27

                        The Art Of Healing An Addict


                              By Phil Scovell






          My 26  year old daughter,  Gretchen, made an appointment  to pray
     with me.   The first time is often difficult because few Christians in
     the  Body of Christ have ever truly heard  the voice of the Lord.  Oh,
     they  hear  voices  all  right,  but  they  are  often  condescending,
     accusatory,  demeaning,   belittling,  and  couched   in  inflammatory
     terminology  which  creates  doubt, fear,  guilt,  shame,  or circular
     reasoning.
          After a few  minutes, we isolated an emotion which  allowed us to
     focus  our  prayers upon  an area  the Lord  wanted to  heal.   It was
     emotional shame.  As we prayed together about this shame, two memories
     suddenly surfaced without warning.  One was when she was a  student in
     a Christian  school, in kindergarten, and  wearing a pink  dress.  The
     second memory was when she was 15 and had run away from home.  She was
     working at a  Burger King, where we eventually found  her three months
     later, and she was  pregnant with her first child.   That's our oldest
     grandchild.  He's almost 10 years old at this writing.
          I started with the kindergarten memory.  The shame was there as a
     result of  a simple art  project the class  was working on.   Gretchen
     said she  apparently was  doing something wrong  because a  little boy
     next to her  tried innocently to  show her what  she was doing  wrong.
     Suddenly,  and without  warning, she  felt  exposed, embarrassed,  and
     ashamed.  I focused our prayer on the shame and these  other feelings.
     She said, "I'm not  as good as the  rest of the class."   I recognized
     this as a lie from the Enemy, of course, right away, but  she did not;
     to her it felt genuine.
          As  the Lord  began to  speak to her  about different  areas, she
     said, "I feel like I am making all  of this up."  This, too, is common
     because,  even as  Born  Again  Believers, we  really  aren't used  to
     hearing the voice of the  Lord speaking truth to us as much  as we are
     the Enemy's.
          As 45 minutes  passed, the Lord began to speak His truth which in
     turn brought  healing into the memory.  Yes,  there was a lying spirit
     who had implanted  the lies about herself  into her little 5  year old
     mind.  No, he  didn't speak; he didn't need to.  The lies she believed
     were evident.  Do you think the Enemy  plays fair?  Of course not.  He
     often  preys on  children  who are  unable  to detect  they  are under
     demonic influence.   The  Lord did, on  the other hand,  show Gretchen
     where he  was, that is, the lying spirit in  the memory, before he was
     sent away, so she would understand she  had not made these feelings up
     on her own but was, in fact, demonically lied to by him.
          When the first memory  was healed, we went to the second one.  It
     was already automatically  healed and the shame in  that second memory
     was no  longer  there.   This, too,  is  quite common  when a  lie  is
     thematic,  or repetitive,  in nature.    Sometimes a  thematic lie  is
     embedded hundreds of times over a person's life time.
          Gretchen  felt, at  first, that  she could  not be healed.   Why?
     Because she  had too many  things in her  life for the  Holy Spirit to
     address.   You can see the lie in  that reasoning.  Regardless, if she
     continues  meeting with  the  Lord  in prayer,  He  will continue  his
     healing process in her life.
          Finally,  after everything seemed renewed in her memory, she said
     the Lord walked up to a chair and sat down next to her.  He had an art
     project, too, which she saw Him  working on.  He looked over  and said
     to her, "I am going to  fix your art project so it is right.  If I can
     fix your  art project  for you,  I can fix  the rest  of your  life as
     well."
          Now, what about you?   Will you allow the Lord to sit next to you
     and fix your life  just as He is  my daughter's?  Gretchen was  a drug
     addict, an alcoholic,  had an abortion due to  her immoral life style,
     and lost  her marriage as a result.  Isn't it obvious, if the Lord can
     heal her, He can  do the same for  you?  Why  don't you call and  find
     out.