Branch On The Vine

By: Alli Matthews

Have you ever experienced God’s healing power? 

Maybe you don’t think you’ve experienced healing from God personally, but you have heard stories of miraculous healing followed by fervent praying. 

Maybe you’re struggling to believe that God can heal you or someone you love. 

I believe that God is The Healer. I believe He is the One who heals. I have seen Him heal me from both physical and mental illness. I have seen Him heal others. I have seen Him heal people by ending their suffering and taking them to heaven. 

I could write a persuasive paragraph, but I think it is better to give some affirmations from Scripture. God’s word has power and helps us understand who He is. Here are some passages from the Bible that describe God as Healer: 

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

1 Peter 2:24

This verse is written by Peter in the New Testament, after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. It is referring to Jesus bearing our sins so that we could be healed.

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103:1-5

This passage is part of a poem written by David in the Old Testament. Even before Jesus came to earth and people saw Him physically heal others in front of their own eyes, people knew that God is Healer. David urges us to remember all the good things God does for us, including healing us.

The next passage is one of the many stories about Jesus healing a person from the New Testament. There are two reasons this story is very intriguing to me which I will share after you read it. 

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well. 

John 5:1-15

I find it interesting how Jesus asks whether the man wants to get well. Knowing that He is God, He already knew the answer to that question.

Maybe He wanted the man to admit his desire to be healed and his need for Jesus. In our Western individualistic culture, I think we are quick to turn to ourselves or someone other than God when we want to heal from something.

For example, if we get a cold, we may go to the pharmacy and pick up a medication to help ease our symptoms. We may go to the doctor and ask what medications they recommend. If the cold has lasted longer than 10 days, they might even give us an antibiotic if they’re worried about a sinus infection or pneumonia. Doing these things is not wrong or bad, but through that whole situation, do we ever go to our God, The Healer, and ask Him to heal us?

This man had been struggling to get into the pool that he believed would heal him for years. He longed for someone to help him get to the pool, but Jesus showed him that He could heal him without the pool or help from anyone else.

I also find the end of the story fascinating when Jesus warns the man to stop sinning. God doesn’t just care about our physical bodies and mental health, He cares about our hearts. He wants our hearts to seek Him. He wants us to understand that sinning is worse for us than being sick or even paralyzed.

That’s why I’m so thankful that Jesus freed us from our slavery to sin and made our hearts new. We have salvation and the forgiveness of sin through faith in Him because of His grace. Praise God for that.

Everything that God gives us in addition to our salvation and relationship with Him is just a bonus. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Healing is a gift from God, an extension of His grace to us. We don’t deserve to have Him heal us, and yet He often does it because He is so loving and kind.

And when He doesn’t heal us on our terms and in our timing, we are quick to get angry with Him. However, as I have explained in other posts, God uses our suffering to increase our perseverance and faith. He uses our suffering to help us grow, even though it may not feel like it in the middle of the struggle.

With that, I believe God has given us different tools to help us heal. I believe that medicine is a gift from God. He uses these tools and knowledge to heal us. He uses skilled people to heal us. It all comes from Him.

So here are three tools that you can utilize to help manage mental illness. God is the one who heals, and He has given us these things for His purpose of healing us.

1. Community 

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 

James 5:13-16

Satan wants us to feel isolated. That makes us more vulnerable and more likely to give him power to lie to us. 

However, God knows we need community to heal and thrive. He designed us this way. He knows that we will grow when we confess our sins and mental health struggles to each other. He knows that praying together and for each other will strengthen our faith. 

I know that mental illness can make it more difficult to seek community. I’ve been there. I have felt so anxious that I didn’t want to go to church or small group or hangout with encouraging friends. 

But I challenge you to just show up. Ask God to give you strength and community that will support you in your healing. 

We were not designed to live this life alone. We were designed to share each other’s burdens and pray for each other. 

God heals us through confessing our struggles and praying for each other in community. I challenge you to join a church or small group that does this. Or even to reach out to just one trustworthy person and tell them what you’re struggling with. Ask them to pray for you and how you can pray for them. Take this step of faith and watch how God can move through it. 

2. Therapy 

Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin. 

Psalm 32:5

Therapy is an amazing tool to help us heal from mental illness. I have experienced God use therapy to heal me. 

Therapy is so helpful because it helps us see where we are believing lies. It helps us undo patterns of unhealthy thinking. It helps us learn how to set boundaries so that we can function better. 

I recommend talking to a clinician about what kind of therapy is right for you. There are specialized therapies for different types of mental illnesses. There is also Biblical counseling which can be very helpful as well. 

I recognize that finding the right therapist for you can be difficult. Keep in mind that all therapists are imperfect people. They are not God, but they have been trained to help people who are struggling with mental illness. Be willing to try a few different therapists to find one that is helpful to you. 

If you’re struggling to find a therapist, Psychology Today is a great resource. You can use filters to find the kind of therapist you are looking for. I’ll add a link to it here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/michigan?gclid=Cj0KCQiAzoeuBhDqARIsAMdH14Ho52cXP6eTz4K4wervmIcbf789hFeErQE0ZYWBw70TTOnoRowK3Q0aAnwREALw_wcB 

God uses other people to help us heal from mental illness. Therapy is a wonderful tool that He gives us to learn how to better cope with mental illness and heal from it.  

3. Medications 

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17

I don’t believe that medications are a perfect gift, but I do believe they can be good.

Medications that treat mental illness often get a bad wrap. Like finding a therapist can be difficult, finding a medication that works and doesn’t cause intolerable side effects can be difficult. That doesn’t mean it will be difficult for everyone, but it definitely can be. 

However, medications can be essential for managing symptoms of mental illness. They can also help to heal the brain. Not everyone who starts medication for mental illness will need to be on it forever. 

I have seen how life-changing medications can be for people with mental illness. They can vastly improve one’s quality of life. 

Of course, I recommend talking to a clinician before starting any medication or supplement. Different medications are better for different people. 

To conclude, God has given us tools, such as community, therapy, and medications to help us heal from mental illness. He is The Healer, but He also uses these tools to bring healing to us. These good gifts come from Him. 

I encourage you to prayerfully seek out these tools if you are struggling with your mental health. Ask God if there is a certain tool that He would like you to try. 

This post concludes our Mental Health Series, but I don’t plan for this to be the last time I discuss mental health on Branch On The Vine. Thank you for participating in it and for all of the encouraging feedback. I hope and pray that God has used this series to bless and encourage you. 

Please reach out via email, social media, or in the comments with any questions or topics that you would like to learn more about. 🙂