From Recovery to Mastery
Excerpt from the Preface to Matters of the Heart"
When the peace of Christ enters our hearts it feels so good and liberating that we merrily float above all our old feelings. Eventually, however, we discover that our former host of negative emotions keeps showing up and dragging us down! To stay in Christ's peace we have to first learn how to get recovery over past issues that wounded us; then, we can use these same "tools" to gain mastery over our emotions in the present. This is exactly what the eCourse is designed to help you do with God's help.
My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all theirflesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:20-23
All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.
Throughout the Body of Christ there are those who suffer not only from diseases of the body but from the many and varied dis-eases of the soul: stressed 
by anxious concerns, carrying deep pain from the past, depressed in heart and spirit or just plagued by a whole host of negative emotions which can so easily quench the simple joy of living. Rather than being released into the glorious liberty of the children of God, many believers have become captive to their inner lives at the very time when the world needs a witness of the life-changing power of the gospel. As in Isaiah's day we are a people in need of restoration.
But this is a people plundered and looted; they are all of them trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become plunder with none to rescue, spoil with none to say, "Restore!" Isaiah 42:22
These teachings grew out of a conviction that there is a real power of transformation available through faith in Christ, but that His Words of life are somehow not reaching His people in a way that they can appropriate. As a pastor I knew the frustration of preaching and pleading, "Trust the Lord and follow Him," as the great answer to life's problems and a very real means of recovering peace, yet I rarely saw the needed changes come to others. I was gently haunted by a passage in Jeremiah about speaking words that do not heal.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:14
These 24 lessons from Healing Streams Ministry's "Matters of the Heart" teaching series will show you how to bring your heart to God and how you can receive His Heart for you. That is the essence of the Great Exchange - our dis-grace for His grace - and it is always available for us to access through the faith He has given us.
Two Gracious Invitations
Where our inner state is concerned, there are two great assignments which are actually gracious invitations to experience the surpassing vitality of new life in Christ:
1) Restoration
Preparing our inward state to hold up under the pressures of daily life requires recovery of the natural grace that got lost along the way. For countless reasons - not least of which is getting free of the pain - we need to recover from any emotional brokenness emanating from our past. But there is another level & hellip;
2) Mastery
As we learn to manage our emotional life, we not only receive freedom from the past, but we gain the graced ability to reign with wisdom over our own emotions, making it possible to live even the most active or embattled days with deep peace and Spirit-led resourcefulness!
By a process of recovery leading to mastery we can experience our own life, no matter how damaged initially, becoming just what Jesus described to Nicodemus so long ago: 
weightless and free. Being "born again" is only the entry point. Those who learn this new way of yielding to His Spirit will become like leaves floating on the wind:
Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:7-8
We truly can learn how to be lifted and carried by the river of peace that God is sending our way each day. Being born again ushers us into the new life; the Holy Spirit within us provides the power to live the new life. He is the River of Peace. Are you only experiencing trickles and puddles of that peace?
Take these lessons to heart, learn the way of the heart and the peace will soon become a slender stream. Persevere and it will grow into a mighty river leading you into great adventures in company with your Lord. One Day it will carry you all the way to God's throne in heaven!
Next Healing Essential
Spiritual Healing Spiritual healing goes deepest of all. Even though the reality of our spirit lies beyond the ability of our five senses to experience, it nevertheless holds the answer to all that affects our lives. Every breakdown in heart, mind or body traces back to this deepest of all roots. God begins our spiritual healing through the gift of faith in Christ. However, before God can bring our spiritual life into genuine health, there is one thing that necessarily depends upon us. He will help us with it, but He cannot do it for us.
Free Downloads
pdf Healing Essentials (43-page eBook)
pdf From Recovery to Mastery (this article)
Interested in Going Deeper?
Consider taking our free eCourse for Healing. We have designed a complete series for personal transformation, "Matters of the Heart," to help Christians gain emotional freedom and inner healing. In all there are 24 Main Healing Lessons and 24 Head to Heart Guides to help you bring your heart to God and receive His Great Heart for you in return!
