Why do so many sincere believers love Jesus, walk in faith, and experience the Holy Spirit—yet still struggle with fear, trauma, shame, anxiety, or inner wounds?

In this powerful teaching from the Awake Nations Ministries Podcast, we unpack the biblical truth of spirit, soul, and body healing through Scripture, discipleship, and union with Christ. Drawing from 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Luke 4:18–19, Hebrews, Romans, and Ephesians, this message reveals that salvation is not just forgiveness—it is restoration. Jesus didn’t just come to forgive—He came to heal the brokenhearted, restore captives, and proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor.

This teaching will equip you to understand your journey, break shame cycles, and walk in freedom as a son or daughter of God. If you’ve ever asked, “If I’m saved, why am I still struggling?”—this message is for you.

🌏 From the Sunshine Coast of Australia

🎙 Awake Nations Ministries

🔗 Learn more at awakeaus.com

From the beautiful sunshine coast of Australia, this is the Awake Nations Ministries podcast equipping the church for revival, Reformation and Kingdom Impact.

Learn more about us by visiting awakeaus.com okay, so first Thessalonians 5:23, and then we're going to also read from Luke chapter 4, verses 18 and 19.

So first Thessalonians 5:23 is a powerful passage of Scripture.

Paul is saying he's praying for the believers.

He says, now, may the God of peace.

By the way, that's a covenant.

Covenant language.

May the God of peace.

Okay.

Sanctify you holy completely, entirely through and through.

And may your entire spirit, soul and body be preserved, blameless of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke chapter 4, 18 and 19.

Jesus is in the synagogue.

He's handed the scroll of Isaiah, and he begins to read from chapter 61.

And it says here in Luke 4:18 and 19, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me too.

So the anointing has a purpose to do something, right?

It's not just for us, but the anointing has a purpose.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.

He's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives.

Watch this.

Recover his sight to the blind and set at liberty those who are oppressed.

Oppressed.

Then verse 19 says, to proclaim the year the Lord's favor.

Now, some translations say to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Most scholars believe this is a reference to the year of Jubilee, 70th year, the seventh Sabbath.

And what would happen is on that time, slaves would be released, would be emancipated, debts would be canceled, and ultimately, land would be restored to its rightful owners.

So it speaks of restoration, it speaks of freedom, and it speaks of God just doing a work of just releasing us, canceling debts and so forth.

And we know there's a spiritual application there.

First and foremost, what Jesus did for us at the cross, right?

But I want you to see today that 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, we have a spirit, we have a soul, and we have a body.

And it's God's will that our entire tripart being is sanctified and preserved.

Blameless.

So when Jesus returns.

Whoa, come on.

That's deep, that's powerful, that he actually wants to do a deep work in us.

So what we're going to look at today is how, as I mentioned earlier, from a place of belonging and being, we grow into the Fullness of Christ's image and likeness for our lives.

And because this is discipleship Sunday, I can't help.

It would be a mis service for me not to use some geeky theological terms.

Okay, so let's use.

The first word is called ontological.

All right, so say ontological.

Ontological.

And theology means being, the state of being.

It means you're being.

And then there's.

There's what we, you know, existential or praxis.

So the whole idea of existential and praxis is we do things, we live, we execute and fulfill our calling, our purpose, and as sons of God.

But the first thing is being.

It's who we are.

It's from that place of identity, from that place of being in him.

So that's the most important thing.

Now, here's what we see in the church right now, or should I say we don't see, by the way, this.

We could easily go into multiple sessions on this and at our Bible college, which launches this Thursday evening, if you're still keen, you can sign up.

We actually.

Our second course is on this topic.

So it's all about anthropological soteriology.

Right.

So that's.

That's the idea.

So basically, is how God brings salvation to us as a human being.

So we have to use theological language in order for accreditation, all that stuff.

Right.

In order to give you at least undergraduate degree at that level.

So it's.

That's the way it works.

But the language is really important that we understand it.

How many know that?

Yeah, because there are some words that have been created.

