Finding Freedom in Forgiveness 

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Blog written by Oceans Board member Danell Czarnecki 
 
The other week I talked about father wounds; and if Father wounds are the source of the majority of our infections; then lack of forgiveness is our biggest source of captivity.
 
Unforgiveness is the most frequent block to our freedom; it binds us to the past and does not permit healing to flow freely; and will hinder or block the healing power of the Holy Spirit.  For one to experience inner healing in its fullness we must release the feelings of anger, bitterness, and judgement we have against others who have hurt us so that we can heal; and our mind, body and soul be restored. 
 
Forgiveness is a spiritual foundation; and is a choice, a decision; and since Scripture requires it; we can believe it is possible for us. We are called to be merciful (Lk 6:36) and forgive others.  Jesus tells Peter to forgive 70 – 7 times; I think Jesus meant we are to forgive limitless times because He knew it would be our captor if we did not. 
 
Forgiveness is not forgetting; forgiveness is coming to peace and living with the consequences of another person’s sin and brokenness. It’s often our willingness to forgive that is lacking; because we feel justified. I believe the “root” of unforgiveness has to do with a lack of trust in God.  We hold tightly to unforgiveness because we feel like we are the only one who is concerned about justice coming to the person who wronged us. It’s important to know that forgiveness of our offender does not take the person off God’s “list”.  God is just!  On the contrary, forgiveness sets us free; God promises to take care of those who offend His chosen. 
 
When we withhold forgiveness, we allow Satan to take advantage of our pain and keep us in bondage to our past hurts. Withholding forgiveness is like my drinking poison hoping it will impact the one who offended me.  Forgiving those who hurt us is for our wellbeing, we do not heal to forgive; we forgive to heal. 
 
I don’t think it was a coincidence that Jesus asked Peter 3 times, “Do you love me?” Peter needed to be freed from the belief that his denial of Christ 3 times meant he did not love Jesus and was not fit to serve him.  Jesus, in a very tender way took Peter back to the past, He did not try to get Peter to deny or forget that horrible evening, rather Jesus gently healed the memory; what had been a gaping, open wound was turned into a healed scar.  And we all know what Peter, the rock, went on to do for the Kingdom.   
In inner healing we seek to forgive those who have wronged us, we seek to forgive ourselves and learn to love and appreciate the person that Christ has made in us; and we offer God our forgiveness for not trusting Him to hold and heal our hurts and redeem what the enemy meant for harm.  
 
Forgiveness breaks the binds that prevents us from growing and flourishing as God intended – the fullness in Christ the Bible says is ours to have. 
 
Maybe your earthly father, family member or friend failed you; offer forgiveness and know your Heavenly Father will never fail you, forsake you; leave you alone; or withhold His blessing. 
 
Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is with you; He is mighty to save.  He takes great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, and He rejoices over you with singing.”

Bitter Roots

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Blog written by Oceans Board member Danell Czarnecki 
The Monday morning following the Discover Inner Healing Conference at Overflow Church in Fish Hoek, SA, Ken and I were stopped by a woman as we walked the streets and greeted with an exclamation of joy and gratitude to her Heavenly Father for bringing healing into her life at the conference two days before. She shared her encounter and said she literally felt the bitter root pulled out from within her. We praised God for this inner healing and rejoiced with her. 
 
Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” 
 
Bitter roots are often planted when someone has been or feels they have been hurt, abused, abandoned, rejected, and so on…when we experience those deep kinds of trauma and do not deal with them, it is internalized, holds us hostage and robs us of our freedom in Christ. Over time, the root can grow, and the increasing infection allows the enemy a stronghold over us. It impacts the way we respond and interact with others, the way we see ourselves and ultimately the way we view God.  
  
Inner healing is getting at the roots of our wounds/traumas; excising bitter roots; and since the deepest hurts are most often stored in our memories, inner healing focuses there. It is not the past events that are altered in inner healing; rather it is the reactions we have developed; the healing of the infections that have held us captive.  We cannot change the past events we have endured, either by our own hand or at the hands of others, but God can change the way we allow them to impact us.
 
