Have you ever wondered why some believers seem to have a deeper connection with God than others? Do you feel like you’ve ever been fooled after drawing conclusions about someone else’s walk with God only to see their more human side make them appear to be a hypocrite?

The depths of growth and the multiple facets of the Christian walk are certainly difficult to discern in other’s lives, but even more so if we are not walking with the spirit and exercising the spiritual disciplines in our own lives.

Why judge you may ask? Well, it is made clear in scripture that we may know the tree by it’s fruit. We are not the arbiters of final judgement but we are directed to be discerning of the human character and of the spirits we encounter in this world.

The Christian engages in the spiritual disciplines to grow in the spirit and serve in the Lord’s kingdom with wisdom and insight into the things of God.

We dive into the spiritual disciplines because they are important for the believers spiritual growth and development in Godliness and righteousness.

What are the spiritual disciplines?

Discipline to some extent can be found in the human nature by engaging in a degree of training toward a specific goal. The spiritual disciplines are training for which we develop our spiritual character and spiritual life.

Donald S. Whitney outlines in his book “Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life” the following disciplines for the Christian life and development:

• Learning
• Scripture reading
• Prayer
• Worship
• Scripture meditation
• Evangelism
• Serving
• Stewardship of time and money
• Scripture application
• Fasting
• Silence and solitude
• Journaling

These are disciplines in which we do no matter the feeling. We “wash, rinse, repeat” because they build the consistency for growth and development that is needed for our human nature.

This is important when it comes to emotional health because our emotions are reactive. Disciplines provide the stability and space to process and measure our emotions against truth.

Now, something must be said for the discipline of self-control in this context because it is a fruit of the spirit. We are empowered to have self-control with regards to sin and vices by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We find refuge from our sinful nature in these disciplines when the Spirit is in our lives working to convict and guide our heart and mind.

Have you considered the fruit of the spiritual disciplines? No matter how difficult it may be to execute in these disciplines have you ever experienced the freedom that comes after working hard at a discipline and see the ease in which you live to do a particular task?

Consider the ease in which a master guitar player can play their instrument or an Athlete at the peak of their career can make their sport seem effortless and incredibly enjoyable. Now consider the ease and peace in which you can live your spiritual life given you’ve spent the time and effort studying the scriptures and memorizing God’s word.

It is with this perspective that you should consider Psalm 119:11

I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.

Psalm 119:11

Take a moment. Reflect on the disciplines that you feel may come hard for you. Surrender them to God. Seek his help. He is not angry that you struggle. He is gracious and loving and will honor your efforts to spend time with him and honor him.

Have you ever had a moment where you felt sadness but you couldn’t explain it. Or a burst of anger and yet you know the anger isn’t connecting with the belief you thought you affirmed about a situation?

You and I are created beings with feeling and emotion. A wiring that often gets suppressed as we have been trained to do through cultural, familial, or societal norms. Even norms in the church have struggled to make sense of the emotional landscape we find ourselves entangled with when it comes to practicing our faith.

Your faith in God plays a huge role in the journey of emotional healing that you experience because our concepts of who God is and his character shape our beliefs about our ability to heal and our path forward out of emotionally traumatizing events in our lives.

Our faith has the potential of providing us so much strength, hope and purpose in our most trying times or it can strangle us with confusion and self-hatred for the ways we don’t measure up.

Biblical principles and characters can serve as a road map to our emotional healing. There are so many imperfect and broken people in the bible seeking God and overcoming unlikely odds and discovering transformation that we can relate to.

Emotional Healing

Is emotional healing even possible? This sort of healing isn’t quite like physical healing. So much is “under the hood” that we just can’t see and that is why I believe the healing we most often need is a healing we alone cannot find by our own strength.

We find true healing through a loving partnership with the Holy Spirit on our journey. Think of all the overwhelming and painful emotions you may walk through that are almost too much to bare and that leave you feeling even more lost, confused, or hurt.

Emotional spiritual healing is possible by the intervention of the Holy Spirit to whisper to our delicate hearts in ways we cannot even fathom as we surrender in faith to his work within us.

The internal peace and restoration we so often desire is unpacked in the humility of our human condition and the surrender to his loving work when we just cannot see the way forward or out of the maze of our heart.

The Power of Truth

That’s why meditating day and night on the scripture no matter the feeling we have is so important.

Think of the body builder that eats the meals and does the workouts no matter the feeling they might have.