We may not know them, be familiar with them, or have heard them in passing, but they're very significant.

Okay, so soteriology is the study of salvation, which comes from the word soteria, salvation in the New Testament, coin in Greek language, or another word that comes from that is sozo.

How many have heard sozo?

Sozo's a verb form.

So soteriology is about the study of salvation, and it's used literally in every aspect of our lives.

It's not just spiritual, oh, I'm saved.

Great, I'm going to heaven.

But it's hell on earth for me right now.

Keeping it real.

I'm struggling.

There's stuff I've been through, ptsd, all these kind of things, and people struggle.

So what we want to see here very clearly is, and this is really a question, if I'm saved, why am I still struggling?

Right?

I mean, we could say, well, if I'm saved, why am I still dealing with sickness at Times or whatever.

Well, we'll answer both of those questions today, and we'll do so from the context of what scripture actually teaches about it.

Not opinions, not what others say.

But we're going to unpack it so that we can be able to respond scripturally to what it says.

So think about how many people love Jesus genuinely.

They believe the word of God.

They've experienced the power of the Holy Spirit in real intangible ways.

Right?

They serve, they give, they pray, they maybe lead worship, teach others.

But deep down within, they're wrestling with persistent fears.

They should have left them by now.

There's stuff they're dealing with.

And so they battle shame that clings despite countless altar calls, respond to altar calls, prayed, God, help me deal with this.

We believe in prayer.

So unfortunately, the typical response, and it's getting better, may I say, is, has been historically in many places in the church.

You just need more faith.

You just need.

You just need more faith, right?

You gotta have sin in your life.

Like, there's got to be unconfessed sin in your life.

Like, why.

Why are you struggling with this?

Or.

Or maybe you're really not even saved.

Like.

Yeah.

Or.

Or what about this one?

Just confess the right words.

Just pray.

I mean.

Yeah.

Is there anything wrong with that?

Of course not.

It's all part of the process.

But it fails to recognize something that many of us have missed.

And it's simply this.

The gospel does not just forgive people, it restores people.

And restoration happens incrementally in stages.

Restoration is a journey.

It's a process.

Not all at once.

Now, here's the interesting thing.

Your spirit Pneumon ruach, right?

Your spirit was made perfect when you were born again perfect.

But your soul is on a journey.

Now, we're going to look at a couple scriptures here, okay?

The first scripture that we're going to look at is in Hebrews chapter 12.

Hebrews, chapter 12.

Thank you very much.

Watch this, guys.

And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all.

Watch this.

And his spirits of the righteous made perfect.

Or some translations say, the spirit of just men made perfect.

So what Paul's talking about is he's contrasting the law to the kingdom grace, and he's saying that we're called to the spiritual Zion.

And in spiritual Zion, actually, what we inherit is the spirit of just men made perfect.

Wow.

So Our spirit is made perfect.

Now we know before Christ, our spirit was dead.

The Bible says you were dead in trespasses and sins.

Ephesians 2:1.

And then you were born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, etc.

So this is a reality of what happens.

But then, if we continue to read this, I'm going to look for this verse.

Hebrews 10, verse 14.

Watch this.

Hebrews 10, verse 14 says this, for by a single offering he Yeshua has perfected, perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

And watch this, right, he's saying he has perfected.

It's the aorist tense in Greek, which means it's been done.

And then he says, but he is perfecting or sanctifying.

So that's a powerful thing for a single offering.

He's perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

That's the present tense in the New Testament language.

That means it's ongoing, it's a process.

So there is a sense in which we've been perfected, but there's also a sense in which we're still being healed.

Now, what is he referring to?

He's saying this, that you are a masterpiece, but you're a work in progress.

You're a masterpiece as far as your spirit, pertaining to your spirit, but as your soul, your suke, that is your mind, your emotion, your affections, your will, all of these things.

You are on a journey to be sanctified.

Now, the word sanctified means to be made holy, but it's not holy like we're this special type of person who's super spiritual.

