SOUL TRAUMA SERMON

Scripture: Romans 12:1–2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”

Scripture: Provers 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

OPENING PRAYER: Lord, I ask that you hide me under the shadow of your wings. Speak through me and give your people a word from the pressroom of heaven. May this word lose the shackles of our minds and set us free by the power of the Holy Spirit. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Amen!

SERMON: Today, I want to talk about SOUL TRAUMA. Over the past 4 years, the world has been in turmoil. Political unrest, the Pandemic, School shootings, Gun Violence and so much more. And, the people have experienced trauma.

Trauma refers to a deeply distressing or disturbing experience that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope. Trauma can be caused by a single event like (9-11), a natural disaster (Hurricane Katrina), a virus that impacts the world, or even repeated experiences (domestic violence – abuse, or neglect).

Trauma can have a significant impact on a person’s physical, emotional or psychological well-being and can affect their ability to function in daily life.

Soul Trauma is any physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual experience that has created a chaotic or dysfunctional impact on your spirit that is creating imbalance or chaos in your life.

COMMON SYMPTOMS OF TRAUMA:

Nightmares, Anxiety, Depression, Feeling Isolated, Detachment, and Difficulty Trusting Others – can lead to physical symptoms like headache, fatigue, and even chronic pain.

When I paused to think of some bible characters that experienced SOUL TRAUMA Sarah & Hagar came to mind.

**Hagar was an Egyptian maidservant to Sarah, Abraham’s wife. The Bible said God made a covenant promise to Abraham that he would be a father to a son, and his descendants would inherit the Promised Land.

But there was a problem. Abraham and Sarah were very old, past the age of having children. So, Sarah decided for this promise to come to pass, she had to do something… that something was to give Abraham her maidservant, Hagar, so she could bore him the promised child.

Hagar became pregnant and had a son, Ishmael.

This was only the beginning of Hagar’s story. The emotional trauma she experienced after the birth of Ishmael was heavy. Immediately jealousy set it—both for Hagar and Sarah.

“So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes.’”—Genesis 16:4-5

Jealousy gave room for emotional trauma to take root. It was a lie from the enemy. He wanted to use it against Sarah and Hagar. If he could get them to partner with it, it would give him a foothold in their lives. The enemy has created a world system of lies through which he wanted Sarah and Hagar to evaluate their emotions. If he could get them to believe the lies, it would give him a foothold in their lives.

Sarah dealt with Hagar harshly, and she fled.

Hagar was found by the Angel of the Lord by a spring of water. The Angel of the Lord told her to “return and submit” to Sarah’s hand. Then He left her with a promise: “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.”—Genesis 16:10

As you can imagine, the tormenting thoughts that ran through Hagar’s mind must have consumed her. To say she was sad would be an understatement. She experienced emotional trauma—she was given by a woman to her husband as property and was then rejected by the woman for what she was asked to do.

But God saw her. He saw her in the midst of her pain. God heard her affliction, and she recognized Him as “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, ‘Have I also here seen Him who sees me?’”—Genesis 16:13.

God gave her a covenant blessing in the midst of her emotional trauma.

When Hagar was removed from those who owned her physically, she was able to see God personally.

· Sarah through her lack of faith gave the devil a foothold in their life by wanting to control things instead of being patient and waiting on the Lord.

o Anybody guilty of not waiting and moving forward with your agenda?

o She paid a price – because then jealousy went through the open door of impatience.

· Hagar opened the door when she became prideful and boastful after conceiving. She got out of her lane and then she paid a price because Sarah said she had to go. This opened the door for a spirit of rejection and bitter root to spring up. She instantly became homeless – she and her son ended up on the streets. I can only imagine that she experienced much anger for being put in a position that was out of her control.

Job is another one that suffered from grief, loss, and illness (Job 3:11)

Symptoms of soul trauma?

Your soul is the seat of your memory your feelings your imagination, your convictions, your desires, and your affections. Jesus said, what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? (Mark 8:36) God sees your soul as the most valuable thing in the world. So much so that he gave his only Son.

