The struggle is real. (Part 2) - So what can we do?

So, as we saw in the last blog I can totally ramble far too much, I promise you I will try not to do that for this one..

We can all suffer from poor mental health. It doesn't matter who you are, rich or poor, pastor or congregation, man or woman - mental illness is something that is very real and very prominent right now. So how, as the church can we make a difference?

• Don't act like Christians are immune from having poor mental health.

It's simple, as Christians we are not immune from having a mental illness. Yes, having Jesus does help - we know a God who is all loving, who is the all-seeing father and redeemer of all, but it doesn't mean that we are never going to suffer from poor mental health. Just like as Christians we are not immune from getting cancer - yes, we have Jesus so with that we have hope but that does not offer us complete immunity. The problem with mental health is that nobody can see it. It's so easy to put on a smile and crack a few jokes, but nobody can really see what's going on (it's also very difficult to explain, especially to people who may not understand). As Christians we need to accept that it's an illness therefore it needs the same attention any other illness would get. Once we begin to accept that everyone, including ourselves, can be affected by this we are able to work toward a more accepting place for sufferers to come to in order to find safety and sanctuary.

       In addition to this, we need to be totally honest. If you are in a position where you are able to talk about it, talk about mental health, then do so. Allow people to know that they aren't alone, as well as having Jesus, they have their brothers and sisters around them who know exactly how they feel. Once we begin to admit that we too can and have suffered from mental health but yet we have a hope - we may not be cured, we may not be able to cure you. But Jesus can heal and Jesus can give hope. 

• Allow people to know that a church is a place of safety and sanctuary.

As I mentioned, poor mental heath is an illness, so we need to make sure we treat it like that. If one of our brothers/sisters came into church after a cancer diagnosis they would be welcomed with open arms, tears of sympathy, hands on prayer and endless offers of lunch/coffee meet ups. We wouldn't just whisper about their condition, put them at the end of your prayer list and be done with it, so why should we do this with mental illness. We need to begin to treat church as a place that people come to when they're weary, when they need to be uplifted, a place where the mentally ill can come to feel accepted and loved. If you know if somebody is suffering, be it from having a bad day, a bad week, poor mental health etc. then take the time to pray with them, offer to take them out, ask them how things are going, cook for them, allow them to cry on you - be  there for them. (Also, a great thing to do is educate yourself! Try looking up information on mental health & the churches attitudes toward it (as well as what the Bible says about it)). If you put an effort into something like that, making an effort to get to know the illness they're suffering from then you can approach it with a knowledge - as well as getting the Biblical knowledge to back it up with too, it could honestly help change someone's life. To know that there are people who are willing to pray with you, not just tell you to pray, or put you on their prayer list is incredible. Jesus answers prayers and He has set us free, so why not proclaim that for the people who crave freedom the most.

• Don't hate on medication - it does work!

So many people stay away from medication, I did it (mainly for health reasons), but if the doctor is telling you to go on medication, then you probably should! Jesus does heal, but He also gave the doctors skills to be able to create the medication needed. He also can work through the doctors in the treatments you have offered to you (such as CBT etc.). It still can be totally Jesus, but just through different means than you think.

• Together, we can start ending the shame!!

No longer should we live in a world where we are ashamed to talk about mental health - but more than too eager to talk openly about sex. Lets get rid of the stigma from a Christian perspective. As a church we should be able to be the first place that ends the stigma, we should be the place where people go first - where they want to go to find freedom. We are Jesus' hands and feet and we are made to go to the dark places, we are being prepared for battle - this doesn't just mean a worldly battle that we  have to fight, but also in mental health. We can fight to change the way that we look at mental health as a group of people, as Jesus' disciples we can learn to be more accepting and loving of those who have been cast out. Open your arms, eyes, hearts and prayers to those most in need and understand just what is needed.

We as a church are to work together to end  the stigmatization of mental illness, to allow people to know and understand the true heart of Jesus and what it means to have hope and freedom. 

