Heartbreak Hotel

In Genesis 29, there is a man called Laban who was Jacob’s uncle. He had two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob loved Rachel and worked for seven years as a dowry to marry Rachel. Because Jacob was the heir of Abraham’s blessing, God blessed Laban’s flocks and herds, and Laban became very rich. Laban was a greedy grasping simply superior marvellous me Cain who used witchcraft to discover that his wealth was because of Jacob and hatched a despicable plan to keep Jacob working for him. When the time came for Jacob to marry Rachel, Laban forced Leah into Jacob’s bridal bedchamber under the cover of darkness to take Rachel’s place. This was obviously without Jacob’s knowledge or consent. Jacob found out too late that he had been deceived into marrying the wrong daughter and had to work another seven years to marry Rachel. Leah would have felt broken-hearted; feeling like a prostitute having to pretend to be her sister on her wedding night and being married to a man who was in love with her sister but not her. By his wilful selfishness and greed, Laban checked his own daughter into the heartfelt brokenness of Heartbreak Hotel! At the Fall, when Adam and Eve chose to reject the living word of God and sin to become as gods, they gasped the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood out of their heavenly hearts and established Heartbreak Hotel. They had unwittingly cursed themselves out of God’s loving protection, heartfelt presence, provision, and purpose for their lives. Instead, they exposed themselves to the lies and false promises of the devil who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Because Adam and Eve rejected the living word of God and instead believed in the lies of the devil, they grasped equality with God. They made a bitter root judgement against God, blaming God for the Fall, and inevitably judged themselves out of God’s love and into Heartbreak Hotel down at the end of Loney Street.

The devil’s favourite and most powerful lie is the lie of and fear of rejection. Rejection is the devil’s calling card, his signature, his defiling mark or stain and Heartbreak Hotel is built on this very foundation. Indeed, the devil himself is a rejected being, but people are not. The father of lies says “Good things happen to good people; bad things happen to bad people; you must be bad; what happened is your fault; you are evil; others may be loved but you can never be loved; you can never be forgiven; you are an outcast; hated, unloved, forsaken and rejected”. These lies seem like truth to broken-hearted people because is their bitter experience in life and how they were treated. Rejection is a lie. The truth is, God is love and God loves everyone. In Hebrew, the word for broken means the crushing or bursting of wheat grain when it is threshed and milled; to have a heart broken and crushed in this way is an absolutely crucifying experience and leaves people mortally wounded, defenceless and in tears. That is why Jesus came to testify to the truth of God’s love by binding the broken-hearted and setting the captives free. The devil’s kingdom is built within people’s crushed, crucified or broken hearts. How? Because, so often, people become judgmental, bitter and unforgiving. The heart was originally created to be the house, dwelling or temple of the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of that paradise of God’s fatherhood. However, because of the Fall the heart has the potential of becoming a haunt or habitation of demons and foul evil spirits through the crucifying simply superior marvellous me curse of sin. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-20 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashed hands defiles not a man”. These things are the names of the devil’s words of lying breath or evil spirits that lie, deceive and trade themselves into people’s hearts and personalities which then cause them walk down Lonely Street, sin, become bitter and judgmental and invite into their hearts more heartbreak. The word devil comes from the Greek diabolos and means to throw across, trip up, or hinder. As we have already seen, in Hebrew, the name Satan or adversary means literally the snake that surrounds and devours life, or simply the murdering snake. That is why Jesus said in John 8:44 that the devil was a murderer from the beginning. Murder is the shedding of innocent blood and is the devil’s mark, signature or calling card. Evil spirits are the devil’s no-way-out roadblock on the pathway of life, his mark, signature or calling card. They enter through the broken-down walls caused by people sinning or being sinned against in all its forms. They move into Heartbreak Hotel, making a home for themselves in trauma and abuse with the piercing griefs of lies and bitter root judgements because in the absence of the light of the absolute truth of God’s unconditional love, the darkness of these defiling lies are accepted because they seem like truth. These tormenting lies become incorporated into people’s personalities or hearts. Unless brokenness is healed, deliverance, whilst being wonderful, is only temporary because the broken-down walls of the living truth of God’s love remain in ruins. Indeed, Jesus warns that, unless people humble themselves and repent from having bitter judgmental simply superior marvellous me hearts and have their personalities filled with the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood, like He is, their personalities being empty of God will be filled again by the devil and things will become seven times (or infinitely) worse than they were before. Jesus said in Luke 11:21-22 (YLT) “‘When the strong man armed may keep his hall, in peace are his goods, but when the stronger than he, having come upon him , may overcome him, his whole-armour he does take away in which he had trusted, and his spoils he distributes”. Satan is the strong man who lies and appeals to the pain of trauma. The trauma of brokenness is an armour in which Satan trusts. City walls are designed to give protection especially when it is dark. Like broken down city walls, brokenness gives no protection but instead gives leverage to the darkness of Satan’s lies, lies which are agreed with because they appear to be true. This is the meaning of the word deception. The word deceive comes from the Latin decipere meaning to ensnare, take in or cheat. Jesus said in Luke 11:34-36 (YLT) “The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle does give thee light”. Brokenness is a darkness that seems to testify against the love and faithfulness of God. It distorts people’s perception of reality and blinds them to the love of God’s fatherhood. As people think within their hearts, so they are. People live out of the abundance of their hearts and not their heads. Someone with a broken heart will find the devil’s lies, lies like “trust no-one, not even Jesus” seem like a good way of protecting themselves from more pain.

