Emotional healing was accomplished for us on Calvary, but we must appropriate and enforce it. To enforce it, we must act on God's Word and guard our minds from thoughts the enemy would place there.

What I teach concerning the emotions is not a theory I developed. I myself have struggled with the same emotions that many of you have. Fear of failure, rejection, inferiority, and depression were part of my life until the Holy Spirit taught me the principles that allowed me to change.

I knew that Christ had redeemed me from the curse of the law according to Galatians 3:13. I also knew the curse of the law included poverty, sickness, and death. What I did not realize was that part of that sickness was emotional and mental sickness.

Most of you who are reading this are not seriously mentally ill, but you are where I was: mentally and emotionally bound. Christ redeemed us from every kind of emotional and mental sickness.

The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee. Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.

Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed away: So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
(Deut. 28:28-34)

The first thing I want to point out to you is that the Hebrew says, The Lord will allow you to be smitten…. God is not the author of sickness, whether mental or physical.

When the children of Israel were disobedient, they stepped out of God's protection into the devil's territory. And when they did so, destruction overtook them. The curse here was madness—insanity and oppression. Insanity and oppression begin with a thought, which develops into an abnormal state of mind.

When an individual becomes oppressed and then depressed in the mental realm, it often opens the door for demonic activity. Demons desire to take over the minds and the bodies of human beings. If Satan can begin by oppressing you with negative thoughts, then he can move further against you. I am not speaking of demonic possession here.

Christians can be oppressed (or troubled, pressed upon) by spirits of darkness, but not possessed. A negative thought develops into a thought pattern. A negative thought pattern alters a person's ability to relate positively to others. Then that individual will sense rejection. After rejection, depression comes. If the depression is not broken, a demonic spirit will attempt to prolong the depression and bring the person into total mental and emotional bondage.

We can reverse this curse by being obedient to God's Word and accepting what Jesus has done at Calvary.

Through the Name of Jesus, bondage can be broken and demons dismissed. But it is our goal to remain free of the curse once that bondage has been broken.

Jesus Bore the Emotional Curse
Emotional healing was accomplished for us on Calvary, but we must appropriate and enforce it.

To enforce it, we must act on God's Word and guard our minds from thoughts the enemy would place there.

Let us look into some Scriptures from the Word of God concerning the mind and emotions: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth" (3 John 2).

Prospering in Your Soul
It is difficult to prosper in any area of your life, whether it be in your physical body, your relationships, your finances, or any other realm, when you are not prospering in the soulish area.

The soulish realm—your mind, your will and your emotions—is where the battleground is.

For many years I've heard sermons that dealt with physical healing, salvation, and other subjects in the Bible, but seldom have I heard any messages that dealt with the soul, the mind, and the emotions. It seems that Christians are afraid of the mental realm because of such things as Christian Science, the metaphysical, mind control, and other cults.

But the Word of God teaches that we have authority over the soulish area of our life. Let us look at some Scriptures that deal with the soulish area:

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
(Prov. 25:28)

He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
(Prov. 16:32)

Keep Your Walls Up
Isn't this an interesting comparison? The Word says, "He that ruleth his spirit [is better than] he that taketh a city." Contrasting that, the Word of God says, "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

Imagine for a moment what cities looked like in the days of the Bible. Their greatest protection were the walls that encircled the city. At night the inhabitants shut the gates, guarded the walls, and watched for intruders. The walls were built to protect the city and its inhabitants. If enemies tried to get in, they had to go over the walls or come in through the gates.

Of course, if they gained access into the city, they could spoil, ravage, and kill its inhabitants. So it was very important to keep the walls and gates in good repair. This is a marvelous comparison to the spiritual, emotional, and mental condition of a man or a woman. If you don't guard your own spirit, your own heart, you are like a city whose walls are broken down - and you have no protection. You are then opened to all kinds of violence and destruction.

Many psychologists have insisted that we should not have these walls. "Don't put walls up; people with walls have problems," they have said. But we are talking about a different kind of wall. The walls we are discussing are built to keep aliens and intruders out—not to keep the inhabitants locked in. Nor do these walls prevent those who are no threat from entering.

Many people have the wrong walls built up. They have locked themselves inside a prison of fear. No one is allowed in for fear of hurt. Do you know what would happen to a city if it never opened its gates? The inhabitants would starve and die!

Many people are in that emotional state. They are starving emotionally and spiritually because they have shut everyone out. We all need interaction with others. Some people must be allowed to enter the gates of our city; others must not.

God has not left our spirit or heart wide open to assault and hurt. He gave us a mind with the power of choice as a wall to protect our heart and emotions. Your spirit is like the inner city where the inhabitants live. That's where most of the activities of the city are carried on.

We can compare this to Proverbs 4:23, which states that out of the heart "are the issues of life."

The most important activities take place in the heart or spirit, and it must be protected. Your mind contains the wall and gates that will guard your heart. The point is that to be emotionally and mentally healthy, we must not lock ourselves in, but we do have the power of decision, the ability to choose whom and what we let in!

It is in your control if you rule your own spirit!

Source: Reverse The Curse by Annette Capps
Excerpt permission granted by Annette Capps Ministries