidance mode. Rather than invite God
to heal these aspects of your journey in your
life. If instead of doing that. You just keep
him aside. And you just try to manage it. then
you are going to develop attitudes that are going
to try to make you rely on your own strength,
on your own plan, on your own control. Because
as long as you control the outcome, you will
find security. And one of the things that we
have discovered in the study of abuse and sexual
molestation, is that a large people who have
experienced these things in their childhood,
they end up working in sectors that are standing
for justice. They are missionaries. They are
helping the displaced, the poor, the people that
are in a position where they need someone to
defend them. So this wound suddenly starts becoming
the reason why you start pursuing a career in
your own strength. But what happens is you start
pursuing your career in your strength while your
wound has not healed. You know what happens?
That wound remains. And you will continue with
the same symptoms time after time after time.
It's not in our strength that these things are
addressed. The psalm says it very clearly. He
takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse
or in human might. You're not a horse, so that
doesn't apply to you, but you're human. And God
is not interested in you saying, God, I figured
it out, all fixed. That's not going to happen.
You can't figure it out. It's too complex and
deep for you. It doesn't matter how many counseling
books you read. They will help you understand.
But understanding is not healing. God heals.
And you have to start by realizing that, God,
I need help. I'm not strong. I'm weak. I'm wounded.
Would you encounter me in that place? That's
why he says at the end. No. The Lord delights
in those who fear him. Those who put their hope
in what? In what? Oh. I can only experience healing.
If I can rest in the fact that God. Loves me.
With an unfailing. Never ending. Never disappointing.
Never changing. Love. And it's when I rest. That
is not my strength. I don't need to figure out.
It's his strength. His power. His love. I'm just
like the person that goes to the doctor. And
says surgery. Just put me out. I have no idea
what you're going to do. But I know I can trust
you because you know what you're doing. God,
I will never be able to understand you, but can
I trust in your love? Because at the end of the
day, that is the question. If you are stuck in
the, but why Lord? Why that? Why this? Remember,
it's not an issue of understanding for you, but
it is an issue of trust. Will you trust in God's
love? Now, something that happened in the life
of Laura. It was an amazing journey of the wounded
soul. Because Laura grew up in a home that they
were all Christians. She went to church, but
she did not have a good relationship with mom.
And then she experienced sexual molestation as
a child from a friend. And then as a teenager,
she became promiscuous. And then she started...
Not walking with God. And that led her into a
path. Into adulthood. Where she decided. That
the solution to her inner world. And the feelings
that she was having. Was that she needed to become
a man. So she did. She had all surgeries. All
done. Then she went and did all the paperwork.
And she became legally. And her name now was
Jack. And now as Jack, she was working in different
companies. And she always introduced herself
to people as a man named Jack. And then she started
dating this person. And then she started living
with this partner. And now she had a relationship.
All of it as Jack. Until... The God who heals
the broken hearted. Started calling her. And
she had an encounter with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And now she started following Jesus.
And as she started following Jesus. She reasoned
and she thought. Okay. Jesus you are my savior.
I'm going to follow you. But I'm going to be
the most faithful man until death. To you. So
she was going to follow Jesus until the end.
As Jack. Obviously. I'm already a man. She thought.
But one day. As she was seeking God. She says
that she had this impression. As God asking her.
So if you were to come to my presence today.
What name do you want me to call you? And at
that moment. She started feeling tension. It's
as if God was pointing to the onion, and she
didn't want to look at it. But then it continued,
and then one day, as she's seeking God, she says,
you know, I felt in my heart as if God was really
directly asking me this question. Would you let
me tell you who you are? And it was at that moment
that the realization started slowly becoming
completely open in her mind that all of these
years what she had been trying to do was to pursue
an identity of her own in order to bury the wounds
that she had been carrying all along. And now
God was inviting her to a place of healing, not
fixing. A journey that was messy and complex.
Not a strategy. And she writes and she says,
I had been running from God all my life. Trying
to define myself. Trying to discover who I was.
When all along, all I had to do was to ask Him.
Then I knew that only God could define me because
He had created me and there was freedom in that.
