The Quiet Heart: A Foundational Guide to Inner Healing and Deliverance Second Edition with Study Guide

By Susan Bowman

The Performing Heart interweaves spiritual truths and science to offer a unique heart-based approach to healing anxiety.
With her latest book, The Performing Heart: How to Escape the Trap of Relentless Performing and Enter the Security of God’s Rest, Susan Bowman offers a unique heart-based approach to overcoming the two most common causes of persistent anxiety: performing for acceptance and parentification.
This powerful, 143-page book is a combination of meaningful scripture, scientific research, and practical wisdom that shines light on the beliefs that compel anxious, unhealthy behaviors. As a rule, books about this topic focus on changing behaviors. This book does not. It focuses on why the behaviors exist by uncovering the hidden beliefs fueling the anxiety. Then it teaches how to bring these secrets buried within the heart to God so that they can be resolved. This approach results in lasting healing and freedom, making a secure and restful relationship with God and others a reality.
Drawing from over 20 years of experience as a minister of inner healing, Bowman teaches that the heart is both a thinking part of the body and a spiritual center. She explains that a heart-first approach to life helps people overcome the compulsion to fix everything, the need to impress others, and the haunting sense of not being good enough, as well as many other issues that plague our anxious society.
With empowering Bible verses, step-by-step prayers, and compelling prompts for deep reflection, this book has the power to shift perspectives, open hearts, and change lives for the better.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Bowman
• Release date: Jun 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215716113

Book preview

Acknowledgements

You believed in me from the moment we set eyes on each other at that crazy prophetic conference so many years ago. Janie Ray, my dear and encouraging friend, you are the sister I always wanted.

Thank you to Jim and Linda Barry and to Mary Baker for their steadfast support, prayers and encouragement. You are the kindest people. I am so grateful I can call you my friends.

Thank you to my dear friend and colleague, Dr. Annica Lovenmark, for her wise advice and kind support.

To my husband Sam, the patient recipient of many shouts of GO AWAY! I’m Writing! I love you bunches and am so thankful for your constant support and willingness to read draft after draft.

To Jay, my wonderful son who sees in the spirit and dreams about Jesus, thank you for understanding when Mom isn’t available because she is working.

To our magnificent Lord and Savior be all glory, praise and honor.

Introduction

A Redemption Story

After the shortened Sunday morning message, children in swimsuits and parents in bright summer clothes spilled out of the sanctuary and onto the church grounds. The children made a beeline to the large bouncy houses and water slides. Smoke from an enormous grill filled the air; the balloon artist handed out colorful swords and flowers, and the adults gathered in small bunches to munch and chat.

I was talking with the wonderful man who had befriended my adult intellectually challenged son. I didn’t know him well. My son was our only connection, other than the fact that we attended the same large church.

In all seriousness he confided that he believed more women would be in heaven than men because women were softer to the gospel message. I didn’t disagree. I honestly don’t know, but I assured him that I love the men, that I think it is tragic what happens to our little boys in this fallen world. And with those words of mine, this seemingly perfectly happy Christian man dropped his walls and told me his story.

I am one of 13 children. We were staunch Catholics and because of those beliefs, my mother was getting pregnant six weeks after delivery. She committed suicide when I was seven. My father remarried … my stepmother could be vindictive.

He trailed off at this point, unwilling to say anything bad about this vindictive stepmother.

No one said it to me, but they told the adults that my mother wouldn’t go to heaven because she had taken her own life.

Good things did come out of it though. We all became Christians, but that meant we rarely saw my mother’s family. They didn’t approve of us because we had left the Catholic church.

He stopped there and we stood together quietly, his pain written large on his face.

That was not the time to explain how he is made in the image of God. Or expound on the different aspects of his being. It was not the time to blame the devil or the fallen world for his pain. It certainly wasn’t the time to explain how his heart works, how and why it stores pain and what to do about that. It was time to listen. It was time to honor his story.

We all have a story. This book isn’t written to take away your story. It is written to help you connect with God so that He can heal and redeem the pain tucked inside of it.

—

In the section: You Are the Image of God I discuss what I consider to be the most important components of your godly design. These components of your being are not you. You are greater than your parts. Nevertheless, when you understand how the different parts function, you are more likely to enjoy a successful healing journey.

As you read, please do so prayerfully. The Lord is your healer. Ask Him to be your guide through this book.

Prayer: Lord God, I ask you to guide me as I read this book. Open my eyes and my understanding. Bring me into a place of deep inner healing and deliverance, so that I may enjoy my relationship with You as never before. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Now, let’s begin turning your pain-filled story into a story of redemption.

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;

You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,

That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent.

