by Segun Olumide
Chapter Two ... Healing of Crushed Emotions and Disturbed Minds
In this part, we shall be looking at the causes of emotional disorder and mental disturbances and how to deal with them.
Cause 1: GUILT/CONDEMNATION
Paul wrote, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that CONDEMNS?...” (ROM. 8:33 – 34a, NIV).
Hal Lindsay shared the story of a beautiful young lady in his book, “Satan Is Alive And Well on Planet Earth.”
While her husband was on a long trip abroad she slept with another man. Realizing she had sinned she confessed it to God but she couldn’t just claim God’s forgiveness for herself.So she couldn’t forgive herself. And this produced a guilty conscience in her.
A few years after her husband had come back their first child was born. But because of the unresolved guilty in her mind, she became self-condemned until she until she had severe mental disturbances.In an attempt to clear her conscience she confessed her adultery to her husband. Although he forgave her, yet she couldn’t forgive herself.
Eventually, she reasoned that killing their child would remove her guilt. On a fateful day, her husband walked in while she was trying to strangle their child. Killing the child would have added to her guilt. She would have added sin to sin.But the scripture warns us against adding sin to sin (see Isaiah 30:1; 2 Samuel 11-12).Do you have to punish yourself or your loved ones or even your enemies to rid your conscience of guilty or condemnation, which is one of the main causes of mental illness?
The truth is: two wrongs cannot make a right. Those who try to make right a wrong with another wrong will end up with an increasingly guilty conscience.
God’s Remedy for Guilt
1. Don't be sin-conscious
a. Receive God's forgiveness (1John 1:7-9).
Similarly, Proverbs 28:13 reads, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
b. Receive forgiveness from others (Mat 5:23-24).
c. Forgive your offenders (Mat 6:12)
d. **Forgive yourself**
Hebrews 8:12 says, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
2. Be righteousness-conscious (2 Cor 5:21, Eph 6:14).
Righteousness is more of who you are while holiness is more of what you do.
You need to be both righteous and holy to make heaven. You can, however, be righteous but unholy and hence go to hell (Rev 22:11).
But the truth is: whenever you sin against God you are unholy, nevertheless, you are still his righteousness in Christ. This is very dangerous because you can be righteous and go to hell!
Just confess your sins and forsake them. God forgives sins. But he does not always forgive the consequences of sins (1Thes 4: 6; Gal 6:7-8).
Say this aloud:
"I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Sin has no power over me. Righteousness means right standing with God. Therefore I have right standing with God. It is also the ability of the recreated or born-again human spirit to stand before God without guilt, condemnation, sin-consciousnesss, unworthiness, inferiority complex, fear or bondage as though he had never sinned.
Therefore I stand before the Father in faith and freedom without guilt, condemnation, sin-consciousnesss, unworthiness, inferiority complex, fear or bondage as though I had never sinned."
3. Don't let anyone condemn you (Rom 8:1, John 8:2-11).
There was the story of a man who kept on condemning his wife that she would go to hell for using lipsticks, jewelry or such like until she became insane. Though it may be true that those things will take one to hell, yet it can be presented in a manner that will not condemn or accuse anyone unnecessarily.
The Bible says we should speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15) and that God has not given us the ministry of condemnation (2Cor 3:6-9).
**(some people think that wearing 'ornaments' make you beautiful, while the wisest thought is to wear 'oranaments' that accentuate the beauty from your inner being as well as your outside beauty)**
Please read my materials "Overcoming Hindrances to Making Heaven" volumes 1 and 2.
4. Don't live with regrets.
God said, "Give no thought to the things which are past; let the early times go out of your minds. See, I am doing a new thing; now it is starting; will you not take note of it? I will even make a way in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country" (Isaiah 43:18-19, BBE).
After Kathryn Kuhlman, the great woman evangelist had lived with another woman's husband for about 6 or 8 years, she repented and left the man.
God forgave her when she confessed it and forsook it. Then one day, she mentioned that mess to God in prayer and He told her that He couldn't remember that sin in her life again! Why?
Hebrews 8:12 says, "For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."
