Working Closely with the Holy Spirit
To Clear issues
In the Summer of 2002 I had a breakthrough in my Christian walk. The Holy Spirit began to teach me how it heals emotional issues and cleanses me of worldly thinking. The process was shown to me in an analogy of pictures. The Holy Spirit would put an issue on the table for me to work on. Picture a large banquet table about six feet long by 4 feet wide. And visualize a pile of STUFF loaded up on the table. The Stuff can be pictured as piles of notebooks with the documentation of every time I have had to deal with that one issue over my lifetime. Or I can picture it as a pile of non-descript STUFF.
A major part of any issue will likely have an emotional aspect. I am here going to make up an hypothetical issue using myself as an example. Let us say that I am waiting in line at the supermarket with a carriage of groceries. My emotional mood is one of exasperation. The Holy Spirit asks me, "what's the matter?". My reply is that I do not like waiting in line. The Holy Spirit says let us put this issue on the table. Okay, so then I visualize my dislike of waiting in lines, as a bunch of STUFF on the table.
The Holy Spirit asks why do I not like waiting in lines. And then, actually, the Holy Spirit gives me the correct answer, which is that I am IMPATIENT. Okay now picture the Holy Spirit taking a huge, plastic square and digging it into the STUFF and wiping PART of it off the table. WHOOSH.
Now at that point I have CLEARED the fact that I was not allowing myself to realize that at least part of my dislike of waiting in lines has to do with IMPATIENCE. It is very important that I get in total touch with my emotional feelings over the issue. How do I feel when I come up to the front of the store and see long lines of people waiting? Do I have a feeling of exasperation? Do I let out a sigh? Do I frown? Keep a close awareness of your feelings and also your body language, as that will aid you in allowing the Holy Spirit to actually bring up an issue for you to place on your table for clearing. You will quickly discover that the same issues are triggered in your life, over and over again. And because you are not noticing your FEELINGS, and your response is the same everytime, you never ask God to help you with it.
Once I own up to my IMPATIENCE the Holy Spirit brings up a partial scripture, "the trying of your faith worketh patience." I CONFESS and AGREE with God and say you are right Lord. So the Holy Spirit asks, "Why are you impatient?". My reply is that I want to hurry up and get this shopping over with so I can go home and relax. The Holy Spirit asks me, "Why is grocery shopping something you want to get over with?" My answer, "Because I do not like it; it's a chore". God asks, "Why is it a chore?" I have a "burdened feeling" and say, "because it is my responsibility, if I do not do it, no one else will."
By this time, more issues have been placed on the table along with the "I do not like waiting in lines" issue. I have added impatience, rushing, responsibilities, and unassisted burdens. The table is piled pretty high now, but I have the Holy Spirit to help me unravel the chain of issues that need emotional, intellectual, and spiritual healing. The Holy Spirit asks, "Who gave you this responsibility?"
I have another "feeling of irritation" and finally answer, "I guess I did, myself." Then the Holy Spirit gives me a picture of a big monster and calls it "THE APPROVAL MONSTER." The Holy Spirit explains to me that I have created this approval monster. This monster can never be satisfied. As soon as I complete one chore, it has several others waiting for me. The Holy Spirit asks me, "who is it that you are really trying to please?" I do not know, so I answer, "Maybe my family... they expect me to do these things for them." That is when I get another partial scripture pop into my mind as I remember it, "without faith it is impossible to please God".
At the moment I hear this scripture, I FEEL a kind of release, and WHOOSH, a huge portion of the issues on my table are whisked off by the Holy Spirit. Impatience, rushing, responsibilities and unassisted burdens, all had a component of me wanting to please my family and get approval from them through the Monster that I myself had set up over me. My family was not who put this approval monster there; it was me.
The Holy Spirit reminds me of another scripture fragment, AS I REMEMBER IT, " whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord". This originates from:
Col 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
But I put it into my heart as " whatever you do, do it as unto the Lord". The Holy Spirit uses the word you have deposited in your heart to bring it back to your remembrance to help you clear your issues.
Once the Holy Spirit showed me the truth for my personal situation, I was able to CONFESS and AGREE with God's Word, and then receive the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual healing. It is God alone that I should strive to please, and that can only be done by faith. This revelation takes me right back to the word that said "the trying of your faith worketh patience." So, my exasperation over waiting in lines is a trying of my faith for me to be rewarded with PATIENCE. And then my faith is what pleases God. Doing my house and family chores is to be done as unto Him, trusting Him.
By the time I talk to myself over all these issues, I get another wave of FEELING of release which is the actual CLEARING done by the Holy Spirit in me; the emotional baggage is gone forever because I have the right and true understanding of why I felt the way I did. I picture in my mind the Holy Spirit taking the plastic board and wiping the whole table clean... WHOOOSH.
The exercise does not end there. In the future, my faith in this healing will be tested. I will have to wait in long lines again. But the next time, I do NOT have to FORCE myself to feel okay about because of the truth. No, I NATURALLY feel better about waiting in lines because I have been actually healed. There will be more times when I feel like hurrying and the Holy Spirit will REMIND me of the lessons we had over this issue. Perhaps there is another chain of issues in my life over rushing. Or perhaps it is only that many people around me have been rushing and I am sensitive enough to feel it from them, and the Holy Spirit will teach me that, if that is indeed the case. For example, at a drive up window at MacDonalds, once, I felt a sudden feeling of impatience, and said to the Lord, "whoa.. I am not in a hurry". That incident was when I learned about that feeling being so strong in people in that physical location that the area is saturated with IMPATIENCE.
I may still have to deal with frustration over family members not helping me with family chores. The next time the Holy Spirit will put that issue on the table and show me more chains of issues tied to unassisted burdens, and I will work them out with God and with the scriptures He brings to mind.
Once I have shown God that I am willing to work with Him over my issues, then after quite some time I will have cleared many emotional, intellectual and spiritual issues in my life. This cleansing or purifying process of the Holy Spirit is what gives me Life and MORE ABUNDANT Life. In the future my Godly attitude toward waiting in lines is a blessing to fellow shoppers. My presence actually negates alot of their ambient impatient energies. My demeanor and conversations help them appreciate the lessons regarding waiting in lines. Instead of the world's attitude which is "misery loves company" and complaining TOGETHER WITH others in line, I can convey to them the virtues of patience.
The more we, as Christians, clear up our worldly taught issues and their wrong responses, then the more we are a Light in the world to others. Witnessing is not always about preaching the Gospel because we are also to become a LIVING GOSPEL example. By showing God your willingness to be obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can be transformed into the Image of His Precious Son.
Today I had an uncomfortable feeling every time I thought about a certain issue. When I read something related on the internet, I suddenly understood, and felt that rush of release in my spirit. I said to the Holy Spirit, "I am clear on that now". Then the Holy Spirit told me that others can benefit from this process, and I decided to write this message to you.