That was the wrestling of her wounded soul. She
had to come to terms with the realization that
if God had created her and that if God loved
her, could she trust her identity in God's love?
And until she did, the messy journey of healing,
the painful journey of healing began. And there
was the moment in which she felt that that healing
God was leading her to now embrace her identity
as Laura. God had created her a woman and maybe
God knew what he was doing and she was going
to trust in God's love. She did not know that
that was the beginning of a whole new season
of her life that was going to lead her into getting
married and also into serving God. And now her
journey is completely different from where she
was when the God who heals the broken heart had
met her. Because that's the way that God works.
He meets you in your woundedness, but He doesn't
want to leave you there. He's there to walk with
you to healing, whatever that healing looks like
and whatever long it takes. She wrote her entire
testimony in this book called Transgender to
Transform, which is raw. She says it as it is.
And she talks about the whole experience of going
through the wrestling. In this time of healing
in her life. So if this is a topic that matters
to you, this is a book that might help you see
through the eyes of someone that has gone through
that journey. So I have to ask you that question.
What is your attitude? Are you trusting in God's
love? That He actually cares for you and your
future? And that if you come to him with the
messiness of your journey and your woundedness,
that perhaps he does have the power to bring
order to chaos. You will have, if you want to
experience healing, you will have to stop trying
to be this strong and to figure it out on your
own. And you will have to accept that you are
broken, wounded, and you need to simply come.
To the one that knows better. And cares for you.
Powerful psalm. And this is what the nation experienced.
And they write it for us to know. But then they
say one more thing. At the end of the psalm.
Which does not have to do anymore with what I
think of God. Or the attitude I have about him.
But it talks about what is my foundation. Because
whenever you are in a process of woundedness,
naturally if you want to find healing, you're
going to seek help. But in the process of seeking
help, one of the things you discover is that
not all the voices tell you the same message.
Not all the experts agree on what you need to
do. And therefore you talk to this person, and
if they are experts in their field, but they
do not believe in God, they tell you one thing.
But you talk to another expert in the field that
believes in God, tells you a different thing.
And then you talk to a religious leader, they
tell you another thing. And then you read a book,
and it tells you another thing. What is your
foundation? Is there a foundation that actually
is like a light to light the path? This is what
the psalm says at the end. Yes, there is a foundation
that the book of Psalms calls the light. And
to our path. And they write it like this. God
has revealed his words. To Jacob. His decrees
and regulations. To Israel. He has done this
for no other nation. They do not know the regulations.
They have complete different foundations. But
we have the word of God. And God revealed his
word to us. And that is true. From Moses, to
the Psalms, to the prophets, to the New Testament,
to the Gospels, to the letters, to Revelation.
From beginning till end, the word of God was
revealed to the Jews. It was entrusted to Israel.
And we owe the word of God to the nation of Israel.
It was after that. That we Gentiles heard about
the love of God. And that Jesus was the Messiah
that came to die for our sins. We have for centuries
and millennia. The foundation given to us by
God himself. And you have it now in your language.
You have it in many versions. In many types of
covers. But the problem is not whether you have
it or not. The problem is do you trust it? Do
you believe that God's word is the ultimate foundation
to give you the direction and the clarity in
the time of confusion so that it will lead you
into the healing? It was a very interesting story
because in the case of Cheryl, she did not know
God. She was not a Christian. She just was focused
on her career, living like what we call in the
U .S. the American dream. You got the career,
you got the job, you have the money, you have
the family. Just be as affluent as you can be
and enjoy life. So she was and her husband both
very successful in their careers. But then she
started... Feeling dissatisfied with her marriage,
she started becoming more fake. And she started
thinking that she didn't really love him. But
at her job, she was getting all the attention
as the executive. And she was getting all the
attention from some co -workers. And in one of
those business trips at a hotel, she had an affair
with one of the co -workers. And she decided,
you know what, I'm done with my marriage. And
so they ended the marriage in divorce. Husband
was completely heartbroken because of the betrayal.
