First, we should understand that this is a prophecy concerning the coming of Christ.  Satan was to bruise the heel of Jesus through bringing about the death of Jesus upon the cross, but Jesus overcame Satan also through his death and resurrection.  "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:4-5).  "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrew 2:14).

    However, there is a second meaning that we can see in this verse.  Satan is the enemy of God, but can not (is not able to) destroy God.  Therefore, Satan is out to destroy the apex of God's creation, man.  Satan is out to bruise all of mankind.  The concept of bruising in Scripture may mean to bring blows against one's identity.  There are two types of wounds in the natural:  the cut and the bruise.  The same is true in the realm of the soul (mind, will, and emotions).

    From the very beginning, Satan went about bruising mankind.  He suggested in the garden to Eve that God was keeping something good from her and that she was unworthy of all that God had.  He furthermore suggested that she surely had not heard correctly from God.  From that time forward, Satan has used people to bruise other people.  "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).     Satan has especially used fathers to bruise their children's identity.  Fathers often bruise their children by words, actions, attitudes, and selfish motives.  They express to their children that they are not wanted, have no value, are a mistake, can't do anything right, or never will amount to anything.

    The Word of God says, "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"  (Ephesians 6:4).  The idea is repeated: "Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged"  (Colossians 3:21).  When fathers provoke their children, the children become angry and discouraged with a poor self-image.

    1. The father may provoke his children by showing partiality or favor one child over the other. Jacob showed partiality with Joseph and provoked Joseph's brothers to jealous.  "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours"  (Genesis 37:3).  I could give you a number of cases that I of have worked with where this occurred.  The child grew up angry and became an angry adult.  The adult felt that life was unfair and even that God was unfair.

    2. The father may also provoke his children through neglect. He may get so involved in work that he doesn't have time for his children. This may have been the case with Samuel, the prophet. "And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment" (I Samuel 8:3).  I personally experienced some neglect.  Dad often had two jobs.  He was often preaching and farming or carpentering and farming.  I often felt alone and unworthy of attention of others and was a very shy young boy.  I even stuttered when I talked.

    3. The father may provoke his children through a failure to discipline them.  This is neglect from a different angle.  Eli in Scripture is a prime example of this.  "For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not"  (I Samuel 3:13).   The Word says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame" (Proverbs 29:15).   "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes"  (Proverbs 13:24).

    4. The father may provoke his children through a failure to provide for them.  The Word says, "Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children"  (II Corinthians 12:14).  The child may grow up thinking that he is not worthy of having a good job or that God doesn't care enough to provide for him.  Most likely, he also will not provide for his children either when they grow up.

    5. The father may provoke his children through a failure to keep his promises.  Rachel's father, Laban, promised her to Jacob if Jacob would work for him for seven years.   However, on the wedding night, Laban put Leah, the older daughter, in with Jacob and withheld Rachel. This was a blow to both Rachel's and Leah's identity.   They felt like they were treated as  pieces of property.  Rachel said, "Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money" (Genesis 31:15).   Then Rachel, in spite, stole her father's idols.  These would probably have been gold figurines of great value.  "And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's" (Genesis 31:19).

    6. The father giving cruel or unfair punishment will provoke his children.  Kish, the father of Saul in the Old Testament was a mighty man of power and may have been cruel to his son, Saul (I Samuel 9:1-5).  It seemed that Saul became very afraid of his father when he couldn't find his father's donkeys.  Later when Samuel was to anoint him we find that Saul had a poor self-image.  "And Saul answered and said, Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to me?"  (I Samuel 9:21).   Later, after he had become king, he vented some of his anger on his own son Jonathan over his jealousy over David.  "Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?" (I Samuel 20:30).

    7. The father may provoke his children through making unrealistic demands or demands without giving explanations. A father may say "Well, you are just to believe it because it is."  He may say, "Clean up your room" without explaining how or what he means by it."  You don't fully understand what is expected by him.  I personally would become quite frustrated when my father would give me a farm project and not give me full instructions of how it was to be carried out.

