You are Not Alone.
Broken Rising Blog | 001
By Gary Don
Alone.
That’s what being broken under by a leader you served feels like and it’s one of the go-to spiritual attacks by the enemy on the spiritually and emotionally wounded. Alone makes you feel like the struggle you are going through is only happening to you, and that no one else knows or cares. Straight out lies.
What is the purpose of the spiritual attack of loneliness? The first, and most important to the enemy is to break you off from the vine of life itself, Jesus. In John 15:4-5, Jesus tells us that remaining in Him means that we will always bear fruit. What that good fruit looks like (spiritual or physical) and what season you will reap the harvest in is up to the Lord, but for those who remain connected to Jesus, you will eventually, inevitably, bear good fruit in your life. True spiritual healing can only come when we stay connected to Jesus. When you are abused by a spiritual leader, in your wounding you are at great risk of coming under the attack of loneliness. Whether you pull back from Jesus because of the pain, or you are made to feel you are valued-less and worth-less to Jesus by the leader you served, separation from Jesus the vine, the sustainer of life will only continue the spiritual attack of loneliness and pain.
Another objective of the enemy’s attack of loneliness is to isolate you from people who know the way out of the forest of deep betrayal. The way out of the pain caused by betrayal involves letting the Holy Spirit into the depths of your soul to heal the wounds at their deepest point. The path through the forest of confusion after being spiritually and emotionally abused by a church leader always runs through forgiveness, surrender to the Lord, and the rejection of the temptation to retribution against the spiritual leader, or covering. There are people who have made it out, and are spiritually healthy and have moved on with their calling in the Lord. Loneliness keeps us away from those who know the way back because loneliness deceives us into thinking that no one cares, no one knows what it’s like, and no one knows how to get freedom from it. More straight out lies.
Another objective of the enemy’s attack of loneliness is to isolate you from people who know the way out of the forest of deep betrayal.
The gamut of emotions you can experience when you are abused by a spiritual leader go from stunned disbelief, to crippling emotional pain, to fiery rebellion against your leader, former or otherwise. Despite those emotions being real and genuine to us, none of those things can produce healthy spiritual fruit in your life, ever. Loneliness however, is a different beast because if we are suffering under this attack the enemy deceives us into believing we are separated from God and others, when we’re not. The enemy deceives us into believing that no one cares and that no one could help if they wanted to. These are lies that you have the authority in Christ to reject in Jesus’ name.
Of course, it always needs said as a reminder, that in Christ you are never alone. The famous statement of Paul in Romans 8:35 should settle the matter in your heart. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? I want you to start living this truth out once again. If you’ve been wounded by a leader who opened the door for you to perceive yourself as completely alone in your pain, do this for yourself in this season of your life: Reattach your soul to the vine that is Jesus, and seek out those He has led out of the forest of loneliness to freedom.
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