It says in Isaiah 45:3 “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou may know that I, the LORD [Yehovah], which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel”. Jesus said that where your treasure is, there your heart is also. In the ancient world, people often hid their treasure in their fields. People who are traumatised, abused, molested, or broken in the circumstances of their lives, especially during infancy, often find ways of burying the unwanted treasure of their fragmented thoughts, feelings, fears and memories of brokenness in the fields of their personalities. They manage to get through their dreadfully burdened lives by hiding, disowning, dissociating or even denying that such brokenness ever occurred. People can be so traumatised and abused that they may lose touch with reality. The trauma can cause synapses or nerve endings within the brain to short circuit and make abnormal connections which prevent the traumatised from developing normal healthy social or sexual relationships. They can become locked by the father of lies in an asylum of torment and subconsciously see their abusers in the face of everyone that they meet. Often, people condemn themselves because it is far less painful to accept the lie that they were to blame than the reality of being betrayed, abused, and shamed by those whom they trusted. This heartfelt belief is a lying gateway that is open to more grief, heartache, and misery. The human body can act like a sponge, soaking up tears, trauma and unpleasant or unwanted feelings which become bitter body-memories of soaked-up pain. Such pain is real but remains hidden, manifesting itself as the sponge is inevitably squeezed later in life in things like shakings, retching, meltdowns, restlessness, confusion, fear of being touched, or a desire to self-harm. The hidden places of shame and brokenness can become so closely guarded that the severely traumatised often experience traumatic amnesia and are unable to consciously remember what happened to them. The burden of what they consider to be the truth of what actually happened is just too heavy for them to bear. Their conscious mind is haunted by the memories of something nasty hidden in the vault of their hearts, a closely guarded secret, a hidden shadow of subconscious dread that ceaselessly trawls through the annals of their tormented childhood or personal past, sometimes near, sometimes far, and if anything reminds them of that memory, absolutely too close for comfort. So often they suffer from things like recurring nightmares or night terrors of which they may have no recollection, flashbacks or episodes of amnesia, feelings of guilt or shame, or illogical or inordinate fears of things, bright lights, sudden or loud noises, people, or places. Feeling somehow to blame for the dreadful things that happened to them, they are always on the alert, living in the constant fear that their untold secret will one day be shamefully exposed. But often they are unable to consciously remember what that secret actually was. For some, the opposite is true. They can remember in vivid detail exactly what happened to them, but their nightmare feelings of trauma which have been denied or hidden away by their inner child, unavoidably manifest themselves in things like panic attacks, stress-outs, or weeping behind double-locked doors. People often make inner vows within their hearts, promising themselves that they will never love again, never trust, never hope, and never ever show their true feelings or give themselves away. However, this is false protection, by making inner vows and keeping secret memories or feelings hidden, even from Jesus, people are trapped inside a torturous prison of lying torment and cannot be saved. Instead, like a barbed fishhook, the devils enslaving lies of fears and hopeless despair seem like truth which keeps people imprisoned by their pain, locked within a dungeon of doom, leaving them in Heartbreak Hotel in a permanent state of heightened anxiety. There are many whose experience of hopeless despair reaches a point where they cannot bear it any longer and decide to end their lives. Some just end it. Others maybe visit a place where they were once happy or have a meal with friends or family or reminisce about times happier times and feel that these are the thoughts or feelings that they wish to end their lives with. They may seem happy for a short season and friends or family may never have guessed that it would end so soon, and that with many tears. But they seemed happy because they knew that their unbearable torment was soon to end. The tragedy is that people do not know the real Jesus; that the real Jesus weeps for them. He came to bind the broken hearted and weep with their tears; even now he is ready and willing to carry the crushing burden of those in Heartbreak Hotel with the whole world upon their shoulders so that he can set them free. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”.