When your experience abandonment or rejection it leaves an imprint on your soul.

Testimony: 1st Husband – committed adult (rejection) walking out (abandonment). Recently we had a guy over painting a couple of rooms and we started having concerns on day 1 – he came late every day, not by a few minutes like by 4 – 5 hours, didn’t cover my furniture or floors, and ended up with sprinkles of paint on my floor, rugs, furniture and when I told him about it– he got upset and walked off the job and didn’t finish the work. Told me to just pay him for the paint and left. Now Henry and I will be married 19 years in July. I have been divorced since 1992 – but when that painter walked off the job that TRIGGER feelings of abandonment and rejection! I had to stop and pray through that thing. I am happy to say even though he wasn’t deserving I paid for half the work and the paint.

I was triggered by feelings of rejection and abandonment. Others may feel detached, empty, devoid of purpose, unable to concentrate, and aimless in life. Some people experience deep depression and suicidal thoughts. Many simply suffer memory loss in the crucial years of early childhood. A spirit of trauma binds an individual emotionally.

Often the memory of the trauma is suppressed. We see the behavior of the person experiencing arrested development, but we don’t always the root cause.

People who are:

Alcoholics, Addicted to drugs, morbidly obese, traumatized, or experiencing grief or neglect can be experiencing arrested development.

Trauma usually takes place in the EARLY STAGES OF A CHILD’S PERSONAL GROWTH. The trauma takes place when there is no adult around who could have protected them. Trauma can come from bullying, violence, natural disasters, domestic violence, medical trauma or physical abuse.

Initial Reaction – Cutting themselves, exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, numbness, agitation, non-emotive behaviors, PTSD

Soul Trauma allows you to become frozen in time as does your protective defensives and coping capabilities. You become more guarded and less vulnerable – perfect picking for the enemy to put you in isolation. It’s a trick of the enemy!

Jesus stands outside the door to our hearts and knocks. God is patient and He is kind. He does not break down the door to our hearts or force His way across the threshold of our free will. Instead, He waits quietly, seeking an invitation.

Trauma operates in opposition to the nature of Jesus. It does not wait outside; it does not knock. Trauma breaks the lock, kicks the door in, and forces its way in. The shock it brings steals our sense of peace and stability, leaving us isolated and fearing the worst. Jesus has established Himself as the God who is the opposite of trauma.

Scripture is a record of Heaven’s determination to rescue and deliver God’s people from traumatic situations. The God of Heaven is not the source of trauma; He is the God who delivers from trauma.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7 Satan, we are told, is a thief, a liar, and a murderer. He operates through trauma. His time is short, and his plan is to derail as many lives as possible, using trauma as a chief weapon. When Jesus establishes His presence in us, as the Great Deliverer, He seeks to restore soundness to our minds and health to our emotions.

He binds up the brokenhearted and sets captives free. He is waiting for an invitation to deliver us from the prisons built by fear and trauma because in Him there is peace and there is stability. Heaven has great plans ahead for us, despite our traumatic past. As part of that plan, Jesus will take our unique encounters with trauma and turn them around for our triumph.

Now let’s talk about how trauma shows up in the Christians’ life.

You cannot be set free until you first surrender.

Education! Self-Reflection! Repentance!

Whatever authority hasn’t been given to Jesus is claimed by Satan. Evil spirits can only inhabit where they have authority. Satan always stands at our right hand ready to bind us, if we allow it. If we open the door he will come in. How does he come in?

· Open doors of unforgiveness!

· Open doors of resentment!

· Open doors of bitterness!

· Open doors of offense!

· Open doors of pride!

· Open door of negative speech!

Somebody say, Lock your doors! Shut your windows!

PROP: WEAR STRING WITH WORDS SAYING – UNFORGIVENESS, RESENTMENT, BITTERNESS, OFFENSE & NEGATIVITY!

o Minister 1 – Wear Props

o Minister 2 _ No Props (Same Doors Open – Can’t See It!

