A Time to Heal

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven … A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1-3

More than forty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “I have a dream.” People still get tears in their eyes when they hear that declaration. Why did those words strike home so powerfully for so many people? Probably because every one of us has a dream.

I have one too.

My dream is that church fellowships, local ministries, teams, mission groups, and other bodies of believers will rise up, come out from behind their self-protective facades, and become the healing communities Jesus envisioned. These communities will be characterized by deep vulnerability, compassion for the hurting, sincere love, and the kind of grace that’s impossible apart from God.

Prayer requests won’t always be for Aunt Jennifer’s surgery or a friend’s job interview. It won’t shock people when someone asks for prayer in his or her struggle with pornography. People will talk openly about the anger, shame, fear, and other emotions that — if we’re honest — we all struggle with from time to time. God will be glorified in testimonies of how He spoke liberating truth to Bill or Lisa … or Pastor Michael. These communities will have an inner-healing ministry, as well as home study groups to help members receive God’s help for the broken places in their hearts. The lost, who are usually well aware of their own brokenness, will flock to these communities because of their relevance.

It’s time.^1.

^{What are your thoughts about this post? L2G.Forum@gmail.com}

1. Rusty Rustenbach, A Guide for Listening and Inner-Healing Prayer: Meeting God in the Broken Places (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2011), Pp 200-201. A NavPress resource published in alliance with Tyndale House Publishing, Inc.