Why Inner Healing Isn't "New Age"

So many pastors and leaders are saying that inner healing is unscriptural, demonic, new age, and to stay away from it. Let's talk about that.

Here's what I keep hearing: "What Jesus did for us 2,000 years ago is enough. We don't need inner healing." And honestly? That's the craziest thing I've ever heard.

We Are Triune Beings

We are one triune being made in the image and likeness of God. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. Spirit, soul, and body. Three parts. We're triune.

Any one of those areas of our being can become sick. It can become filled with an ailment, influenced by the enemy, have demonic influence. We are in a war, and we live in a world that's filled with all kinds of problems.

We know Jesus healed people physically. We know He cast out demons, healed them spiritually. But what about inner healing? What about healing of your soul? What about healing of your heart? That's where the controversy seems to lie today.

The "It's Already Done" Argument

I've heard otherwise brilliant speakers, brilliant pastors actually say that inner healing is not for today. And I'm thinking—how many people do you know that have a broken heart, that are depressed, that don't have the confidence they need, that believe lies about themselves, that they're not worthy of love and affection, that they don't believe they're enough, that they're filled with anger or rage? They suffer from inner healing issues. And yet how can that not be for today?

Let me use an analogy. If I am sick in my body, yes, Jesus bought and paid for my healing 2,000 years ago. By His stripes, I am healed. He appropriated my legal right to receive healing. I am no longer under the curse of sin and sickness and the law and death and all of those things. He bought and paid for it.

But that doesn't mean it's automatic in my life. My body can become sick because I got exposed to a virus. Does that mean I should never have gotten sick? Does that mean there's something wrong with me if I got sick, because He bought and paid for my healing 2,000 years ago? Therefore, I don't need healing in my body?

Of course not. We wouldn't say that to a believer.

We wouldn't say, "Oh, you have cancer. You can't have cancer. You don't need to get healed from cancer because Jesus bought and paid for it 2,000 years ago."

No, we would be like, that's sin, sickness, death, disease—all that kind of stuff coming from the kingdom of darkness. The enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. All types of healing come from the Lord.

God Uses Multiple Tools

So if you have cancer, you need to ask the Lord, what do I do? It might be a combination of things. You might go to the altar at your church for prayer. You might go to a healing room for prayer. You might go to the elders and have them anoint your head with oil and pray for you. (And sometimes those oils had medicinal purposes—it was a different culture. They used herbs and oils for healing all the time.)

Today, we use medicines. We might be better off if we use the more natural stuff. I don't know. But I do know that the Lord is in the healing business and He does not mind healing using doctors. He does not mind using medicine. He does not mind using all kinds of things.

You might need a combination of things. You might need to change your diet. You might need to exercise. You might need to go to somebody who's more skilled and knowledgeable in that area, and also go to a medical doctor. You might go to the altar, you might go to a healing room and get instant healing. Hallelujah. Yes, it happens. I do get to see it. It's exciting.

But if you go to the altar, if you go to a healing room and you're not instantly healed, it does not mean that the Lord doesn't want to heal you. We're in a battle. He may have to use multiple different weapons to fight with you, but He's on your side fighting with you.

And we know that's true in the natural.

Why the Controversy Around Soul Healing?

But for some reason, when we talk about inner healing, there seems to be more controversy. Like we don't understand He wants to heal our soul. We feel like, no, our soul can't be sick. We've been saved by Jesus. We have Holy Spirit living on the inside of us. Therefore, we cannot have any torment in our soul or our spirit.

And that's just insane. It'd be like saying we could never have sickness in our body.

We also know—as an aside—that many of our physical illnesses today, medical science is finally catching up and realizing that when you are sick in your soul and it goes unhealed, your body can begin to break down. Many cancers, they're finding out, are from childhood wounds or abuse or neglect that happened as a child. And they just had to get up and go to school the next day. Or they were abused by a spouse and they just got to get up and go to work the next day. And they never deal with the inner man. They just get up and keep plugging through life.

Your body's still under stress. Your soul's still under stress. You can't just shove this stuff down and expect it to go away.

You can't just abracadabra at the altar. If you get healing at the altar, that's amazing. But if you don't, you can't just say, "Well, then I guess it's not for me." No. The Lord has all kinds of surgeons. He's got all kinds of doctors. He's got all kinds of ministers. He's got all kinds of ministries. He has angels. He's got people. He's got all kinds of stuff to bring you healing.

And you might need more than one tool, more than one medicine to apply to your soul.

What Scripture Actually Says

The inner man is comprised of two parts: the soul and the spirit. Hebrews talks about how the word of the Lord, the sword of the spirit, the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, even dividing to the marrow and the bone—meaning it can get in there and separate the inside of the bone from the outside of the bone—and even the separating of the soul from the spirit.