The idea means the very essence of that is rooted in who God is.

God is holy.

And the way we become holy is by partaking in who he is.

So when we talk about our spirit being made perfect, one other way we need to qualify this.

The nuance here is this, is that we also recognize that we become partakers of God's divine nature.

2 Peter 1:4 says, we become partakers of the divine nature.

Now, 1 John 3:8 says that when you're born again, God's seed comes into you.

His seed is planted in you.

Sperma meno in Greek.

So understand what the word means.

Okay, I don't have to elaborate on that.

Yeah.

All right.

So God's sperma meno abides in you, which means his life, his nature is in us.

Not that we become God of essence.

No, but.

And that's another theological thing, but we share in who he is.

And so we have an unfair advantage.

And we hear so many Christians talk about counseling and inner healing.

And I believe in biblical counseling and inner healing.

But, guys, if it doesn't start from a revelation and the reality of what it means to actually be a person who has received his divine nature, then we're no different than the world.

We're just using psychological principles and we're dealing with things on the soul level, on the psyche level only.

And that can help, but it can't change us and transform us into the very nature and image of Jesus.

So we weren't just called to be a good person, a nice person, a healed person.

We're actually called to be a partaker of God's nature and goodness.

Big difference.

Big difference.

All right, so what we recognize is that our soul has been saved.

I'm sorry, Our spirit has been saved.

Our soul is being saved.

And one day our body will be saved at the resurrection.

Right.

So we're talking about justification, sanctification, and glorification, to use theological language.

So we are spirit.

Yep.

But soul, oh, boy.

And some of us, our soul is just not as cooperative as we'd like it to be.

And so, yeah, anyway, it's a journey.

So the Bible tells us this, that our soul actually comprises our mind, noose, emotions, cardia and its effective sense, and then the wealth, which is telematic.

Suleima means volition, your free will, etc.

Right.

So it's the seed of our personality, it's the repository of memory, and it's the faculty through which we interpret and engage reality.

So what does that mean?

Well, the Bible says this, that our soul stores experiences, including fragmented trauma memories.

It assigns meaning and draws conclusions.

Okay, so it's a filter.

It forms core beliefs, our soul, false or true, deep convictions that operate below conscious awareness.

Now, the soul actually remembers what the spirit's forgotten.

The soul actually remembers what the spirit has forgotten.

So the soul is not instantly perfected.

Obviously, the spirit is regenerating in a moment.

So the soul requires a process.

Romans 12.

2.

Do not be conformed to the world, but be what?

Transformed by the renewal of your mind.

And by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable, and perfect.

Okay, so the Greek word for transformed is metamorpho, from which obviously we get metamorphosis.

So this is speaking of a deep organic transformation that takes place in our life.

Okay.

Kind of like we know the caterpillar.

Caterpillar that becomes a butterfly.

So this is a Deep work that God's saying, I want to do something in you.

I want to transform your soul.

Now, the reality is we all have certain things that we've inherited, mindsets that we've embraced, trauma that's occurred in our lives as a result of several different factors which we'll look at.

But before we address all these things and we begin to go, okay, yeah, how do I get healed of this?

How do I change the way I think?

How do I overcome stubbornness, addiction, these kind of things in my life?

We have to go back to a reality.

And again, this is.

This has to do with.

With our ontological position in Christ.

So in the Bible, discipleship does not begin with effort, behavior modification, or religious performance.

Discipleship actually begins with location, location, location, location.

Say that to your neighbor.

Say location, location, location.

Okay, so what are we talking about?

The phrase in Christ?

That phrase in Christ is the location.

Woo.

It appears 160 times in Paul's letters in Christ.

And it's not merely theological jargon or mystical poetry.

It describes a literal spiritual reality.

So through faith and our trust in Jesus, there's a spiritual baptism that takes place that places us inside Christ.

Inside Christ.

Now, can you guys, can you imagine this?

Like, I mean, like, if you.

We try to wrap our minds around this and say, yeah, yeah, it makes sense.

No, God is what God.

Right, so what does it mean?

He's supra rational, as the philosophers say.

He's supra rational, which means he is not irrational, but it's beyond our ability to understand fully.

Right?

My ways are not your ways.

My thoughts are higher than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55.

So there's something that takes place, terms of our understanding, but it's limited.

So what it is, what we need to begin to understand is it starts with our position in Christ.

It starts from that reality of who we are in Him.

The Bible uses this phrase many, many times.

And so theologians call it union with Christ.

It's this placement of our life inside his.

So we're not just forgiven by Jesus, but we're actually located inside his life.

One of the great scriptures here, Colossians 3, verse 3.

Listen to this.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Wow.

Our life is hidden with Christ in God.

All right.

Okay, guys, so what does union mean?

Practically, we start from a position.

When you read the Bible, particularly Paul's writings, and specifically the book of Ephesians, you'll see that the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians is devoted explicitly and expressly to this reality of who we are in terms of our identity and our position in Christ.

So Paul has this incredible, brilliant revelation.

And he actually, by the way, remember when the Bible says.

When Paul refers to this, like in 1 Corinthians, he goes, yeah, I say, not the Lord Jesus.

Remember when he said that?

Right.

And then.

And then some people kind of say they've said this.

They said, Paul's like, that's my opinion.

That's not Jesus.

Well, why would Paul say that?

It doesn't make sense.

Can I say that?

Stupid, right?

It's like, guys, so then that part of the Bible is not inspired, right?

It's not inspired.

No.

What is he saying when he says, I say, not Jesus, or Jesus said, not me?

What he's saying is, Jesus taught this already or Jesus really never addressed this.

But God gave me revelation.

Not that everything Jesus taught is recorded, obviously, but God gave me revelation on this subject.

And Ephesians 3, he particularly goes deep in all that.

These mysteries, these hidden things, so they'll be revealed.

And he's saying, this reality of what happens to us when we are born of the Spirit, we actually become in Christ.

So there's something that takes place.

So what does that look like?

Practically speaking, union in Christ is.

It actually impacts our lives in several different ways.

First of all, union, practically, it's our identity.

Starts off with identity, okay?

So we're not trying to.

We're not striving for identity.

We're not saying, I need to discover my identity.

No, no, no.

When you're born again, truly born again in the spirit of God, you have an identity.

You're established now again, spirit, positionally living that out, embracing that, accepting that, that's.

That can be a bit more of a challenge.

So the fundamental sense of self is no longer grounded in what we've done, but in who he is and.

And in whose we are.

So that's our identity because we're in Christ and we are who he says we are.

Full stop.

Come on now.

We are who he says we are.

Full stop, Right?

Let God be true.

Every man a liar.

We are who he says we are.

I'm a failure.

I'm this.

Maybe you were raised in a family where you were told various things about yourself.

Maybe you had a teacher that said things about you.

You never.

Chris Tallman, right?

Remember, you know, Chris Tallman, the worship leader?

He had a teacher, I think it was like sixth or seventh grade or something, and said, you will never, ever succeed in music.

You're, like, terrible.

And look what happened to him, Right.

So don't accept those things.

Know who you are in Jesus and let that inform the journey.

So it has to do with that.

Secondly, your security, your standing before God is established before your behavior is healed.

Whoa.

Your security, your position, your relationship is established, full stop, even before I'm healed.

And how many times have you heard this?

When you try to share the gospel with someone, man, you need to come to Jesus.

He'll change your life.

He'll do this.

And somebody says, yeah, I'll do that one day.

He said, but I just got too many things right now to change in my life, and I've just got too many issues, and it's just overwhelming or it's too much or I'm not ready.

And if we go, yeah, fair enough.

I get it.

Then we don't understand salvation because salvation says, don't even worry about that stuff.

Salvation says, don't worry about it.

Come to Jesus and his life now in you.

You're in him.

He's in you.

And then what begins to take place is he begins to change you from the inside out.

