August 19, 2024 • 36 mins
What if your faith could be the key to unlocking deep healing from trauma and complex psychological disorders? On this episode of the Hopeful Perspective Podcast, we kick off our "Jar of Clay" series by exploring how the church can become a sanctuary for those grappling with trauma and addiction. Drawing from my personal experiences dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and the transformative insights from "Living from the Heart Jesus Gave You," we ponder how faith can guide us from the shadows of past grief into the light of future glory. By equipping the church to address trauma and addiction more effectively, we lay out a vision for a community that mirrors Jesus’ love and compassion, offering true restoration and hope.
We'll also uncover the profound impact of the Life Model framework in healing severe trauma, with real-world applications in places like Sudan and Southeast Asia. Relational joy, Emmanuel awareness, and community nurturing aren't just concepts; they are lifelines that can lead to remarkable transformations. Join us as we discuss how biblical counseling bridges the gap between spiritual and psychological healing, offering a balanced approach to overcoming disorders like DID. You'll hear why conventional therapy often falls short and how an integrated, Christ-centered approach can help individuals reclaim their identity and maturity. This episode is a clarion call to recognize the power of community and faith in guiding us toward wholeness and resilience.
Are you inspired by what you hear today? Jason deeply appreciates his listeners taking their time to listening, downloading, and sharing The Hopeful Perspective Podcast. Please help me spread 'hope' to others by writing a review for the podcast making it reachable for all who need to be inspired, encouraged, and changed by hoping once again. Further, understand that downloading the podcast is a surefire way to help increase the algorithm thus the reach of The Hopeful Perspective, even if you delete the episode after listening so as to not affect your data storage. I have also provided a (Support the Show) link DIRECTLY ABOVE THIS PARAGRAPH to click on for those who have shared with me they are "all in" and feel called to financially support the mission and vision of The Hopeful Perspective. A special thank you to those who have made this humble step to financially support the podcast. Without you, there is no US!
Jason Hopkins can also be reached on Facebook as well as Instagram and Threads (jayhop9953). You can also follow 'The Hopeful Perspective' FB page; where you can find more information as well as learn about upcoming news and episodes on the The Hopeful Perspective Podcast.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Hopeful Perspective Podcast.
I am your host, jason Hopkins.
This podcast is designed togive you a perspective of hope
that impacts your daily life inan authentic and tangible way.
I opened the first six episodeswhere we learned how my life
story illustrates God's glory.
Through my own experiencesovercoming child abuse and
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trauma, 26 foster homes andinstitutions, various diagnoses
affecting me throughout my lifeand an eventual brain tumor
resulting in multiple brainsurgeries on my brain stem.
I have moved from merely asurviving former victim to a
faithful and godly thrivingvictor who has moved to help
others discover hope.
Though my past was full of painand suffering, I have been
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restored with purpose andsanctification.
I have been redeemed.
I have also been called tofollow Christ in my redemption.
I want to thank you forlistening and taking the time to
download our episodes, as whenyou download, along with rating
our podcast with an honestresponse, you certainly help the
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algorithm immensely to spreadour reach.
Our stats demonstrate thatwhile thousands listen and
stream the Hopeful Perspective,less than 10% actually download
our episodes.
We have also provided a fewoptions to either contact our
show with your direct feedback,as well as to support the
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podcast financially if you arecalled to partner with us in
bringing hope to a hurting world.
Last week, we finished up aseries entitled the Bible and
the Ballot.
Upon reviewing the scriptures,I believe the Lord encouraged us
if not challenged listeners tomove deeper into our critical
discussion on faith and politics, where we were challenged to
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rethink the depth of ourpolitical allegiances and to
prioritize our heavenlycitizenship.
We further explored what itmeant to be a committed believer
in a contentious and partisanculture.
This series was so timely giventhe deep division we are
experiencing as a country.
So if you're not caught up yet,I want to encourage you to
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download the Bible and theballot.
But I am so excited andencouraged for our next series
together that I am calling Jarof Clay.
This is a series based on thehealing resource, a book called
Living from the Heart Jesus Gaveyou one that has deeply
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impacted my personal journeywith dissociative identity
disorder and helped me to liveand even lead when I battled
this rare and intensepersonality disorder.
So if you have questions aboutwhat it was like for me to live
and learn while living with DID,then you will want to be tuned
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into this whole series.
I also strongly urge you tograb a copy of the book Living
from the Heart Jesus Gave you byWilder, friesen, kopke, berling
and Poole.
Trust me when I say that,though it is a quick read, it is
a treasure chest of biblicalnuggets for anyone who needs to
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move from past grief to futureglory in Christ.
Before we delve into today'stopic, though, I want to compel
you, as always, to grab yourfavorite snack, hot or cold
beverage.
Get comfortable and come onthis journey with me as we
explore what the Lord showed meas I was afflicted with
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dissociative identity disorder,and how he was able to bring me
through it.
When we begin to talk aboutthis book, I could literally
just read it, and I know itwould impact your life just as
it impacted my own.
What we will be doing, though,is I will gloss over highlights
and key points, as well as delveinto my own personal battles,
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wage, living with dissociativeidentity disorder and the truths
I picked up along the way as Ilearned to live from the heart
that Jesus gave me.
I want to give full creditwhere credit is due.
You know, like a sight, a worksighted, if you will, so you can
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assume, in this episode and theentirety of the series, that
the major therapeutical insightsare from this book, though I
will have made that clearalready and I'm certain you are
capable of deducing that, givenyou have chosen to download at
least, I hope, fully downloadedthe episode, as we encouraged
you before the podcast that willbe partially entitled this way
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anyway.
So let's get started delvinginto the insights available for
us.
As I began rereading, one of theprinciples that impacted me
from the jump was the synthesisthe book has with equipping the
local church.
Before we jump, in the firstchapters we read how the
Christian church is the onlyglobal force whose calling it is
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to love and reach even thosewho we see as enemies.
I mean, how biblical and howsobering is this fact.
Friends, if you are a believer,you are part of the most
significant special operationforce on the planet.
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I think this also puts our lastseries, where we discussed the
biblical principles of how wetreat our enemies across the
political spectrum, in realperspective.
In real perspective, this isparticularly important when we
read that, just as I had, thatmost new converts to
Christianity come frombackgrounds of trauma and or
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addiction.
Such individuals have impairedmaturity and relational skills
and need to be equipped withhealing and restoration.
Perhaps you remember episode 10discussing when we discussed
this in some detail, and thismoves past just simple
conversion.
The clinical solutions outsidethe church available to these
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people battling addiction andtrauma are left to those with
advanced degrees.
They're expensive, they'recomplicated and they just don't
replicate themselves.
Expensive and extensivetraining is necessary if people
want to help in these areas.
Therefore, if the church wantsto move forward, it must be
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willing to provide the hope forhealing that individuals facing
these issues actually need.
To address these needs, however,we read in this book that,
while the church has shown acapacity to change culture of
the past, that it lacks thatvital function in some of the
Western world at this time.
This fact alone would leave alistener discouraged.
