My husband and I visited a church and ministered to a man I will call Max. He lived in a country where Christians are persecuted and imprisoned for worshipping Jesus.
Max said he couldn't remember anything of his early childhood but felt that he needed inner healing as he had a sadness inside himself. We asked Jesus to surface anything he wanted to heal.
Max saw himself as an upset 5 year old standing in the street. He said he had a big extended family and all his relatives were standing in the street too. Max said that his relatives ostracised his immediate family because they were poor. They looked down on them and didn't include them. It seemed to be a shameful thing. Thinking about this caused Max a lot of distress.
As that 5yr old he tried to ask Jesus to come and visit him in that memory. Max said he felt angry at the thought of Jesus coming to visit him.
I asked Max to leave that memory for the time being as on chatting with him I realised that it wasn't a memory that Jesus had bought to his mind but something he usually carried around with him. It was important that Max wasn't trying to make something happen, but for him to ask Jesus what He wanted to do for him.
Next Max asked Jesus to come and visit him as a child and bring healing.
This time Max saw himself as a 1 year old. In Max's culture this age was a big one to celebrate. Max saw a lot of people at his house bringing him gifts. People of all ages. Max invited Jesus to be there with himself as a 1 year old. I asked Max what was happening. He said that he could feel the feelings of 5yr old Max who was jealous that he wasn't receiving any good things but 1 year old Max was receiving lots of presents.
Suddenly Max said that he saw himself as a 5 year old giving baby Max presents too. 5 year old Max still didn't want to interact with Jesus.
It occurred to me (by the Holy Spirit prompting) that 5 year old Max was scared of Jesus as he was a man. I asked Max if this was correct. He nodded yes. My first thought was
"oh help Lord what now?"
Then Jesus reminded me that he didn't come to earth as a man....but as a baby.
I asked the man Max if he could allow 5 year old Max to go and visit baby Jesus in the stable. He agreed and asked the Holy Spirit to take him there. After a while Max started to cry. He said it was an amazing sight. Max said that the stable was full of light and baby Jesus was holding his hand with his two hands.
He said that he didn't want to leave there as it was so wonderful.
I asked Max if he was ready, would he like to go to the door of the stable and invite Jesus to come in? Max said yes. I wasn't sure if Jesus was going to enter as a man or an older child. In fact, later on, Max said that before I had said anything about this he had already gone to the door and opened it to Jesus and invited him in. Jesus came in as a man.
He told Max that he would look after him and not to be afraid. I asked Max if he would like to go to the stable the age he was now. He said yes. Max was crying and laughing as Jesus was healing him.
After enjoying being with his 5 year old self Max said that Jesus was speaking to all of Max's close family.
Jesus was telling them that he was cleansing them of all the cruel words that had been spoken to them by their relatives.
Later when Max opened his eyes he said that it had been a most wonderful time. He knew it was Jesus who had done all this healing because he had no memories before the age of 5 years. Max was very tired but very happy. Later in the day he said it had been such a significant healing for him and all the shame he had felt most of his life had been washed away.
This ministry time was not easy, as we were using a translator and I was speaking in stilted English. As always nothing is a hindrance to the Lord!
Note: in this type of ministry we must always be careful not to 'suggest anything' to the Receiver (e.g. Jesus is now going to ........), but allow them to go on their own journey with Jesus.
Emmanuel...God with Us
Happy Christmas