We all need to receive healing from God. (And if you believe you’re the exception, you need an extra special kind of healing!) I believe healing is perhaps the deepest meaning of redemption. Something has happened to us on the inside that has left us seriously broken. And even forgiveness, as wonderful as it is, provides only a partial answer. Those steps to healing have some common characteristics for each of us.

The need for healing comes in many varieties;

• The child abused or neglected during his most formative years
• The woman used for someone else’s pleasure so long she believes that’s all she’s good for
• The addict whose soul, body, mind, future, and finances are completely controlled by an outside substance or behavior
• The “good” church member exhausted from endlessly doing good things so she will look good
• The spouse left hopeless, angry, and bitter from decades of marriage misery
• The man whose unhealthy lifestyle has left him with humanly incurable diseases
• The woman whose genes, choices, and circumstances leave her depressed and anxious
• The parent, spouse, child, sibling, or friend grieving the death of a loved one
• The person who sees no future beyond poverty, persecution, violence, or slavery

Jesus applied Isaiah’s passage to Himself when He said, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” (Luke 4:18-19)

We can hope that happens in one mysterious moment. And sometimes it does.

More often it’s a process, one in which you and I fully participate.

These steps are almost always important as you receive healing from God: