“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised”
(Luke 4:18).

The truth is, we all have experienced negative emotions that have left our souls bruised at the end of the day. No human being is exempt from feeling pain. When our thinking and emotions are damaged, every part of our lives suffers. However, painful emotions are not supposed to rule our lives, ultimately causing feelings of desperation, resentment, bitterness, and unforgiveness. These are emotional cancers that affect our mental and physical health. The good news is, Jesus has already made our healing available to us. Therefore, whenever we are hurt, offended, or betrayed, we must deal with those emotions. When we do, they will immediately stop festering and infecting the soulish part of us—our thoughts and emotions. Our healing is manifested when we take steps of faith toward emotional wholeness.

One of the first steps we can take is to allow the Holy Spirit to help us by praying in the Spirit. “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words” (Romans 8:26, New Living Translation).

When we follow the Holy Spirit’s direction, we stop negative emotions from taking over. He develops us and makes us stronger, and healing begins as we follow His leading. However, negative emotions can create chaos within our souls and make it hard for us to hear God’s still, small voice. When we can’t hear His voice clearly, we can go to the Word and begin to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance as we search for specific scriptures (James 1:5).

Another step we can take is to meditate on the Word. Meditation is a powerful tool; it is simply rolling a thought in the mind repeatedly. We can use the Internet or a concordance to locate scriptures that relate to a particular situation. Reading the Scriptures aloud repeatedly and slowly helps us to focus on their meaning. Once we begin to focus on the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will add more revelation to them.  

Confessing our faults to one another is another step of faith that brings healing. We can talk to a trusted Christian counselor, minister, or friend about our sins and ask for prayer. We should first follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in choosing someone who will agree with us. “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results” (James 5:16, New Living Translation).

Many times God will use an emotion or a situation that seems devastating to bring us to a new spiritual level. He doesn’t cause trouble in our lives, but He guides us through our pain, causing it to harvest into spiritual maturity.

Whenever hurtful emotions strike, remember we receive healing when praying, relying on the Holy Spirit’s guidance, confessing our faults, and meditating on God’s Word. In this life, we will have troubles that will try to move us emotionally; however, we do not have to act on our emotions. Achieving emotional wholeness is not a one-time event; it’s a lifetime commitment. When we deal with our emotions effectively, we gain emotional wholeness, and each emotional attack becomes a little easier to handle.