Notes from a favorite Podcast: New Spring Church- Perry Noble
"Overwhelmed: Spanx, Sickness and Suicide"
Everyone gets overwhelmed. EVERYONE.
Today, we will talk about the people who allow the season of being overwhelmed to turn into a sickness that dominates your life. We spend so much time struggling, but are too prideful to ask for help.
It's OK to not be OK, but it's not OK to stay that way.
James 5:14-17
{James is the oldest book of the New Testament and was written by the brother of Jesus.}
James 5:14, says if you are sick, call for the church leaders to pray for you in the name of the Lord. This is what we do.
We ask for prayer when we are sick, or we need, or know of someone in need. Example, flu, cancer, cold, father is in hospital, etc. But we usually limit this verse to physical sickness.
Worry
Anxiety
Depression
Suicidal Thoughts
Worry un-dealt with leads to anxiety. Anxiety un-dealt with leads to depression. Depression un-dealt with leads to suicidal thoughts. Suicidal thoughts un-dealt with leads to suicide.
If you find yourself on that chart, you are sick. This is not what God wants for you and this is not where He wants you to be. This is not God's best for you.
{Side Note: You DON'T go to Hell because you commit suicide. You go to Hell because you don't know JESUS. PERIOD.}
Back to James 5:14. If you are sick, let the church know. Go to church and ask for help... say, "I'm dealing with some things."
Now here's whats funny. I've been in church my entire life. People in the church are as jacked up as people who don't go to church. So, the LAST people I would tell about my problems are church people. They crucified Jesus and they will crucify you too! Church in America, for the most part, is nothing more than pretty people, with perfect lives, with zero problems, that show up, and they are fake for about an hour and a half and then they go home. SO, if you have problems... and you let church people know you have problems... they will kick you out, until your problem is fixed. SO, the last place you would go to admit you are having a problem with anxiety, depression, mental illness is CHURCH. It's kind of like covering up your poop smell with Glade spray. Is that what God thinks of our church services? We take our crap to the bathroom then try to cover it up. When we bring our crap to church and we aren't going to deal with it... we spray the air freshener. We think church attendance will make what is going on inside of us go away. A lot of people at church find temporary relief, and they don't find FREEDOM. The reason they don't find freedom is because they have never understood that the church should be the place that it is OK to not be OK but it is not OK to stay that way.
Let's dive deeper: James 5:14 put in modern day terms would be... TAKE YOUR MEDICINE. You need to know that is OK to take your medicine. Is taking anti-depressants a sin? Is that not trusting God? Well... that would be the same is telling a diabetic to not take their insulin. God can heal you through medicine. Who cares HOW He chooses to heal you. If you take a pill to heal your liver, but not your brain, you are a hypocrite. Your brain, just like the liver, is an organ in your body. Don't let anyone look down on you for what God is doing in you. He is not doing it through the means some people think He should do it through. But that's why HE is God and YOU are not.
James 5:15, the prayers offered in faith will make the sick person well. This is not instantaneous. It is a PROCESS. The progress includes the progress of the Lord getting stuff out of their life. If you are going through one of the situations on the list... Jesus doesn't want to change your circumstance, he wants to change YOU. All of these things (worry, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts) happen as a result of sin. It may be sin that we commit and have to deal with, OR it may be sin that has been committed against us. Maybe you have never dealt with things that happened in your childhood. If you don't deal with it... what it leads to is bitterness and unforgiveness, which is sin that is toxic to your soul and will kill you spiritually. The biggest issue is getting the sin to the surface so you can confess it and get it out of your life. THERE IS FREEDOM IN CONFESSED SIN.
James 5:16, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so you may be healed. There are people that I want to pray for me that are powerful and effective. The way we get this freedom is to confess our sins to each other. It has to come a point where you say, "I am not OK and I don't want to be this way." This will start your process of healing.
It is OK to not be OK, but it is not OK to stay that way.
Love, Megan