And that's what I was meaning by the unfair advantage.

Because when we live from our spirit and not our soul, what begins to take place is his affections become our affections, his desires become our desires.

And it's not all of a sudden about man.

I just need to discipline myself.

I just need to double down or whatever.

No, it's all about now.

It's just like, allow him to change you.

Allow him to change you.

I said this recently.

The fact is, in John 15, when Jesus is talking about every good tree bears good fruit, every branch that abides in the vine will bear much fruit.

What he's telling us, he's not saying you need to make every effort to bear good fruit.

Bearing fruit is a promise.

If you abide.

Meno, again, is the Greek, if you abide, then guess what happens.

You will bear good fruit naturally.

Just as that branch stays connected to the vine and the life that is in the vine flows into the branch and it begins to bear fruit.

Flowers.

And then it brings.

That's how it works.

Connection, relationship, living from that place.

So it's guarding the unity of the faith through the bond of peace.

Right?

It's not trying to unite.

See, when people say, we need to unite the body of Christ, we're already united.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4, we're one body.

We're one.

There's unity.

The problem is, and I understand it can be semantics.

The Problem is, what we actually have done is we've disrupted that unity by carnality, by whatever we do.

But positionally, we're still one church.

One body never changes.

So that's a reality.

Okay.

Next thing is access.

Everything Christ has is available to us.

Everything he has is available to us.

When?

After three years of really being spiritual.

No, immediately.

Immediately.

When you're born again.

Everything.

All things pertaining to life and godliness.

Every spiritual blessing in heavenly place is Ephesians 1:3.

So we work from acceptance, not for acceptance.

We work from that place of belonging, not for belonging.

Right.

Okay, now let's talk about soul wounds.

How does our soul get wounded?

What, what happens?

Well, there's.

There's at least three different ways in which we experience soul wounds.

Okay?

And understand that, that people by and large don't live from truth.

They live from what they believe is truth.

I just.

No, no, I just.

No, you live from what you believe is the truth.

What if it's not true?

What if God says, no, that's actually not true?

Can I tell you this?

You know when Jesus came and he preached and he said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, he used the word metanoia.

Repent.

Guess what noia means?

Mind thinking.

So it comes from nous.

And the idea is, change your thinking.

So what is repentance?

It's not, stop doing all those bad things, you naughty boy.

That's not repentance.

Repentance is this, hey Pharisee, you're a good person, but man, your thinking is messed up.

Self righteous, legalistic, judgmental pride.

So repentance is bringing our thinking into alignment with the truth of, of God's word and his revelation.

Whether we're a really bad person or whether we are very self righteous person.

And even as new believers and seasoned believers, we're still on a constant journey to bring our thinking into alignment.

Let this mind be in you, which also is in Christ Jesus.

Think the way he thinks.

And again, if we live from our spirit and not just our soul, then he begins to just feed that revelation, that life.

And we'll look at this in a minute.

So let's look at three ways that we experience soul wounds.

Number one, from sin, things we do, sins we commit, right?

So a lot of times we're like, yep, I sinned, I asked God to forgive me.

Yep, that's wonderful.

We confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9.

We love that.

Right.

So our legal standing before God is immediately restored, but the effects of sin often linger on.

How do I know that?

Because David, Remember David, he did something bad one time with another man's wife.

Yeah.

And had him killed.

Right.

Well, he wrote Psalm 51 in the aftermath of that.

And Psalm 51 is not only David's prayer of asking God for forgiveness and receiving mercy, but it's actually a journey of healing and restoration.

So David is forgiven, but he still needs restoration.

Now we know he's forgiven.

The Lord has also put away your sin.

You shall not die.

But then in Psalm 51, David says the following.

For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Guilt and shame were still persisting despite forgiveness.

Secondly, let me hear joy and gladness.

Let the bones that you've broken rejoice.

So the capacity of joy had been damaged.

Okay, Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

Verse 12.

Something had been lost that needed recovery.

Verse 10 created me a clean heart, O God, renew a right spirit within me.