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Yet we can be hopeful that thepoint of this resource is to
help empower the church toregain a part of its influence,
to help the least of these Tounderstand the hope.
One has to willingly, even ifpainfully, look at the hurt.
We know our world is affectedby evil that spreads through
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every community or group andleaves behind trauma and, as the
book says, resulting in theweakening of relationships,
trust, love and joy.
To hear that I could have beenone of the three abused children
that grows up to be an abuseris absolutely unspeakable.
When I consider the influenceI've been able to have in my
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community as a father, uncle,youth pastor, pastor, coach,
friend, I cannot imagine insteadwielding influence to cause
intense pain and trauma instead.
Yet two-thirds of addictsreport being abused as children,
and the children of addicts arethree times more likely to be
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abused given theirvulnerabilities.
Or how about, if that childwants treatment, that the cost
for recovery for one abusedchild is calculated by the
insurance industry to be anear-shattering $15 million?
You're shattering $15 million,friends.
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These are just a few troublingfacts that, if you listen to the
six raw testimonial episodes Ishared my story, you actually
heard someone living out some ofthese statistics.
We can all agree that for thechurch to be effective at being
the hope for hurting people, weneed to have both biblical and
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innovative resources thatactually impact the people that
we are trying to reach.
Living from the Heart JesusGave you provides a model that
is both biblical and innovativeand is largely based around what
is called the life model.
Let's listen to how the authorsdescribe what will become a
foundational pillar in theirbook and therefore our series.
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The life model is a unifyingapproach to ministries of
counseling, recovery, pastoralcare, prayer ministry,
deliverance, inner healing,child-rearing, body life and
health.
The life model is amulti-generational model of
redemption and maturity, fromconception to death.
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While the life modelincorporates the best in science
and medicine, we were carefulto create a model that was not
based on Western education butrather on biblical worldview
that is thousands of years oldand well-tested for the
transformation of identity,character and culture.
I know that one of the mostsignificant modern spiritual
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battles that wages within thechurch is what to take from our
scientific, medical and thatincludes psychological and
philosophical advances andstudies, while applying them
with and against the biblicalworldview.
Now, if you've heard me on thispodcast, you've heard and will
hear me say again that in myexperience I believe that God's
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word and God's world do notcontradict.
So therefore, we need to makeand take advances in our
sciences and our innovationsaccordingly to the Word and also
realize that the facts andhistory we learn in our
education are not the same asthe agenda or the worldview of
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the educators themselves.
Many need to rewind and replaythat last statement.
We could do a whole series onepistemological worldview and
discuss how many believers thatgenuinely found God as youth
went off to university as astudent to have their beliefs
challenged by educators whoconvoluted facts with opinion
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and therefore the student of theeducator began deconstructing
from their faith.
I talk to this person all thetime.
On the other hand, many churchesremain stuck in the dark ages
because they believe making anyadvances that the Bible does not
literally write about somehowblasphemes or violates God's
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character or their place in thekingdom, and so they reject many
godly scientific or their placein the kingdom, and so they
reject many godly scientific,medical or psychological gifts
to his children.
There are spiritual battles andspecifically people's faith
being caught up all along thespectrum that we could do a
series about, as I have alreadydiscussed, but we do not need to
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digress any further.
I mention all this because Iappreciate how the studied,
professional, credible,bible-believing and esteemed in
their field authors of this bookfound a balanced model that
meets in the middle.
This model has found its wayall around the Christian church,
from the evangelical to theAnglican, coptic, roman Catholic
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, eastern Rite, catholicHoliness, coptic, roman Catholic
, eastern Rite, catholicHoliness, arminian, wesleyan,
calvinist, salvationist, pietist, reformed, lutheran, messianic,
anabaptist, brethren, apostolic, the Emergent, pentecostal,
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mennonite, vineyard, yom andBaptist, and that is just to
name a few.
My friends, I personally havenot heard any program or model
that is capable of beingconsidered more truly
interdenominational.
The late Dr Dallas Willard hadthis to say about living from
the heart Jesus gave you and thelife model as he actually used
it as a textbook in seminaryclasses.
Model as he actually used it asa textbook in seminary classes.
Quote the life model is thebest model I have seen for
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bringing Christ to the center ofcounseling and restoring the
disintegrating community fabricwithin Christian churches.
Unquote.
I believe it's noteworthy tosay that Dr Willard was
instrumental, along with hiswife, jane, who worked with the
Shepherd's House, which is aministry that the model was
founded within, and advancingand spreading the influence of
the book and the life model.
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The life model has been utilizedall around the world and it's
in the most trauma stricken oflocations Governments, prisons
and schools from Sudan, columbia, nigeria, southeast Asia,
atheists, jews and Muslims.
They have all invited the lifemodel into their life to begin
resolving trauma and pain.
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So let's get to the heart ofthe matter.
What makes this book, thismodel and the principle so
biblical, so effective to somany people in diverse
backgrounds, beliefs, countriesand cultures.
Why did I have such profoundsuccess in dealing with over 100
personalities and dissociativeidentity disorder founded with
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severe trauma experienced in atraumatic childhood, including
satanic ritual abuse?
While in the occult, at theheart of the life model, is what
they call relational joy, also,emmanuel, awareness of God with
us, transformation of character, growth of maturity, nurturing
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a multi-generational community,recovering from trauma,
development of resilience,prevention of predatory
personality development and hopefor the lower joy places of the
world.
They all require relational joy, and relational joy starts with
knowing who we really are meantto be, when we see ourselves
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and then see others through thelens and awareness, or I'd say
the spiritual discernment, ofthe heart that Jesus gave us.
This, my friends, is the coreand the center, or the heart, of
the life model.
Ah, ah, ah.
This is a part, though, where Iencourage all of my listeners,
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particularly those of my hopefulfam who are less affected by
trauma, though let's be real, wehave all been affected at some
level or another.
Yet some of you may have lessexperience with trauma or
addiction, and so you believeyou may struggle connecting with
this series, but hold on.
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This model is for both theleaders of the church and for
the wounded in the community,and that's directly from the
book, not just for me.
Therefore, it is for all of us.
In order to effectively serve,a leader needs to understand
people and how easily theirhearts are broken.
Jesus made this his number onepriority in shepherding his
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flock, as he talked, walked, ateand stayed with them.
Experience.
In the Western church anyway, Ihave seen a lot of people who
call themselves Christ followers, who struggle immensely doing
the above things with the broken, the burden, the addicted or
the afflicted.
But it's one thing to strugglewith being like Christ and doing
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as he did and commanding us todo so, and it's another in being
disobedient.
So, and it's another in beingdisobedient.
Jesus gave his life to healbroken hearts, to conquer sin
and death and all their effects,and we leaders are to follow
his example and sacrificiallyserve the weak and the wounded.
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So don't think for a second thatthis series, this book or this
life model need not apply to you.
I sincerely implore you,encourage you and I challenge
you.
Stick this one out.
As the authors explain,experiencing God, loving one
another and bearing oneanother's burdens as scripture
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states will become richer andmore natural as you learn more
about receiving and giving life.
That is what living from theheart Jesus gave you is all
about Receiving and giving life,reaching a higher level of
maturity, healing life'sinevitable traumas and having
our lives governed by the joy ofthe Lord.
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This happens not in ourisolation, as my story has
informed me, yet it occurs infamily and community Hopeful
family.
We need to know who we are.
The life model has taught methat we need to be reminded who
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we are on a regular basis bythose that love us and really
know us.
This is because our hearts needrepair so that we can truly
live from the heart that Jesusgave us.
In my darkest moments oftreatment, my most discouraging
moments of recent, my friendsand loved ones are the ones who
spoke life and love and remindedme of who God created me to be
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and dispelled the lies of theenemy.
And love and reminded me of whoGod created me to be and
dispelled the lies of the enemy.
Imagine for a moment, not tocreate sympathy but for the sake
of understanding, the moments Iencountered where, before
Christ, I was most alone andlacked voices of truth in my
life.
Imagine when, more recently, Iexperienced a lack of relational
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intimacy with my friends due toseasonal priority or proximity
changes, while I wasexperiencing the deepest and
darkest nights of my soulfollowing brain surgery, severe
changes in my personality, mycalling, even questioning my
faith and belief in God, and Ifelt especially spiritually
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naked and afraid, broken andalone.
This actually happened for meand this is often what it is
like for those who experiencetrauma in the church, most often
and most common due to people'slack of understanding, probably
more than their lack of empathy.
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The life model provides insightinto all of this.
After all, it takes a whole lotof work in the area of maturity
a term you'll hear a lot of inthis series, and as I have
personally experienced it, ittakes God's hand to boost people
when they are stuck and ittakes a lifetime for those in
trauma and for those called tohelp them.
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You know one of the majorparadigms held by a portion of
Christians, mind you, thatpushes my buttons to pray harder
.
Many of the same Christianpeople that have difficulty
walking with others throughtheir pain and trauma are the
ones who declare counselors asquacks, or some even declare a
Christian seeking any reformfrom the psychological realm as
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being anti-biblical.
So apparently, a person who hasexperienced the traumatic
effects of sin just has to prayharder and read more biblical
passages to overcome their pain,even when the very truth they
are supposed to be espousingencourages them to help to carry
one another's burdens, forwhich they struggle with in the
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first place.
The word they presume thehurting, turns to declare that
all truth, anything that isfound to be reality, absolutely
true, is God's truth.
Therefore, if an expert inscience, mathematics or
psychology makes a discovery inthe 20th century that is found
to be true, then hasn't Godalready known it to be true all
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along?
You see, all of that expressionof one of my grace growers,
known more commonly as a petpeeve, to say that this is why
the church often has difficultyhelping or connecting with the
deeply wounded and afflictedportions of our communities.
We have presumptions that areeven unbiblical, that place
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ourselves and the traumatized indouble binds.
The truth is we need counselors.
As long as there has been sin inthe world, there has been a
need to have people that areboth called and trained to help
find biblical hope and joy forhurting people.
The authors of Living With theHeart that Jesus Gave you remind
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us that, quote.
There would be no need forcounseling, except for the
damage caused by the sin and thefall.
Since then, all creation hasgrown and no human being has
grown straight and trueaccording to God's design,
except for God's only begottenSon, jesus, unquote.
So I want to gently butdirectly challenge any that have
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the mentality that Christiansshouldn't pursue counseling and
or that the Bible statessomething along those lines,
which isn't true.
Look if you are listening andyou have access or possession of
a verse or passage that teachesotherwise.
I am always eager to learn andeven willing to change my ways.
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So please be sure to use thelink on any episode page,
directly contact us and I willcertainly take a look at it.
That all said, I believe andthe authors of this model
ascribe to the belief that thereought to be an integration of
biblical truth and innovationthat occurs, to the belief that
there ought to be an integrationof biblical truth and
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innovation that occurs.
That is, the most effectivecourse for therapy would be to
work with a trauma specialistthat is approaching your mental
and spiritual health from abiblical worldview.
I will make this declarationloud and clear.
There are certain afflictionsand conditions that I genuinely
believe.
Secular psychology isunderwhelming to effectively
serve the afflicted.
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This comes from years ofdealing with a rare and acute
personality disorder.
My experience with DID is aprime example where the
spiritual warfare compounded bya demonically oppressed
personality system capable ofinfluencing my body and mind to
do things beyond what isconsidered healthy or typical,
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to the point that is almostsupernatural, demonstrates how a
worldview or paradigm lacking aspiritual component would fall
grievously short in being ableto assist me in dealing with a
disorder founded and grounded inspiritual grounds.
On the other hand, I hope onecould also see the damage.
A Christian therapist who isonly trying to approach it from
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a Christian perspective, by airquotes, praying away or
exercising the demons un-airquotes.
They perceive that I, with DID,would have that actually
happened also.
Mind you, both are extremelydetrimental and people who
experienced my level of acuteand severe trauma are damaged
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further without the balancedbiblical counselor who has the
heart and training necessary towalk with the broken.
The biblical counselor, just asall mature believers do,
participates with God in helpingothers put their lives right
with God again.
We see this biblicallyexpresses as the working out of
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our salvation daily.
The life model explains howtrauma is the pain and injury
that is left behind in ouridentities that render us less
than what God intended when hecreated us.
Trauma blocks growth and blocksor slows maturity.
Traumatic wounds are caused byadding something to us we should
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not have, or caused by takingsomething away we were intended
to keep In DID.
This is most obvious as Ishould not have had the ability
to switch personalities whentriggered or to turn off my
physical pain when it was needed.
I shouldn't have been able tohear people from across a
crowded room when I was mostvigilant.
I also shouldn't have lost theability to trust women or
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authority figures or lost theability to know or experience
healthy affection, physicaltouch as a young infant Already.
At this point, when you havenoticed a slow or blocked
maturity in a person, you shouldbe looking for one of these two
types of trauma that have orare happening in your life.
Are you feeling like you areturning into an impactful
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counselor?
Yet, along those lines?
We learn in the first few pagesof Living from the Heart that
Jesus gave you that sin adds orsubtracts from our heart, from
three sources the world, theflesh and the spiritual world,
or what the book called evilspiritual beings.
Christian counselors mustaddress these evils, but not
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just by human strength, wisdomor plans.
Rather, it's the work ofChrist's redemption, and he
alone is worthy to direct andachieve His divine purpose in
our salvation and our healing.
They must follow His leading inhelping to remove what is
blocking or hindering growth andholiness, to add that which is
lacking for complete and fulllife in the Spirit, and also to
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address misdirected spiritualgrowth.
For example, the godlycounselor seeks to remove that
which is unseemly and evendeadly from the lives of those
whom they shepherd and to add totheir lives the necessary
missing nutrition supplements.
Regardless if the genesis of thestory was crooked and evil,
there is an ability to redeem itfor Christ's glory.
For example, when the drugaddict is capable of not just
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becoming sober from the drug ofchoice, but when they're able to
address the root of theirunworthiness, where they were
told when they were younger theywould never amount to anything
at all.
And so they grow up with thatevil and wicked lie and they
learned to silence it and numbthe pain with drug or drink.