Because roots are covered underground, they are hidden; but God wants to reveal to us the root of our troubles. This is not to say your salvation is not secure or you are not an adopted heir of Christ. You can be saved spiritually speaking but not free. You can be saved following Jesus and guaranteed a place in heaven but still live a life trapped in mental and or emotional bondage where the enemy taunts and torments. The infection is like rats that keep returning to feed on the garbage (bitter roots); you can run the rats off but if you do not take out the garbage the rats will keep returning. 
 
Matthew 10:26 “Fear them not: for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be made known.” 
 
Jesus can command the “rats” to leave and then remove the “garbage” accumulated. Those bitter roots of our wounds need to be “surgically” removed to heal; and then allowed to scar. And just like Jesus’ scars tell a story of love and remind us we are not alone; so too will the wrestling with the dark times in our lives and the scars that remain be a testimony to His love, power, and glory!!      
 
Galatians 6:17 “From now on let no one cause troubles for me, for I bear on my body the marks (scars) of Jesus.” 

Father Wounds

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Written by Danell Czarnecki, Oceans Board Member.

At the close of Saturday’s Discover Inner Healing Conference, Pastor Ryan, of Overflow Church, asked if anyone wanted to share something. The room was pretty silent for a short bit then a beautiful young woman from the second row walked to the front and began to speak through tears. She shared from a place of deep, dark wounding in her childhood at the hands of her father; things she had kept hidden from herself and others for years. Because of the root of those childhood wounds; she continued to be hurt by others and circumstances; and as a result, her current relationships seemed doomed to more pain and failure. The trauma of her past haunted her and was destroying her future. My heart hurt for her and her family.

I believe Satan’s biggest strongholds and weapon in this day is the attack on the family, particularly the father role; and then getting us to withhold forgiveness.

So many of us, like the woman at the conference, are walking wounded; wounded by our earthly father’s inability to fulfill the role God intended; likely carried on by his own woundedness from his father. The effect of a father wound is often low self-esteem, a deep emotional pain inside and a performance orientation that makes us “doers” rather than “beings.” These father wounds stunt us from being fully held by our Heavenly Father.

How do we, as children, grow to understand the role and love of our Heavenly Father in our lives if our earthly father didn’t, wouldn’t, or couldn’t fulfill the role of father given to him by God? Our view of the Heavenly Father is often skewed when our earthly father fails to protect or provide; abandons us or is the one at whose hand we were abused and “planted” the root of the infection. If we can’t trust the father, then who can we trust?

Because we live in a fallen world, the vast majority of us seeking or in need of inner healing have been wounded by our earthly father and deprived of our father’s blessing. In ancient Israel they were consciously aware of the need a child had for their father’s blessing; it was part of their family traditions and lifestyle; not seen or done much in today’s cultures. And I think it’s sad that we have lost that very important passage in a child’s life.

We all come into the world helpless, dependent and needing acceptance, to be treated as worthy, and to be blessed. The father wound is the absence of this love from your birth father.

When we invite Jesus into the wounds created by our birth father; we start by asking Jesus to enter into specific memories; we renounce and reject any lies we accepted about ourselves at the time and we ask Jesus to reveal His truth about who we are; then we choose to forgive our birth father for hurtful words or actions, for not loving us or blessing us and for affecting the image of God the Father.

We must look to our Heavenly Father and come to know who we are as a child of God; He will set us free to let go of the pain and forgive our birth father; and give us a life lived in freedom!

Jer. 6:14 “You can’t heal a wound if you say it’s not there…”

The Healing Power of the Word!

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For the next few blogs Danell Czarnecki with share key thoughts on inner healing from Oceans conference in South Africa.

It’s been a few weeks since Ken and I returned home from South Africa and our mind, heart and spirits are still filled with awe and gratitude for what God is doing in the lives of the beautifully broken people who call South Africa home.

Being in their midst was humbling as I was reminded of just how broken I am too and yet grateful to God for bringing me from one of the walking wounded to a place of beautiful brokenness.

So many of us live hidden and fearful, with buried hurts and traumas; often at the hands of others and outside of our control. We experience fear, anxiety, shame and guilt; we feel abandoned, rejected and are often unable to receive love from others and many times find it difficult to even love ourselves.

