A Nugget from New Life Network
(by Dr. Larry Ollison)
Scripture for the Day (July 13, 2016)
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; (Isaiah 61:1)
Disappointment could be defined as an emotional letdown after high expectations. If you are expecting something good and it doesn’t happen, the temptation to enter into disappointment is there. The devil is just waiting to lightly push it over onto you. Don’t take it!
Most Christians are smart enough to fight off the major things. When depression tries to come on me, I know that’s bad and that it is not God. I kick that demon of depression in the teeth by not allowing it to come around me. I will not allow myself to get depressed.
But what about disappointment? A disappointment seems like such a little thing. I might get a little disappointed at something I expected someone to do, or over a report I get about some family or person in the church. Or, when I go out to start the car and find the battery dead, it’s just a little disappointing. Yet if all these little disappointments aren’t dealt with right on the spot, they add up.
If you let all the disappointments pile up, little by little, the next thing you know you will get discouraged. Little disappointments can lead to discouragement and discouragement can lead to a broken heart.
We find much teaching in Spirit-filled circles about healing of the body. We also find much teaching about salvation. Of course we need salvation and healing, but we cannot ignore the broken heart. Christians don’t have to live their lives saved and healed, but hurting from a broken heart.
Jesus came to heal the broken heart. 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.” When Jesus said this, He was reading from Isaiah 61. The word heal that Jesus used here can also mean restoration. When something is healed, it is restored to its previous condition. It is completely fixed and whole. In other words, Jesus came to fix, to mend, to complete the thing that has been broken. Jesus came to mend the broken heart completely.
The world teaches that if you have a problem, you will always have that problem. All you can do is to modify your behavior so that you won’t drink, you won’t take drugs, or you won’t have crying spells. Jesus came to heal all that. Jesus does not cover it up, but He heals it. Jesus did not come to modify your behavior. He came to heal you completely so that you will be just as healed as someone who has never had the problem.
You do not have to live with disappointments and discouragements or a broken heart. We must deal with all disappointments quickly or they will develop into discouragement and a broken heart. But the good news is this – Jesus can restore and fix your broken heart. He can make it “shalom” (peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness).
