Mental Illness Revisited...

[n david]

Originally Posted by Aquila

I stepped away to pray and gather my thoughts. And I did something that I don’t do that often, I prayed for “a Word”. However, not just a Word to comfort and strengthen me, but a Word that I could share with others. And I received it. The power of God came down on me and several things were impressed upon my heart and I want to share them here.

As I prayed the Spirit brought this passage to my mind…

1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, 3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? 4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: 5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. ~ Matthew 11:1-6

This passage is an enigma for some. Many don’t realize what is happening here. We see Jesus and the disciples out preaching the Gospel. While they are doing this, John (who is languishing in prison) sends two disciples to ask Jesus a question. The question was, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” This question is very troubling. If anyone knew who Jesus was, it would have been John the Baptist. John stood in the waters of the Jordan and baptized Jesus, and when he did John heard the voice from Heaven declaring that Jesus was the Son of God in whom the Father was well pleased. John saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus as a dove, confirming the anointing and Messianic mission that Jesus was to perform. Why was John expressing doubt???

It’s easy to understand really. You see John was in prison and facing a death sentence for preaching the truth… and it wasn’t looking good. No doubt John had believed that Jesus the Messiah would send an earthquake to crack the prison open and an angel to escort him home. However, with the scheduled execution near… there had been no earthquake. No angel awakening John in the night to walk him home. This feeling of being abandoned by God no doubt left John disillusioned and frustrated in his faith. When the messengers return, they bring a message from Jesus. Christ had answered John’s question by saying,

“The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.”

The words are powerful and revealing. While John languishes in prison Jesus joyously expressed to the messengers that many are receiving healing and deliverance. The blind are receiving their sight, the lame are walking, lepers are being cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life! And the poor… the Gospel is being preached unto them. However, in all of this powerful and positive testimony, nowhere does Jesus promise John deliverance. Instead, the words of Jesus seem to break from the joyous testimony to say, “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” When John heard these words, I believe he understood the implications and for a moment his heart stopped. Jesus was saying,

“John, you know who I am. John, mighty miracles and deliverances are breaking out among the people as I demonstrate my power. Yes, they are being healed, delivered, and encouraged. But John, hold fast to your faith. Because it saddens me to have to tell you this. I’m not sending an earthquake. I’m not sending an angel for you. John, I know you’ve prayed to be delivered on account of your faithfulness… but John… the answer is,‘No.’ John, you’ll be blessed if you can hold fast to your faith and accept my will for you. You’ll be blessed if… you are not offended by what I’m going to do with your life.”

John felt the sting of Jesus saying, “No, John. While I am delivering others… I’m choosing not to deliver you. Hold fast and do not be offended at this. I know what I’m doing.”

I am also reminded of Paul and his prayers to be set free from his “thorn in the flesh”. This thorn in the flesh was a messenger of Satan that challenged Paul significantly. Many believe that it might have been an eye disease. Or perhaps some other disability incurred as a result of the beatings he had taken for preaching the Gospel. Many have postulated that perhaps it was a spirit or infirmity that tempted Paul to sin against God. Others have said that perhaps it was a discouraging spirit reminding Paul how so many slandered his name and were refusing to hear the Gospel entrusted to him. The truth is… we don’t know what it was. It may have been one of these things or perhaps a combination of all of these things. Nevertheless we know that Paul tells us that he prayed three times to be set free… to be delivered… to be healed. And God’s answer was…

“7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. ~ II Corinthians 12:7-10

God’s answer to Paul’s prayers were, “No Paul, I’m not going to deliver you from this affliction. Because through this, I will keep you humble. And you shall see how my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Perhaps you’re in the prison of disease, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or some other infirmity. Perhaps you’re in the prison of some situation or circumstance that you can’t change. Maybe someone you dearly love is facing any of these things and you've been praying and believing and you're not seeing God's hand move in their circumstance. You see so many around you being delivered… yet your prayers have gone unanswered for weeks, months, or even years. Perhaps as a result of this…you, like John, are wondering… “Is this Jesus and His delivering power for real? Why isn’t God setting me free???”

Please note, Paul only prayed three times and then committed the situation to the Lord. Release yourself from the notion that you need to “build up enough faith”. Some are telling you that you just don’t have enough faith. That isn’t true. It only takes a little faith to receive a miracle. Faith the size of a mustard seed, according to Jesus. In fact, I can prove to you that you have the faith. How? If you don’t know who Jesus is or you don’t believe He has the power to deliver… then why are you so discouraged and confused??? Clearly, your discouragement, confusion, and disillusionment are signs that you do in fact know beyond a doubt who He is… and you do know beyond a doubt that He can deliver you! If you didn’t have this faith beyond a doubt… you’d not feel so discouraged or disillusioned! So stop believing people who say that you simply don’t have the faith. Instead… put your faith and trust in God. Do not allow yourself to become offended in Him when He says “Not now.”… or… “No. I have a better plan.”