He could not believe. She didn't recognize who
this woman was. But it was in their time of brokenness
and that journey that they heard about Jesus
individually from each other. Just a few weeks
apart, they both gave their lives to Christ.
And at that moment, God started working deeper
in their lives separately from each other. And
one of the things that Cheryl started sensing
was, God wanted her to not get remarried, but
to wait for the healing of her marriage. Really?
Would he ever take me back after everything I
did? So she talked to him. And she says, look,
I am following Jesus now. I heard you are following
Jesus too. I think that God is wanting us to
restore our marriage. And I just need to know.
Is this something that you will be willing to
do? And with all the bitterness that was in his
heart, he looks at her and says, never. Don't
ever think about it. Don't ever bring it again.
I will never do this. He was wounded, of course.
But he was in that journey now that God started
speaking to him. And you know how long that healing
took? Seven years of divorce until the wound
was healed. And now God called them to come back
together. And now both were able to start building
a marriage that was founded on the Word of God.
Once you realize that the Word of God is the
true foundation, it's amazing. What God can do
in your life. If you just trust his word. And
don't trust those that disagree with it. He heals
the broken hearted. He can't heal infidelity.
He can't heal a broken marriage. He can. And
even though it is true that in his wisdom he
has allowed some marriages to end. And die. He
has the power to heal wounds that other people
will say this will never happen. This is the
God who heals the brokenhearted. If you are looking
back at the past that you have left behind, and
you feel this is beyond redemption, Look at the
words that Cheryl wrote because she says, I look
at what I left behind and I realize I made such
a huge mistake. You know that weight? What have
I done? The mess I've created? God, would you
ever be able to fix someone like me? Those are
the prayers of the wounded soul. And the answer
here that Psalm tells us is yes. There is hope,
there is future if you allow God. To heal you.
So is the word of God your foundation? Or you
have bought into the deception. That you cannot
trust God's word. Antiquated. Cannot tell you
how to live life today. Because it's too old.
Life is different today. Not so. So with this
in mind. I want to remind you. That God wants
to encounter you. In your journey. He doesn't
want you to just get used to the wound. He wants
you to address it and heal it. And he can indeed
meet you in that place. That's why the words
of Jesus who are the invitation to us. He says
this to you and to me. Come to me. To me. Not
to them or to that. Come to me. All you who are
weary and burdened. And I will give you rest.
I can give you peace if you let me. But how could
you ever experience my peace if you don't trust
in my love? So in conclusion for this study.
If you are a wounded soul today. No matter how
complex your journey is. These are the three
convictions that will lead you to healing if
you listen to what God is saying to you today.
First thing, remember that God is interested
in your healing, not in your fixing. Therefore,
you have to be willing to engage with the mess
and the pain for as long as it takes. God is
willing, but are you? Secondly, God loves you.
And you have to rest and trust in his love if
you will ever be able to endure the process.
He loves you. And thirdly, you will have to trust
in the direction that he has given you in his
word. Because that direction is the one that
will lead you through the path of confession
all the way to healing. And one day, who knows,
after you have gone through the 70 years of captivity
in your own life, you will be able to sit down
and write your own song of praising God because
of what He did in your life. And you will be
able to join the voices of all of these people
that said, God heals the brokenhearted and bandages
their wounds. Praise God! And I just pray that
that will be your journey. Lord, it is in your
presence that we acknowledge you. The one who
created us, who designed us, who loves us. The
one who is interested in our wounds and our journey.
The one who is willing to walk with us all the
way till the end. The one that is not here to
fix us. But to love us through healing. We proclaim
and agree with what your word says. You are the
God who heals the broken hearted and bandages
our wounds. We believe that. So it is in Jesus
name that I ask you Lord that as we worship you.
You let this true be like a sword that is breaking
chains. Like a balm that is reaching the deepest
parts of our being. Beginning the healing process
that you are inviting us to. Holy Spirit, lead
us into truth. Truth that heals. You are the
one that convicts. So as we worship, convince
our hearts and speak into our wounded souls in
Jesus' name. Thank you for tuning in to the ECB
Sermon Podcast. Whether near or far, if you are
looking for community or are in need of prayer,
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