Stay Here: God's Plan to Restore Your Mental HealthSample

You are Not Your Issue

The Bible’s full of people whose issue we know but not their name. I wonder if God inspired this way of telling their stories to make a point about what we so often are when we’re stuck on a mat—missing out on the identity He planned for us.

A woman is caught in adultery in John, chapter 8. We never know her name, but we sure do know her issue.

A man born blind is seen in John, chapter 9. We never know his name, but we sure do know his issue.

And in Mark, chapter 5, is a demon-possessed man. He’s cutting himself. He’s growling. He’s screaming. He’s hanging around tombs. We never know his name, but we sure do know his issue.

Some of the unidentified people in the Bible with issues were no doubt more comfortable sitting in them than others, although the unnamed woman with the debilitating flow of blood was so desperately uncomfortable that she bravely reached out to merely touch Jesus’s hem. But our culture today makes monuments about our issues. We make hashtags and create movements about our issues. And I believe and I’m fearful that many of us are so comfortably into our issues that we’re beginning to forget our names, to forget the identity God planned for us. All because we love to sit in our issues.

God is searching for those of you who’ve been all caught up in your issue. He’s looking for those of you who’ve forgotten your name, the identity He planned for you. And He’s searching for those of you who’ve been on a stuck in a cycle for years and feel like you’ll never get up.

He wants you to know you are not your issue. You are a son or daughter of the Most High. You are His prized possession. You are His treasure. He left heaven to get to you. You are not your past. But if you want to get up, it will mean taking responsibility.

So many of us get comfortable in our cycle of sin. We get comfortable with our issue. We get comfortable in our addiction. We get comfortable with being a victim. But Jesus says, it’s okay to not be okay, but it’s not okay to stay that way. I have come to heal you.

Prayer:

Jesus, I know you’re asking me to stand and walk, and today I’m ready to do it. I’ve been sitting on this mat for too long, but now by the power of your Spirit, I’m getting up out of the pain, out of the mental mess, and into your arms. You can heal me, and I won’t resist you. Please do it now. In your name, amen.