So if God does not remember your sins any more, then you have no business remembering them any longer! Just forgive yourself and don't wallow in regrets.
5. Go and sin no more (John 8:11).
6. Carry out full restitution as the need arises (2Cor 7: 11; Gen 20:7).
Cause 2: ANXIETY
I discovered that anxiety is different from worry. You see, worry is a form of anxiety.
There are 4 major sources of anxiety, namely:
i. natural source
This form of anxiety is caused by some foods and drinks we take. Also lack of some vitamins can cause it. Ask a doctor or do a personal research on the internet along this line.
ii. medical source
This may be caused by drug use, drug misuse, drug abuse or drug disuse.
iii. human source
Our wrong thinking in the midst of our daily challenges is responsible for this. This may be easily influenced by people's words and actions.This is where worry comes in because this type of anxiety is called worry. You see, there are more people on earth today with mental or emotional illnesses than people with physical or bodily illnesses.As a matter of fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that mental illnesses "are fast becoming the number one health issue of the 21st century."
This reminds me of the prophecy of Jesus, “and there shall be signs….. upon the earth distress of nations, perplexity (complicated confusion of mind) the sea and the waves roaring: Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the power of heaven shall be shaken….. "Be careful, or your heart will be weighed down {depressed} with dissipation {over- eating}, drunkenness and the anxieties {worries} of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. "Be always on the watch and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:25-26 KJV; 34-36 NIV).
I believe more human minds are sick today than human bodies. We need to realize that some of the people in our clinics, general or private hospitals are suffering from psychosomatic diseases, that is, bodily diseases caused or worsened by mental or emotional illnesses.For example, mental breakdown or emotional strain can result in paralysis in the body. And until and unless one deals with the internal illness first the external one cannot be thoroughly dealt with.
Friend, are you worried by life’s challenges? You don’t have to worry. I remember the case of a woman who became worried at her menopause. The thought of not being able to menstruate again in life made her worry herself out until she ‘lost’ her mind and wound up in a mental institution.
iv. demonic source
This is caused by the spirit of anxiety, spirit of heaviness (depression), spirit of fear, and so on. [See Isaiah 61:3; 2 Tim 1:7].
God’s Remedy for Anxiety
i. natural source
Avoid or reduce the intake of food and drink that can induce it (Mat 26:41).
ii. medical source
Withdraw from or minimize taking medicine that can trigger it (Mat 26:41).
iii. human source
Jesus warned, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.… Who of you by worrying and add a single hour to his life....?”
Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble on its own” (Mat 6:25, 27, 34, NIV).
Some people believe they can’t live without worrying but Jesus commanded us not to worry as we have seen above. Worry is an indication that one doesn’t trust in God’s ability to see one through a challenge in life. When you worry, then you are carrying a heavy load which God never designed you to carry. Carrying such a burden can crush your spirit depress your mind and wreck your body.
Then in verse 27, Jesus asked a striking question: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
The truth of the matter is that: worrying does not prolong one’s life, rather it shortens it. It does not make you a strong person but a weak, confused and sickly fellow. In fact, doctors will tell you that many of the people in psychiatric hospitals are worriers. But God did not call us to be worriers. Rather he has called us to be warriors of righteousness.
He wants us to war and demonstrate our victory won by Christ. How? Paul reveals it, “... by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left" (2Cor 6:7; See also 2 Cor. 10:3-4).
Friend, do you know that we cannot be good worriers in life and good warriors of righteousness at same time?
Peter also wrote, "Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you" (1Pet 5:7, TLB).
The AMP version says, "Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully."
iv. demonic source
Rebuke the spirit of anxiety or heaviness in your life in Jesus' name (Mark 16:17, James 4:7).
Cause 3: SHOCKING FEAR (SHOCK ROOTED IN FEAR)
“BECAUSE FEAR HATH TORMENT …” (1 John 4:18).
Imagine two women who both survived a terrible plane crash. In the natural, neither of them sustained any injuries in their bodies.