By that, we know that there are two separate things because they can be divided. But it's also telling us that nothing can divide them except for something like the Word of God. And we know that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. It's not talking about Bible verses. It's talking about the living Word of God that is active and alive and sharper and able to divide even to the soul and the spirit.

What that means is our soul and our spirit are so intertwined. Yes, they're different, but they're so intertwined we don't really know where one begins and one ends. We know that they are so intertwined that one affects the other.

So if you're having trouble in your spirit man—if you're having trouble with a spirit of depression or spirit of infirmity, spirit of lust, spirit of anger—those are demonic spirits and yes, they can affect Christians. When you're affected by those, they can affect your soul and that can affect your body. We're one triune being.

If you're sick in your body, it can make you sick in your soul. It can make you upset in your soul.

Biblical Foundation for Inner Healing

Let me show you that inner healing is absolutely scriptural.

Psalm 34:18 (NASB): "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

The word for near means that He is not just hanging out near, in the other room. He is so close. He's in that same space. He's in that same time. He's in that location and He's even close in relationship. The word there for near means both in location. He can feel what you feel. He's going through what you're going through. He's not far off. He's not distant. He's not pulled away from you because you shouldn't be depressed, you shouldn't be sad.

Too many people feel like the Lord is far away from them in their pain, and that is a lie of the enemy. That is actually a tactic of the enemy that wants you to feel separated, that wants you to feel distant.

When the Bible says He is near to the brokenhearted, the word there for near means same space, same time, and in the same relationship with you. All three, three-dimensional in that space. So He's close to you.

The word there for broken is the Hebrew word shabar and it means shattered. It means broken into pieces, different pieces. And the word there for heart is lev (L-E-V in English). When you look up the definition for heart, it's the inner man. He's near to those whose heart is broken in pieces. Their inner man is broken, is shattered, it's separated.

And He saves—the word there means to deliver. He delivers those who are crushed in spirit. The word there for crushed means to be ground down to powder. Often you'll see the word translated "contrite." In English, it just doesn't convey the magnitude of that word, the heaviness of the word. It means destruction for those whose spirits are destroyed.

He's close to the brokenhearted and those who are crushed in spirit. He comes to heal us and to help us. He is not leaving us.

Psalm 147:3 (NASB): "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

Just like in Psalm 34, we see the word broken—same word, shabar—and the same word for heart, lev, inner man. He heals their inner man which has been shattered or broken into pieces.

When it says He heals the brokenhearted, it's actually the word bind. He binds the brokenhearted. The word there for bind in the Hebrew is the word kabosh. It means to tie up. Hebrew is a very visual language—not like Greek and English, which are more logical. It creates pictures and conveys meanings with pictures.

If you were to look at this word in a picture form, it would be like taking a turban and wrapping it around your head and binding it up nice and neatly. Putting it together. When He's binding the brokenhearted, He's taking all of those broken pieces and He's wrapping them up. He's putting them back together. He's making them whole.

The word integrous, integral—all pieces coming together into unity, into wholeness. And that actually is the root word for holiness: all pieces coming together. It's important. It's not just about feeling better. It's about being better. It's about everything that Jesus actually bought and paid for to make us whole.

He heals the brokenhearted and He binds up their wounds. He ties together our wounds. He puts us back into wholeness.

The word there for wound is the word atsebeth. The word there for wound means an internal pain, an internal injury. It's the word for sorrow. It's an internal injury.

So He heals up our inner man. Inner healing is in the Bible.

Proverbs 15:13 (NASB): "A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken."

A joyful heart brings about a happy countenance. We create happy atmospheres. But when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken. They're tied together. The broken heart crushes the spirit.

By the wounds of the heart, the spirit becomes wounded. They're tied together. We have to have inner healing, soul healing, as well as spirit healing and deliverance. And it affects our physical being as well. We have to have it all tied together.

The Truth About Inner Healing

I personally have been through a lot of inner healing over the years. I'm a minister in inner healing and I train other ministers in inner healing. We see people set free, delivered, and living completely different lives because of inner healing.

By experience, I can tell you Holy Spirit shows up. Jesus heals them. The Father is excited. It is absolutely for today.

It's the enemy that wants you to believe that inner healing is of the devil. Who else doesn't want you healed?

I'm so sorry if people told you that inner healing was not scriptural, or if it's just new agey, or if it's something you need to be afraid of. It's ridiculous. It's absolutely beautiful and easy. And it's light like the Lord.

The enemy doesn't want you to get the healing you need. But Jesus is the healer. It's available. It's more simple than you know, and it's more powerful than you could ever imagine.

I'm living proof.

Blessings,
Susan 😊