Finding the Light in Mental IllnessSample

DAY 5

FEVER

Welcome to day five of our study on mental illness. I know illness can sound like something is wrong. The truth is, when we talk about illness as a mental state, we are really discussing the conflict between our mind and heart. Diagnoses like depression or anxiety are considered mental illnesses in today’s world. However, depression is a state of feeling. Anxiety is a state of feeling.

Through Scripture this week, we have seen impure spirits can take over our bodies. We are left in a state where our minds are a battlefield for demonic activity, and our hearts long for God’s love. This leaves us conflicted, and our reactions may be expressed through depression, anxiety, stress, worry, or fear.

The good news is that Jesus holds all authority over the impure spirits that may cloud our minds. Today, we will continue our reading and understand that even in Scripture, there is a difference between physical and mental illnesses.

Mark 1:29-31 says:

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. 31 So He went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever. She had a physical illness. Scripture makes no mistake in distinguishing a fever as a physical state. This seems to be expressed differently than an impure spirit possessing a man.

I want to make our own distinction. We see when Simon’s mother-in-law was healed, Jesus simply touched her. She was healed instantly.

However, this week when the man was healed in the synagogue from the impure spirits, Jesus had to show his authority and demand the spirits leave. The man was not peacefully healed, but it was quite the scene as the spirits made the man violently shake, and they left screaming in fear.

I will leave you with this thought today: physical illness can be a simply-healing process if it is God’s Will. However, a mental illness, or our conflictions, take effort. Although they can still be healed through God’s power and authority, it takes effort not only on God’s part but also on ours.

The man with the impure spirits may not have specifically asked to be healed, but his heart was in the right place. After all, he was seeking God that day by being at the synagogue in worship when Jesus walked through the doors. Sometimes, just showing up is enough, just like the man in the synagogue.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow as we finish studying this portion of Scripture, and we will see just how powerful God’s hands are through His Son, Jesus.

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