Is it possible to be a Christian if you have a heavy mental illness?

[Jayne]

13 minutes ago, JustPassingThru said:

I'm afraid this isn't going to be very well accepted, but please consider this in prayer and the Word.

Any and all drugs that causes us to be in an altered state of consciousness, is forbidden for born again children of God, in the New Testament the word for witchcraft is pharmakeia  and it means to take drugs, not aspirin or anti-biotics or medicines like that,  but rather drugs that mess with our minds, mind altering drugs that can open doors into other dimensions that God didn't give to man to experience.

Also, Paul tells us we have been given a sound mind:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7

and that coupled with:

For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, Rom 8:2

 

Whether what you said is accepted is really moot.  I'm grateful to the Lord that someone gave you that Bible that you have been transformed by the LORD.

I do not agree with you that medications for mental illnesses are witchcraft.  I, myself, have been on Prozac and it helped me tremendously.

Also, when Paul speaks to Timothy of a sound mind, he isn't talking about sanity.  He is talking about self-discipline and control.  It's a Greek word, σωφρονισμός  (sō-fro-nē-smo's) and it means an admonishing to a sound mind in terms of moderation and self-control.  

Paul wants Timothy to be bold in his preaching - not having a spirit of fear.  He also inserts being self-disciplined.  "Soundness" of mind comes from a self-controlled nature in being a true Christian.  

It isn't speaking of insanity or mental instability.  Paul wouldn't be speaking to Timothy about that.

I see a lot of people who don't believe in meds for people with mental illnesses who use that passage.  I wish they would understand the meaning of the word.

God has worked in you without meds.  I pray he keeps a good work in you.  He has worked in me and many others with meds.  

[frienduff thaylorde]

Well , according to more and more so called studies ,  people who love the LORD and love our bible ,  they already deeming as mentally ill .    Maybe we should do a post on this .

Thing is ,  I GOT ALL The joy they do not even know of .     And I don't need money or anything of this world , to have that JOY .   

 

[frienduff thaylorde]

For if loving the Lord and placing HIM above all , loving that holy bible and claiming it as the word of GOD Is deemed insane .  LOCK ME UP .   STILL I WOULD BE FREE .

Clock done struck , ITS PRAISE THE LORD TIME PEOPLE .   SO ,   LETS PRAISE THE LORD EVERYONE   . 

[backontrack]

7 hours ago, Figure of eighty said:

I ask because I'm having a hard time with my anxiety to the point I contemplate medication. 

I know some may see it as a lack of faith but I feel unless you have a mental illness or cared for someone with one..you won't understand. It's not imo

 

So..I'm just wondering those with heavy mental illness( bipolar, schizophrenia, OCD) 

 

How do you still follow God? 

How did you reconcile faith despite using medication ? 

 

 

And I hope this thread isn't offensive or against any rules.. 

I really don't want it deleted as I'm looking for answers. 

 

My illness keeps me from pursuing my dream, worries me about living alone because I'm afraid I'll probably lose it if I do. 

 

It's just really bad right now. 

 

I'd love to hear from people going through the same thing as I am.

Jesus came for not only you but for the hole world, I think just by asking you are saved by his grace anytime one can reason what you talk about know him. Now for those who are so mentally ill who can't reason I think God himself says they can not be responsible for what they do therefore I think God judges them on that they no not what they do.

[frienduff thaylorde]

2 hours ago, SelahSong said:

Yes, frienduff! Hallelujah!  Jesus tells us that if we abide in His word, we are truly His disciples, and we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Jump up, frienduff; I will, too!  PRAISE THE LORD! 

…

Selah

 

 

That's right sister .   OH let the peoples praise the LORD .   And Our LORD told us , near the end especially deceptions would abound and we would be hated with a vengeance .

He also told us ,  the servant is not greater than His Lord .   IF they have persecuted me , they will you too.

And remember they often said , He is beside himself , he is mad .  SO its not marvel that all these so called sophisticated renown phd preachers and the world

deem us crazy .   THE WORLD did it too JESUS , now it will do it to us too .   

