Hi, I am Millie Joy, co-founder of Church 14, welcome to God Today. I would like to share a little bit about my testimony from mental health issues. In our generation, it is becoming more common that mental health is at the forefront of what many are talking about. We need this. We need to talk about this. We need to talk about this in the Church.
Now you have your primary care physician and people know they need to take care of their mental health too, there is a lot less shame surrounding the subject. But 15 years ago, when I had come into my Christian walk, I came out of some intense mental health situations. So, as a broken teen from a broken home, I ended up in many mental health institutions diagnosed with personality disorders, on many mental health medications. And I really honestly did not know if there was a purpose for my life. Now, I had an encounter with Jesus that set me free from all these things, and after a crazy suicide attempt, it was like I was waiting for something. I was waiting for God to grip my life. It is like I knew that something was coming. So there is a huge subject around mental health and mental health awareness.
One of my favorite Bible passages is in Mark 5. He talks about a man who is mentally ill, mentally unstable. A demon-possessed man. He was in the region of Gerasenes and he was self-injuring, it says he was a self-injurer. He had all these issues and it says he lived among the burial caves. That is a link to where he believed his identity was. He didn’t even want to live among the living. He stood around the dead people because he didn’t believe he was even alive. I remember experiencing that, going in and out of institutions, being plagued by demonic powers and different things.
Now, what is funny is that when Jesus got off the boat in His region, and I am reading out of Mark 5 right now. But I am summarizing. When Jesus got off the boat in His region, He was immediately drawn to Jesus. He runs up to Jesus and says, “What do you want to do with me? Please don’t hurt me.” Jesus has so much grace, so much mercy, so much love. And He actually rebukes the demons out of this man. There is a little bit of back and forth. And He says, “Fine, have your wish, go into those pigs, get out of this man, and set this man free.” During the time of his possession, he was actually breaking chains. No one could contain him, he would break the chains off, however, they tried to keep society safe from him. When you see that, that he was a chain breaker, you can kind of see in that Romans “God’s gifts and callings without repentance”, that even while he was possessed by demons, he was breaking chains. Chains were being broken all around him.
So, when he had an encounter with Jesus and Jesus set him free from the demons, he was already a chain breaker. God was using all of that for His good after that. The people came and they heard a ruckus was happening. They came and saw what was going on. This is the funniest part of this passage, I believe. They saw he was sane, they saw he was healed. And they were afraid. Isn’t it just like that? God does a radical change and it causes a response in the people around you. It causes a reaction out of the people around you. And sometimes we are just like, “How do we deal with this?”
What the man does, is the people say, “Jesus, please get away from us. We don’t know what you’re capable of, why are you healing this demon-possessed man?” Jesus, like a true gentleman, tries to get back in the boat. The man, who found his healing in Jesus, starts trailing right behind Him. Puts a foot in the boat, almost, and Jesus says, “Oh no, you are not coming with me.” So He pushes him out of his comfort zone, right? Because the man felt his healing with Jesus. So He says, “Now, you get out of your comfort zone. You are not trailing me anymore, buddy. You are in ministry now. You go tell these people what I have done for you.”
I feel like God is raising up an army today, of men and women who have experienced mental illness and who have felt hopeless and have felt there is no future for them. We have literally, and I say “we”, inclusive, I have been there. We feel like there is maybe no future, no hope, or whatever. And Jesus comes and we have a radical encounter and He says, “You know what? I have called you. You don’t feel qualified and you don’t feel like you have what it takes, what you go do what, maybe, you have seen, maybe you have loved other people who have gone in ministry before you.” But He is putting a call on your life.
So if you struggle with mental illness, or you are struggling with anxiety or depression right now, or you have been diagnosed, or you are going through help, there is no shame in that. In fact, please do. Go get the help you need, and know that Jesus is right there in the room with you. I believe we are going to have a supernatural experience over this broadcast right now. I thank you, Lord, for healing mental illness, for healing any demon-possession, for healing self-injury, for healing eating disorders, and all things linked to mental health, and mental health awareness, God. I thank you that mental health, “health” is the keyword, mental health is your destiny for your people. There should be no struggle, no morse striving, you will be healed in Jesus’ name. Thank you for watching God Today, I am Millie Joy.