Blessings 

May

*Disclaimer: Just like to add, I 100% know God is a healing God, but I also know that He does it in His timing, so sometimes, when the timing doesn't make sense to us, we struggle to see it. God totally does heal mental illness and set the captive free, but we must work toward making the church a place for those who suffer most.

Stop just making it a youth movement

Now is the time, God is preparing a generation.

I remember hearing this time and time again as a teenager and in my youth group 'God is building up a generation'. I was excited, I was ready, I was keen...And then I hit twenty. I was no longer a teenager, I was no longer able to go to youth events, be invited to teen-oriented functions or change lives. I felt like I'd wasted my teenage life, I hadn't led thousands of people to faith, I'd hardly brought about a revival. If I was meant to be part of a generation that was going to change the world, maybe I'd just been missed out of this part, maybe I was just not good enough. I'd come to university and I was a young adult, I stopped going to a youth group and started helping out at one, I started being known as someone (and not just my parent's daughter), I'd started being asked to pay taxes - safe to say I'd become an adult. I felt like I'd missed out on this generation movement. God preparing a generation was just a youth thing, not a church thing.

But this is not just a youth movement, the generation doesn't just stop at the youth.

We as a church are a generation, it's not just for the gifted, the old, the young. It is for all of us as a body of Christ. We are all made to praise Jesus; 'Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth; Both young men and virgins; Old men and children. Let them praise the name of the LORD, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven.…' (Psalm 148 11-13). We all praise Jesus and we all live to serve Him. We shouldn't be stuck in the groups that we have put ourselves into. We shouldn't take away the value from others, we shouldn't limit ourselves to people we relate to better, we should break away from this being a '(fill in appropriate name) movement' and make it a church movement.

This is not just for the youth, this is not a youth movement.

We are part of a generation, all of us. We all are to make a difference to the nation we belong to. Together we create the army that God is creating, we need to stop being civilians and become soldiers. God is rising up the young. God is preparing the old. God is calling the under-qualified. God is preparing the way for the qualified. It doesn't stop. God is calling you. 

We need to break away from the bondage of what we believe, that we are not young enough, clever enough, good looking enough, good enough...we are the generation. Don't just encourage the youth, don't just believe it for the youth, we are a generation that God WILL and DOES use. WE ARE A REVIVAL GENERATION. 

Blessings
May
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Put on your walking boots

We need to get ready, the walk of faith isn't easy. There will be struggles and pain, but there will also be joyous thanksgiving. But we have to do God's journey to seek out what God wants for us. It may take time, the timing may not be our idea of perfection but know that it is God's perfect timing. There will be many points along the path in order for us to know God on an intimate level and know His plan for our lives.

1)Obedience. One of the most obvious, yet most difficult tasks. We have all (or will all) stop being obedient at some point in our life. We may do it in such a way that we lose complete focus on God or we may just decide not to obey God in the small things. 

    When I was about eighteen (and a bit before) I stopped being obedient. I didn't stop believing in God or not love Him but I decided that I didn't want to be obedient to Him anymore. It took a huge toll on my faith as you can imagine, but in the timing of it I didn't care. It's only now that I can see where disobedience came in and my God fuelled life took a step back. This lack of obedience didn't mean that God loved me any less, He didn't stop and He never will ('For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither Angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither height not depth, not anything else in all of creation, will be able to seperate us for the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord' Romans 8:38-39)

Nothing can seperate us from the love of God. But when you are obedient to Him and His word you are able to grow deeper in him, you are able to know your worth and walk in the direction of knowing His plan for your life. I'm not saying that we only stray from obedience once and it's easy to come back into knowing that obedience is the best way forward, disobedience is easy, but damaging. Obedience will help us walk the path that Christ has laid out for us and allow us know true freedom, something that the world and disobedience cannot and will not offer us.

2) Sacrifice. When we look at our brothers and sisters in the Bible we see sacrifice all over the place. One amazing example is that of Abraham's sacrifice of his son. He knew that God wanted this from him the death of his beloved son. So in his obedience he took his son, Isaac (that he had waited so long for) and was willing to sacrifice him. But just at the right moment God stopped him (He is the God of perfect timing). Abraham wasn't to kill his son but a lamb that God supplied for him (sound familiar?). Abraham was willing to make that sacrifice, in his obedience and trusting of God.

