7 Basic Keys to Inner Healing (Finding Deep Soul Healing 101, Part 1)

Welcome to our series entitled Finding Deep Soul Healing 101! In this article series, we will learn the basic principles of receiving inner healing from God. We will also learn how to stay healed, whole, and victorious in Jesus Christ every day.

Before we get into the first 7 basic keys to inner healing, I want to share my backstory with you.

I grew up with many hurts and wounds, as well as involvement in things I consider to be from the occult.

However, when I gave my life to Jesus around 2001, I decided to go after Him with all my heart. So He immediately began working in my heart about these things, helping me want to get free and become healed and whole.

In addition to throwing myself into intense personal study of God’s Word, inner healing, all things prophetic, and prayer, I also read Neil Anderson’s books The Bondage Breaker and Victory Over the Darkness. (They are very good books, and I highly recommend them.) Then I went through the seven-step deliverance process he outlines in those books. (He calls it the “7 Steps to Freedom.”)

Going through the 7 Steps to Freedom helped me. But, for me, it did not cover all I needed. The healing process was incomplete.

Therefore, I continued working with the Lord to receive all the healing I needed. Over time, Holy Spirit Himself proved to be a much better Counselor than anyone else. Every time I identified an unhealed hurt or wound in my heart, I took it to Him and He showed me how to receive His healing in that area.

After several years, the wildest thing happened: Holy Spirit threw me into inner healing ministry to others.

I had been working extensively through my own inner healing for years, and had reached a place where I didn’t sense any more pain or unhealed places. I was grateful for that, but I wasn’t trying to minister healing to anyone else.

Then, one day, a dramatic event happened.

It came to light that a Christian leader at the church I attended at the time had fallen into sin. The people around me were in upheaval over it (and rightly so).

However, instead of standing for mercy, accountability, change, and restoration, many people were out for this person’s blood. They were embarrassed by the situation; so, in my opinion as an observer, they threw this person under the bus. (Isn’t it sad how Christians do love to kill their wounded soldiers?)

I wasn’t in a position to make any difference officially, but I hit my face as an intercessor. I prayed for healing, change, repentance, mercy, and restoration for this person.

When I did, Holy Spirit suddenly threw me into the inner healing and deliverance ministry.

I had no idea why He would do that until a bit later, when I happened to read Isaiah 42:22 one day. This verse says:

“But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison houses; they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore!'” (Isaiah 42:22 NKJV).

And when I read that, I realized that deliverance and restoration go together.

Do you see it in the verse? It says, “they are for prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says, ‘Restore!'” God wants both deliverance and restoration to happen at the same time.

Beloved, our Father cares about deliverance, but when He delivers you He doesn’t leave you in the same place. He always delivers you and ALSO restores you. And when He restores you, He restores you BETTER than you were before. (Read about God’s restoration from the original Greek here.)

As it says in Psalm 68:6:

“God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a dry land” (Psalm 68:6 NKJV, emphasis mine).

So the Lord threw me into the inner healing and deliverance ministry when I cried out to Him for someone else’s deliverance plus restoration.

Looking back, I think it was because I was finally healed enough to carry His heart for others. And when you carry His heart, He’ll use you to impart everything that’s in His heart to others.

When God threw me into inner healing and deliverance ministry, I began to write down and sort through the inner healing process He had worked on me personally.

The result of that is our inner healing curriculum that we minister around the world today. It’s not the same as any other inner healing curriculum I have ever seen or heard about. But it is how God healed me, and how I’ve seen Him heal countless others.

Without further ado, let’s talk about some of the foundational principles, or keys, to inner healing.

Key 1: Inner healing is a process.

Human beings are like onions. We have layers in many areas. And when it comes to hurts and wounds, we have layers of hurt. Sometimes we walk through a particular layer and we think it’s all gone. That’s okay; Holy Spirit just did heart surgery, and He’s letting you rest.

However, later, after a resting and recovery period from Holy Spirit’s heart surgery, He may put His finger on another hurt or wound that we didn’t know was there. When that happens, don’t get upset or think that you weren’t really healed the first time. You were healed–of the things in that layer. Holy Spirit is simply digging deeper, transforming us in greater ways into the image of Christ.

Key 2: Holy Spirit is very gentle with His healing, and He wants you to rest and recover after His “surgeries.”

