Sorrows and Regrets

Prolonged sorrows and regrets are some of the major issues I come across in ministry.  It is very damaging to the soul and the health of your emotional/physical health.  Regrets cause a person to beat up on themselves leading to bitterness of self and causing a multitude of sicknesses and diseases especially to your immune system. 

Sorrow definition – a feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others. Like words: sadness, dejection, regret, depression, misery, despair, gloom, heartache, grief. 

Regret definition – feeling of sadness, or disappointed over (something that has happened or been done, especially a loss or missed opportunity).  Regrets will lead to guilt, shame, self-bitterness, and self-hatred.  It magnifies past failures   Not being a better person, son, daughter, mother, or father. We dwell on our mistakes and carry them our entire lives.  We continue to beat up on ourselves, but God in His mercy will forgive you.  Let the past be the past!

What does the Bible say about sorrow? Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death, 2 Corinthians 7:10.  Repentance means to change your ways in how you have lived your life, the decisions you made, and how you think. It leads to salvation which is deliverance.  Doing this takes away the regrets in your life and your perceived failures.  Worldly sorrow is based on mankind’s way of doing things which is contrary to God’s way.  The result is death because of prolonged sorrow and regrets if we do not receive effective prayer.

A like word of sorrow is distress which is extreme anxiety.  Anxiety causes depression, Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, Proverbs 12:25.  A like word for distress is anguish (Severe mental or physical pain or suffering).  Anxiety and stress lead to fear.  God mentions fear 365 times in the Bible.  God is trying to tell us that anxiety/stress/fear is a huge issue as it pertains to sorrow and regrets.

Broken Heart – A state of extreme grief or sorrow, typically caused by the death or a loved one or an unfortunate occurrence.  Key to understanding a broken heart what it does to us in the emotional and the physical.  We are responders to how we think. In other words, our mental and physical heath is based on how we think. Scientifically, a broken heart (sorrow) can cause physical damage to the heart.  Broken heart syndrome is a heart condition that is often brought on by stressful situations and extreme emotions.  There are many stories of elderly couples where one passes away and the other dies soon after because of a broken heart. 

Every sorrow and regret can be traumatizing. Every trauma will have anxiety, stress, and fear, tied to it.  Fear is an evil spirit and its not from God, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind 2 Timothy 1:7.  God give us power (authority) and a sound mind.  Sorrow and regrets are not of a sound mind because it can make us ill.

Sorrow and regrets are inevitable, but prolonged sorrows and regrets will lead to sickness and disease. Therapists will counsel your symptoms.  Doctors will treat the symptoms with drugs. All fail to heal. The body of Christ will most often pray for the symptoms which is not effective prayer.  Unfortunately, God is not mankind’s first choice because they do not believe and do not make themselves available for prayer.  So, they remain sick and diseased.

Effective prayer will address the causes.  Below is a basic prayer for anyone who is suffering from sorrow and regrets.   Understand that healing like any sickness and disease is a process.  We can pray deliverance from sorrow and regrets, but we have a propensity to relive sorrows/regrets and bring sorrows/regrets back into our lives, so we must start over with prayer.  This prayer must be repeated over and over until it is minimized or is not an issue.

Father God, in Jesus Name, I pray out the trauma, anxieties, stressors, fear, guilt, shame, failure, self-bitterness, and self-hatred causing unhealthy sorrows and regrets.  I pray healing of sorrows and regrets.  Amen!

We have sorrow and regrets throughout our lifetime and we do not need to in be captivity to it any longer.   Prayer is a powerful spiritual proclamation for us and to the heavenly realm.  Prayer gives us healing and peace. 

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart. And He saves those who are broken in spirit, Psalm 34:18