Internal cleansing.

Beyond legal forensic forgiveness.

There's a work.

So what does that mean, guys?

It means this.

Paul talked about, I endeavor, I strive to always live before God.

With what?

And man, he said, what?

A pure heart.

Yes, and a clean conscience.

A clean conscience.

So the reality is your conscience is part of your suke, right?

Your soul.

It's part of your soul.

So there's a place cleansing in the deeper man.

So a person who constantly sins, lives in habitual sin, will struggle with more than just the reality of experiencing forgiveness.

There's even trauma that takes place in their life.

Okay?

Secondly, sin that's committed against you, when people do things against you, particularly to hurt you, could be.

Could be abuse, neglect, betrayal, abandonment, violence, mockery, manipulation, etc.

That does damage to your soul.

And you can of course, recover from all that.

But these are wounds from other people's sins against us.

Right?

And a child that was sexually abused may struggle to believe God is good.

They may have issues connecting, etc.

In life, there's so many different things.

So then lastly, traumatic events and circumstances.

We're talking about accidents, disasters, loss, grief, divorce, family breakdown, medical trauma.

You know, like a kid that's been in the hospital most of its life.

Then you can witness trauma.

You can see violence, death or suffering without being personally harmed from it.

But you witness that you saw something.

See, these things are all real, very real and very deep.

So these are not sins to repent of, but they're wounds to Be healed.

And so God wants to bring healing.

It's a powerful thing.

He heals the brokenhearted.

Psalm 147, 3.

And binds up their wounds.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Doesn't just say he forgives.

He heals the brokenhearted.

And he binds up their wounds.

All right, so under normal circumstances, and this is the good news, is that God created the human soul with incredible resilience, with a remarkable capacity to bounce back no matter what's happened to us.

That's awesome, isn't it, that God did that?

So, you know, as long as we recover from difficulty, you know, through processing grief to integrating painful experiences, we can bounce back.

Now, under normal circumstances, with adequate support processing, the soul can heal from significant trauma.

Okay?

Now, what happens, though, is that resilience has limits.

And when trauma exceeds the soul's capacity to process it, or when multiple traumas accumulate compound without adequate healing, the system becomes overloaded.

Now, can I say this?

You don't have to be a person who's, like, doing a lot of things.

You know, life's been super hard.

Life's been very difficult, man.

I've been just working all these hours.

I've been going through all of these difficult scenarios to experience ptsd.

Okay?

Now, we talk about it in the sense that we think about maybe someone was in the war and they saw stuff.

You know, that's one thing.

Could be.

Could be another form of ptsd, right?

And that's true, but ptsd, or to the point where it's literally chronic, and in clinical language, PTSD is chronic, Right?

And it becomes what they call complex ptsd.

So the idea here is that you maybe over the years, there's been stuff have happened to you, and you've just never really processed it.

You've just never really dealt with it.

You suppressed it.

And then eventually, at a certain stage and age in life, it just kind of.

That's it.

And.

And it becomes very painful and difficult.

Right?

And.

And it's just compounded.

And so this is what happens is this is an overload and trauma is too severe.

You know, it's ongoing, it's unprocessed.

Maybe there's not been support, or you've not reached out for support or healing, even to the Lord, and your resources are depleted.

So what do I mean by that?

Your physical exhaustion, emotional depletion, spiritual dryness.

Spiritual dryness reduces the soul's capacity to heal.

Okay?

And when overload occurs, the soul develops symptoms like intrusive memories, avoidance patterns, emotional Numbing, withdrawal, et cetera.

Hypervigilance, constant alertness, difficulty relaxing, exaggerated startle response, chronic anxiety, negative alterations, persistent negative beliefs about self, others, or God.

Ever hear that somebody goes, they say something and you go, whoa, where'd that come from?

And they actually believe it's true.

They're convinced it's true, and it's actually something that's happened over time.

And these negative alterations.

Okay, etc.

So let me just share a few more.

Common soul wounds on their fruit.

