How to Receive Spiritual Healing from Trauma
By Gena Barnhill @BarnhillGena
A person does not need to be in a war zone, serious car accident, or a massive hurricane to experience trauma. Most people will experience some form of trauma during their lifetime. Some encounters may be mild, and others may be debilitating and require intensive healing. For some individuals, the negative effects of trauma can come from one or two events. Others may have experienced ongoing trauma.
Spiritual Healing from Trauma in the Scriptures
Jesus prepared us for trauma in John 16:33b when He said, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” There is no devastation the Lord cannot redeem. Jesus can provide spiritual healing from trauma. He explained His role when He said:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
We can take encouragement from Paul’s words about Jesus in 2 Corinthians 1:10. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
How to Receive Spiritual Healing from Trauma #trauma #healing Share on XTypes of Trauma
Trauma is referred to as either Type A or Type B. Type A trauma is the result of the absence of good things in life such as food, love, and shelter. It can be the result of neglect. Deprivation suffered early in life impacts the neurochemical pathways in the brain and can negatively impact the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional, and social growth. Type A trauma is often not as easily identified as Type B trauma, which is the result of a specific traumatic event(s).
Examples of Type B Trauma
- Physical events such as abuse, sexual assault, surgery, or illness
- Witnessing or experiencing an event that causes fear such as war, a serious accident, murder, or deadly weather events
- Loss including death, divorce, broken relationships, loss of home, or loss of innocence
- Emotional events such as emotional abuse, betrayal, and survivor’s guilt
The spirit of trauma can be passed down the family lineage. Our ancestors’ unresolved trauma and unexpressed grief could have opened the door to the enemy. This spirit will continue to operate in the family line until it is recognized and brought to the Lord for healing.
Trauma could occur in utero if the pregnant mother experienced a traumatic event that was not healed. Children who were not wanted or experienced an attempted abortion while they were in utero may suffer from trauma and not be consciously aware of its root until it is brought to Jesus for healing.
Spiritual healing from trauma through Jesus is possible. It is the Lord’s desire that all God’s children receive healing.
The Body’s Responses to Trauma
Stress hormones are elevated during a threat as a protective mechanism. Under normal circumstances, this elevation is temporary, and the stress hormones dissipate when the event is over. In traumatized individuals, the stress hormones take longer to dissipate and elevate quickly in response to mildly stressful stimuli and can put the person in a state of hypervigilance.
Even if the conscious mind ignores the trauma, the body registers the trauma. Dr. van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, studied brain imaging scans and found that images of past trauma activate the brain’s right hemisphere, where memories of sound, smell, touch, and the resulting emotions are stored. Meanwhile, the trauma deactivates the left hemisphere, where we organize our experiences and translate them into words. Later, when we are reminded of past trauma, our right brain reacts as if it is happening in the present.1
Mind.org., an organization in the UK that supports mental health, indicated the following responses to danger:
- Freeze – feeling paralyzed or unable to move
- Flop – doing what you’re told without being able to protest
- Fight – fighting, struggling or protesting
- Flight – hiding or moving away
- Fawn – trying to please someone who harms you2
Emotional Responses to Trauma
A core response to the helplessness we experience after a traumatic event is fear. Remaining bound in fear paralyzes our growth and can manifest as panic attacks, anger, bound emotions, a hardened heart, hopelessness, and isolation. A spirit of bitterness and unforgiveness can take hold when we separate ourselves from others due to shame from the trauma and a belief that we need to hide our pain.
Living trapped in fear and shame may reinforce the lies we believe about ourselves. Some prayer recipients told us they were victims, and nothing went right in their lives. They said they could not depend on anyone but themselves. Others said they must have deserved the trauma. Several people said they could no longer trust anyone and would never be safe again. These are lies the enemy uses to keep us separated from God and unable to hear His voice.
Believing these lies led people to make inner vows such as:
- I will always…
- I will never….
- I won’t ever…
We saw people try to protect themselves and avoid further pain by minimizing the trauma they endured or negating it. They did not want to reexperience the trauma and sensory memories and desperately tried to suppress their inner chaos. These responses often led to physical symptoms, such as digestive issues and autoimmune conditions. Pain can sometimes be considered a gift because it tells us something is wrong and needs healing.
The Solution for Spiritual Healing from Trauma
Lee Whitman from Restoring the Foundations Ministry wrote, “Trauma gives the enemy a landing strip in our lives.”3 We need to take away the legal ground for demonic influence and command it to leave in Jesus’s name (See step 4 below.). When we release our pain to Jesus, He can heal it and mend our broken hearts. Jesus experienced abuse, grief, sorrow, trauma, and death. He understands our pain, and He died to redeem us. We need to invite him into our anguish so He can heal and restore us (See step 5 below.). During an inner healing prayer session, we guide prayer recipients through the following steps:
- Forgive your ancestors, parents, and any others associated with the traumatic events that negatively impacted you.
- Ask the Lord to forgive you for believing lies about yourself as a result of the trauma.
- Receive the Lord’s forgiveness and His truth about the lies you believed.
- Renounce the negative influence of trauma and break its power over your life, your family, and all future family in Jesus’s Holy name.
- Under the guidance of a prayer partner or prayer minister, ask Jesus for the truth about the traumatic events(s). Ask Him to show you if He was there and what He was doing. Listen for what He wants to show and tell you. Ask Him what He wants to fill you with to replace the spirit of trauma and receive His healing of your heart wounds.
When we have asked prayer recipients to invite Jesus into their trauma, He healed their pain. Sometimes He showed them an aspect of the traumatic event they were unaware of at the time it occurred. This brought relief and freedom. When the recipients asked the Lord where He was during the event, He often showed them He was there and protected them from further harm.
In Closing,
Before I share a prayer with you, I would love for you to have an opportunity to share your thoughts about the impact of trauma. How have you seen trauma impact yourself or others?
Be sure to share your thoughts in our Facebook Group Healing Prayer Discussion.
We are all stronger when we learn from each other. Looking forward to your input.
Blessings,
Gena
Prayer for Spiritual Healing from Trauma
Lord Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I ask You to remove all trauma, fear, and terror from my body―from my cells, tissues, organs, DNA, emotions, and all memories, both verbal and pre-verbal. I ask You to return my nervous system to Your original design by turning off the hypervigilance within me. Establish new neurological connections within me. Lord Jesus, I ask You to remove the harmful effects of trauma and fill me with Your peace, joy, and love. Please bring my body to a place of rest and help me to abide in You. I ask all this in Jesus’s holy name that He may be glorified. Amen.
1 Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score. (New York: Penguin Books, 2014), 44-45.
2 “Trauma,” Mind.org.uk, accessed February 18, 2025, https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/trauma/effects-of-trauma/
3“The Effects of Trauma,” Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 136, hosted by Lee Whitman at Restoring the Foundations
*Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV).
In case you missed the rest of the Ancestral Influences Series, here is the link to the Archives:
https://simpleeffectiveprayer.com/category/healing-ancestral-wounds/