God wants to set us free according to …

Committing our lives to God in action and thought—having a renewed and transformed mind and living our lives for God—is how we overcome self-hatred.

In the Kingdom of Darkness, there is only rejection, disillusionment, destruction, deceit, division, and despair.

Satan’s plan is to steal, to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10)

He knows he can not keep you from believing in God and Jesus. If he fails in this, then he wants to keep us from knowing Jesus Christ personally, and if that fails, he wants to keep us from serving Jesus Christ effectively. This is where he gets the people of God.

The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Evil are engaged in fierce conflict one against the other for the souls, spirits, and bodies of men and women on earth. But God, not willing to allow His creation to come under the influence of darkness, prepared a way of escape (salvation) for mankind and sent His own Son, Jesus to earth to show us the way. It is through the message of Jesus and his works on the cross that gives us power over the darkness that we are redeemed and set.

Somebody say, Freedom in the house! Shut the Front Door!

Freedom comes through Inner Healing which is a spiritual process used to get to the root of emotional, spiritual, and psychological wounds or traumas. Inner Healing involves addressing the wounds and trauma that have impacted a person’s soul and prevented them from fully expressing their true self.

It involves partnering with the Holy Spirit to process past experiences, beliefs, emotional development, and spiritual well-being. It involves asking the Holy Spirit to heal the wounds, brokenness, and fragmented souls.

You have to identify the root cause of emotional pain and trauma. Identify the lies the enemy told you.

God wants to give you inner peace, but you must first release the negative emotions.

God knows all about the abuse, neglect, abandonment, loss, low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, the attempts a suicide. He knows all about it!

Jesus wants to deal with the SOUL TRAUMA and bring you the Inner Healing you deserve.

· You have tried counseling – it was good, but it still left you feeling empty and you want to go deeper.

· You are sick and tired of being sick and tired – you’re ready for a breakthrough.

· Soul Trauma will prevent you from forming healthy close relationships.

· Soul Trauma – you experience terrifying nightmares or flashbacks.

· Soul Trauma – makes you avoid things that remind you of the abuse or trauma. You avoid the restaurant because that’s where it happened.

· Soul Trauma – can make you feel emotionally numb and disconnected from other people.

Inner Healing is necessary because unhealed emotional pain causes a person to make unhealthy choices.

· If you’re single – you might date men or women that are unhealthy and you will carry unresolved issues into new relationships.

· If you don’t do the work to get inner healing you could end of marrying someone that you don’t love.

· If you keep suppressing your feelings and not dealing with the pain it will fester and mushroom into something bigger and deeper causing a bigger problem.

If you want true healing you must allow the Lord to change your thinking. What you THINK dictates how you behave. (John 4:4-26)

Psalms 147:3 says, He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Jesus performed many inner healings throughout the Scriptures.

· Women with the issue of blood

· The Paralytic Man

· Man with a withered hand

· The Blind Man

At the heart of Inner Healing is forgiveness. Forgiveness is choosing to release negative feelings and emotions making a personal choice to move forward and let go of the pain and hurt caused by another person’s actions.

CLOSING REMARKS (DELIVERANCE)

You might find yourself in a space where you say, you know what I have been dealing with pain deep in my soul and I can’t shake it. and didn’t even know it. I have thoughts that I cannot share with anyone else. My heart is heavy, and life is overwhelming. Now that you’ve been informed today – it’s time to self-reflect and ask for God to heal you inside and out.

Tell God I want to do better! Tell God I want to be set free! Tell God to shut the front door and close every window. Give the devil no place in your life.

CLOSING PRAYER:

Lord, we bind the hand of the enemy right now over the lives of your people. We command satan to take his hands off your people. We speak freedom in the lives of the people of God.

SONG:

I am free, praise the Lord I’m free – no longer bond. No more chains holding me. My sold I resting all such a blessing. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah I’m free.