The center of Christ’s ministry is healing broken hearts. He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted… (Luke 4:18 KJV). In Isaiah 61:1 NIV it reads, He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted.
A heart can only be healed by the work of the Holy Spirit because the mending of a heart is supernatural. It cannot be managed; it cannot be made whole through a series of self-help steps; and it cannot be accomplished through medication.
The Father’s desire is for us to live with whole hearts, not only in heaven, but here on earth. That is one reason why Jesus came, to heal the brokenhearted. Healing the brokenhearted is also an end-time ministry, spoken through the prophet Malachi 4:5-6. Why is it an end-time ministry, because one of the signs of the last days will be the deterioration of the family? Last Days does not mean the end of the earth but the end of the church age as we know it before the Holy Spirit begins to invade earth like never before to bring about the Glorious Church that will do greater works than Jesus did when He walked this earth.
What is a broken heart? The breaking of a heart is not just a little tearing. It is a violent shattering; it is ruptured and can break violently into pieces. Our heart is the center of our very being. It is the place where our mind, our will and our emotions connect. When our heart is broken, we are drained of our power to resist temptation and sin.
In this sin-cursed world, everyone has experienced a broken heart at one point or another. People who carry brokenness can often identify the age they were when the breaking of their heart occurred with detail, even if they were very young children at the time. The good news is we do not have to live with a broken heart!
Jesus came so we can be healthy and whole! He puts the heart back together. He is the Great Physician! According to Isaiah 61, the Holy Spirit binds it with His power and His love so complete healing can take place. Just as a medical doctor would bind up a fractured leg with a screw that is splintered in different places before putting a cast on the leg because he knows that just putting it in a cast may not provide the healing necessary for restoring the bone.
And after the Lord heals a broken heart, people begin to understand things in the spiritual realm on a deeper level. They are more aware of the spiritual motivations behind people’s actions. Their understanding of the Word of God becomes deeper and richer.
What are some circumstances or devices used by the enemy to break a person’s heart? He uses divorce to destroy families especially the children; divorce can be devastating no matter how the parents try to be civil about it. Rejection; Hatred; Death, including abortions; War; Physical and Mental Abuse; Sexual Abuse; Loss of business or Career are just to name a few of the things people cope with in life that can cause a broken heart.
How can one experience healing from a broken heart? There are three aspects to consider before praying for a healed heart. After you have done these things, you are free to receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit and be healed of a broken heart.
(1) Forgive the person who broke your heart. If this is difficult for you, make a decision that you choose to forgive and then ask the Lord for the grace to forgive them.
(2) Forgive yourself. If you have confessed and repented of your sin (changed your mind and are choosing to go in the right direction which is away from your past sin), and you believe your Heavenly Father has forgiven you because He said He has, then do not hold onto sin-consciousness because you are unable to forgive yourself.
(3) Forgive God if you feel He is to blame. Let go of grudges against God, He is not the source of your broken heart but He is your only help to be healed and set free!
Once you have received the healing of a broken heart, you must guard your thoughts in order to live in victory. Guard what you see, hear and say in order to guard your heart! Philippians 4:8 will help with this. Do not go back to the past! If you go back to the past you can re-break your heart. The broken heart lives in those memories, thoughts, and emotions of the past. Think on good things and let the past go. Remember, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
God has an amazing abundant life for you to live, just make a decision that you want what He has for you in this season of your life!
PRAYER TO HEAL A BROKEN HEART by JOHN McTERNAN
Father,
I come before You in the name of Jesus. I thank You that, not only did You send the Lord Jesus for salvation, but also to heal the brokenhearted, to set the captives free, to open our eyes up to You and Your Word, and to set at liberty them that are bruised. Father, right now I forgive those people who have broken my heart – each person and each time my heart was broken. I pray for the grace to forgive. On the cross, You prayed, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ If You could forgive, then I can too.
I bring to You my broken heart – my splintered, broken heart that the Bible describes as a heart of stone – and ask that the Holy Spirit will put it back together and create a heart of flesh. I ask that the Holy Spirit will bind up all those broken pieces with the cords of His love and power, not to be broken again. As You are healing and binding my heart, anything in there that has held me in bondage (drugs, alcohol, anger, pornography, depression, fear, sexual immorality, anxiety – anything) I ask that You mortify it and any power it has over me. Drain the power of the law of sin and death out of my life. Free me. Loose in me the spirit of adoption to cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ Just like the best father on earth, there is no rejection in You or fear in You. In You, loving Abba, there is only love and acceptance.
Father, any physical issue that is connected with the bondage of a broken heart, I ask that it would dissolve and leave my body. Every part of my body that was responding to the law of sin and death would now respond to the law of the spirit of adoption.
I thank You for the complete ministry of Jesus in my life. I thank You for the work You have done, that it is enough for me. I love you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Compiled by Dr. Audrey L. Dickey
Reference: Healing the Broken Heart by John McTernan
HEALING A BROKEN HEART PRAYER AND TEACHING
AUDREY DICKEY MINISTRIES
Glory International Center
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