By the following week, one of them had resumed in her place of work and was carrying on well with her normal life. As a result, she couldn’t resume at office but rather was hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital for many years.You see, this second woman became mentally ill and emotionally traumatized because of shock rooted in fear.I believe there are different degrees of fear just as there are various degrees of glory, faith, anointing and so on.For instance, the Scripture talks about little and great faith (Mt 8: 10, 26), which implies that there is little and great fear.I John 4:18 says fear has torment. That means little fear little torment while great fear has great torment.One of the greatest forms of great fear is shocking fear (or simply put, shock).According to The Oxford Senior Dictionary, ‘shock’ is "a sudden violent effect upon a person’s mind or emotions (e.g. by news of a disaster).”
There was the story of a pregnant woman apparently trapped inside a burning house. As soon as some of the people inside the house saw the fire, they jumped and died. Notice that the fire did not kill them but shocking fear pushed them into their untimely graves. I am not saying one should not run away from danger but I am trying to say God wants us to live by faith, not by fear. So this pregnant Christian woman by faith walked out of the burning house unhurt. You see, faith opens the door for God’s intervention but fear opens it for Satan’s interruption which brings destruction, death, and so on (John 10:10).
Isaiah 54:14 (AMP) reads, “You shall establish yourself in righteousness (rightness, in conformity with God’s will and order): YOU SHALL BE FAR FROM EVEN THE THOUGHT OF OPPRESSION OR DESTRUCTION, FOR YOU SHALL NOT FEAR, and from terror, for it shall not come near you.” It can be deduced from this scripture, that a lot of people who experience mental oppression or physical destruction are first victims of fear.
Job had similar experience, when disaster struck him and his family, he said, “For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me , and that of which I am afraid befalls me” (Job 3;25, AMP).
Folks today are victims of mental breakdown and emotional disorder due to shocking fear resulting from a broken relationship, business collapse, academic failure, armed robbery attack, sudden death of a loved one, earthquake, religious or political riot, diagnosis with a medically incurable disease, and so on.
The story of Nabal drives this truth home. After Abigail, his wife had given some food items to David to pacify him without her husband’s knowledge.The scripture says, “In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him what had happened.As a result he HAD A STROKE AND He LAY PARALYSED on his bed like a stone” (1sam 25:37, NLT).In fact, KJV says, “… his heart died within him, and he became like a stone”, while the NIV says, “…his heart failed him.”These three versions made it clear that Nabal suffered a mental breakdown through the shock produced by the news he received. This, in turn, led to stroke paralysis in his body.
I remember several years ago before I got born-again, my mother had a marriage crisis which almost led to divorce. The shock and worries disturbed her greatly, and she had high blood pressure or hypertension, which eventually paralyzed her right arm. So she had a stroke.
But thank God she later received her healing in a particular denomination.I believe childhood trauma is a terrible experience that can cause future problems emotionally and mentally in adulthood stage. That's why children should be protected against traumatic experiences as much as possible.
God’s Remedy for Shocking Fear
2 Timothy 1:7 reveals, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
1. Rebuke the spirit of fear (Jam 4:7).
2. Don't think fear, talk fear and act in fear (Pro 23:7, Pro 6:2, Pro 28:1).
Read Ps 91 aloud over and over again!
3. Confess your authority and position in Christ (Eph 1:20, Eph 2:5-6, Col 1:12-13, Col 2:15, Luk 10:19).
4. Confront what brings fear into your mind as led by God (Acts 4:18-21, 31; Acts 5:40-42).
5. Don't fear because the Lord is with you (Is 41:10). So walk by faith with a deep sense of consciousness of God's presence and power in you and with you (1John 4:4, 15).
6. Reckon that there are 365 "Fear not"s in the Bible; one for each day. Look for them and meditate on them.
7. Fear God because the angel of the Lord surrounds them that fear him and delivers them (Ps 34:7).
If you fear God, you will shun sin and be bold like a lion (Pro 28:1).
8. Be filled with the Spirit and pray for boldness (Acts 4:23-31).
Segun Olumide is an apostolic leader at the Glorious Family Church International and the New Apostolic Movement both in Lagos, Nigeria. He has a mandate to align the church with God's purpose.
All scripture quotations are mostly from the King James Version unless otherwise stated.
Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS
No comments:
Post a Comment