Ever since the dawn of time, Satan has challenged the absolute truth of the living words, goodness, and love of God with his demonically active lies. The devil is the god of this world who has built a counterfeit kingdom based upon deception, trickery and, if he can get away with it, bare-faced lies. The devil’s purpose is for people to bear his image by being filled with the words of his lying breath, or evil spirits or demons and live and die in Heartbreak Hotel. How? By appealing to people’s naturally judgmental simply superior marvellous me hearts and blaming God for the evils that are so prevalent and the inevitable tragedies of this fallen world. God’s purpose is that people become the image of the invisible God, just like Jesus, by being redeemed from the prideful and lustful evils that came from the Fall and instead are filled with the Holy Spirit or eternal life’s breath of God’s fatherhood. The devil tells lies like “God’s unfailing love has just this moment failed for all time. God has kept a record of your many wrongs and He is furious with you. He will break a bruised reed; He will snuff out a smouldering wick, then He will come after you. He cannot be trusted; He is just like those that hurt you. Unless you run away, hide, and then prove that you are worth loving by winning some great victory, you can never be loved”. These, of course, are all lies but for someone like Leah with a broken heart, or someone who has never known love or has only been walking with God for a few short weeks, it all makes perfect sense. The devil is familiar with the brokenness within people’s lives because his lies ultimately caused it. Like a fiendish bartender, he personally snakes up a venomous cocktail of misunderstandings, half-truths and bare faced lies that are clearly lies to those who can see but appear to be familiar truth to those who have been blinded by trauma or abuse. At the beginning of this chapter, we saw that the wicked Laban checked his daughter Leah into Heartbreak Hotel by forcing her into Jacob’s bridal bed to marry Jacob instead of her sister Rachel. However, Leah prayed to Yehovah God, and because she was living under the corporate covenant-covering or umbrella of Abraham’s blessing, God answered her. In Genesis 29:33 (YLT) Leah said “Because Yehovah has heard that I am the hated one, He also gives to me even this one’ and she called his name Simeon.” In his great love for Leah, Yehovah God heard her prayer and checked her out of Heartbreak Hotel; he and granted her a son and she called him Simeon. The name Simeon comes from the Hebrew shema, and originally meant to see the name, or hear. In Psalm 22:23-24 it says “Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.” In ancient Hebrew culture to hear meant to act. To do nothing meant to not listen. There are many in the world who are like Leah. The tragedy or misfortune of their lives and the lusts and pride of abusive people who share in the original pride-poisoned sinning nature of the not marvellous but murderous Cain has checked them into Heartbreak Hotel. There are many whose cry of pain from the cross of their suffering has been heard by Yehovah God. God did something about the suffering of people like Leah, those with no shield, defender, or reward, the abused and downtrodden, those with broken bodies or hearts, the captives and those imprisoned by their beliefs in their pain and sickness, all living in Heartbreak Hotel and crying in their gloom. A broken heart is dreadfully burdened and feels constantly under threat. A broken heart cannot understand the love of God because the truth of God’s love leaks away: it cannot be contained by those who live down at the end of Lonely Street. However, by walking down the Lonely Street of Calvary Road carrying their cross, Jesus brought them the potential for escape. However, as we have already seen, there is still God’s biggest problem, the established hand-me-down religion of church tradition. When the good news of Jesus spread across the Roman Empire after the death of the last of Jesus’s Apostles, those that were culturally Greek did not understand the ancient Hebrew culture of the Bible or the scriptures. They did not understand who Jesus really was, and how important the Hebrews, like Abraham and David were the fulfilment of the great and precious Pentecostal promises of covenant-covering and the absolutely guaranteed blessing or unmerited favour that God made to these men and their heir. In the simply superior pride of their hearts, they made up their own jigsaw Jesus, taking a few parts from the Bible but filling in any gaps in their woefully inadequate understanding of the real Jesus with a collage of images and ideas taken from their own essentially Greek pagan demon worshipping cultural worldview. They believed in a place called Hades or hell under the Earth full of fire and worms. They imagined that people who believed in their jigsaw Jesus could be saved from hell and go to heaven when they die. And so, with a smile the established religion of hand-me-down church tradition teaches that Jesus died on the cross for an amorphous mass of faceless nobodies to satisfy the wrath of a vengeful God in the hope that somewhere someone sometime would hopefully pray the sinner’s prayer so they can escape hell and go to heaven when they die. With a smile, the established church institution sends the heartbroken away empty and still broken-hearted promising the church faithful that it will be great for them when they are dead. Such is the man-made good news gospel of the marvellous religion of church tradition. Heaven is a blessed hope for the true followers of Jesus, but having a humble heavenly heart redeemed from all trauma, unforgiveness, grief, hatred, heartache, pride, bitterness, burden and brokenness and being eternally filled with the paradise of Pentecost is the at heart of the real gospel, not where people go when they die. For those who are truly saved in life, death will look after itself. It says in Isaiah 59:16-17 “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak”. Yehovah God came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth with righteousness as his breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head to bind the broken-hearted, set those imprisoned in Heartbreak Hotel free; to