But once they could addressthat lie and speak truth to it
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once and for all, they couldfind a renewed identity in the
one who made them, they couldlearn to deal with their pain
and experiences, feelingcomfortable and normal with
themselves, no longer needing toescape their pain.
This is an example ofaddressing misdirected growth.
The lie of you are unworthy,growing into pain that needed to
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be numbed, leading to anaddiction, and the Christian
pastor or counselor is criticalin applying integrated therapy
backed by the Word of God toreveal the error of misdirected
growth and revealing God's truthto you and his desire for you
to grow and thrive.
The truth found in a life ofrepentance, confession,
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forgiveness, leading to healing,deliverance and spiritual
relationship with God and hispeople, where prayer, praise and
worship and the fruit of theSpirit form godly character.
And now true maturity isgrowing, but only because it can
grow in the fellowship and thefamily of God.
Yet nothing of this miraclethat is in his redemption and
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maturing is in us, that I haveexperienced in my own life can
occur unless we have yieldedourselves and found a situation
that is safe to do so.
I'll be honest with you.
I was in a variety of theconventional and traditional
therapeutic environments allthrough my life, from the time
it was nine years old through myadulthood.
Therapeutic environments allthrough my life, from the time
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it was nine years old through myadulthood.
I was addressing issues from mychildhood abuse to depression,
to anxiety and anger, tosuicidal ideation, to
personality disorders, ptsd, Imean, you name it.
I was told in each and everysituation that I, as a client,
was safe and this was a placethat I could speak honestly, was
safe and this was a place thatI could speak honestly, and in
some respects I'm sure it was.
Yet this had two back-endissues to it.
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First, the counseling room wasthe only place in the world
where it was safe to speakhonestly and without
repercussion.
I mean the real world.
I couldn't be honest to myfoster parents, my schoolmates I
couldn't be honest to withoutbeing bullied.
This was a dead-end paradigm.
Second, being the client, I wasthe only one in the room being
truly vulnerable and authenticin the dialogue, which then
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truly was more of a monologue.
The legality and the ethics ofthe secular therapeutic world
created boundaries and bound thetherapist who could not share
their personal identity orimperfections without being
inappropriate.
These double binds andshortcomings of secular therapy
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are why I have had literallyhundreds, if not thousands, of
people walk through my door as abiblical pastor doing biblical
counseling where I'm not boundby the same ethical restrictions
, which more so indicates thereasoning that we all need to
belong to community where thereis a reciprocating and
life-giving culture.
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People in therapy that are inthis kind of community have
their lives nurtured and theygenerate energy to move through
the double binds.
This all comes directly fromthe life model in the book.
They encounter a community ofother authentic and vulnerable
people and they therefore forgean identity based on the hearts
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they were created.
This is what the life model isall about.
Now, I'm not wholeheartedlydenouncing the secular therapy
model, as there is good thatcomes from the worldview
Christians can see is actuallyfound first in scripture.
Yet I do think it is asignificant challenge to succeed
in therapy without a therapistwho is capable of being
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authentic, vulnerable andrelatable to the people they are
helping, as I was able toexperience in my first pastor
and biblical counselor, john,who showed me unconditional love
and therefore was able to helpinitiate true redemption and
renewal when I was 17 years oldand first found Christ.
John was not only safe, but hewas authentic and real.
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He was there all throughout mylife.
My multiple times I wasdiagnosed through my treatments
and he, therefore, was a keyinstrument that Christ used in
my healing.
Secondly, we are challenged inour modern therapeutic model
when we are not able to have ahealthy, authentic, caring
community experience around us.
And that is where the church iscalled to acknowledge that we
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are all broken, that we are allface woundedness.
We all face addiction or whatthe Bible calls idolatry.
We all face oppression.
We're all challengedspiritually and we all need
community and to be surroundedto work through it.
See where many of us have comefrom healthier families of
origin, though you too will haveyour issues that the Holy
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Spirit will compassionatelyconfront you to courageously
deal with in your life.
Others of us have to look toour church families for
community and for belonging andwhat the life model calls power.
This is where people find theiridentity, where they're
supposed to find help inbecoming unstuck and where they
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should receive light.
Maybe some of you today havewalked away from that community
and are feeling isolated.
Perhaps you were compelledearlier by any of the many
points about pursuing healingwith a biblical counselor
Resuming your restoration oryour recovery journey, or maybe
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you're moved by the fact thatyou need to move closer to the
afflicted in your church familyor your community, either
direction.
I would be remissed if we leftour time today without providing
an opportunity for us torespond to Christ, and I want to
pray for you right now.
All of you listening eitheragree with this prayer or lift
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those up that are needing thisright now.
Lord Jesus, I repent all of mysins and surrender my life to
you.
Wash me and cleanse me from allunforgiveness and all pride.
I believe that you are the Sonof God and all pride.
I believe that you are the Sonof God, that you died on the
(33:00):
cross for the forgiveness of allmy sins and you rose again on
the third day for my victory.
I believe that in my heart, Imake confession with my mouth
that you, jesus, are my Lord andmy Savior and that your kingdom
is forever.
I want to live my lifeaccording to your terms and I
want to change my reliance formyself and any earthly vessels I
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have placed hope in, andinstead I want to trust your
plan and ask for you to put thepeople and the processes and the
models to pursue restorationinto my life.
I ask for you to reveal to mewhere I have neglected the needs
of those who are broken aroundme, where I have neglected the
needs of those who are brokenaround me, where I have become
indifferent and capable, where Ihave been unable to prioritize
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those that need to feel the hopeof Christ.
Thank you for being a God ofmercy, a God of healing and a
God of truth.
Jesus, forgive me for all of mysin, and might I become one who
is a beacon of hope.
Of hurting to the world, hopeto the hurting.
Give us spiritual eyes to seeon earth as it is in heaven, and
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may our priorities begin toreflect your heart and your
kingdom, for it's in your name,jesus, I pray Amen.
If you have today agreed withthis prayer from the depths of
your heart, I want to welcomeyou to the eternal family of God
and I want to commend you inyour return to faith, if that is
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indeed what you've done, I wantto continue, as an
encouragement to you, to find anorthodox, biblical-based faith
family who worships the Lordpassionately, and also devote
yourself to the reading of thescriptures, as there is much to
grow, to learn and to bediscipled in as it pertains to
new life and maturity in Christ.
Next time, on the HopefulPerspective podcast, we are
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going to continue our series Jarof Clay, where we delve more
into the intriguing book behindthe healing that I experienced
with my dissociative identitydisorder.
As you can see, there is somuch that can be said short of
reading the book to you guys andtalking for an hour.
Yet I'm so pumped where we aregoing with this.
(35:12):
I hope, believe and pray thiswill be transformative for
whoever listens, at whateverstage in the development you are
in.
So I'm looking forward to beingwith you next time.
On the Hopeful Perspective,remember, if you haven't already
, don't forget to check out thebook Leading from the Heart that
Jesus Gave you, for this is thetext that we're going to use
(35:34):
for this entire series.
