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Frank Meadows has a passion for helping people get set free. He is wise, full of God, and has been a mental health professional for almost 40 years. In this powerful book, Jesus, Healer of the Brokenhearted, he shares the “God-designed pathways and principles” for each of us to understand and respond to fear, anxiety, shame, anger, and any other emotional struggles we face to get the breakthroughs we desire. Read this book and allow God to minister freedom, peace and joy to your heart!

Is there any one of us who has not experienced either loss, trauma, abuse or adversity at some point in our lives? I don’t think so. We grit our teeth, stuff our feelings, and think we have survived. Life is about more than just surviving. Jesus said the whole reason He came was for us “to have life, and have it abundantly!” If you are not living an abundant life, full of God’s blessings and joy, and free of the past, then this book is for you! I have known Frank Meadows and the work he does for years, and have seen the truths and the healing he writes about touch and change lives within my own family. Don’t settle for simply surviving when God offers you abundance. Read this book with expectancy and anticipation, and embark on your own journey to wholeness and freedom. Thank you, Frank Meadows, for making it so attainable!

I strongly believe that powerful revelations in this book will change and transform many lives. This is a much needed work that impacted my life personally in a great way. I’m very glad to see it’s made available to everyone who is seeking inner healing and freedom. I believe it’s also going to be a great tool for those who want to be used to help others in their journey to find freedom.

Frank Meadows has served as an Elder since 2011 at Big House Church, a congregation in Norfolk, Virginia, where I pastor. I have never met someone so devoted to the process of spiritual and emotional healing as Frank. My wife and I have both received ministry from Frank that has been nothing short of revolutionary in both of our lives. Frank invites us to welcome Holy Spirit into every corner of our hearts, especially those broken and wounded places. Rather than run from our personal pain, we journey to the center of it, hand in hand with Jesus, where He reveals His truth to our anguish, anger and apathy. The freedom accessible to each of us in Christ is nothing short of miraculous. Frank’s methods and ministry empower the Jesus-follower to abandon a victim mentality in exchange for a victorious one. In his new book, Frank takes us on an exciting journey that leads us through our brokenness into newfound joy and peace in Christ Jesus that we may have thought was never possible.

This book is teaming with life and hope for those stuck in cycles of defeat and brokenness. It’s a must-read for both those who desire to walk in a greater place of freedom and wholeness as well as those who feel called to be more effective ministers of healing. This book isn’t just a collection of nice theories but is full of practical wisdom and revelation that Frank has mined through over forty years of healing ministry. The content is rich, and weighty but conveyed in a practical and relational format. I believe you will feel empowered and equipped at a whole new level after reading this incredible resource!

As a pastor, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this book for the Body of Christ. We all have things that happen in our lives that shape the way we lead, react and interact with each other. It is important as disciples that we believe and pursue the complete life (sozo) that Jesus offers us. Frank, with years of experience and revelation in the area of inner healing, gives us keys that will help everyone come to know the birthright of freedom given to each of us. My prayer for this book is the very same prayer we find that John prayed. In this book, Frank unlocks this scripture and how we can have a healthy soul through Christ…

Jesus, Healer of the Brokenhearted, is a remarkable, life-changing guide for every believer to experience deeper freedom, wholeness, and peace in Jesus. Provides you a practical process to overcoming deep, debilitating, lie-based beliefs through Mind Renewing Healing Prayer. Discover how emotional pain triggers are invaluable clues to help you replace lie-based thinking with the deep healing and wholeness only found in Jesus Christ’s truth. This is a uniquely biblical, practical, and powerful spiritual guide with proven results.

All Rights Reserved. No part of Jesus, Healer of the Brokenhearted may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – in any form without permission. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws.

Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Cover Design by RedDove Design
Interior Design by Scottie A.B.

ISBN: 978-1-947165-62-5
eISBN: 978-1-947165-72-4

Printed in the United States.

One of the great breakthroughs of my life came in a healing session with Frank. I had loaned my life savings to a good friend in ministry, and it took years to get the money back. In addition to destroying our relationship and shared ministry, I ended up having to leave my life’s work to that point and start over. As Frank and I processed through the pain, I kept coming back to the question “Why?” Why had I not seen it sooner? Why had I stayed in such an abusive situation? Why had I enabled and avoided and agreed instead of challenging and confronting?

Then I found the answer. I had a deeply held, unspoken belief: “If the relationship is broken, something is wrong with me.” And then another one: I believed that reaching my destiny was dependent on the favor of this leader. I had made excuses, enabled and avoided because I was afraid of losing my integrity and my future.

I renounced my old beliefs, invited Jesus to meet me there, and then I changed—profoundly. I don’t believe I would be capable of doing what I do today in ministry without that encounter. I coach “senior leaders in painful transitions”—often high-powered people in the most difficult moments of their lives. Sometimes what they need from me is a difficult, honest, direct conversation about what they need to change. I couldn’t do that before. I was too afraid of losing my integrity by losing the relationship to give that kind of challenge. But now that I’m free, I can do it powerfully, confidently, and without the personal baggage that would make it easy to be written off.