Walking through healing with the Father is a beautiful process, but it’s also emotionally deep. Don’t be concerned if you feel like you’ve been hit by a really big truck after a healing session with Him. He is very gentle, but surgery wears you out. So after each time of healing with the Lord, always rest and recover.

For example, after a healing session–whether I’m being healed or even if I’m ministering healing–I usually find that I need:

• a good meal;
• quiet and silence to recharge; and
• space. Lots of it. 🙂

You may find the same thing. If you walk through a deep time of healing, you’ll be on cloud 9 afterward–but you’ll be ready for some rest. You may even find you’re not ready to do anything else but rest. That’s okay; nothing is wrong with you. Just rest and don’t pressure yourself, okay?

Key 3: You don’t have to walk through a power struggle with the devil. You can pray and command in the name of Jesus, and let God and the name of His Son Jesus do all the work.

The way we teach healing, there is no big “power struggle” with the devil. Jesus has all authority, and you have authority over the devil in Jesus’ name. So if some demon is squatting in your body, you can tell it to come out in Jesus’ name and it has to come out. That’s it. Simple. Nobody needs to beat you, yell at you, or do anything else like that. The authority is in Jesus’ name, and it works every time all by itself when you wield it. 🙂

Key 4: You’ll know you’re healed when it no longer hurts.

How do you know when a hurt or wound is truly healed? You know you are truly healed when a hurt or wound does not hurt anymore. It will feel like it happened to someone else completely.

Believe it or not, when you are completely healed, you will even tend to forget aspects of the hurt. Over time, you will continue to remember basic facts about it–generally the facts that are conducive to your testimony–but you often will just completely forget the hurtful parts. (And they will have stopped hurting even before you forget them.)

I know that level of healing might seem like a pipe dream right now, but it is really true. When Jesus heals you, He heals you completely–so deeply that there will not even be a scar. Not only that, but He’ll heal and restore your life better than it has ever been before.

Key 5: Any area in which we are hurting, discouraged, or not seeing/believing truth is an area in which we need to receive the ministry of Holy Spirit.

In the presence of God is fullness of joy. We read that in Psalm 16:

“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV).

If you are not filled with LIFE and joy in a part of your life, that’s a part that isn’t dominated yet by God’s Holy Spirit. Therefore, if we are not believing and walking in truth and victory in a specific area, then we need an infilling of Holy Spirit in that area. We need an infilling of ALL that He offers, too.

Key 6: The devil has no place in your life–and no access to your life–unless you give it to him. But without knowledge of these things, you are likely giving him access without realizing it.

If you have given your life to Jesus Christ, making Him the true Boss and Master of your life, then you belong to Jesus. The devil–also known as the enemy–has no place in your life. You do not belong to the devil; you belong to Jesus.

If Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life–if you have truly drawn a line in the sand and told Him, “Jesus, I give my whole life to You. I believe You died for my sins and that You are alive forever more. Please forgive me. Save me. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I make You my Lord, Savior, Boss, and Master,” then you cannot be “possessed” by the devil or a demon.

In the moment you prayed that prayer, you became a child of God and the property of God.

You became a new person, a new creation in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ “possesses” you; you belong to Jesus. God purchased you–redeemed you back from the slave market of sin–with the precious blood of Christ.

However, you can be oppressed by the devil and demons.

You cannot be possessed, but you can be oppressed. You can have demons living in your house (your body). They do not belong there; they are squatters. But if they are there, you have to kick them out, refill the house with God’s Holy Spirit, and close every door so those demons cannot access you anymore.

The problem is that Christians are not taught these things, so they give the devil access to themselves pretty frequently without realizing they are doing so.

And if you don’t know about what opens doors to the enemy, then you’ll keep on opening doors to the devil and wondering why you’re not walking in victory.

Key 7: There are three main types of open doors to the enemy.

These open doors to the enemy are:

1. Unconfessed, un-repented-of sin;
2. Unforgiveness (which includes getting an offense); and
3. Unhealed hurts and wounds.

In the next article in this series, we’ll begin exploring why these open doors let the enemy into your life–and how you can close each door.

Holy Spirit will show us how to close all of these doors to the enemy–and keep them closed!–if we will simply stay sensitive to Him, asking Him daily to keep us on a short leash.

Were these keys to victory in inner healing and spiritual warfare helpful to you today? If so, leave a comment below!