Until then, I want to thank youfor joining me along this
journey and if you'd be so kindto follow, subscribe and, most
importantly, to rate and write areview for others on your
platform who may need thehopeful perspective in their
life, did you know that you cancontribute monetarily by
pressing or support the showlink that is embedded on your
(35:56):
platform in the episodedescriptions?
All of your contributions areutilized to grow the podcast, to
multiply our equipment, tobroaden our reach and to share
the hope of Christ.
I want to shout out mygratitude to the multiple new
donors who already have madethis commitment to support the
podcast financially.
Without you, it would not bepossible to reach as many people
(36:18):
with the messages we do, oranybody who needs to be reminded
that hope is real.
So thank you so much in advance.
Until next time, remember youare loved.
Welcome to the Hopeful Perspective Podcast.
I am your host, jason Hopkins.
This podcast is designed togive you a perspective of hope
that impacts your daily life inan authentic and tangible way.
I opened the first six episodeswhere we learned how my life
story illustrates God's glory.
Through my own experiencesovercoming child abuse and
(00:21):
trauma, 26 foster homes andinstitutions, various diagnoses
affecting me throughout my lifeand an eventual brain tumor
resulting in multiple brainsurgeries on my brain stem.
I have moved from merely asurviving former victim to a
faithful and godly thrivingvictor who has moved to help
others discover hope.
Though my past was full of painand suffering, I have been
(00:44):
restored with purpose andsanctification.
I have been redeemed.
I have also been called tofollow Christ in my redemption.
I want to thank you forlistening and taking the time to
download our episodes, as whenyou download, along with rating
our podcast with an honestresponse, you certainly help the
(01:06):
algorithm immensely to spreadour reach.
Our stats demonstrate thatwhile thousands listen and
stream the Hopeful Perspective,less than 10% actually download
our episodes.
We have also provided a fewoptions to either contact our
show with your direct feedback,as well as to support the
(01:28):
podcast financially if you arecalled to partner with us in
bringing hope to a hurting world.
Last week, we finished up aseries entitled the Bible and
the Ballot.
Upon reviewing the scriptures,I believe the Lord encouraged us
if not challenged listeners tomove deeper into our critical
discussion on faith and politics, where we were challenged to
(01:50):
rethink the depth of ourpolitical allegiances and to
prioritize our heavenlycitizenship.
We further explored what itmeant to be a committed believer
in a contentious and partisanculture.
This series was so timely giventhe deep division we are
experiencing as a country.
So if you're not caught up yet,I want to encourage you to
(02:10):
download the Bible and theballot.
But I am so excited andencouraged for our next series
together that I am calling Jarof Clay.
This is a series based on thehealing resource, a book called
Living from the Heart Jesus Gaveyou one that has deeply
(02:31):
impacted my personal journeywith dissociative identity
disorder and helped me to liveand even lead when I battled
this rare and intensepersonality disorder.
So if you have questions aboutwhat it was like for me to live
and learn while living with DID,then you will want to be tuned
(02:53):
into this whole series.
I also strongly urge you tograb a copy of the book Living
from the Heart Jesus Gave you byWilder, friesen, kopke, berling
and Poole.
Trust me when I say that,though it is a quick read, it is
a treasure chest of biblicalnuggets for anyone who needs to
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move from past grief to futureglory in Christ.
Before we delve into today'stopic, though, I want to compel
you, as always, to grab yourfavorite snack, hot or cold
beverage.
Get comfortable and come onthis journey with me as we
explore what the Lord showed meas I was afflicted with
(03:39):
dissociative identity disorder,and how he was able to bring me
through it.
When we begin to talk aboutthis book, I could literally
just read it, and I know itwould impact your life just as
it impacted my own.
What we will be doing, though,is I will gloss over highlights
and key points, as well as delveinto my own personal battles,
(04:02):
wage, living with dissociativeidentity disorder and the truths
I picked up along the way as Ilearned to live from the heart
that Jesus gave me.
I want to give full creditwhere credit is due.
You know, like a sight, a worksighted, if you will, so you can
(04:24):
assume, in this episode and theentirety of the series, that
the major therapeutical insightsare from this book, though I
will have made that clearalready and I'm certain you are
capable of deducing that, givenyou have chosen to download at
least, I hope, fully downloadedthe episode, as we encouraged
you before the podcast that willbe partially entitled this way
(04:46):
anyway.
So let's get started delvinginto the insights available for
us.
As I began rereading, one of theprinciples that impacted me
from the jump was the synthesisthe book has with equipping the
local church.
Before we jump, in the firstchapters we read how the
Christian church is the onlyglobal force whose calling it is
(05:08):
to love and reach even thosewho we see as enemies.
I mean, how biblical and howsobering is this fact.
Friends, if you are a believer,you are part of the most
significant special operationforce on the planet.
(05:28):
I think this also puts our lastseries, where we discussed the
biblical principles of how wetreat our enemies across the
political spectrum, in realperspective.
In real perspective, this isparticularly important when we
read that, just as I had, thatmost new converts to
Christianity come frombackgrounds of trauma and or
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addiction.
Such individuals have impairedmaturity and relational skills
and need to be equipped withhealing and restoration.
Perhaps you remember episode 10discussing when we discussed
this in some detail, and thismoves past just simple
conversion.
The clinical solutions outsidethe church available to these
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people battling addiction andtrauma are left to those with
advanced degrees.
They're expensive, they'recomplicated and they just don't
replicate themselves.
Expensive and extensivetraining is necessary if people
want to help in these areas.
Therefore, if the church wantsto move forward, it must be
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willing to provide the hope forhealing that individuals facing
these issues actually need.
To address these needs, however,we read in this book that,
while the church has shown acapacity to change culture of
the past, that it lacks thatvital function in some of the
Western world at this time.
This fact alone would leave alistener discouraged.
(06:58):
Yet we can be hopeful that thepoint of this resource is to
help empower the church toregain a part of its influence,
to help the least of these Tounderstand the hope.
One has to willingly, even ifpainfully, look at the hurt.
We know our world is affectedby evil that spreads through
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every community or group andleaves behind trauma and, as the
book says, resulting in theweakening of relationships,
trust, love and joy.
To hear that I could have beenone of the three abused children
that grows up to be an abuseris absolutely unspeakable.
When I consider the influenceI've been able to have in my
(07:43):
community as a father, uncle,youth pastor, pastor, coach,
friend, I cannot imagine insteadwielding influence to cause
intense pain and trauma instead.
Yet two-thirds of addictsreport being abused as children,
and the children of addicts arethree times more likely to be
(08:05):
abused given theirvulnerabilities.
Or how about, if that childwants treatment, that the cost
for recovery for one abusedchild is calculated by the
insurance industry to be anear-shattering $15 million?
You're shattering $15 million,friends.
(08:25):
These are just a few troublingfacts that, if you listen to the
six raw testimonial episodes Ishared my story, you actually
heard someone living out some ofthese statistics.
We can all agree that for thechurch to be effective at being
the hope for hurting people, weneed to have both biblical and
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innovative resources thatactually impact the people that
we are trying to reach.
