Place Your Oxygen Mask First

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

-2 Corinthians 1:3-4

God gave His Son because He loved us all and wanted us all to be saved. And the practice of putting on your oxygen mask before helping someone else holds true even when we are dealing with healing and deliverance. That is not to say we are not to help others while we are in process, but it is to acknowledge that we should first be receiving from the life Source before we try to connect others, lest we perish. God cares for you just as much as the person beside you.

We can look around and see the many lives that need healing and deliverance, and become overwhelmed or burdened by the awareness. It is good to acknowledge where others are, but it can also become a distraction and even a hindrance if all we do is see or feel the need to bear their burdens without first giving ours over to Jesus (Matthew 11: 28-30). We can either get delayed or begin to deny ourselves the healing and deliverance that God offers us individually. So, I want to encourage us not to forget to look outwardly at others' hardships and plight, but first to look inwardly and take stock of whether we have received what Christ is freely offering us through His love and sacrifice. 2 Corinthians1:3-4, lets us know that He wants to comfort us in all our affliction, and once we are comforted, we can then share what we have received with others. How can we fully share and offer what we have not experienced for ourselves?

“The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

- Psalm 34: 18

God cares, and He sees where we are, and He longs to save us from our states of distress. In the Gospels, we see that Jesus was moved with compassion when he saw the sick, the lost, and the grieving (Matthew 9:36, 14:14, Mark 1:41, and Luke 7:13). God does not take our afflictions lightly but wants to be invited into caring for us and to guide us into wellness.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; with His stripes we are healed.”

-Isaiah 53:5

When we think about healing and deliverance, they can sometimes become intertwined, but they can also be seen as two different paths. Healing is a process of restoration, in which balance, health, and wholeness are restored after pain, distress, and imbalance. It is the process of making one well. Deliverance is a state of freedom or being rescued from bondage, danger, or a difficult situation. With these definitions, we can see how they can be distinct processes and states of being, or coincide, providing a foundation for the other to occur. Whichever you need, God is willing and able to minister to you both.

Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you.

-1 Peter5:7

When we focus on identifying what needs to be in place to receive healing and deliverance, three things come to mind. Not saying only three things will contribute to our healing and deliverance, but these three things help us to receive and walk in healing and deliverance.

The first being Faith…

Jesus said to the man whose son was vexed by a demon, “ All things are possible to the one who believes." And the father of the son answered Him, “I do believe; help my unbelief." (Mark 9:20-25). We see that faith in God's ability and will to move in our lives is important in our healing and deliverance journey. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). So, in faith, we can begin to picture and expect restoration and freedom, even though we have yet to experience it in its totality. The word of God builds up our expectation of the good things He has prepared for us (Romans 8:28, Ephesians 2:10). "Now faith comes by hearing the word of God" (Romans 10:17), so one thing we can do to help ourselves in our healing and deliverance journey is build up our faith through His word, learning what He says about our situation and what He will and can do through us and for us in our situations.

The second being Forgiveness.

Forgiveness refers to the acts of receiving forgiveness or giving forgiveness. Psalm 32:1-7 depicts the physical and emotional anguish one can experience when trying to cover up sin, and it proclaims the great blessing of being forgiven. Sin carries a corrupting weight that can only be removed through repentance and forgiveness. So, we must not hide what God so clearly sees, and we must repent of those things that bind us to the darkness that corrupts our souls. We must also be mindful to forgive others as God forgave us through Christ (Ephesians 4:32). Realizing the hindering and corrupting nature of unforgiveness, for it is sin. When we hold a stance of unforgiveness, we disqualify ourselves from receiving God’s forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15). Unforgiveness can also carry with it attributes such as pride (James 4:6), bitterness (Ephesians 4:31-32), resentment (Proverbs 19:11 and Romans 12:19-21), and hatred (1 John 2:9-11and 3:15), which run contrary to God’s nature and will for our lives, creating barriers to healing and deliverance.  

The third being Forsaking.

Forsaking that which we hold in our hands, which is keeping us from receiving what God is offering. We can hold onto thoughts, ideologies, opinions, and modes of operation that we have picked up along the way, which makes it hard to hear and receive God's love, wisdom, and empowering instruction and Presence. God is willing to help us overcome. He has also given us instruction through Paul to throw off anything that hinders or entangles us (Hebrews 12:1), to cast imagination or argument that comes against the knowledge of our God (2 Corinthians 10:5). It can be the pleasure we receive, the desire that we have, or the familiarity that we long for, whatever the tie we need to be willing to be loosed from it. It can be the reality of the struggle's hardness that makes it difficult to embrace the realization of God's strength and wisdom in a situation to be overcome. But whether it is thoughts, practices, atmospheres, habits, mindsets, or relationships through Christ, we can put those aside so that we are free to receive the restoration and deliverance that He has suffered, died, and overcame for us to have. What we're holding in our hands when we can lay them before God, He will discard, restore, transform, imagine, or re-imagine them, establishing good in our lives.

“I am the door; If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

- John 10: 9-11

Let us begin to prepare our hearts and minds for the restoration and freedom that God wants to establish in our lives by building our faith, repenting, receiving and giving forgiveness, and releasing the things in our hands that have had us preoccupied and hindered from receiving Christ’s healing and deliverance, which will usher in abundant life. Let us seek God and receive the oxygen (comfort) we need first, so that we can then be a help to those around us. Receive from Christ the abundant life that He died for and makes available to us all.