The emotional strength to carry things depends upon a man’s inner workings; his heart, mind, and spirit. God has designed these to work together, each in its unique and wonderful way. Our heart loves or hates, not only people but things. Our heart can place a value on these people or things which form a basis for the plans and decisions made in our mind. Though the heart and mind are distinct, yet by their communication with each other they are able to bring one action, emotion, decision . . . when there is agreement. This communication is possible because God gave us a spirit which searches our heart (1 Cor 2:10,11). Our spirit also communicates with God’s spirit, and can pick up thoughts from angels and demons. When a man loves good he tends to repel bad thoughts, and when a man loves evil he tends to welcome bad thoughts. This is why it is written that the issues of life live in our heart (Prov 4:23). Jesus also said that what is in a man’s heart is what has the power to defile him (Mt 15:18). So the heart of a man is vitally important in determining what a man will carry emotionally in his life.
If a child is encouraged to love good and hate evil, and his emotions are validated by those who love him, he will nurture his heart. If a child is limited by his parents from showing love and hate he becomes shut down in his emotions. This is emotional abuse. When the heart is blocked by emotional abuse, the spirit of the man is limited in what it can carry, or express and the mind will rationalize what it feels comfortable with. A man with a past filled with emotional abuse has an interaction between his heart, mind and spirit that are set up to protect him from further abuse, based on past experiences. His inner workings then become an unjust governing system.
For a man whose heart is blocked by emotional abuse, he has an unjust governor set over his heart. To prevent unacceptable expression of emotions, his ability to care is hindered and his passion is fenced off. His mind will set regulations over him to disallow involvement in caring because it perceives the risk of injury too high. The mind calculates the risk of injury by the past injuries and it’s perception of them. It cannot see through the eyes of faith, and therefore can become unjust.
God designed the heart to be willing to take risks, and to care about things and people with which it will have unknown outcomes. So a man’s courage lies in his heart. If a man has a vision to bring the unknown into reality, such as marrying a woman he loves, or raising a child not yet conceived, he must have faith; for only faith can bring the invisible into reality. Faith gives the heart permission to care, and to make deep commitments of love. That is why faith works through love (Gal 5:6b) and they both reside in the heart.
Satan wounds a man’s heart to block his caring and defeat his courage and faith. So strong is a man of faith that satan trembles before him. His designs are to destroy the inner workings of the heart so that he can drive a man into the rationale of his mind alone, starving the spirit of all employment.
The spirit of a man communicates with the heart, mind, and God’s spirit. In a man who has a healthy heart, the spirit will open a treasure-house of discovery for the mind, bringing fruitful plans and visions to be worked on. The spirit will be employed in all creativity, having picked up inspiration from God’s spirit. When the spirit brings inspiration to a man’s heart, and his heart receives, believes, and is passionate about that thing, the mind will work towards obtaining the intelligence to bring it into being. The mind is meant to serve the heart and not be the master.
If the mind lords it over the heart, the spirit of the man will not be rightfully employed. It will become wounded, and dry. In some men their spirit becomes dull through inactivity. In others, their spirit becomes restless due to the inner pain of conflict between the heart and the mind. But there is great hope for a man with inner pain because his heart still desires expression. He is desiring to live.
How can the emotionally abused man live? He must give himself permission to care, first about the little things, and then about the bigger. He must allow himself to dream possible dreams, dreams that he can employ his mind fruitfully in. And he must allow himself to believe, first that God created him wonderfully, and then that He will heal his inner workings. Though satan his enemy tell this man that surely he will go insane, it is only one more lie to keep this man from opening up his wounded heart. If God would not give a hungry man a stone to eat (Mt 7:9-11), then He would also not lead a man seeking inner healing to insanity. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter and will restore a man, for there is nothing impossible with God. Amen.