We see the determination in that sort of transformation and yet we struggle to see how a determination in a spiritual sense could be the key to unlocking our own healing and emotional transformation.

Think of a scripture like Isaiah 41:10: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

God has promised to help us in our time of need. He has promised to uphold us.

Or a Psalm like Psalm 34:18: “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

He will save the crushed in spirit.

It’s almost as if we must come to the point that have no choice to let it all go and to surrender to the will of God. He is near to you in your broken heart, He has promised to save you who are crushed in spirit.

This is the path of healing. The release for which we must arrive.

And I promise, I know this almost sounds overly simple and maybe even silly to suggest that you can “cast your cares” upon God, but He invites you to because He knows it will begin the work that you need within you.

In Matthew 11:28-30 We see Jesus extend this invitation.

²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

You’re not alone

This sort of healing certainly can take place in the privacy of your own home, but even still the scriptures point us to lay bare our struggles in a safe community and we will find healing.

James 5:16 says,

¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of finding the community in which you feel safe and can work through your pain, trauma, sin, and begin to find healing.

That is why I started down this path of offering coaching and spiritual consulting. I saw how powerful it was in my own life to seek out the mentors and community in which I was able to make known my sins and begin to find healing.

Remember, God has a beautiful purpose for all of life’s experiences. He wants what is best and good for you. (Romans 8:28)

Cultivate Rhythms for Healing

The more you put into practice daily, moment by moment prayer. Meditate on the scripture daily. Spend time in worship of God. Study God’s word. Surround yourself with a faith based, bible believing church. You will begin to have in place the routines and rhythms that foster a deep sense of faith in the eternally faithful God.

Put your faith in Him rather than your emotions and you’ll begin to unpack and find the healing your heart so desperately needs.

Have you ever thought of what it would look like to put your faith in a chair? What would it look like?

Well, I doubt you would just stare at the chair to prove your “faith” in it. I also don’t think you would craft arguments as to why the chair was trustworthy or why you trusted it. No!

If you have faith in the chair to do what a chair does… you sit in it!

Faith when associated with religious practices has honestly muddied our brains with nonsense about what it looks like to have faith in God. Faith is when we exercise trust.

One of Websters many definitions of faith is this: “complete trust”

The bible makes clear that faith is a certitude that is demonstrated even when we can’t see the thing in which we hope. Hebrews 11:1 says it best.

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” This verse defines faith as a confident trust in God’s promises, even when we can’t see the outcome.

So, how in fact do we strengthen a quality in which we almost always will encounter push back and maybe even mockery?

Strengthening

Just like a gymnast practices over and over again on the uneven bars a routine that may defy gravity and human flexibility, we too can “practice” the exercises of faith that result in defying expectations.

We put into practice the sort of confidence as described in Hebrews 11 by witnessing over and over again internally and externally how God is intervening time after time, day after day in our lives.

It’s a life of acknowledging every breath is a miracle He has so graciously given us and in practice we are exercising the subtle acknowledgment of His goodness to daily provide for us in spite of our sinful world and our sinful nature.

In short, we slowly rewire our innermost convictions to say, “Yes, Amen, God has done that and God will do that again.” in every opportunity of acknowledgement that we can. The reps we exercise in this internal conviction prepares us for massive moments of when our faith is put on display for his purpose and glory. So, that others may glorify God.

Think about how Hebrews 11:6 continues in this thought:

Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

It is in our faith and trust in God that we exercise in relationship that makes it possible to please Him with our lives. He supplies us with what we need to show up in faith, which leads me to my next thought.

Faith requires humility. Our humility before God is ultimately how we receive the sort of equipping in faith as it is described in the scriptures. Without laying aside “me” for “HIM” my faith is merely performative.

This is why we not only must immerse ourselves in the scriptures and meditate on them day and night, but we must be honest with ourselves and with others in our walk with God.

So often a lack of honesty with ourselves and with a community keeps us from finding and discovering the truth about walking with God.

The threat of being found out as a fallen and imperfect creature by a religious community gets built into a lie of tribulation that will not provide us with further sanctification as we ought to rejoice in. Don’t let the schemes of the enemy.

Here’s ultimately my encouragement to you if you feel you are struggling with your faith. Fear not. Do not be anxious. God is not mad nor angry at you for your lack of faith. Think about all the grace he has lavished upon you to get you to this point in time.

Then, ask HIM for the faith you need. Ask him to supply you with the hope and trust you need. It doesn’t take much. All we need is the faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains.

Matthew 17:20 – He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”