Wound Progression

I want us to examine spiritual injuries, especially their impact on later ministry.

I have written some on hibernating ministers. These are ministers who were so wounded that they decided to disappear from the ministry.

I have also said that sin causes such a wound in the spirit that the offender (sinner) needs to be admitted to a spiritual hospital to be able to recover fully before they are allowed to become ministers.

I have even given an analogy of someone who has broken a limb and the fact that they will become very protective of the same that it might be the end of their being involved in the activity that caused the injury even after the breakage is completely healed.

Have you ever wondered why David was lenient with his sons after their sins? Why did he not want his son killed even after overthrowing him?

Why was it easy to kill the person who alleged to have killed Saul and the army guys who killed his son?

The two incidences happened on both sides of his sin.

He had no issues with boldness before he sinned.

But something happened to him after he sinned, something in his makeup.

Let me give you the story of my friend.

Incidentally I had known only a small chapter of his life, his initial ministry chapter.

Then I met a man who knew him long before then.

His story started with his family. By the time he came to church, his parents had issues, making him insecure and probably too aggressive.

But he got to church and was even absorbed in the leadership where I met him and long after we parted.

Then he sinned. Incidentally the church almost split because the majority was fighting for him, arguing that the ones accusing him were victimising him.

Until he confessed.

Of course, he left leadership.

Years later I met him and he was a pastor in another church. And that was the last time I met him.

Only to be told by this old man that he got into a series of sins, one that was similar to the first one we dealt with.

They had to fire him after involving the police.

I heard that he now runs his own ministry after everything fell apart.

I hope you get my drift.

The problem was not the lack of repentance or the shallowness of the same.

The problem is that he was not accorded enough time to heal from the injuries caused by his sin. It was made even worse when he was offered spiritual leadership.

It is similar to taking an injured footballer to the field. Not only will they not accomplish anything, they will cause tremendous drag on the team, and of course make their injury worse.

You could need an amputation when only a simple splint was required.

Sadly, this is what happens in the spiritual realm, especially at the leadership level, all so often.

An injured minister thinks that the best healing will occur when he just changes locations as he continues ministering as if nothing had happened.

Thus, instead of the healing happening, the wound continues festering.

I have written about a friend I knew and respected for his passion for ministry.

One injury caused by a single sin was not given the chance to heal. It is possible that his propensity for that sin was caused by his background, also because it was not conclusively dealt with.

But it was the sin he personally committed that he is accountable for and for which lack of adequate healing increased proclivity for other sins.

I doubt he will be able to minister effectively whatever else he may do because the healing becomes more difficult with the length of the healing time.

An unhealed wound develops or invites infections.

Ever heard of wounds so bad that worms start living there? That is what happens.

Many amputations happen due to a wound that for some reason are unable to heal.

Then the infection moves from the skin to the muscle to the bone.

Gangrene is a word used in the Bible. But it is a word that describes the development of that unhealed wound.

I write because I have also had very hard wounds, wounds that could have crushed me.

I remember once when I was so wounded that I wanted to move from the church where the injuries occurred, especially because they had been occasioned by people I had highly respected.

God ordered me to remain there but I protested bitterly because I was bleeding.

How will you know that I have healed you if you run away? That was God’s answer.

I obeyed and He healed me.

Bitterness and shame are the reasons the devil advances to delay the healing because he knows that delayed healing means no healing, in other words a festering wound and gangrene.

I am sure someone is thinking this is simplistic and it is. Anything from God is simple.

But it is also effective since God has used it on me at least two major times, times I know I was on the verge of crushing from spiritual wounds.

And it does not matter whether the wound is from outside (offense) or inside (sin).

Dealing with the injury before moving on is the only thing that will ensure that you move on in ways that please God.

Ministering with a wound is the surest way to completely crumble on the inside. And this will eventually start showing on the outside.

Many ministers who drink did not carry the vice from the world. Many ministers who sleep around did not jump with the sin into the Kingdom. Many ministers who are lost in pornography are not so because their conversion was not complete.

They are so because they suffered injuries, either from committing sin or being wounded.

But they thought that the route to healing was in sinking deeper into ministry and its activities.

Then the wound explodes as it is bound to. And it will not take even a refined temptation to fell them.

They are like those huge trees that, though looking very healthy on the outside, are rotten inside.

You will only discover their problem when they fall, many times on their own. A huge hole running through the trunk can now tell you that it had been doomed for a long time though it had been looking very healthy.

Or you might decide that you need timber from them and are only able to get scraps of firewood.

That is what happens with a minister who decides to continue looking healthy (ministering) before allowing God to heal their injuries.

By the time you (or they) discover their problems, they will many times have gone too far for any intervention to make a difference.

My favourite set of verses is instrumental here

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7: 21 – 23)

Who you are is more important to God than what you do, infinitely more important.

And it is because He knows that a healed vessel carries more value than a very effective but wounded vessel

Will you allow God to completely heal you?