reveal to people’s hearts the truth of the eternal and unmerited love and grace of God. How did he do that? By being spat upon, beaten and crucified by those he came to save. Why did simply superior marvellous me people of Israel murder their own God and King? Because they had made a bitter root judgment against him and blamed him for everything that had ever gone wrong. On the Day of Pentecost, those that repented from murdering their own saviour and King were given a new heart by God and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same can be true today. This is really good news. However, there are many who receive a touch of Jesus within their hearts and for a season are freed from their torment caused by the father of lies. They are set free into a paradise of wonderment. However, so often this experience of paradise is short lived. Their experience of paradise is short lived not because God suddenly flew off the handle and became enraged with the people that he loves; God is not like that, and God’s love never fails. Rather, it is short lived because the father of lies appeals to people’s experience of pain and brokenness. Often people can’t help but to blame God, and their faith falters and almost fails. It is also short lived because it is a prophetic touch; God in his amazing grace is giving people a foretaste of the paradise that will fill their redeemed hearts once they are freed from the dark dungeons of Heartbreak Hotel. This prepares them for the long journey with Jesus that lies ahead. That is why Yehovah God says in Isaiah 49 that those who hope in me will not be disappointed. In Acts 8 is mention of a man called Simon the Sorcerer who lived in Samaria. Philip came and preached about Jesus and did miracles there. Many believed and were baptized including Simon. The apostles heard about this and sent Peter and John to bring people under the Pentecostal covenant-covering of Abraham’s umbrella by laying their hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. Simon was amazed and offered them money for this ability. Peter was appalled and said in Acts 8:20-23 “Your money perish with you, because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter: for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I perceive that you are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity”. Simon had received the word of God with joy, but he was bitter and unforgiving; he still had a broken stony-hard loveless judgmental pride-poisoned simply superior marvellous me heart. There are many people like Simon and indeed Cain who live in Heartbreak Hotel with a murderous bitter root within their heart. The inevitable problems and difficulties of life are judged by the pride that came from the Fall. Each judgement made is simply another bitter resentful weed sown into the root growing in an icy-cold blue loveless broken heart in which there is no truth. The deceptive bitter root itself seems to have a bitter judgmental life of its own that proudly judges people before anything has happened and causes those judged to behave in a way which waters the root to bring more bitter fruit. The word resent is from the Latin sentire and means to return to feel again. Someone who is resentful keeps on returning to feel their bitterness. By looking for rejection they find or imagine it and that rejection will sow more seeds and resentment will continue to grow. Jesus told a parable in Luke 15 about a lost or prodigal son who returned to his father destitute after a life of wasteful debauchery. The father welcomed him back with open arms and threw a party to celebrate, but his elder son felt rejected and made a bitter root judgement against his father. He said in effect, all these years I’ve slaved for you and never once disobeyed you and you never ever gave me anything, but this waster son of yours has returned and you have lavished him with gifts and thrown a party just for him. Was this true? No, it was a bitter root judgement. The Father replied in Luke 15:31-32 “Son, you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry, and be glad: for this your brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found”.  People that make bitter root judgements can never receive the benefits of a fruitful harvest of the living word of God because fruit of the living word of God sown within them by the Holy Spirit is choked by bitterness and withers away. It can take God a long time to bring these understandably broken-hearted judgmental people through groaning and weeping before they can find it within their hearts to forgive but humble themselves and forgive they must. Why? Jesus said in Luke 6:36-37 “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again”. A bitter and judgmental unforgiving heart cannot receive forgiveness, and a cold blue unloving heart cannot receive love. Why? Because the measure one gives is the measure one gets and what one measures to others is measured back to them. Jesus said in John 8:31 “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”. For the embittered that seek Jesus with all of their hearts, Jesus’ word of truth spoken by the life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood into their hearts will set them free. The truth is like a beam of light penetrating the darkness of an icy-cold blue stony hard heart in which there is no truth. This enables the embittered to see the light and begin to forgive from the heart. Instead of sowing the bitter seeds of resentment, they will sow love in a season of forgiveness with tears. Then and only then will the root of bitterness gradually be weeded out by them releasing repressed emotions, experiencing godly sorrow for the wrong judgements that they made, humbly disagreeing with lies that were believed, and verbally renouncing each bitter judgement made. This brings them into a season to reap with songs of joy the heartfelt fruit of the living word of God. As we have already seen, God in the person of Jesus was crucified by those he came to save and rose from the dead to forgive them. When the precious blood of Jesus on the guilty hands of those who shouted crucify was applied by the Holy Spirit to their proud but penitent hearts, their hearts were changed, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit and they sang songs of joy.