Well, all I can say is , our LORD took on all railing accusations , mockings , beatings and was crucified for us my loved sister . For us .

SO its only an honor if we suffer and bleed for HE who FIRST BLED FOR US .     I know most folks would think that is total insanity .   How can one give up their life

and die with JOY in ONE they have never seen .     OH BUT BLESSED are those who have not seen , YET BELIEVE .    You are loved so much sister .  OH let all praise the LORD .

[Willa]

10 hours ago, existential mabel said:

Hello Figure of eighty

 

Its not at all offensive least not with me anyway! I struggle with anxiety and depression and its messed my life up somewhat.

 

 

I have had to do the medication route but then back in 2016, I had a sudden severe adverse reaction to the medication and then later a supplement.

 

 

All through this I have kept my eye fixed on the Lord. As that is all there is really imo. The world is temporary and also quite dark.

 

 

Recently I have had another health set back. But again I still continue to keep my eyes on the Lord. I have lifted it to the Lord as there is nothing else I can do. I don’t do the what if this what if that as tempting as that is eeek.

 

 

So yeah with mental illness I can still keep my eyes on the Lord. And best to avoid/reduce exposure where you can to  folk that do focus on what I call negative thinking.

 

 

I am constantly reading the bible its now 4 and a half years doing this . that helps to fortify me.

I have seen you change tremendously, Mabel.  Praise God for all His help in your life.  

[wingnut-]

11 hours ago, Figure of eighty said:

I ask because I'm having a hard time with my anxiety to the point I contemplate medication. 

I know some may see it as a lack of faith but I feel unless you have a mental illness or cared for someone with one..you won't understand.

 

I can't speak to anything on a personal level, but I would like to echo what others have said to you.  There is nothing wrong with taking medication when needed, the advances in medicine have all come about by God's will.  Nothing that exists, exists outside of His purposes.  I would also add that Luke was a physician himself, and I don't see anywhere in scripture where he stopped being a physician because he believed in our Lord.

God bless

[Blood Bought 1953]

 

Jesus said.... “ The sick need a physician”

Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine because it would help his stomach trouble......you could say it was the Pepto-Bismol Of it’s day.......

It would appear that the answers to ailments was Doctors and medicine......nothing has changed.

[r_ch_l]

14 hours ago, JustPassingThru said:

I'm afraid this isn't going to be very well accepted, but please consider this in prayer and the Word.

Just to let you know we are on the same page, I've been crazy, not the political correct "mentally ill, but totally crazy, couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, when out in public I imagined I saw people trying to kill me, talking to myself 24/7, couldn't sleep, didn't bathe, didn't eat, my mind spinning at 100 trillion miles per second, ...diagnosed schizophrenic, paranoid, depressive.

County Mental Health was going to lock me up, they considered me to be a danger to myself and others, but God...., now I know it was God intervening in my life before I was even born again, ...for some strange reason they made me an out patient on the condition I took their drugs, the very first time I took their drugs I started to get high, the time-space dimension shifted, the door was open and I was looking through into another dimension, the dimension where the demons live,  ...just like when I took LSD, that was the first and the last time I took them! 

A friend gave me his Bible with the Words of Jesus in red, I found when reading His Words a peace settled over me, my mind stopped spinning and I could sleep, it took 18 months to become sane, sane enough for Mental Health to release me, ...Father also brought a born again brother into my life, who became my best friend, he always had Scriptures for me when I was down, or slipping back, he was always there for me, always encouraging me to read the Word, to memorize verses, to encourage me and most important, to accept me just as I was, ...totally crazy! 

That was 37 years ago, may I humbly and in the Love of Christ tell you what the Holy Spirit has taught me?

Any and all drugs that causes us to be in an altered state of consciousness, is forbidden for born again children of God, in the New Testament the word for witchcraft is pharmakeia  and it means to take drugs, not aspirin or anti-biotics or medicines like that,  but rather drugs that mess with our minds, mind altering drugs that can open doors into other dimensions that God didn't give to man to experience.