    8. The father may provoke his children by being an evil influence in their lives.  Ahaziah followed in the evil steps of his father Ahab.  "And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin:  For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done" (I Kings 22:52-53). Often this becomes a sore point when the son finds out that his father has led him astray.

    9. A father may provoke his children by smothering them with over protection.  David also failed in this area with Adonijah. "And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom" (I Kings 1:6).  Some fathers may try to build a bubble of protection around them, never letting them suffer for their mistakes.

    10. A father may also provoke his children by trying to force them into a selfish mold.  "And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob"  (Genesis 25:28).  A father may want his son to be a tough outdoors type son when the son leans toward art or music. A father may even try to make his daughter a son even though she is a female.

    Now, the reality is that all of us have suffered being bruised by Satan through our fathers to some degree and in some fashion or the other .  (Now is a good time to acknowledge it.)

    Some of us may have become very angry and bitter because of the bruises.  Others may have developed poor self-images of themselves.  We may feel worthless, depressed, and hopeless.  Because of the bruises, it is like we are carrying a ball and chain around with us whereever we go.

    Furthermore, since our fathers are the primary authority image, we may have also developed some bad misconceptions concerning God, our Heavenly Father.

We may have come to believe:

    1. That God shows partiality.
    2. That God neglects His children.
    3. That God will also fail to discipline us when we do wrong.
    4. That God will not provide for His children.
    5. That God will not keep His promises.
    6. That God may issue cruel and unfair punishment.
    7. That God may make unrealistic demands without explanations.
    8. That God may even lead His children to do something wrong.
    9. That God will protect His children no matter what they do.
    10. That God will not give His children the freedom of choice.

    HOWEVER,  "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him" (Psalm 103:13).  The word "pitieth" can be translated "to have mercy upon" or "to show compassion to."   Through faith in Jesus as Lord, the Father in Heaven births us into His family.  "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:29).  God will even be a father to the fatherless.  "A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation" (Psalm 68:5). Furthermore, God adopts us as His children. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15).  God will also give good gifts to His children.  "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

    Our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He has even provided freedom and healing for the emotional bruises which we have received from Satan through our earthly fathers.

    Jesus read from Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19).  Jesus came to give us freedom and healing from the bruises!  We don't have to continue to carry around that ball and chain.  We don't have to continue to have a poor self-image.  We don't have to continue to have a poor image of our Father in Heaven.

Where do we begin???  How do we receive the freedom and healing?  See: "Emotional Wounds Menu."

    1. First, we must be willing to forgive our earthly father for the bruises that he have brought into our lives.
    2. We should also be willing to put the now, living, father's judgment into God's hands and ask for Him to also forgive him.
    3. We should ask our Heavenly Father to forgive us for any anger, resentment, hate, or bitterness that we have held toward our father.
    4. We should ask God to restore any ground that Satan has taken in our lives through the hurts and our wrong attitudes toward our father.
    5. We should take authority over the power of the abuser (Satan) and bind him and command that he leave our mind, will, emotions, and body and not return.
    6. We should ask the Holy Spirit to confirm that we are free.
    7. Then based upon the fact that Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted and set free those that have been bruised AND based upon the fact that Jesus suffered being bruised by Satan and overcame him through the cross and resurrection events, we should ask God through the work of the Holy Spirit to step into our mind, will and emotions and bring healing.

    The bruising of children often becomes a generational curse and is passed along from one generation to the next.  Please read my book, "How To Destroy The Evil Tree."

    Furthermore, where we have developed a poor self-image, we should learn who we are in Christ and put on the new man laying aside the old poor self-image.  A Believer should see himself as a new creation, a Saint, a child of God, one who is loved and fully accepted by God.

    We should use the Word of God also to tear down the strongholds of the enemy concerning the misconceptions about our Heavenly Father and learn to walk in the fellowship with our Father in Heaven.

    1. Shows no partiality.

"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:" (Acts 10:34).

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:20).

 "For they (OUR FATHERS) verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness"  (Hebrews 12:10).

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (II Corinthians 1:20).

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrew 4:16).

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (I Corinthians 10:13).

"He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake" (Psalm 23:3).

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (II Corinthians 5:10).

"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23).