I am a huge believer in inner healing. My wife and I have benefitted from it for over 30 years, and I’ve done it off and on with Frank for the last 15 because he is the best practitioner I’ve ever found. I’ve referred a lot of leaders to him, and they’ve been deeply impacted as well. So I am very happy that he has finally put down on paper his methods and philosophy—and some of his stories!—to share with you.

A big reason I love healing prayer is that it pretty consistently produces pretty dramatic results. Although I can get lost in my head sometimes (hey, I’m a guy!), I always leave our sessions changed. In fact, the encounters at the heart of this method are the easiest, most effective way to produce transformation I know of. I’ve gotten to where I love it when my problems turn out to be inner healing issues, because I know I can go to Jesus and get immediate relief and dramatic change for very little effort.

I’ve probably coached 1,000 ministry leaders over the last 20 years, and one of the great sorrows of my life as a coach is working with leaders who seem closed to even the possibility of emotional healing. We’ll discover that their past pain is influencing their present behavior (the #1 clue that you need healing), but when I ask, “What do you want to do about that?” I get vague, resigned excuses. “There’s nobody nearby I can talk to” is a favorite line pastors use to opt out of getting whole—in reality, they are afraid of what might happen if it gets out that they struggle with hurt or betrayal. Or, “I saw a counselor once, but it didn’t really help.” Or, surprisingly often, “I’ll find some scriptures about this and declare (or recite, or memorize) them.”

The problem with that approach is that engaging the logos (the rational word) touches your rational brain, but your healing issues reside in your emotional brain. Rational-brain tools like reciting scripture are good for renewing the rational mind but aren’t very effective at dealing with emotional wounds. Your emotional brain speaks the language of image and experience, so it takes an experiential word—a rhema, a personal encounter with God—to change it.

That’s why healing prayer is so different from the traditional counseling I’ve been through. Instead of analyzing the problem rationally and prescribing action steps to change it, healing prayer facilitates an experiential encounter with Jesus that directly touches the emotional brain. Our biggest giants and the things we most struggle to overcome as Christians don’t originate in the rational but in the emotional sphere. When we employ emotional-brain tools to face those giants, we get the kind of results the New Testament promises.

This one insight—that it takes an experiential encounter to touch the emotional brain—has totally changed the way I coach. Instead of analyzing the problem with my coachees, I’ve learned to help them have a desire-filling conversation with Jesus instead. That living encounter touches them in ways I never could.

I am so blessed and thankful for my wonderful wife, Beth, for giving me the grace, prayers, encouragement, as well as the freedom and time to write. She is my best friend and has been my greatest supporter throughout my adult life; I can’t imagine doing life without her! Many thanks to my great sons, Jon and Ryan, and my wonderful daughter-in-law, Catherine. Thanks for your support and encouragement! I’m so thankful that I had a godly, loving dad, Wayne, who is now with Jesus and a great mom, Maryalice Meadows. She has always been a great, lifelong prayer warrior for me and my family, even now at 85. A special thanks to her as she has been diligent in prayer and encouragement!

I also want to give a special shout out of thanks and appreciation to my cousin George Moser, whom I have always admired, and his late wife, Joanne. Thanks for always being there for me as a wayward teen who went off the deep end. Thank you for praying for me and for being present the night I accepted Christ at the coffee house in Youngstown at 19. Thank you for starting the Bible study soon after, where many teens met Christ and where I met and fell in love with my wife, Beth. Most of all, thank you for unbelievably donating a kidney to my dad for his transplant. “No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life for his friends” (JOHN 15:13, AMPC). Your life has personified this verse! An eternal thank-you! Any treasure I lay up in heaven is also credited to your account!

Also, an appreciative shout out to all the intercessory prayer warriors, too many to name, who have prayed for me throughout this project, especially from Big House Church. Special thanks to Dorothy Jones, Leslie Chaverin, Jerry Cates and Deb Porter for your continued prayer support and diligent intercession! I’m eternally grateful! Many thanks to my pastors, Adam and Lindsey Cates, for your prayers and encouragement and for supporting me, my ministry and this writing project. Thanks, Adam, for your friendship and for cultivating such a creative atmosphere of Presence-based worship at Big House Church, which has surely helped me find my creative niche!

Thanks to Susan Thompson of Revelation Publishing House for guiding and consulting with me and for connecting me to my great editor, Amanda Vigneaud. Thanks, Amanda, not only for your great editing skills, but for you interest in this project, insight and wisdom beyond your years. I can’t thank you enough!

Finally, many thanks to the thousands of people I’ve had the great privilege of ministering Mind Renewing Healing Prayer to over the years. You have taught me as well and allowed me to learn and grow from our work together. I’ve learned so much from you, co-laboring with the Lord as the Holy Spirit helped me fashion my healing gifts.

