Restoring the Christian Soul

Leanne Payne

Description

Three barriers keep us from being whole persons: (1) inability to receive forgiveness; (2) inability to forgive; (3) inability to accept ourselves.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 mars 1996
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441239570
• Langue: English

Extrait

© 1991 by Leanne Payne
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Previously published in cloth in 1991 under the title Restoring the Christian Soul through Healing Prayer: Overcoming the Three Great Barriers to Personal and Spiritual Completion in Christ by Crossway Books
Ebook edition created 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3957-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Excerpts from God in the Dock by C. S. Lewis © 1970 by C. S. Lewis Pte Ltd are reprinted by permission of Curtis Brown Ltd and HarperCollins Publishers.
Excerpts from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer by C. S. Lewis, copyright © 1964, 1963 by the Estate of C. S. Lewis, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Excerpts from Letters of C. S. Lewis , edited by W. H. Lewis, copyright © 1966 by W. H. Lewis and the Executors of C. S. Lewis, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Excerpts from Reflections on the Psalms , copyright © 1958 by C. S. Lewis and renewed 1986 by Arthur Owen Barfield, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Excerpts from That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis used by permission of The Bodley Head, London.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scritpure marked NEB is taken from The New English Bible . Copyright © 1961, 1970, 1989 by The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Reprinted by permission.
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
To Mario Bergner, Jean Holt, and Clay McLean,
beloved colleagues in this ministry who are taking forward the message and ministry of healing in ways that break new ground.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part I: The Virtue of Self-Acceptance
1: Self-Hatred: The Traitor Within When Temptation Comes
2: First Great Barrier to Wholeness in Christ: Failure to Accept Oneself
3: Struggling Through to Self-Acceptance
4: Affirmation: What It Is and How It Is Received
5: Listening Prayer: The Way of Grace and the Walk in the Spirit
Part II: The Forgiveness of Sin
6: Healing of Memories: The Forgiveness of Sin
7: Second Great Barrier to Wholeness in Christ: Failure to Forgive Others
8: Prolonged Healing of Memories: Abandonment Issues and the Repression of Painful Emotions
9: Third Great Barrier to Wholeness in Christ: Failure to Receive Forgiveness
10: Conclusion to Healing of Memories
Part III: Spiritual Warfare and the Gift of Battle
11: The Use of Holy Water and Other Powerful Christian Symbols and Agencies
12: The Gift of Battle
13: Cosmic Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare in Christian Organizations
14: Wrong Ways to Do Battle
15: Restoring the Christian Hope of Heaven and the Grace to Persevere
Notes
Index
Other Books by Author
Back Cover
Is anything too hard for the Lord?
(Genesis 18:14)
Pastoral Care is defective unless it can deal thoroughly with the evils we have suffered as well as with the sins we have committed .
(Frank Lake, Clinical Theology )
Acknowledgments
Restoring the Christian Soul is a book about prayer and its awesome power as we gather in Christ’s name. The school of prayer is surely one from which none of us ever graduates in this life. There is always more to experience and learn about prayers of praise, thanksgiving, intercession, supplication, and faith. The kind of prayer we are most concerned with in these pages is prayer for healing of the soul, the forgiveness of sin. This prayer work is not peripheral to Christian practice and the gospel message. It should be and indeed is part of the work of baptism and our initiation into Christ. It has long been neglected, however, and professionals in the healing arts are now dealing with the consequences of this neglect.
To pray effectively for the healing of souls is to see the work of the cross (Christ’s passion) made fully manifest in lives and the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit flourish within the Body of Christ. It is to see people come into maturity and wholeness and thereby the power to evangelize and to succor a world starving for love, truth, and light. To gather as prayer partners and teams, therefore, is the most exciting thing in the world, for God waits to hear and respond to those who seek His mind on how to pray.
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:19, 20)
This book then, like my others, is born out of many years of learning to pray with and for others. Therefore, I want to acknowledge first of all the Pastoral Care Ministries Team made up of my prayer partners who also travel with me in the ministry. They are (Revs.) William and Anne Beasley, Mario Bergner, Lynne and Paul Berendsen, (Rev.) Conlee and Signa Bodishbaugh, Connie and Bob Boerner, Patsy Casey, John Fawcett, Jean Holt, Clay McLean, Mary Pomrenning, and Ted and Lucy Smith. What extraordinary fellow pilgrims and prayer partners they are! I thank them for who they are and all that they are. For their courageous, loving hearts and faith, I continually thank God.
A prayer group within the larger prayer team is made up of Lynne, Connie, Lucy, and Patsy. For over twelve years now, they have met regularly with me for prayer, and I cannot think of many things we haven’t faced and prayed through together in these sessions. The faith, love of truth, honesty, and sheer stamina of these remarkable women never fail to bless and sustain me and the other team members. Only eternity will tell what their husbands have given (and suffered!) for this ministry. For a period of time Bob Boerner, for example, stayed home with five teenage daughters and prayed for us while Connie went several times a year to lead the music ministry and pray for others in our healing missions. Now that the children are grown, he joins us on the team when he can manage time off from work. Paul Berendsen, besides doing the huge job of trying to stretch our dollars and keep our accounts in order, has never failed to bless his wife as she, year in and year out, has brilliantly managed the affairs of this ministry. Ted Smith has become the father figure for the whole group, blessing us and everybody else with his gifts of wisdom, guidance, and special faith in prayer.
The Rev. Andrew Comiskey and his Desert Stream team are so often with us that we consider them a part of the PCM family, as is the Rev. Jerry Soviar of Toledo, Ohio. They too are vital prayer partners with us. From thirty or more years ago, I want to recognize Lenora Runge, and from twenty-five years ago, Elinor Price. These precious ones, though long separated by distance, have remained with me in prayer. Gayle Sampson and Carol Kraft, more accessible geographically, are two more whose fellowship in prayer spans the decades. Mike Casey, Dr. Bernie Klamecki, Ivy Upton and John and Mary Stocking are others who never forget to love and pray for this ministry, and they provide a more unique and healing support for me than they realize. We have special prayer partners, translators, and teams overseas, some listed in the acknowledgments to The Healing Presence , but the list grows long, and they know who they are. We are so grateful for everyone who prays for and with us. Together we have a wealth of answered prayer, and I could fill books with the miracle of it all.
I trust the Father is magnified and the cross of His Son lifted high in the following pages. If so, His Holy Spirit will bless and heal through them. For this, we thank God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in advance.
Preface
But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself .
(Jesus, quoted in John 12:32)
T his work is the companion volume to The Healing Presence , and although it can easily be read on its own, it builds on the theological and psychological foundation laid in that book. These books are not twins. This volume is a continuation of the first, and together they constitute the main body of work and ministry presented in our healing seminars and Pastoral Care Ministry Schools.
In the ministry of prayer for healing of the soul, we are continually helping Christians to hurdle one or another of the three great barriers to personal and spiritual wholeness in Christ. They are 1) the failure to gain the great Christian virtue of self-acceptance, 2) the failure to forgive others, and 3) the failure to receive forgiveness for oneself.
Every time we more fully understand and accept our true identities in Christ, forgive another, or confess a sin, barriers to our becoming mature disciples all we were created to be fall down. But at times we are unable on our own to understand what is blocking us, much less how to remove it. Then we need the ministry of others in order to walk in freedom. God’s love is blocked and unable to flow freely into our brokenness; one of his servants must therefore help us to receive the healing. Part of the discipling process is to help others discern what their barriers are and then through healing prayer to lea