Living from the Heart JesusGave you provides a model that
is both biblical and innovativeand is largely based around what
is called the life model.
Let's listen to how the authorsdescribe what will become a
foundational pillar in theirbook and therefore our series.
(09:08):
The life model is a unifyingapproach to ministries of
counseling, recovery, pastoralcare, prayer ministry,
deliverance, inner healing,child-rearing, body life and
health.
The life model is amulti-generational model of
redemption and maturity, fromconception to death.
(09:29):
While the life modelincorporates the best in science
and medicine, we were carefulto create a model that was not
based on Western education butrather on biblical worldview
that is thousands of years oldand well-tested for the
transformation of identity,character and culture.
I know that one of the mostsignificant modern spiritual
(09:50):
battles that wages within thechurch is what to take from our
scientific, medical and thatincludes psychological and
philosophical advances andstudies, while applying them
with and against the biblicalworldview.
Now, if you've heard me on thispodcast, you've heard and will
hear me say again that in myexperience I believe that God's
(10:15):
word and God's world do notcontradict.
So therefore, we need to makeand take advances in our
sciences and our innovationsaccordingly to the Word and also
realize that the facts andhistory we learn in our
education are not the same asthe agenda or the worldview of
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the educators themselves.
Many need to rewind and replaythat last statement.
We could do a whole series onepistemological worldview and
discuss how many believers thatgenuinely found God as youth
went off to university as astudent to have their beliefs
challenged by educators whoconvoluted facts with opinion
(10:59):
and therefore the student of theeducator began deconstructing
from their faith.
I talk to this person all thetime.
On the other hand, many churchesremain stuck in the dark ages
because they believe making anyadvances that the Bible does not
literally write about somehowblasphemes or violates God's
(11:19):
character or their place in thekingdom, and so they reject many
godly scientific or their placein the kingdom, and so they
reject many godly scientific,medical or psychological gifts
to his children.
There are spiritual battles andspecifically people's faith
being caught up all along thespectrum that we could do a
series about, as I have alreadydiscussed, but we do not need to
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digress any further.
I mention all this because Iappreciate how the studied,
professional, credible,bible-believing and esteemed in
their field authors of this bookfound a balanced model that
meets in the middle.
This model has found its wayall around the Christian church,
from the evangelical to theAnglican, coptic, roman Catholic
(12:02):
, eastern Rite, catholicHoliness, coptic, roman Catholic
, eastern Rite, catholicHoliness, arminian, wesleyan,
calvinist, salvationist, pietist, reformed, lutheran, messianic,
anabaptist, brethren, apostolic, the Emergent, pentecostal,
(12:28):
mennonite, vineyard, yom andBaptist, and that is just to
name a few.
My friends, I personally havenot heard any program or model
that is capable of beingconsidered more truly
interdenominational.
The late Dr Dallas Willard hadthis to say about living from
the heart Jesus gave you and thelife model as he actually used
it as a textbook in seminaryclasses.
Model as he actually used it asa textbook in seminary classes.
Quote the life model is thebest model I have seen for
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bringing Christ to the center ofcounseling and restoring the
disintegrating community fabricwithin Christian churches.
Unquote.
I believe it's noteworthy tosay that Dr Willard was
instrumental, along with hiswife, jane, who worked with the
Shepherd's House, which is aministry that the model was
founded within, and advancingand spreading the influence of
the book and the life model.
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The life model has been utilizedall around the world and it's
in the most trauma stricken oflocations Governments, prisons
and schools from Sudan, columbia, nigeria, southeast Asia,
atheists, jews and Muslims.
They have all invited the lifemodel into their life to begin
resolving trauma and pain.
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So let's get to the heart ofthe matter.
What makes this book, thismodel and the principle so
biblical, so effective to somany people in diverse
backgrounds, beliefs, countriesand cultures.
Why did I have such profoundsuccess in dealing with over 100
personalities and dissociativeidentity disorder founded with
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severe trauma experienced in atraumatic childhood, including
satanic ritual abuse?
While in the occult, at theheart of the life model, is what
they call relational joy, also,emmanuel, awareness of God with
us, transformation of character, growth of maturity, nurturing
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a multi-generational community,recovering from trauma,
development of resilience,prevention of predatory
personality development and hopefor the lower joy places of the
world.
They all require relational joy, and relational joy starts with
knowing who we really are meantto be, when we see ourselves
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and then see others through thelens and awareness, or I'd say
the spiritual discernment, ofthe heart that Jesus gave us.
This, my friends, is the coreand the center, or the heart, of
the life model.
Ah, ah, ah.
This is a part, though, where Iencourage all of my listeners,
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particularly those of my hopefulfam who are less affected by
trauma, though let's be real, wehave all been affected at some
level or another.
Yet some of you may have lessexperience with trauma or
addiction, and so you believeyou may struggle connecting with
this series, but hold on.
(15:24):
This model is for both theleaders of the church and for
the wounded in the community,and that's directly from the
book, not just for me.
Therefore, it is for all of us.
In order to effectively serve,a leader needs to understand
people and how easily theirhearts are broken.
Jesus made this his number onepriority in shepherding his
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flock, as he talked, walked, ateand stayed with them.
Experience.
In the Western church anyway, Ihave seen a lot of people who
call themselves Christ followers, who struggle immensely doing
the above things with the broken, the burden, the addicted or
the afflicted.
But it's one thing to strugglewith being like Christ and doing
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as he did and commanding us todo so, and it's another in being
disobedient.
So, and it's another in beingdisobedient.
Jesus gave his life to healbroken hearts, to conquer sin
and death and all their effects,and we leaders are to follow
his example and sacrificiallyserve the weak and the wounded.
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So don't think for a second thatthis series, this book or this
life model need not apply to you.
I sincerely implore you,encourage you and I challenge
you.
Stick this one out.
As the authors explain,experiencing God, loving one
another and bearing oneanother's burdens as scripture
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states will become richer andmore natural as you learn more
about receiving and giving life.
That is what living from theheart Jesus gave you is all
about Receiving and giving life,reaching a higher level of
maturity, healing life'sinevitable traumas and having
our lives governed by the joy ofthe Lord.
(17:17):
This happens not in ourisolation, as my story has
informed me, yet it occurs infamily and community Hopeful
family.
We need to know who we are.
The life model has taught methat we need to be reminded who
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we are on a regular basis bythose that love us and really
know us.
This is because our hearts needrepair so that we can truly
live from the heart that Jesusgave us.
In my darkest moments oftreatment, my most discouraging
moments of recent, my friendsand loved ones are the ones who
spoke life and love and remindedme of who God created me to be
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and dispelled the lies of theenemy.
And love and reminded me of whoGod created me to be and
dispelled the lies of the enemy.
Imagine for a moment, not tocreate sympathy but for the sake
of understanding, the moments Iencountered where, before
Christ, I was most alone andlacked voices of truth in my
life.
Imagine when, more recently, Iexperienced a lack of relational
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intimacy with my friends due toseasonal priority or proximity
changes, while I wasexperiencing the deepest and
darkest nights of my soulfollowing brain surgery, severe
changes in my personality, mycalling, even questioning my
faith and belief in God, and Ifelt especially spiritually
(18:43):
naked and afraid, broken andalone.
