How To Defeat Mental Illness (It’s Not What You Think)
For as long as you can remember, your mind has been one of your biggest enemies. Day in and day out, you find yourself struggling with intrusive and obsessive thoughts that prevent you from doing simple things, some of which include falling asleep peacefully at night and focusing on important tasks throughout the day. When you’re anxious, you’re REALLY anxious, and when you’re feeling depressed or upset, your emotions seem to engulf your entire day. You feel like you have little to no control over your mind, and it eats you up inside, leaving you feeling empty, weak, and honestly, pathetic.
I want you to know that despite how much that first paragraph may have resonated with you—none of it needs to remain your reality. Feeling like you have no control over your mind and actually having no control are two very different things, and I’m here to inform you that it all boils down to where you’re placing your faith, which in turn affects your self perception. Meaning, your current inability to grapple those intrusive thoughts and overbearing emotions stems from the simple fact that you aren’t in tune with your Creator, who is the only one that can provide the kind of authority and confidence you need to truly combat what you’re dealing with (Luke 10:19).
I learned this lesson not too long ago, around the time I decided to dedicate my life to Jesus Christ. I had been involved in the deathtrap of New Age (tarot, Law of Attraction, manifestation, yoga, etc), and God revealed that the practices I was engaging in to “open” and “free” my mind were actually only opening me up to the devil. As much as I tried to convince myself that New Age was helping, it was only making my already fragile state worse. I was being riddled with nightmares, fear, anxiety, anger issues, and depression. The Bible says that God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7). New Age, wrapped in a shiny bow under the guise of self-empowerment and self-healing, is presented in a way that is appealing to those who aren’t willing to do the work it takes to pursue God. Because the devil knows that your lack of fulfillment in Christ leaves you empty and spiritually wounded, he supplies a counterfeit source that you can “fill up on” so he can then gain access to your mind, body, and spirit—his ultimate goal being to lead you into eternal damnation (aka Hell).
That being said, it’s SO important to acknowledge your habits, practices, and beliefs, and how they’re actually making you feel, because that in and of itself is very telling. The enemy will try to convince you that you’re doing fine, that you’re comfortable with the way you’re living and you wouldn’t have things any other way, but deep down you feel uneasy. You know what your fate would be if something were to happen to you in this very moment (God forbid).
I say all of this to say, that in choosing to pursue a relationship with Jesus, I learned so much about things like depression, anxiety, and mental illness. There was a point in time where I truly believed I had these things, and that I was simply born to be a casualty of my own mind (Schizophrenia apparently runs in one side of my family). God showed me otherwise. Through His word and personal revelation, I learned that these illnesses, these afflictions that society is so comfortable and accustomed to identifying with, are actually spirits. You don’t have depression, you’re being oppressed by the spirit of depression. You don’t have anxiety, you’re being oppressed by the spirit of anxiety. Your bipolar disorder? Your OCD? Your eating disorder> Those constant obsessive thoughts you’re having? You’re being oppressed! To be oppressed is to be exploited or methodically harmed. People who have “no freedom” are oppressed, and the Bible tells us in John 8:36 that those who the Son (Jesus Christ) sets free, are free INDEED!!!
This lets you know that ANYTHING bringing you debilitating stress, a lack of peace, fear, anguish, depression, and emptiness is NOT from God—which means that it’s NOT your portion! John 16:33 tells us that in Jesus we have peace, but in the world, we have tribulation. God can’t gift the attributes of His character—His very nature as an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent being—to those who deny His significance in their lives or are out of alignment with His will for them. Your separation from Christ is playing a direct role in the war being waged in your mind.
I learned the hard way (as most of us do), that just because I have the option of peace through Jesus Christ, doesn’t mean I automatically gain access to it. It’s a free gift that I must choose to receive through intentional relationship with Him. In that, you’ll learn about the authority you have through Jesus to come out of agreement with these spirits. You’ll learn that you don’t HAVE to “claim” depression just because the doctors, or your therapist, told you that’s what you have (been there). You’ll learn to speak LIFE over yourself, over everything connected to you, because you’ll have learned that there is life and death in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). In learning to walk in the authority God has given you, you’ll come to find that there is an abundance of healing just waiting for you in His presence.
God is the author and the finisher, and there is NOTHING that is impossible for Him (Luke 1:37). Whatever you find yourself dealing with mentally, whatever medications you may be on that aren’t working, whatever anguish you face before you go to bed each night…just know that there is so much freedom in the name of Jesus. YOU are in control of your mind, NOT the other way around. When you choose to partner with God for your healing, you’ll be amazed at how rapidly things turn around. I’m a living witness to the miraculous hand of the one true living God, and if He could save me and my mind, He can save yours too.
Talk soon, xoxo