It says in Hebrews 2:9-10 “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the ekklesia will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the sons which God has given me”. It is a divine law that what is sown must one day be reaped. In order to become a perfect saviour, God had to become the man Jesus and become a perfect sufferer. That is why it says in Isaiah 53:10-12 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed [Sons], he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Yehovah shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”. As already mentioned, Jesus came to suffer the actual grief, heartache and excruciating brokenness that was keenly felt within the hearts of all of those he came to save. Before his crucifixion, Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray and make intercession for the transgressors who would soon nail him to the cross. He was overwhelmed with sorrow even to the point of death. Jesus was not suffering his own sorrow, but yours and mine. It was not his own cup that he was drinking from, but drinking from the cup of the sufferings, sorrows, sicknesses and sins of the whole of humanity from every age, people group, culture and tradition all at once. The burden he was carrying and the agony he suffered was so intense, he experienced haematidrosis, the sweating of blood. Unless angels had come and strengthen him, he may well have died. That is why Jesus prayed in Mark 14:36 (YLT) “Abba, Father; all things are possible to Thee; make this cup pass from me; but, not what I will, but what Thou”. After a prolonged period of agonised prayer where Jesus repeatedly submitted to the will of Abba Father and interceded for those who were soon to murder him, Judas arrived with priests, elders and soldiers and proceeded to betray Jesus into their wicked hands with a kiss. This ultimately led to his crucifixion. Within the ancient world, crucifixion was absolutely the most abhorrent form of prolonged and excruciating death possible. Indeed, the word excruciate is from the Latin ex meaning from or out of, and cruciare meaning a cross. According to tradition, Paul the Apostle was condemned to death by beheading, as a Roman Citizen he was spared the appalling suffering of death by crucifixion. It was reserved for those who were not Citizens of Rome, for rebellious slaves and those from other nations who committed crimes such as treason, robbery, piracy and murder. The suffering of the cross was unimaginably intense and usually lasted for days. God poured the sins, sicknesses and sufferings of the whole world into Jesus’ cup which in Gethsemane and on the cross, Jesus then drank down to the dregs. It says in Deuteronomy 21:22 “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shall in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is cursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the Yehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance”. The crucifixion of Jesus was the most hideous act of cruelty possible orchestrated by the devil working within those with desperately wicked hearts against the purest, kindest, and most gentle-hearted loving person that ever lived but God turned the tables on the devil. God took this most hideous act of cruelty, the devil’s worst, and turned it into God’s best. God used this hideous act to reveal not only the true nature of the self-worshipping pride-poisoned hearts of the whole of fallen humanity that nailed Jesus to the cross, but also the full extent of His love and forgiveness. The worst thing that humanity could ever do in murdering the God who created and loved them, became the very means for their mercy, forgiveness and healing. The cross of Calvary was a travesty of justice for Jesus, but it was not His cross; it belonged to those who crucified him. Jesus died of a broken heart, but it was not his own broken heart; it belonged to those who murdered him. Pilate knew without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was innocent. Pilate publicly washed his hands of Jesus’ innocent blood. Because of their pride, it was the murderous people of Israel who demanded Jesus’ crucifixion. To avoid a riot, Pilate unjustly sent Jesus to his death. However, the cross of