And then we're going to talk about healing.

Everybody said, okay, let's.

All right.

Common soul wounds and their fruit.

Are you ready?

Number one, say what we're talking about is false beliefs that form and become the operating system of our inner life.

Okay.

These beliefs are not consciously chosen.

They feel like simple reality.

It's just the way things are.

It's just the way it is.

You know, this is what this is.

This is the way it is.

And people believe that.

They think, like, there's no hope.

I've dealt with it this long.

It's not going to change.

I just need to, you know, create coping mechanisms, boundaries, whatever it may be.

Right.

And you see it in so many ways because people try, and then they engage in, maybe with relationships, and then they get triggered.

Could be church, they get triggered.

Next thing you know, where are they?

They're gone.

Like, why?

And then if you dig deep enough, many times, many times, not always.

There's actually something that they were anticipating, you know, like, I'm going to go there.

I'm going to fit in.

And then for whatever reason, God begins once again, out of his love and mercy to say, son, daughter, let's talk about this.

Let's put our finger on this for a minute, because I want to bring you healing.

And rather than dealing with that, a lot of times, people move on.

See, the problem is this, wherever you go, there you are with all your baggage, with all your unhealed soul issues.

Right?

Yeah.

So you've got all this stuff happening in your life.

And what I love about, you know, every week, I guard my time with God.

I guard it.

It's sacred.

I have to have time with God.

And what do I do?

Yeah.

I pray in tongues.

Yes.

We intercede.

We pray.

And Lynn and I, we pray together as well.

But I get in the book and I spend hours in the Word, and I. I've probably said this before to you guys.

I have a commitment that the Lord challenged me on.

He said, every day you need to learn something new.

And.

And at first, I was just like, learn something new about AI I don't know about whatever.

And then there's lots, lots of things you can learn about AI, But.

And I am on those kind of geeky email lists.

I get all that.

But the point is, it was like, no, learn something new about me every day.

Right?

And so I was like, oh, yeah, but Lord, I've read the Bible 189 times.

Yeah.

And you think you got me figured out?

I'm like, I don't think so.

No.

And so there's something new, right?

Morning by morning, new mercies.

I see.

So there's always more of him in terms of revelation and understanding to bring change into our lives.

And when we get to the point where we're like, yep, I got it all good.

You know, I went through the Purple book, I took the Alpha course.

Tick, boom.

I know everything about God, the church, and I know how to tell you how to run this church.

I mean, that's typically what happens between people like that.

And they're just so full of pride, and they've stopped dealing with things, and they've stopped growing in grace and knowledge.

2 Peter 3:18.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I thought grace is a gift.

How can we grow in it?

Yeah, it's more than that.

Grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, present tense in Greek, which means keep on growing in grace.

Keep on growing in gnosis, which is actually the idea there is knowledge, but there's an experiential knowledge, too.

It's not just the idea of who God is, like theology or doctrine or.

No, but theology.

By the way, how can we ever, like, say.

People say, oh, that's theology.

Do you know what it means?

Theology comes from two words, Theos, God and Logos.

Logos is what?

Word, Study, message.

So it means to study God.

Oh, that's boring.

Really?

You're boring.

Like, really to study God.

Theology, if you come from.

From a perspective of your spirit engaging in the Word, right?

And then it's like, yeah, your.

Your mind, your emotions.

Yeah, Right.

So.

So this holistic sense of God bringing, healing has.

It includes our soul, but it starts with the Spirit.

All right, so here's some things.

Rejection and abandonment.

Okay, so can you identify this wound, the false belief it produced and the behaviors that flow from it?

Rejection and abandonment.

The wound.

Emotionally unavailable parents, divorce, neglect.

Or maybe a parent feeling unwanted, unseen or replaced.

The false belief often is this.

People leave.

I have to protect myself or make myself indispensable.

So that people won't leave me.

Like you need me.

Right?

Like you.

You need me so you won't get rid of me.

Right?

And people do things in their job, they do things in church.

It's like they need me here.