This actually happened for meand this is often what it is
like for those who experiencetrauma in the church, most often
and most common due to people'slack of understanding, probably
more than their lack of empathy.
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The life model provides insightinto all of this.
After all, it takes a whole lotof work in the area of maturity
a term you'll hear a lot of inthis series, and as I have
personally experienced it, ittakes God's hand to boost people
when they are stuck and ittakes a lifetime for those in
trauma and for those called tohelp them.
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You know one of the majorparadigms held by a portion of
Christians, mind you, thatpushes my buttons to pray harder
.
Many of the same Christianpeople that have difficulty
walking with others throughtheir pain and trauma are the
ones who declare counselors asquacks, or some even declare a
Christian seeking any reformfrom the psychological realm as
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being anti-biblical.
So apparently, a person who hasexperienced the traumatic
effects of sin just has to prayharder and read more biblical
passages to overcome their pain,even when the very truth they
are supposed to be espousingencourages them to help to carry
one another's burdens, forwhich they struggle with in the
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first place.
The word they presume thehurting, turns to declare that
all truth, anything that isfound to be reality, absolutely
true, is God's truth.
Therefore, if an expert inscience, mathematics or
psychology makes a discovery inthe 20th century that is found
to be true, then hasn't Godalready known it to be true all
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along?
You see, all of that expressionof one of my grace growers,
known more commonly as a petpeeve, to say that this is why
the church often has difficultyhelping or connecting with the
deeply wounded and afflictedportions of our communities.
We have presumptions that areeven unbiblical, that place
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ourselves and the traumatized indouble binds.
The truth is we need counselors.
As long as there has been sin inthe world, there has been a
need to have people that areboth called and trained to help
find biblical hope and joy forhurting people.
The authors of Living With theHeart that Jesus Gave you remind
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us that, quote.
There would be no need forcounseling, except for the
damage caused by the sin and thefall.
Since then, all creation hasgrown and no human being has
grown straight and trueaccording to God's design,
except for God's only begottenSon, jesus, unquote.
So I want to gently butdirectly challenge any that have
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the mentality that Christiansshouldn't pursue counseling and
or that the Bible statessomething along those lines,
which isn't true.
Look if you are listening andyou have access or possession of
a verse or passage that teachesotherwise.
I am always eager to learn andeven willing to change my ways.
(22:03):
So please be sure to use thelink on any episode page,
directly contact us and I willcertainly take a look at it.
That all said, I believe andthe authors of this model
ascribe to the belief that thereought to be an integration of
biblical truth and innovationthat occurs, to the belief that
there ought to be an integrationof biblical truth and
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innovation that occurs.
That is, the most effectivecourse for therapy would be to
work with a trauma specialistthat is approaching your mental
and spiritual health from abiblical worldview.
I will make this declarationloud and clear.
There are certain afflictionsand conditions that I genuinely
believe.
Secular psychology isunderwhelming to effectively
serve the afflicted.
(22:44):
This comes from years ofdealing with a rare and acute
personality disorder.
My experience with DID is aprime example where the
spiritual warfare compounded bya demonically oppressed
personality system capable ofinfluencing my body and mind to
do things beyond what isconsidered healthy or typical,
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to the point that is almostsupernatural, demonstrates how a
worldview or paradigm lacking aspiritual component would fall
grievously short in being ableto assist me in dealing with a
disorder founded and grounded inspiritual grounds.
On the other hand, I hope onecould also see the damage.
A Christian therapist who isonly trying to approach it from
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a Christian perspective, by airquotes, praying away or
exercising the demons un-airquotes.
They perceive that I, with DID,would have that actually
happened also.
Mind you, both are extremelydetrimental and people who
experienced my level of acuteand severe trauma are damaged
(23:51):
further without the balancedbiblical counselor who has the
heart and training necessary towalk with the broken.
The biblical counselor, just asall mature believers do,
participates with God in helpingothers put their lives right
with God again.
We see this biblicallyexpresses as the working out of
(24:12):
our salvation daily.
The life model explains howtrauma is the pain and injury
that is left behind in ouridentities that render us less
than what God intended when hecreated us.
Trauma blocks growth and blocksor slows maturity.
Traumatic wounds are caused byadding something to us we should
(24:32):
not have, or caused by takingsomething away we were intended
to keep In DID.
This is most obvious as Ishould not have had the ability
to switch personalities whentriggered or to turn off my
physical pain when it was needed.
I shouldn't have been able tohear people from across a
crowded room when I was mostvigilant.
I also shouldn't have lost theability to trust women or
(24:55):
authority figures or lost theability to know or experience
healthy affection, physicaltouch as a young infant Already.
At this point, when you havenoticed a slow or blocked
maturity in a person, you shouldbe looking for one of these two
types of trauma that have orare happening in your life.
Are you feeling like you areturning into an impactful
(25:17):
counselor?
Yet, along those lines?
We learn in the first few pagesof Living from the Heart that
Jesus gave you that sin adds orsubtracts from our heart, from
three sources the world, theflesh and the spiritual world,
or what the book called evilspiritual beings.
Christian counselors mustaddress these evils, but not
(25:39):
just by human strength, wisdomor plans.
Rather, it's the work ofChrist's redemption, and he
alone is worthy to direct andachieve His divine purpose in
our salvation and our healing.
They must follow His leading inhelping to remove what is
blocking or hindering growth andholiness, to add that which is
lacking for complete and fulllife in the Spirit, and also to
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address misdirected spiritualgrowth.
For example, the godlycounselor seeks to remove that
which is unseemly and evendeadly from the lives of those
whom they shepherd and to add totheir lives the necessary
missing nutrition supplements.
Regardless if the genesis of thestory was crooked and evil,
there is an ability to redeem itfor Christ's glory.
For example, when the drugaddict is capable of not just
(26:23):
becoming sober from the drug ofchoice, but when they're able to
address the root of theirunworthiness, where they were
told when they were younger theywould never amount to anything
at all.
And so they grow up with thatevil and wicked lie and they
learned to silence it and numbthe pain with drug or drink.
But once they could addressthat lie and speak truth to it
(26:46):
once and for all, they couldfind a renewed identity in the
one who made them, they couldlearn to deal with their pain
and experiences, feelingcomfortable and normal with
themselves, no longer needing toescape their pain.
This is an example ofaddressing misdirected growth.
The lie of you are unworthy,growing into pain that needed to
(27:12):
be numbed, leading to anaddiction, and the Christian
pastor or counselor is criticalin applying integrated therapy
backed by the Word of God toreveal the error of misdirected
growth and revealing God's truthto you and his desire for you
to grow and thrive.
The truth found in a life ofrepentance, confession,
(27:32):
forgiveness, leading to healing,deliverance and spiritual
relationship with God and hispeople, where prayer, praise and
worship and the fruit of theSpirit form godly character.
And now true maturity isgrowing, but only because it can
grow in the fellowship and thefamily of God.
