Inner Healing: Seed, Root, and Fruit

Perhaps the most untrue childhood saying of them all is “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. While physical bruises heal over time, inner wounds may never heal over time and often get worse.

What are inner wounds, exactly? Different people have different definitions for them, but for the purposes of this article, inner wounds are injuries inflicted on our inner being—that is, our emotions, psyche, and spirit—that cause us pain. Just as physical wounds cause pain, so do inner wounds, and the pain of inner wounds is just as real and debilitating as physical pain.

Before we continue, a disclaimer: I am not a licensed or trained counselor or therapist. But as a Christian and as a pastor, I have a keen interest in healing and a desire to help people overcome their pains and struggles. The following is based on my years of pastoral ministry and the many things I have read and heard about spiritual healing during that time. It is, essentially, a partial summary of my take on the subject.

Seed, Root, and Fruit

There are three components of inner wounds that we need to understand in order to deal with them properly: the seed, the root, and the fruit. Once we understand these three parts, we’ll be much better equipped to treat them and find healing, for ourselves and for others.

Let's begin with the seed. The seeds of inner wounds are the words and events that cause the wounds in the first place. These seed-causes can take the form of virtually anything: a verbal attack, a physical assault, a misunderstanding, a perceived insult, a nightmare, an accident, sexual experimentation gone wrong, etc. Anything a person hears or sees that harms them in any way can be a seed that the enemy uses to cause further destruction in that person’s life.

“Anything a person hears or sees that harms them in any way can be a seed that the enemy uses to cause further destruction in that person’s life.”

A word that Scripture uses to describe seeds is foothold, and an example of this is found in Ephesians 4:26-27, which says, "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." [ESV, emphasis mine] The word foothold in v.27 in Greek is topos, which can be translated as "room," "area," "location," or "opportunity." It's where we get the word topography in English.

What we can see from these verses is that, in this particular case, anger can give the enemy a foothold or opportunity to enter into an area of our hearts. It's as if we're reserving a room for the devil in our house and giving him a key.

Now, there's nothing in the passage or its immediate context that suggests that anger is the only thing that can give the enemy such a foothold. It seems reasonable that other sinful feelings or states of mind, such as fear, anxiety, jealousy, lust, or greed, can be used by the enemy in the same way.

“It's as if we're reserving a room for the devil in our house and giving him a key.”

To clarify, not every harmful experience becomes a seed or foothold for inner wounds, only the ones that stick deeply into a person’s psyche and continues to hinder them over a long period of time. It's unclear why some negative words and experiences become seeds and others don't; there are profound, complex psychological dynamics that are involved. But whatever the psychological reasons are, it's safe to say that the enemy often plays a role in the planting of destructive seeds in our hearts.

Once the seed is planted, it begins to take root in the person’s heart and mind. The roots of inner wounds are also known as false beliefs or strongholds, which are lies that the person has come to accept as truth through the deception of the enemy. Normally, when a person hears a lie, he or she is able to reject it because they recognize that it’s false. But when a person is spiritually wounded, he or she becomes vulnerable to deception and for that moment is not able to see that the lie is false. Thus, they come to accept the lie as truth.

“When a person is spiritually wounded, he or she becomes vulnerable to deception and for that moment is not able to see that the lie is false.”

For this reason, it's very difficult to uproot a false belief from a person’s mind because they don’t see it as a lie. They see it as truth! So even if you tell them it’s a lie, they will find it hard to believe you, as if you told them that 1 + 1 = 3, or that black is white or up is down.

There are an almost infinite number of false beliefs one can succumb to. Some examples include:

"You're too ugly to be loved."

"No one will ever respect you unless you are rich and successful."

"The more critical you are of yourself, the better."

"Your sin is too great for God to accept you."

Remember, these false beliefs or strongholds (the roots) are the result of seeds or painful words and memories from the person's past. So in the case of a woman who feels too ugly to ever be loved, that root may have sprung from her mother telling her she is ugly as a child, or a boyfriend dumping her because she wasn't pretty enough for him.

Finally, once a false belief takes root in a person’s mind, it begins to produce fruit, harmful and destructive fruit that leads to spiritual death. The fruit of inner wounds always takes the form of negative primal emotions, namely fear, shame, guilt, anger, bitterness, envy, and the like. These primal emotions then manifest themselves in all kinds of surface behaviors, some subtle, some obvious. Some people manifest their inner wounds by displaying overtly hostile or aggressive behavior. Others manifest inner wounds through passive aggressive behavior or sarcasm. Still others—even people who seem like healthy, mature Christians on the outside—become experts in hiding their wounds through denial and careful image-maintenance.

“The fruit of inner wounds always takes the form of negative primal emotions.”

Because the fruit of inner wounds manifest themselves in different ways, it is vital to identify properly what the root causes are. It is impossible to look at a certain behavior and make a firm conclusion on the root cause. Not everyone who acts arrogantly suffers from pride; it may come from fear, the fear of being discovered for who they really are, or jealousy, or even shame.

For every destructive behavior, there is a multitude of possible root causes. For this reason, it takes a lot of prayer and honest, Spirit-led dialogue to plumb the depths of a person's heart to find what the hidden roots are. This takes time, experience, and a lot of patience and faith.

The Process of Healing

Because many people do not have a proper understanding of healing, they end up going about healing the wrong way. Typically, people focus on the outward behaviors and ignore the seeds and the roots. Or, if they try to dig a little deeper, they stop at the level of the root (primal negative emotions) and fail to address the initial words or experiences that gave birth to the roots in the first place.

So, instead of dealing with the outward behavior, turn the process around. Deal with the seed first, then the roots and fruit will follow. Once the initial painful experience is revealed through Spirit-led dialogue and prayer, pray and, if necessary, fast for healing and forgiveness, and give the memory to Christ. Nail it to the cross and let it die with the old self (Gal. 2:20) so that you can live out your new identity in Christ, unhindered and free (Gal. 5:1).

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If healing is a topic of interest for you, I encourage you to read many books on the topic and talk to many people with experience in healing. And stay tuned for more articles on inner healing in the coming weeks!