Calvary was an amazing and unmerited display of sovereign mercy and grace for Barabbas. The name Barabbas means, Son of Abba Father. Barabbas stood condemned for murder, but in His great love, Jesus exchanged places with both Barabbas and the corporate totality of the Sons of Abba, Father whom Barabbas represented. God’s love was so great that Jesus interceded for the transgressors who crucified him and paid the price for his own murder. If God’s love was so great that He was willing to forgive even those who murdered Him and set the murderer Barabbas free, then there is no one who takes corporate responsibility for the pride that nailed Jesus to the cross and repents from such murderous pride that God will not abundantly forgive and also heal. That is why Peter said in 1 Peter 2:24-25 (YLT) “… who our sins himself did bear in his body, upon the tree, that to the sins having died, to the righteousness we may live; by whose stripes ye were healed, for ye were as sheep going astray, but ye turned back now to the shepherd and overseer of your souls”.  How did our sins get into Jesus body? By Jesus being beaten and bruised, spat on, struck with sticks, scourged, having a crown of thorns forced on to his humble head, and his body being pierced by nails on the cross; all of which were totally unjust and carried out by those with wicked hands and murderous hearts that had made a bitter root judgement against him and who hated him without reason. But remember, the cross is an empty cross and the tomb and empty tomb; Jesus rose victorious over pride, sin, sickness, Satan and death when he rose from the dead. That victory was not for him because he is God; it was so that you could be redeemed from simply superior marvellous me pride and live in the undeniable power of resurrection life.  

It says in Isaiah 58:6-9 “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou sees the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shall thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shall cry, and he shall say, Here I AM”. So often broken-hearted people understandably react to their trauma or abuse in ways that are immoral, judgmental or unforgiving which brings more torment into their disassociated, and broken hearts. However, for those who are humble enough to allow Jesus to carry their dreadful burden and suffer their pain away to enable them to willingly forgive, the joy of this promise of true salvation from Isaiah 58 gradually becomes true within their experience. A heart that is broken breaks up into fragments. Each fragment is a traumatic incident which has thoughts and feelings of its own, locked in time and which never changes or grows old. Each of these can feel like they are pierced by the nails of the cross. The nails are very real, and they testify against the love of God, but they are ultimately not true. Each fragment must be allowed to be individually and humbly saved: to be touched by Jesus, believe in the truth of His love, and to forgive. As Jesus touches these fragments, weeps and draws the living lies of these living nails out into his own heart, it can sometimes feel like the fragments of the heart are being pierced again, but actually they are being healed. Those that are fully willing to humble themselves and allow Jesus to unearth these fragments and the treasures of darkness hidden in the secret places of their hearts and allow Jesus to suffer away their traumatic memories of secret pain, will be set free from their own personal living death. By being humble enough to embrace the sorrow for the wrong or even tragic circumstances of their lives and by renouncing and rebuking the lies wrongly believed or judgements made, God’s unmerited mercy can fill their once-broken hearts with love. Loving with the love that Jesus freely gives rebuilds the broken-down walls of their now loving hearts, it frees them from the torment of defiling lies and allows Jesus to lift the burden of that dead-weight and immeasurably intense pain out of their hearts and into himself in order for them to be set free. As they do this, God Himself says to them Here I Am, Jesus’ light breaks forth into their hearts like the dawn, and the true salvation of their long-awaited healing quickly comes.