Blessed are you if you are not offended at what God is doing in your life or the life of someone you love.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

“John, you know who I am. John, mighty miracles and deliverances are breaking out among the people as I demonstrate my power. Yes, they are being healed, delivered, and encouraged. But John, hold fast to your faith. Because it saddens me to have to tell you this. I’m not sending an earthquake. I’m not sending an angel for you. John, I know you’ve prayed to be delivered on account of your faithfulness… but John… the answer is,‘No.’ John, you’ll be blessed if you can hold fast to your faith and accept my will for you. You’ll be blessed if… you are not offended by what I’m going to do with your life.”

Brother Chris, I thought you would throw a little Talmudic highlights and some waxing philosophically about all this. But John had already told the Judean leadership that he was decreasing and Jesus would increase, I really don't know why you would choose John's martyrdom to prove a point about Jesus being able to deliverer someone from being depressed or having extremes highs and lows "bipolar." Jesus actually tells John that the Gospel was healings and preaching the good news to the low level of society. Yet, you sort of ditch that and go off on a soliloquising? I have always said this, people will actually make the word of God of none effect for the sole reason to prove that they themselves are right and protect some thought a spirit has given them.

[Aquila]

God can deliver and heal. And it doesn't take goosebumps, Pentecostal "bang clang" music, or jumping, clapping, running, or anything else. As a result of prayer, it can settle on you as you're sleeping. You can wake up one day and discover to your dismay... that you're healed. You're delivered.

However, at the same time... do not be offended at God should God have a better plan.

I prayed for my mother's healing and to my dismay I had to let her go. Yet, while preaching her funeral... I looked out over the crowd... and I saw nearly my entire family sitting on pews feeling the power of God. It's been years now... and nearly half of them are now in different churches serving God in accordance to their conscience. Before, none of them were in any church.

Sometimes... God says no to a certain prayer... so that He can say yes to other prayers.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

God can deliver and heal. And it doesn't take goosebumps, Pentecostal "bang clang" music, or jumping, clapping, running, or anything else. As a result of prayer, it can settle on you as you're sleeping. You can wake up one day and discover to your dismay... that you're healed. You're delivered.

However, at the same time... do not be offended at God should God have a better plan.

I prayed for my mother's healing and to my dismay I had to let her go. Yet, while preaching her funeral... I looked out over the crowd... and I saw nearly my entire family sitting on pews feeling the power of God. It's been years now... and nearly half of them are now in different churches serving God in accordance to their conscience. Before, none of them were in any church.

Sometimes... God says no to a certain prayer... so that He can say yes to other prayers.

Sorry to hear about your mother, truly sorry.

Are you saying that God's better plan was for you to be able to preach her funeral, and then through the funeral have family members to become ministers in church?

[Aquila]

And if you're suffering from some infirmity, sickness, disease, or condition and God hasn't delivered yet... just give it to Him and move forward in your faith and serve Him. He will demonstrate how His strength is made perfect in your weakness. Through you, God can demonstrate how He can make people whole... through a broken vessel.

[MarieA27]

Originally Posted by Aquila

And if you're suffering from some infirmity, sickness, disease, or condition and God hasn't delivered yet... just give it to Him and move forward in your faith and serve Him. He will demonstrate how His strength is made perfect in your weakness. Through you, God can demonstrate how He can make people whole... through a broken vessel.

I'm trying to stay away from this thread as I see it's heated enough as it is, but I just wanted to comment, as I have a problem this above statement. But the problem that I have with this above statement is that it seems like you're saying, (without trying to say it), if you're praying for a certain length of time for healing and if it doesn't come about in that time, then you're to give it to God (give up, be disheartened, stop believing that God will heal and deliver you) and go about your way.

In my experience I know that God doesn't heal you from everything, and He has his reasons for not doing so. When God heals and delivers, it's done unto the glory of Him, to show forth His mighty acts, to show forth his works, and He wants you to have faith, to believe in Him, so he can work through you. From myself, and dealing with others, there are times when you're healed right away, others it takes a little longer, and some times it takes years. There are people who have been suffering with an infirmity for 20+ years before God delivered.