O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

PSALM 30:11-12

The Human Spirit

And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

REVELATION 4:5

One hot and muggy June day, the air conditioner went out in Joe’s car just as he headed back to Alabama from Nashville, Tennessee. He sweltered all the way home and the very next day, he took his car to the shop to have the air conditioner fixed. The mechanic who worked on Joe’s car had gone to school to learn how to repair the different parts of a car. He had studied how car parts work together and what happens when they don’t work together or when one part doesn’t work at all. He never took a course on fixing the entire car. Instead, all his classes focused on fixing the parts so that the entire car would function properly.

According to the Bible, you have parts much as a car does. You have a spirit, a soul and a body. In your body, among other things, you have a heart and a brain. The Bible also speaks of the mind.¹ When God aligned these components correctly, something far greater than a car was produced. You—the image of God—came into being. The chapters in this first section focus on what I have found to be the most important parts of that image as far as inner healing and deliverance goes. The purpose of healing these parts is to help your entire being function according to its design.

Let’s begin learning about these parts of you by taking a look at your human spirit. A healthy spirit working in conjunction with a healthy heart and soul is a huge advantage as you journey through this side of heaven.

The Soul and Spirit are Not the Same

There is a widespread misconception that the soul is the same as the human spirit. I have no idea how this misunderstanding got its start, but many Christians have never been taught that the soul and the spirit are different. If you ask other Christians what they know about the soul and spirit, I promise you will be met with confusion. Yet, scripture is very clear on this subject.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 THESSALONIANS 5:23)

The Human Spirit is Patterned after God’s Spirit

Because you are created in the image of God, I think it is reasonable to believe that your human spirit reflects His Holy Spirit. Revelation 4:5 (quoted at the beginning of this chapter) and Revelation 3:1—He who has the seven Spirits of God—describe the Holy Spirit as a sevenfold spirit. Since you are made in His image, it is more than likely that your human spirit follows the design of His spirit. That means that your spirit is also a sevenfold spirit.

And I saw between the throne … a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God … (REVELATION 5:6)

So, what does it mean to have a sevenfold spirit? Some parts of a car are composites of many parts, for example the engine or transmission. Think of your human spirit as being an engine with seven equal, but different parts. Each portion of your human spirit is distinct, but designed to complement the others and work together to nurture and mature your soul, to connect you with God and to give life to your body.

When each portion of your spirit is healthy, it functions like a smooth-running engine. Now, how well your spirit is able to function depends first upon being united with the Holy Spirit, which occurs when you accept Christ as your savior (1 Corinthians 6:17). It also, to a large extent, depends upon the state of your soul. More on that in the next chapter.

Traditionally, the list found in Romans 12:6-8 has been considered by theologians to be the motivational gifts; that is, what motivates a believer in his service to God and man. Dr. Bill Gothard, founder of the Institute of Basic Life Principles, saw consistent patterns of behavior governing how people served the Lord. Some people sought to serve by meeting practical needs. Others spoke truth into hard things. Some had an innate ability to wisely manage resources; others inspired through relationships. He recognized that these behavior patterns fit the Romans 12 list.² As believers studied these patterns, teaching came forth that the list of motivational gifts (also called redemptive gifts) may be understood as portions of the sevenfold human spirit. So, each of the seven portions embodies one of the motivational gifts. This means that all seven of the gifts are within your spirit, but only one leads and flavors your service.³ Here is the list along with biblical figures considered to exemplify one of the gifts.

• Prophecy = Prophet: John the Baptist, Caleb, Elijah

• Service = Servant: Barnabus, Esther, Ananias (Acts 9)

• Teaching = Teacher: Luke, Samuel, Isaiah

• Exhortation = Exhorter: Paul, Moses, Jeremiah

• Giving = Giver: Matthew, Abraham, Job

• Leads = Ruler: Joseph (Jacob’s son), Noah, Nehemiah

• Mercy = Mercy: John the Apostle, Ruth, King David

Everyone has a sevenfold human spirit, but God has designed you so that only one portion is in charge. Whichever one leads determines how you relate to God and people, and how you express the Lord in the earth. This means that one person may profoundly understand that truth sets people free and freely share truth even when it is risky or hard. Another believer may profoundly understand the heart of God and tenderly express his everlasting mercies to all; while another may busily organize the Kingdom of God for the good of all.⁴

A wounded human spirit, which is very common, may have only a few of its portions functioning fully for reasons that we will get into later.

Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. (ZECHARIAH 12:1)

The Human Spirit thinks, Feels and remembers

Because the human spirit and the soul have often been lumped together, you may be unaware that the spirit is a thinking and feeling part of you. But the scripture shows us that the human spirit both thinks and feels apart from the soul. It ponders (thinks), becomes anxious when it doesn’t understand, feels strong emotions and experiences refreshment.

I will meditate with my heart, and my spirit ponders … (PSALM 77:6)

The king said to them, "I had a dream