Those hurts and traumas leave deep, infected wounds that paralyze us from experiencing the fullness in Christ we are promised in Scripture. The infection caused by such wounding grows over time, creating a mass of bitter roots and gives the enemy a place to set up camp and hold us captive. Our “infection” needs the inner healing only our Abba can provide.

God desires to heal our wounds and take our pain and hurt from us. Have you ever loved somebody so much that you wish you could take their pain or suffering from them? That’s how our Heavenly Father feels about us…He loves us so much that He paid the price for our healing in the work on the cross!!

The first step to receiving such inner healing is to understand where the antidote, or antibiotic if you will, comes from; and it comes from opening our pain to God and His Word.

God’s Word is God Breathed! (2 Tim 3:16) It is the mind, heart and plan of our Abba for our lives to be lived in freedom and wholeness; fully loved, fully accepted, fully His.

God’s Word has healing power! (Ps107:20) He sent His Word and healed them. We need to open the wounds to Him and let Him heal them. He is not bound by time; our past belongs to as much as our future does. God is able to redeem the hurts and trauma of our past and make us whole.

God’s Word is able to something no other text can; and that is to penetrate our very spirit, mind, body, and soul. Inner Healing is different from physical (outer) healing; inner healing touches emotional, relational, spiritual and physical parts of a person. It is a ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit aimed at bringing healing to the whole person; spirit, body, mind, emotions and will. It’s the kind of healing Jesus did and said in the book of John we would too as one sent.

Hebrews 4:12 NLT “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

The Bible is the scalpel of the Great Physician; our Jehovah-Rapha – The God who heals!  Open it up and allow Him to do His mighty healing work in you!

 

Why the Wilderness?

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Where has God revealed Himself most in your life? For me it has been in seasons of difficulty and trials. Those wilderness wandering times seem to be when I hear the Father speak the loudest.

Our recent trip to Israel started out in the hot, dry wilderness. This is intentional as the desert is where God chose to form His chosen people into His Bride (Ex. 19,20). In fact, the majority of the Torah-the first five books of the Bible-take place in the desert wilderness (Ex. 15- Deut. 24).

Sitting under a lonely tree in the wilderness of Zin, Pastor Bryan had us open up the Word to Deut. 8, where God reminds His people why He led them through the wilderness for 40 years.

“Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way into the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna…to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD…”      Deut. 8:2-3.

In life we face difficult seasons and these same truths from the desert remind us that we are His beloved children. Maybe God is revealing more of Himself to you by:

“Humbling you” – The Father uses the wilderness to purge Egypt or the world from us. Our culture bombards us with the lie that self is god-which only leads to chaos. The wilderness or suffering teaches us we are not gods but rather dependent children in need of God’s continual care. It is the humble and contrite spirit that opens our hearts to the wonder of God’s Fatherly love (Isa. 58:15).

“Testing you” – The refining fire of the wilderness displays what is in our hearts. Our response to suffering reveals where we may be spiritually. Too often in these tests I find myself grumbling and complaining just like the Israelites did showing my spiritual immaturity and the need for growth.

“Teaching you” – Lacking water and food in the wilderness was meant to teach the Israelites that their Abba Father was enough; that lesson is one for each of us as well. Our God is one of miracles, He brought water from a rock and manna from the sky to meet His children’s daily needs. He uses the trials in our lives to teach us to trust Him; He is faithful in keeping His Word.

I don’t know about you but I often fail at the lessons to be learned in humbling, testing and teaching. And that is when the Spirit of the Father reminds me to look to Jesus. Jesus passed the wilderness test perfectly (Luke 4:1-13). This is seen best as Jesus took all my failures with Him on the cross and then buried them in the grave and 3 days later the Father raised Him up as the perfect Savior of the World.

The wilderness is used to lead us to Jesus, our spiritual water and heavenly manna, who shouts out His constant care and faithful love for us. No matter what we may face in the wilderness when we seek the face Jesus who dearly loves us, we are able to be more than survivors, we are victors!

Whatever your wilderness, may it lead you to the greatest of all gifts, Christ Jesus living within you, for He is the Hope of glory! Col. 1:27