Yet nothing of this miraclethat is in his redemption and
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maturing is in us, that I haveexperienced in my own life can
occur unless we have yieldedourselves and found a situation
that is safe to do so.
I'll be honest with you.
I was in a variety of theconventional and traditional
therapeutic environments allthrough my life, from the time
it was nine years old through myadulthood.
Therapeutic environments allthrough my life, from the time
(28:18):
it was nine years old through myadulthood.
I was addressing issues from mychildhood abuse to depression,
to anxiety and anger, tosuicidal ideation, to
personality disorders, ptsd, Imean, you name it.
I was told in each and everysituation that I, as a client,
was safe and this was a placethat I could speak honestly, was
safe and this was a place thatI could speak honestly, and in
some respects I'm sure it was.
Yet this had two back-endissues to it.
(28:45):
First, the counseling room wasthe only place in the world
where it was safe to speakhonestly and without
repercussion.
I mean the real world.
I couldn't be honest to myfoster parents, my schoolmates I
couldn't be honest to withoutbeing bullied.
This was a dead-end paradigm.
Second, being the client, I wasthe only one in the room being
truly vulnerable and authenticin the dialogue, which then
(29:07):
truly was more of a monologue.
The legality and the ethics ofthe secular therapeutic world
created boundaries and bound thetherapist who could not share
their personal identity orimperfections without being
inappropriate.
These double binds andshortcomings of secular therapy
(29:29):
are why I have had literallyhundreds, if not thousands, of
people walk through my door as abiblical pastor doing biblical
counseling where I'm not boundby the same ethical restrictions
, which more so indicates thereasoning that we all need to
belong to community where thereis a reciprocating and
life-giving culture.
(29:50):
People in therapy that are inthis kind of community have
their lives nurtured and theygenerate energy to move through
the double binds.
This all comes directly fromthe life model in the book.
They encounter a community ofother authentic and vulnerable
people and they therefore forgean identity based on the hearts
(30:10):
they were created.
This is what the life model isall about.
Now, I'm not wholeheartedlydenouncing the secular therapy
model, as there is good thatcomes from the worldview
Christians can see is actuallyfound first in scripture.
Yet I do think it is asignificant challenge to succeed
in therapy without a therapistwho is capable of being
(30:31):
authentic, vulnerable andrelatable to the people they are
helping, as I was able toexperience in my first pastor
and biblical counselor, john,who showed me unconditional love
and therefore was able to helpinitiate true redemption and
renewal when I was 17 years oldand first found Christ.
John was not only safe, but hewas authentic and real.
(30:51):
He was there all throughout mylife.
My multiple times I wasdiagnosed through my treatments
and he, therefore, was a keyinstrument that Christ used in
my healing.
Secondly, we are challenged inour modern therapeutic model
when we are not able to have ahealthy, authentic, caring
community experience around us.
And that is where the church iscalled to acknowledge that we
(31:14):
are all broken, that we are allface woundedness.
We all face addiction or whatthe Bible calls idolatry.
We all face oppression.
We're all challengedspiritually and we all need
community and to be surroundedto work through it.
See where many of us have comefrom healthier families of
origin, though you too will haveyour issues that the Holy
(31:36):
Spirit will compassionatelyconfront you to courageously
deal with in your life.
Others of us have to look toour church families for
community and for belonging andwhat the life model calls power.
This is where people find theiridentity, where they're
supposed to find help inbecoming unstuck and where they
(31:57):
should receive light.
Maybe some of you today havewalked away from that community
and are feeling isolated.
Perhaps you were compelledearlier by any of the many
points about pursuing healingwith a biblical counselor
Resuming your restoration oryour recovery journey, or maybe
(32:20):
you're moved by the fact thatyou need to move closer to the
afflicted in your church familyor your community, either
direction.
I would be remissed if we leftour time today without providing
an opportunity for us torespond to Christ, and I want to
pray for you right now.
All of you listening eitheragree with this prayer or lift
(32:40):
those up that are needing thisright now.
Lord Jesus, I repent all of mysins and surrender my life to
you.
Wash me and cleanse me from allunforgiveness and all pride.
I believe that you are the Sonof God and all pride.
I believe that you are the Sonof God, that you died on the
(33:00):
cross for the forgiveness of allmy sins and you rose again on
the third day for my victory.
I believe that in my heart, Imake confession with my mouth
that you, jesus, are my Lord andmy Savior and that your kingdom
is forever.
I want to live my lifeaccording to your terms and I
want to change my reliance formyself and any earthly vessels I
(33:21):
have placed hope in, andinstead I want to trust your
plan and ask for you to put thepeople and the processes and the
models to pursue restorationinto my life.
I ask for you to reveal to mewhere I have neglected the needs
of those who are broken aroundme, where I have neglected the
needs of those who are brokenaround me, where I have become
indifferent and capable, where Ihave been unable to prioritize
(33:42):
those that need to feel the hopeof Christ.
Thank you for being a God ofmercy, a God of healing and a
God of truth.
Jesus, forgive me for all of mysin, and might I become one who
is a beacon of hope.
Of hurting to the world, hopeto the hurting.
Give us spiritual eyes to seeon earth as it is in heaven, and
(34:08):
may our priorities begin toreflect your heart and your
kingdom, for it's in your name,jesus, I pray Amen.
If you have today agreed withthis prayer from the depths of
your heart, I want to welcomeyou to the eternal family of God
and I want to commend you inyour return to faith, if that is
(34:28):
indeed what you've done, I wantto continue, as an
encouragement to you, to find anorthodox, biblical-based faith
family who worships the Lordpassionately, and also devote
yourself to the reading of thescriptures, as there is much to
grow, to learn and to bediscipled in as it pertains to
new life and maturity in Christ.
Next time, on the HopefulPerspective podcast, we are
(34:51):
going to continue our series Jarof Clay, where we delve more
into the intriguing book behindthe healing that I experienced
with my dissociative identitydisorder.
As you can see, there is somuch that can be said short of
reading the book to you guys andtalking for an hour.
Yet I'm so pumped where we aregoing with this.
(35:12):
I hope, believe and pray thiswill be transformative for
whoever listens, at whateverstage in the development you are
in.
So I'm looking forward to beingwith you next time.
On the Hopeful Perspective,remember, if you haven't already
, don't forget to check out thebook Leading from the Heart that
Jesus Gave you, for this is thetext that we're going to use
(35:34):
for this entire series.
Until then, I want to thank youfor joining me along this
journey and if you'd be so kindto follow, subscribe and, most
importantly, to rate and write areview for others on your
platform who may need thehopeful perspective in their
life, did you know that you cancontribute monetarily by
pressing or support the showlink that is embedded on your
(35:56):
platform in the episodedescriptions?
All of your contributions areutilized to grow the podcast, to
multiply our equipment, tobroaden our reach and to share
the hope of Christ.
I want to shout out mygratitude to the multiple new
donors who already have madethis commitment to support the
podcast financially.
Without you, it would not bepossible to reach as many people
(36:18):
with the messages we do, oranybody who needs to be reminded
that hope is real.
So thank you so much in advance.
Until next time, remember youare loved.
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