Effects of our Wounds

Intro

Marriage retreat

State convention meeting

My Story

Start with a Scripture

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

This verse is our key through the process of opening our search for wounds

Something we must keep in mind always

First time talking about this publically

My story is not unique, it happens every day, but we are told it is not a big deal, brush it off

Jr. High - being choked

coaches saying “real men play football”

High School - self confidence and image issues

“maybe all these are true?”

thought in order to be liked i must become like them

at one point even the child of local Pastor (well known and liked) treated me as if nothing

Add to that the story of last week, in my mind, I had no value, not from my peers, not from adults, and made to feel like even God.

brought on anger, low self-esteem, damaged mind and relationships, ambition to prove to those whom I am no longer in contact with that I can become somebody important and special

all to hide the reality of who I thought i was

Lies that imbed

How the brain remembers

memories tied to emotion become hardwired

(the snake story)

The Lymbic System

center part of our brain

overpowers the frontal cortex where rational thought is centered

“One of the jobs of the prefrontal cortex is to process stimuli from your brain’s emotional center and to either calm the system or put you squarely in fight-or-flight mode.”

Dr. Jennings, “The God Shaped Brain”

being in so much fear, can cause damage to your brain. Dr. Jennings shows that when we are in fight or flight mode, the brain shuts down growth by supressing growth factors which impair new learning and development.

emotional scars take over rational thought

altered self-esteem, altered self-ability

all feed into the lie “thats just who i am”

Paul says take every thought captive

retrain your brain

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

God created you to be you, as you are

the fears and doubts, and angers in our life are tools of the Devil to over power us and make us ineffective

We are not the workmanship of random happenstance, but of the creator God

How Satan uses those lies

If we let it, fear can over power faith

fear in the lymbic system over powers the prefrontal cortex where reason is processed (faith also)

this is why when we fear, we must stop before we act and truly assess the situation. we must over power that fear

that retrains the brain, making new pathways.

we do that by remembering that we are God’s workmanship

we remember 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

the one trying to decieve us and putting those lies in our head is defeated by the one who is greater…by God

He wants you to leave the wound open (go to the front, floor)

to stop you from being the person God has called you to be

stop you from doing what God has called you to do

God is more powerful than he is, God is greater than he who is in the world!

lost his ability to rule over mankind from the very beginning. the final battle he thought he could win was over when Christ hung on the cross and said, “it is finished.” the war is over. the battle of the mind is over. God has won, Satan has lost.

no longer must we believe the lies he tells us

no longer must we let him rule in our minds.

God created you, God loves you, God has plans for you, plans to make not just an impact in this life but an eternal impact

We heal our wounds by realizing who we are in Christ, who God has designed us to be

His children, His workmanship, His love (go back on stage)

Conclusion

let me be clear

no matter what the world tells you, no matter what your thoughts, mind tell you,

You are important, you matter, You are loved by the God who created the universe

you are so important to Him, that he laid his live down for you.