Are you discouraged and seeking a breakthrough in your life? Maybe you have tried therapy, self-help books or other treatment, but you are still hurting. If you are in need of a healing, why not consider the wholeness that only Jesus can offer? This book is primarily for people in need of personal healing and transformation and who are open to a Christian world view. The principles in this book are predicated totally and completely upon a Christian world view, the Bible, God’s written Word, which is His revelation to humankind, His beloved children. Jesus is alive and active in our lives today, and this concept is central to this book. Jesus is the living Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. God is not dead, but He is alive, contrary to what some may say. I experience Him daily when I minister to countless people and co-labor with Him. He uses me as a vessel as He brings miraculous healing truth to the wounded, hurt and broken. Many Christians in need of a healing breakthrough have not fully understood the simple but powerful salvation made available for us through Jesus. We have been blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, through which He ministers, heals and strengthens us.

Jesus, the God-man, came into this world so that God could reveal Himself and His love to us. Many do not understand that we are created for intimacy with God. Without spiritual intimacy with our Creator, we walk through life with a hole in our soul. Something is missing, and we often don’t know what we lack or why. We fill the hole with the wrong things, seeking to fill our emptiness and spiritual void. We medicate with Mood-altering compulsive behaviors, relationships, success and material things. Ultimately, trying to satisfy our brokenness in these ways is like filling our car with water instead of fuel and expecting it to run properly; the holes in our souls cannot be filled with anything apart from God.

As Christians, we need to read carefully the Bible, our Heavenly Designer’s manual. In it, God showed us His love so that we could be redeemed from the sinful state that separated us from Him. He died so we could be connected to Him, now and forevermore! As a part of our covenant of salvation, God planned to heal, renew and restore His creation. This unbelievable plan included provision to redeem, renew and restore us by healing us and putting us in right relationship with Him. Through the cross, God provided for our healing, mind renewal and restoration.

“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).”

We are all wounded and broken, some almost beyond repair. Humanity is far more in need of a savior than we will ever know. The good news is that the healing, mind renewing power of Jesus Christ is available for all who will receive Him. If we receive Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we open the door to all the covenant promises of God in our lives.

The purpose of this book is to understand the problem of the human condition in our broken state and to teach readers how to receive its remedy practically. I believe the solution to the broken state of humanity is the life-saving power of the triune God, who provides all we need to walk in healing, mind renewal, restoration and wholeness. When we know Him and receive all He has to offer, we become whole, fully able to fulfill our destiny, life purpose and calling.

HEALING PRINCIPLE: We are all wounded and broken, some almost beyond repair. However, God has made provision for our healing, mind renewal, and restoration through Jesus Christ. Healing is available to all who will receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

For many years, I have worked as a mental health professional, licensed clinical social worker, and psychotherapist in a Christian counseling setting. I have helped thousands of people wrestle through many psychological, mental and relational problems. Many have come for help, experiencing difficulties with their marriages, parenting, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorders, and a myriad of various psychological problems. I have counseled and ministered to many who have been victims of sexual, physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual trauma and abuse.

My desire has always been to integrate sound biblical principles, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, with sound psychological concepts to help move people from victimhood into victory. In order to maximize the healing of the brokenhearted, I believe the therapist or healing prayer minister must operate in the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit. God intends for those who minister healing to bring nothing less than the full measure of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those to whom we minister. He fully expects and intends for us to receive the message of the power of the cross and the shed blood of Jesus to manifest in our own lives so it can witness to those receiving ministry. For this reason, the therapist must flow in the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.

My journey in healing began when I was quite young. In retrospect, I can see God’s call on my life from an early age. I was raised in an evangelical, Free Methodist Christian tradition where my father was a pastor for many years. As I look back on my life, I can see the Lord’s fingerprints on my destiny, even though I was unaware of it as a youth. When in college, my studies gave me the opportunity to move deeper into the calling God had placed on my life. I attended Spring Arbor College (now Spring Arbor University), a Christian liberal arts school in Spring Arbor, Michigan. I was raised in an evangelical, biblical tradition that was not oriented to a charismatic experience. Somehow, even though this was not in my particular stream of Christianity, I found myself drawn to books on inner healing early in my college years, such as Healing for Damaged Emotions by David A. Seamands, and other related books. I now understand that was God wooing me toward Spirit-led, inner healing prayer.

In 1999, a major shift occurred in my counseling ministry. I came across a healing approach called Theophostic Healing Prayer (TPM) that changed everything for me. After training with the TPM founder, Dr. Ed Smith, I discovered we had lived in the same college dorm in 1973 at Spring Arbor University. We were shocked to discover that we knew many of the same people from our time at university, but, now in our mid-forties, we did not recognize one another. Not long after we reconnected, I invited him to my house where we dug out the 1973-74 Spring Arbor yearbook from my attic. He immediately recognized me in the photos as the slender kid with shoulder-length, light-brown hair, and I recognized him as well. That marked the beginning of a great relationship. I had the privilege of traveling to Ghana with Dr. Smith in 2006 for his first live ministry training trip in Africa. It was an honor to spend that trip ministering to broken leaders, pastors and counselors there. Ever since I discovered these powerful healing prayer principles, my life has not been the same.