Working The Word (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) He Heals The Brokenhearted

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around the Globe”

October 25, 2016

He Heals the Brokenhearted

Psalm 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 34:18

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Isaiah 61:1-4

61 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
³ To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

⁴ And they shall rebuild the old ruins,
They shall raise up the former desolations,
And they shall repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations.

At the end of a busy day I didn’t know what the Lord wanted to say in this devotional for today. I asked Him to bring it to me and when I looked down at the list of scriptures I have for the day, one of them was Psalm 147:3 – “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” I believed this was what He wanted to tell us today. I was not able to relate today’s devotional to a personal experience I had today, so I went fishing in my prior year’s devotionals. What I saw just came to light. What looked at was all the struggles I was going through with letting go of the food addiction and walking into the sweetness of Jesus’ arms.

As I opened several journaling pages, I read how He was drawing me closer, comforting me every step along the way. Some of the pages had more intense words of correction, while all of them contained comfort, promise and assurance. Just sitting here reading about the things I was going through just one year ago – I am realizing how much Jesus has healed in me. What was difficult then is a “no brainer” now. All glory to His name forever!

I have been working His word by saying it out loud over my life. And guess what? It has worked. I have followed hard after Jesus even when I was failing Him miserably because I was too afraid and quite a bit too stubborn to just give up the fight and do things His way.

Time after time Hew has brought the verses named above to me. Again and again He has told me that He would heal me, comfort me and give me the strength I needed. He must have felt like He was talking to a wall for a long time (so to speak) but He never gave up on me. And because He lives in me, I never gave up on Him. Now here I am – more than a year later and I am seeing victory such as I have never seen. Now when I want to eat something out of the usual, I ask Him first. If He says no, then no it is.

What I have discovered is that even when this life has its trying moments – and it will, I know that something far better awaits me in my Savior’s arms. I cannot begin to tell you how refreshing it is to come to the end of the day and know that the choices I have made really pleased Him. No more going to bed with my heart condemning me. No more crying because I caved in to the flesh rather than being led by the Spirit of God in me.

I think we humans just cannot grasp the magnitude of how the Lord can heal our deep wounds in our hearts when we can’t even physically see Him – but He can. He does, and He did it for me. I marvel at how He does what He does. If anyone who has been hurt in this life will give Him a chance to work with them, He will do for them what He has done for me. I did not even realize how hurt I have been in this life. But He knows. I didn’t know how much I was hurting on the inside – but He does.

The time I have invested in being in the arms of Jesus and in His written word have been the best time I could have ever spent in this life. Now I look back and think, “If only I had spent more time with Him instead of in the silly kitchen! And for what? To fill up on stuff that won’t satisfy me anyway, only to feel horrible later?” It just was not worth all the agony I put myself through. I must have broken His heart as He sat there and watched me turn to another “god” rather than His loving and all powerful arms for everything I would ever need to comfort my broken heart.

Friends, if I can say anything from experience, I will say this. If a person will just lay down the thing they are attaching themselves to, be it food, drugs, whatever it may be, and pick up the word of God and lift up a cry for help to Him, He will come running, not walking, to your side. It is like the Father pictured in the story of the returning prodigal son. When the Father saw him coming afar off, He came running to his broken son’s side. He didn’t run to yell at Him or accuse him of all the bad things he had done. He ran to comfort him and welcome him home – back to the place where he really did belong, in the arms of His all loving Father.

That is our Father in heaven my friends. He is that loving. When we have slapped Him in the face with our nasty sins a thousand times, He will still come running to our side and take us back into His arms when we come home to Him with a truly repentant heart. He loves us that much. He wants to bind up all those gaping wounds that we got when we left Him thinking there might be something better out there for us.

There He stands, looking, watching closely for any sign of His wayward children. He longs to have them back home – where they truly belong. Will you put down the stuff in the pig pen and go home to your loving heavenly Father? Will you finally trust that only He can bandage the wounds and comfort you? He will you know – you just have to ask. Remember, working the word works when we work it. Ask me how I know!

Romans 8:18

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.