What I feel that that scripture means, regarding Paul's thorn, I don't see that he just gave up. He prayed until God let him know that He wasn't going to deliver him, before he was able to move on. I know that a lot of people just pray, and pray fervently for a while, then one month pass, then 6 months, then a year, then farther yet, then they see it as God doesn't will to deliver them, then they just settle into whatever infirmities that they are contending with, oftentimes seeking help from other alternatives then God.

In my experience also, God usually has a set, appointed time, whether it'll be a quick deliverance or a longer one, and He's oftentimes testing us, waiting and seeing if we'll be faithful, and continue to believe and hold onto Him through this.

I hope that this doesn't sound like I'm berating anyone for not having faith in God, because I'm not trying to do that at all, and I hate it when people do that, as I know that everyone are at different places in God, and that He deals with everyone differently. I just didn't like that which sounded like "give up, God's not going to deliver through this, and you deal with it another way"

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by MarieA27

I'm trying to stay away from this thread as I see it's heated enough as it is, but I just wanted to comment, as I have a problem this above statement. But the problem that I have with this above statement is that it seems like you're saying, (without trying to say it), if you're praying for a certain length of time for healing and if it doesn't come about in that time, then you're to give it to God (give up, be disheartened, stop believing that God will heal and deliver you) and go about your way.

In my experience I know that God doesn't heal you from everything, and He has his reasons for not doing so. When God heals and delivers, it's done unto the glory of Him, to show forth His mighty acts, to show forth his works, and He wants you to have faith, to believe in Him, so he can work through you. From myself, and dealing with others, there are times when you're healed right away, others it takes a little longer, and some times it takes years. There are people who have been suffering with an infirmity for 20+ years before God delivered.

What I feel that that scripture means, regarding Paul's thorn, I don't see that he just gave up. He prayed until God let him know that He wasn't going to deliver him, before he was able to move on. I know that a lot of people just pray, and pray fervently for a while, then one month pass, then 6 months, then a year, then farther yet, then they see it as God doesn't will to deliver them, then they just settle into whatever infirmities that they are contending with, oftentimes seeking help from other alternatives then God.

In my experience also, God usually has a set, appointed time, whether it'll be a quick deliverance or a longer one, and He's oftentimes testing us, waiting and seeing if we'll be faithful, and continue to believe and hold onto Him through this.

I hope that this doesn't sound like I'm berating anyone for not having faith in God, because I'm not trying to do that at all, and I hate it when people do that, as I know that everyone are at different places in God, and that He deals with everyone differently. I just didn't like that which sounded like "give up, God's not going to deliver through this, and you deal with it another way"

My point was that after a certain time, simply stop begging. Don't be disheartened or give up. Just commit it to God in His timing. Trust that if it doesn't come immediately... or in this life... God has a purpose for the affliction and that God can still use you.

I hope that helps to clarify.

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by Aquila

My point was that after a certain time, simply stop begging. Don't be disheartened or give up. Just commit it to God in His timing. Trust that if it doesn't come immediately... or in this life... God has a purpose for the affliction and that God can still use you.

I hope that helps to clarify.

Brother Chris there are those who were healed immediately, and those like Epaphroditus who took some time. Yet, God healed and delivered, I would encourage people to shoot for the best possible target and hit the bull's eye, then telling them that however the dice rolls it rolls, and the hand you are dealt you must live with. That is straight up Hinduism, and Calvinism.

[MarieA27]

Originally Posted by Aquila

My point was that after a certain time, simply stop begging. Don't be disheartened or give up. Just commit it to God in His timing. Trust that if it doesn't come immediately... or in this life... God has a purpose for the affliction and that God can still use you.

I hope that helps to clarify.

You mean, stop asking God to deliver you, let Him heal you if He wants, don't heal you if He doesn't want to? That...sounds like giving up to me, losing your patience and not truly believing He'll deliver you, like you did in the beginning. And when you lose your patience, you'll end up losing your confidence and then your faith... The bible says that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Also that He'll avenge His own elect who cry unto Him day and night. You might not pray as earnestly in the latter time of your sickness, as you did in the beginning, but you still keep praying till something is revealed to you one way or the other...

[Evang.Benincasa]

Originally Posted by MarieA27

You mean, stop asking God to deliver you, let Him heal you if He wants, don't heal you if He doesn't want to? That...sounds like giving up to me, losing your patience and not truly believing He'll deliver you, like you did in the beginning. And when you lose your patience, you'll end up losing your confidence and then your faith... The bible says that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Also that He'll avenge His own elect who cry unto Him day and night. You might not pray as earnestly in the latter time of your sickness, as you did in the beginning, but you still keep praying till something is revealed to you one way or the other...

Thank God Almighty!