LET YOUR HEALING COME

Let Your Healing Come is a song about connection with others. The first half of the song deals with a guy's connection with God in one-on-one relationship and how that affects his walk in the battle of life. The second half of the song talks about a guy's connection with his brothers-in-Christ and how these relationships change the battlefield.

This song slides easily into the Win This War lineup because it parallels perfectly the layout and content of my book Tactics:

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hand on these two commandments."
Matthew 22:36-40

Your victory on the spiritual front of the battle hangs on these two commandments, too. If you obey them, you will grow a deep, genuine intimacy with God and with your brothers in Christ. That's good, because finding intimacy with God and your neighbor is your prime objective on the spiritual front. Intimacy transforms your old mind into the mind of Christ and keeps you connected with those around you. Intimacy changes every young man's battle forever....Over the next four chapters we'll take a look at how a lack of intimacy with God and with your neighbors can affect your fight for purity....This battle front is quite distinct from the other one. On the physical front, you fight to get your eyes and mind in order. On the spiritual front, you fight to get your heart in order. It's not so much about what you do over here, but how you connect.
Tactics, page 72

This discussion of connection is what makes Tactics so much different from Every Young Man's Battle and it makes Tactics so important to read.

Sexual addictions counselor Patrick Middleton explained, "Tactics is great because for me, the key to victory is in "groups" and "relationships". Anything that will keep guys together and talking and fighting together is a good thing. The best way for "life change" to occur is to deliver Biblical content in context of relationship.

The first line of Let Your Healing Come is perhaps the most moving, wrenching line from any song I've ever heard: Father, I'm convinced of Your love again....just when I had forgotten, You spoke my name. It so captures the lonely, disconnected place I once lived in, and the tender way God spoke to me in drawing me back to His heart. I often used this prayer song regularly to draw the hearts of my intercession group together in one accord when we would gather on Sunday mornings before services to pray.

The chorus is as powerful to me as any, as well. It prayerfully asks God to quickly complete what He already wants to do:

The good news of the Gospel is that it's not just about forgiveness and grace; it's also about full restoration. God doesn't intend to set you free only to leave you hobbling your way home to heaven. He'll never stop at mere forgiveness, because He wants to transform your mind and to enjoy your future with you, together and forever...
Tactics, page 27

It's always important to remember that prayer-and prayer songs-are not for the purpose of changing God's will...you know, to convince Him to change His mind so He'll do what He didn't want to do. No, prayer is meant to change our will, to line up our desires with the purposes of God. His purposes, in this case, include "restoring your heart" and "renewing your mind"-in other words, to bring your sexuality back to normal again. This prayer song helps to align your own heart and will to that purpose.

When you pray, "Father, let your healing reclaim my land, here and now and forever," you are asking Him to join you in taking back your promised land, that "field of ruin" that is now filled with snares because you didn't kill every sensual thing in your life that God had asked you to kill.

It becomes a group prayer in the second half of the song: "Father, let your healing reclaim our land, here and now and forever." The "our" in this prayer recalls for me a scene from Disney's animated The Lion King, when Simba came home with his pals after years of irresponsibility to take his rightful place in the Pride Lands. But as Timon surveyed Simba's now ashen kingdom for the first time, all he could do was mutter under his breath, "Geesh, talk about your fixer-uppers!"

Obviously, things were no longer normal. But Simba knew what things were like before the hyena snares created "fields of ruin" out of his Promised Land. He was the heir and it had all been his, but his irresponsibility had allowed the snares to take over. It was now time to take back his land with the help of his friends. You need the help of your friends in your battle, too. Friends make a real difference in the battle for purity:

Real intimacy packs a punch in the battle for any guy....If you feel connected and accepted by those around you, you'll have plenty of true intimacy in your life, and you won't need the false intimacy of porn and masturbation to make up for what's missing. That's why the encouragement of your brothers and sisters in Christ is so vital. It's why God expects you to take responsibility for your actions and how they affect your connection with other Christian guys...interpersonal relationships are so potent that they can practically break the power of the masturbation cycle on their own. You aren't called to manage your lust on your own or to hide it from your brothers. You're to march out purposefully and kill the lust-together. Choose up teams and plan your schemes. Then, gun it down.

You have a direct call to defend your brother's sexual vulnerabilities with everything you've got, just as you are called to defend your own.
Tactics, pages 230, 233

For each of us, it is time to choose our partners well and to pray victory in together. "Father, let Your kingdom come and dwell with us, to draw all of your children unto you." Together with your brothers, you will fight. Together you will win, and together you will complete the full purposes of God in your lives, drawing others into the kingdom with you. Health, happiness and full Technicolor will return to your lands:

Life matters because you are God's son, and ...because your destinies are intertwined, and He's counting on you to help Him draw the lost ones into the family. When a guy with no relationship with Jesus Christ sees authentic transformation in a young man, something deep within him leaps up and cries, That's what I want, too!" A changed heart always draws men to Christ....
Tactics, page 201

"Father let Your passion burn within us, to fulfill all that You promised You would do."

I'll admit there is great satisfaction in mano a mano, hand-to-hand combat with Satan....I've found, thought, that it's an even bigger rush when you fight for God's purposes in your brother's life and for his freedom to live for his own audience of One. It comes as you begin to see yourself as God sees you-His partner in destiny, His brother in arms. It comes as you focus on the body of Christ, and not upon your body alone.
Tactics, page 202

So let His healing restore your heart and let His healing renew your mind. Let His healing reclaim your land and make your sexuality normal again, here and now and forever. Let His healing come.