The real Jesus revealed the truth of the incredible and everlasting love of God by personally being checked into Heartbreak Hotel for an extended Easter weekend heart break so that he could bind the broken-hearted and set the captives free. Some of his last words spoken from the cross just before he died were from Psalm 22 my God, my God why have you rejected me. The answer, is of course, for you. He suffered away the living hell of the actual injustice, trauma, misery, sins, suffering and brokenness of the Sons of Abba, Father whom he came to save. He was murdered by the people he came to save and died in Heartbreak Hotel. This suffering reaped the dreadful consequences of the Fall within Jesus own body so that prideful fallen hearts that repent from the pride that nailed him to the cross could be redeemed or checked out of Heartbreak Hotel through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and into the humble and heartfelt Pentecostal paradise of God’s fatherhood originally promised to Abraham in Genesis 12. That is why Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him”. In English, the word righteous originally meant rightwise, the wisdom of doing what was right from the heart. Within ancient Hebrew culture, righteousness meant the same thing. That is why John said in 1 John 2:28-29 “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that does righteousness is born of him.”. Paul said in Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. Within the ancient Hebrew culture of the Bible, words are spoken by breath. As people believe within their grace-humbled hearts the living words of truth spoken by Jesus, their hearts are redeemed or changed by believing or establishing the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the truth of those words within their hearts. As Jesus checks the broken-hearted out of Heartbreak Hotel in the undeniable power of resurrection life, they come out from under the authority of their own natural born father and any father-figures that have dominated or overshadowed or brought brokenness into their lives, they are enabled to experience the true salvation of the paradise of God’s fatherhood just like Abraham. As they allow the Holy Spirit to weed out any bitterness and unforgiveness that abuse and trauma rooted into their lives, the living word of God sown into their humble heart bears fruit in season, first the blade, then the ear, then the full head of corn or wheat in the ear. Through the blood of Jesus, the authority and power of natural born heartfelt curse is broken. Jesus, as the firstborn of many brothers, is then enabled to embrace them with His love and share His loving Father with them. They abide within Jesus by sharing in His identity as the Sons of God, and Jesus imparts to people His resurrection life by binding their broken hearts with the truth of His love and setting their captive hearts free with His freedom. Those that are humble enough to forgive as Jesus forgave allow Jesus to check them out of Heartbreak Hotel come under the corporate covenant-covering of the unmerited sovereign grace of Abraham’s umbrella; Yehovah God becomes their provider, protector, purpose and as their own true Father, fills their hearts with the paradise of His presence. Yehovah God becomes their shield, protector and very great reward. Coming under Abraham’s umbrella means sharing in Jesus’ identity as a Son of God, having a humble heart washed in Jesus redeeming blood and filled with the eternal life’s breath or Holy Spirit of the paradise of God’s fatherhood. This is the truth that sets people free.

So, what about you?  Someone once sang, I’ll be so lonely, I could die. The world is like Heartbreak Hotel, full of broken-hearted people, feeling so lonely and crying in their gloom. Some people are in there because of their simply superior marvellous me sins, others because of the injustice and abuse caused by people like the marvellous Cain who murdered his brother out of offended pride, or simply the inevitable tragedies and misfortunes of life. People who live in Heartbreak Hotel are often deeply offended, unforgiving and resentful, bitter or hateful, carry the whole world upon their shoulders and often behave in ways they would never have behaved if their hearts had never been broken. This just makes matters worse and Heartbreak Hotel, down at the end of Lonely Street, quickly becomes a prison from which there is naturally no escape. But supernaturally there is. When people are sinned against, it’s like a bee sting, the sting is still in them, the poison is still there. It was not their fault, but they still need to take responsibility for it and forgive. Jesus is the only answer, he must be allowed to touch the wound and take the sting out. Demonic hereditary bondages occur by lying spirits gaining access through gates that have been opened up in previous generations and breaches in people’s boundaries or walls of broken heartedness. Circumstances are arranged by the father of lies to increase enslavement and submission to these bondages to leave people in the current and the next generations uncovered and susceptible to demonic attack in these areas. Those that choose to begin to walk in the true salvation of the undeniable resurrection life of Jesus, rise up and put a stop to any curse or generational bondages that have occurred by appropriating Jesus’ blood. As such, those that come under the corporate covering or umbrella of Abraham’s blood borne blessing have the legal right to live in the place of freedom, liberty and overcoming victory in every circumstance of life. Why? Because Peter says in 1 Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose wounds ye were healed”. How did people’s sins get into Jesus body? By Jesus being dreadfully scourged, beaten and nailed to the cross by the sins of the very people he came to save. As the precious blood of Jesus is applied by the Holy Spirit to the proud but penitent hearts of those that repent from the corporate pride that murdered their own saviour are inspired by the power of resurrection life to die to sinning, and live to do what is right; the price and punishment for sin has been paid, the stain of sin has been removed, and the devil no longer has access through the broken down boundaries of people’s hearts because their hearts are healed. How? It says in Isaiah 53:3-4 “He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”. The