Also, Paul tells us we have been given a sound mind:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7

and that coupled with:

For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, Rom 8:29

And  (we) have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him:  Col 3:10

Jesus was never mentally ill, not in Eternity past, not for the 32 years He walked this Earth and not now as a Man sitting at the right hand of the Father, ...Father knew us from before the foundation of this Earth, He knew exactly what would be happening in your life today, ...you have been predestined from before the world was to be conformed into the image of Jesus, ...yes, we all are different, no one is alike, we all have our pah to walk with our Lord, but..., we all have be predestined, while we are here, to be conformed into the image of out Lord, Jesus Christ!

I've given to you the verses my best friend gave me when I needed them, times when I was slipping back, times when I felt like I was coming on or having a flashback, times when I felt like it was just too hard to go on, it works, may I suggest you memorize these verses and speak them out loud if you are alone or in you heart if not, when you feel like you're slipping back, or it's too hard or anxious, ...these are more than just words in a book, they are reality, ...reality to those that are born again children of God, ...I tend to remind Father in my prayers of what He has promised me, like, "Father You said I have a sound mind," or Father, "You're conforming me into the image of Your Son Jesus Christ."

Dear one, we are in a spiritual war and the battle is being fought in our minds, the enemy of our souls will use our flesh against us, actually we are are own worst enemy, those feeling you feel, that is just your flesh, the old carnal nature talking, energized by the devil, we resist the devil with Scripture and the enemy will flee, just like he did when Jesus quoted Scripture to him, ...remember, the just live by faith, in faith use the promises Father has written in His Word.

One last thing, find a church that teaches the Word of God and not here particular doctrine, and fellowship there, ask for help, there will be someone there Father has already prepared to befriend you, ...you are not alone, you are an important member of the Body of Christ and there is a local body that needs your gift and talents.

Lord bless

 

 

I can vouch for the truth of this. It may not be the exact same circumstances but in my own life I've experienced God's freeing Power from mental illness despite being told by medical professionals that the answer was in medication. The world can only attempt to treat and cure and stabilise us and the troubles inside ourselves with the worlds mean - medication, breathing techniques, minfulness, etc. But we serve a God who is not conformed to this world. Of course God created doctors and medicine for us to use for our physical ailments. But when I read the Gospels I see that every case of insanity or what we would call mental illness etc, was demon possession or demon oppression, and Jesus and the disciples dealt with it by addressing the root cause - demon powers. I therefore truly believe that the majority of mental illness in the world today is a result of either demonic possession or demonic oppression (as children of God we cannot be possessed, but we can be demonically oppressed from the outside). I have found freedom from deep depression through filling my mind with the word of God, proclaiming His word, and verbally binding the enemy in Jesus' name.

Not only that, but 10 years ago I experienced a trauma in my life, and from that day forward I was plagued by a spirit of fear which manifest in certain situations. I was told by the professionals that this is normal when you experience trauma, and that while I could try to manage it with breathing techniques and the likes, I would just have to learn to live with it. But do you know what? Four long years later I surrendered my life to Jesus and soon after He delivered me from that spirit of fear in one MOMENT! This was an immediate deliverance for me, and of course not everything will happen immediately. We must learn to use the authority God has given us through Jesus Christ to combat the spirit of fear and anxiety which are NOT from God but from Satan, and to use His very word to renew our minds and conform them to God's truth, and refuse to allow the devil to make us feel like there is no way out of our present circumstances. We must fight the fight of faith in all areas of our lives, depression and anxiety included. I want to encourage anyone here experiencing what the world calls mental illness that you do indeed have a sound mind in Christ and it's devil who wants you to believe otherwise and we must combat that liar with the Word of God and apply His word to our lives and we will see freedom, praise the Lord.  

[existential mabel]

13 hours ago, Willa said:

I have seen you change tremendously, Mabel.  Praise God for all His help in your life.  

yes indeed PTL. and thankyou for saying so!!