“I’m not Letting Go.”

Healing, it’s something we all need some time or another because we all get hurt. This is because life on this earth is a continuous battle. In Paul’s words, we are not at war “against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies—the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world” (Ephesians 6:12 TLB). However, the devil isn’t above influencing humans to inflict harm on their fellow human beings. In fact, the devil has no choice but to use humans because the devil doesn’t have a flesh and bone hand to strike people, so he depends on humans to do his dirty work. However, no matter who is behind an attack, the result is the the same–injury and pain. And no pain goes deeper than emotional pain. Like the Agent who fires bullets at Trinity on the behalf of Architect at the end of The Matrix: Reloaded, humans fire bullets of hateful words at other humans, usually unknowingly on the behalf of Satan.

We have often heard the school-yard saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Nothing could be further from the truth. If you will recall my article “Our Name is NEO,” I quoted Proverbs 18:21, which says, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit—you choose” (MSG). Sometimes when we are hurt by others words, we aren’t doing anything in particular to threaten the devil, especially when we are children before we understand the spiritual war going on around us. The devil just tried to hurt and eliminate us as future threats because that is what he does, or in other words, “The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10 MSG).  Then there are times like the previously mentioned incident when Trinity is shot. One could say that she is deliberately going after the devil’s kingdom and the devil, in this case, the Matrix, goes on the defensive. Trinity understood the risk she took going into the Matrix, especially after Neo pleaded with her not to go in. However, she knew her presence was needed to complete the mission. So it is with us when we go on an offensive attack against the devil’s kingdom. We can be doing anything, praying, blessing others–be it financially, emotionally, spiritually or otherwise–praising God, preaching, teaching, etc. Regardless of how we go about it, if we go after the kingdom of darkness, we will get the devil’s attention and he will fight back. And often he will use humans to hurl hurtful words to break our hearts so we will drop out of the fight, disheartened and disillusioned.

However, it doesn’t have to end that way. We have a Savior Who loves us dearly. And just as Neo literally moved heaven and earth to save her from falling at the nick of time, our Superhero Jesus is always available to rescue us. He is with us when we fight. In Paul’s words, He “is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 NASB) author’s emphasis. And when we are wounded in the battle by others’ careless words, He is our Healer. Just as Neo cradles Trinity in his arms as he flies her to a place where he can do “surgery,” the Bible declares that “The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking” (Psalm 34:18 TLB). As we cry out in our pain, if we will listen, we can hear our Savior’s heart beat steadily as He cuddles and cradles us in our pain and anguish. But more than be with us, like Neo restored Trinity, God can restore us. The prophet Isaiah declared that Jesus came to earth, “To heal the broken-hearted” (Isaiah 61:1 GNT). Just as Neo took out the bullet that threatened Trinity’s life, God can remove the shameful words spoken over us, the curses that were meant to keep us down low, giving us the strength to speak life over ourselves and others. In the words of Joel 3:10, “let the weak say, I am strong” (KJV). Then like Neo, the Lord will breath life into our hearts that have stopped beating, declaring, “I’m not letting go.” And in the process of healing, we will learn to forgive those the devil used to hurt us so that the cycle of violence can end and healing of relationships can begin. We will do so with the confidence of knowing that “He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]” (Hebrews 13:5 AMP). So let us relax and rest in the arms of our dear One, the precious Jesus and let Him do the surgery that will allow us to live free, talk and walk free and help others find freedom and healing in Jesus!