griefs, sorrows, wounds and brokenness that were unjustly and brutally inflicted upon Jesus by his own people who hated him without reason became the very means of their own forgiveness, healing and redemption. That is why it says in Isaiah 61 that Jesus was anointed to bind or heal the broken-hearted and set the captives free. During Jesus earthly ministry, no one who actually encountered the real Jesus personally was ever sent away empty handed. As such, if he is given the opportunity, there is no problem that the real Jesus cannot solve. There is no nightmare so scary or darkness so black that Jesus cannot dis-spell. There is no burden too heavy for Jesus to carry. There is no-one too ugly for Jesus to love. There is no fear that Jesus’ perfect love cannot expel. For those who repent, there is no sin so great that God cannot forgive by Jesus’ precious blood washing it away. There is no heart-piercing memory so sharp that Jesus’ loving hands would not receive it. There is no brokenness or sickness that Jesus cannot or would not heal. There is no injustice, betrayal, or trauma that Jesus did not take upon himself upon the cross. There is no dungeon so dark that the true light of the love of the real Jesus cannot dispel. There is no-one that Jesus cannot check out of Heartbreak Hotel. Being inspired by the love of God to share in Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, and as such His relationship with God as His Father, is the truth that sets people free from living down at the end of Lonely Street. God in the person of the real Jesus checked himself into Heartbreak Hotel for an extended Easter weekend heart break to put himself within arm’s reach of the people that He loves, but in people’s hearts their tears of brokenness must be brought within Jesus’ tangible and heartfelt reach so that He can personally weep them away. In the unseen realms, Jesus is just as accessible, just as visible to the eyes of the heart, just as tangible, just as willing to bring sight to the blind, heal the sick, bind the broken-hearted and set the captives free as he was when he was physically present upon planet Earth. This is what it originally meant to be saved before the church establishment changed it to be good news in death. However, the devil’s hateful lies associated with such broken heartedness need to be renounced and rebuked, and the loving truth that only Jesus can speak by the living breath or Holy Spirit of God’s fatherhood needs to be received, and hearts need to humbly forgive so that people can be checked out of Heartbreak Hotel by the sovereign grace or blessing of God and become truly free. It is only those who are humble enough to sow in tears that will one day reap with songs of joy. Those who repeatedly receive the truth of Jesus’ love and faithfulness into their traumatic memories, despite being sick of heart or body or mind, will one day find that their hearts are freed of doubts and unbelief, their bodies healed, their minds redeemed, and the satisfied delight of their humble hearts become to them a tree of life. This is true salvation, but it is a process. Bitterness deeply rooted within people’s broken hearts will need time to be rooted out. That is why Jesus said regarding the living word sown into people’s heart in Mark 4:26-29 “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knows not how. For the earth brings forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest is come”. Jesus (Yeshua) bound the strong man and removed the armour in which he trusted by drinking down to the bitter dregs the cup of the suffering and sins of broken-hearted people no matter who or what actually caused it. They can now live in the presence of power where victory is assured, first the blade, then the ear, then the full head of corn or wheat in the ear. The dynamite of the living word of God demolishes the strongholds of trauma and every pretension of Satan’s hypocritically demonic lies that set themselves up against the knowledge of God’s fatherhood. Because of a heartfelt trust in the redeeming power of Jesus’ blood, their traumatic past no longer determines their future, nor will yours. Your future is what you are today, not what you had hoped yesterday that you were going to be tomorrow. When God gets Himself through into your heart today, the undeniable triumphs of tomorrow are already won. This is what it means to live in the undeniable power of resurrection life; this is true salvation.

Prayer: Dear Father, I acknowledge that people often feel they have done their very best for you but that you have never given them anything good in return. I acknowledge that when things go wrong and bad thing happen, people often feel that it is ultimately your fault and that you do not ever lift even your little finger to help them or indeed anyone else. I acknowledge that people often feel that there is so much crying and dying in the world that surely you must ultimately be to blame because you are God. I acknowledge that these are bitter root judgements that may well be felt deep within people’s broken hearts but that these judgements are not true. Thank you came as a man and checked yourself into my room in Heartbreak Hotel for an extended Easter weekend heart break to be cursed with my curse, carry the burden of my cross and be broken by my brokenness so that I can be freed from my sins and any bitter root judgements that I may have made. In the name and power of the blood of Yeshua the Messiah, today I ask you to forgive me for these things and release your glory into my conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind, memories, feelings, and experiences to purge and cleanse them from all my sins, wounds, generational curses, bitter judgments, and guilty stains. By an act of sovereign grace, please touch those parts of me that are broken so that Yeshua can weep with my tears and suffer my pain away. I ask you to release the paradise of God’s fatherhood through the gateway of revelation in my inner man like a river to refresh and wash and restore my mind that I may have the mind of Jesus within me. Please bring me humbly under the corporate covenant-covering of the umbrella of Abraham’s Pentecostal blessing. Then by the power of your Holy Spirit I will be supernaturally enabled to live in the undeniable saving power of resurrection life, forever.

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