I don't want to be replaced.

And honestly, that's okay.

So what we see here in that is the fear of intimacy as a fruit.

Clinging.

Withdrawal cycles over.

Functioning to remain needed.

Just said that.

Chronic loneliness despite community.

Whoa.

Chronic loneliness despite community.

I feel so alone.

Yeah.

Wow.

Okay.

Number two is shame and worthlessness.

The wound, maybe.

Harsh criticism.

Growing up, Conditional love.

You had a parent or people that didn't love you.

Unconditionally Comparison.

Why aren't you like your brother, your sister?

Humiliation.

Moral failure without grace.

When you fail and you do something and there's no grace.

So the false belief is, if people really knew me, they wouldn't accept me.

I'm fundamentally flawed.

The fruit is this relentless inner critic.

We're constantly criticizing ourselves.

Criticizing ourselves.

Okay.

And then inability to receive affirmation or compliments.

Hiding behaviors.

And this is a crazy one.

Perfectionism or self sabotage.

When things go wrong, go right.

Self sabotage.

This is going too good.

I don't deserve this.

Let's blow it up.

Right?

People do it.

Like, really.

It doesn't make sense.

You know what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes?

He said, not only is sin in the heart of the wicked, he said, this madness is in the heart of the wicked.

Madness.

Craziness.

Doesn't make sense.

All right.

Fear and anxiety.

The wound, chaotic or abusive homes.

You know, maybe you had unpredictable caregivers and you had early exposure to danger, traumatic events.

The false belief is, I'm not safe.

The world is danger.

I have to stay on guard.

Hyper vigilance.

Right?

So that's the fruit.

And control as coping.

I got control.

Everything okay.

Avoidance of responsibility.

Exhaustion without proportional activity.

Okay.

All right, the next one is this.

Control and independence.

This is an orphan pattern.

The wound is forced self reliance, parentification.

Neglect masked as maturity.

Absent or unreliable authority figures.

Okay.

And the false belief is, if I don't take care of things myself, no one will.

I can't depend on anyone.

The fruit is difficulty receiving help.

People aren't collaborative.

They just like to do things themselves.

Resistance to authority.

Chronic over responsibility.

Burnout cycles.

All right, the next one is anger, resentment and unforgiveness.

The wound is injustice, betrayal, Powerlessness.

Abuse without accountability.

So again, if I stay guarded, I won't be wounded again.

Trust is dangerous.

I'll never Trust anyone.

Etc.

Etc, suppressed or explosive anger.

Yeah, cynicism and suspicion, moral superiority, relational distance.

And the next one is people pleasing and approval addiction.

The wound is love's tied to performance.

There's a fear of rejection.

Conditional affirmation.

If people are pleased with me, I'm safe.

My worth depends on their approval.

The accolades of others.

And the fruit is inability to say no over commitment, followed by resentment, identity instability, conflict avoidance at all costs.

And there's many, many more.

So what we'll do, guys, is I mentioned this.

This is the common soul wounds assessment.

If you'd like to do this, I will email you a copy if you're on our email list.

If not, reach out, send us an email.

Okay, you can email adminwakeaus.com or helpakeaus.com something like that.

Anyway, it'll get to us.

And you can actually do this in the privacy of your own home.

Reflection.

Spend time with God.

And then we've actually put together here a way to grow in those areas.

When you identify something and.

And can I say this?

Don't try to fix everything.

Yes.

You may have one more than one issue, believe it or not.

All right, so when I read this, I'm like, oh, I still have these areas that I'm like, yeah, I'm better, but from time to time.

But the point is this, when we look at this stuff and then we go, all right, let's start off with one area.

Okay, Just take one area and then just begin to go on the journey.

See, discipleship is so important.

See, there are some people, as I said, they're spiritually dry.

They've not gone on a discipleship journey and they're trying to deal things, you know, from psychology or physiologically rather than spiritually.

But it's a combination, often of all three.

Yeah.

So you need to do this.

So this actually will put together an action plan.