    Sometimes we are to sacrifice more than we want. It might be money, time or material possessions (things we really want to hold of). But do we not know that what we sacrifice God will give us immeasurably more! When we sacrifice things to God (& things that really are a sacrifice) we are truly honoured and blessed. He will never give us more than we can handle, even if we think our sacrifice is way out of our league He will provide.

3) Warfare. Spiritual warfare is probably one of the most difficult parts of our walk with Christ. But it is a part of it. We know there is going to be a battle, but where we base our faith is important. We are on the winning side. ('Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's!'  2 Chronicles 20:15). The battle does belong to the Lord, but we are a soldier. With God, where the impossible is made possible how can we fall against a lesser army? When we dress ourself in the armour of the Lord we are winning the battle. With the blood of the lamb & the word of our testimony we can win this battle. It has already been won (spoiler alert: Christ ALWAYS wins). Know that warfare will come, it's not easy, but when we adorn ourselves with the armour of the Lord we are on the way to winning. Be aware and vigilant, the easiest prey for Satan is the weak who do not know it's going on until it becomes overpowering. From Abraham to Matthew spiritual warfare affects those closest to Jesus as well as those who feel distant. We are the winners.

    In Revelation it talks how for a moment Satan will seemingly champion over the saints, but only for a moment. Because a time is coming soon when Christ will come again and reclaim the world from the claws of Satan. Victory is coming!

4)Testing. On our walk of faith we will have many times when God tests our faith. We will struggle to maybe see God in things when the tests get tough, but as I've said before He will not give you more than you can handle. Your test will become your testimony. We struggle and muddle through the rubbish in life, but the strength and power we gain during this time will help us grow and become exactly what God wants us to be.

     One of the biggest tests of God is the timing of things. We struggle to trust in God when things don't happen straight away, that is when we fall. When things seem hazy for a while we struggle to continue to be obedient, we don't want to sacrifice, we can't face the warfare. But know now, God's timing is ideal (look at Abraham and just at the second when he was about to strike his son God stopped him). He knows the plan for your life and He knows when and where things should happen. This test may be the hardest, but once we understand it, we can begin to live in a freedom of knowing that our father knows best. (Disclaimer: it is easier said than done).

5)Confession. When we withold things from God we struggle to get intimacy with Him. Now God is aware of what we do and when we struggle to tell Him things and confess our sins, but the confession is where it's important.

    When you keep something in, it becomes uncomfortable. If it's bad stuff you get iller and iller until you decide you need help (in a physical sense, till you know you need to see a doctor). Keeping it in will not help you, it will hold you back. You won't get better by not seeking help or letting it out that's the only way to feel well again. On a spiritual level when we keep things in, hide things from God we are stopping ourself from knowing freedom. We may be able to still be spiritual but not in the way He intended and not to fulfil the things that He wants us to. We will get stuck on the path as we can't get the freedom and intimacy we need. Do not withold from God. He is a loving forgiving God and as I have mentioned before (but it's always great to be reminded) there is nothing that can seperate us from His love and forgiveness.

6)Look forward. Christ has a plan for each and everyone of us. It's a lot easier to say believe me, but He does. His plans our made for us. Think of the promises that have already been fulfilled - look at the Bible, the promise of a messiah, the promise of Abraham's descendants being starters of the tribes of Israel. We need to know and remind ourself of God's endless promises and goodness. When we take all of the steps of the walk of faith we do we are able to see how God is going to use and bless us. We are to do great things through Christ. Look to the stars and where they are going. Keep looking for those amazing awe-inspiring moments that Christ will do in your life. When we look at the stars we see His promises and the fulfilment that He has already done. A Christ-centered, forward looking life allows us to become all He wants us to be.

Be prepared for the walk, it won't be easy and we will struggle. But Christ is victorious and so are we!

Blessings

May

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