How do you stand up for yourself :/

Cturtle said:
So my dear brother am I seeing your response correctly? That there is an issue in life the Bible does not cover, or that we don't have to search for? Something that Jesus never went through?

Hmmmm, seems to me this answer is contrary to the Word of God then? Doesn't our Bible say that Jesus was tempted in everyway like we are, so that there would be nothing we go through, that He couldn't help us with (Hebrews 4:15).

I do understand wanting to build someone up and encourage them, but when do we base every part of our lives on The Word of God, telling the truth in love, instead of on what the world would say?


But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Love to you and your family.
Blessings
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The specific concern I was speaking to was the inability of our sister to stand up for herself and speak out so that she is not taken advantage of. My thought was that maybe it was a personality problem.

I am not a doctor of mental issues, and I am not saying that she has anything like that at all. There are all kinds of disorders that affects the way a person thinks, and finding godly counsel is always advised by me and the Scriptures say in proverbs 1:5........
"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance".

I always advise spending time in God’s Word 2 Tim. 3:16-17...........
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

I do understand what you are saying. There are many articles and thoughts, and books produced essentially argue that mental problems are a social concern created by secular doctors and psychiatrists, and therefore, is not biblical. So, when a person is depressed, he is really just experiencing sadness, and to try to treat it medically is to short circuit the power of God. When a person is anxious, she is really just experiencing worry, and to treat it medically is a secular answer to a spiritual problem. You get the idea.

The desire behind these articles are usually good. The authors are trying to demonstrate that Jesus is sufficient for every facet of life. They are in essence saying that the advise given in Scriptures are all one needs to be free of the problem they are experiencing. There was a time that I said the very same thing. But there is in fact "clinical" issues which can not be removed by reading the words of Scripture.

However, I now believe that treating mental illness as only a spiritual problem is both profoundly unbiblical and incredibly hurtful to those who struggle with mental illness. I say that with humility in that my wife and I have taken care of my mother, her aunt, saw what happened to my a grand father and now a grandchild and they all knew what the Bible said.

Understanding and seeking advice from the Scriptures are essential. In order to do what is right, we must know what is true. However, there are mental problems that just can not be fixed by reading the Bible and seeking God's advice through them. Things such as bi-polar, and manic depressive and personality disorder alter a person’s perceptions of reality, so a strong foundation in truth is a necessity when dealing with its symptoms.

Here’s the unfortunate reality: there are those who have chronic anxiety. Some of those people can not even drive a car because of the way they feel. Even if their thinking is biblical, faith-filled, and God-honoring, their physical symptoms of anxiety probably won’t go away. Why? Because most of the time the problem is primarily physical. Something isn’t working correctly in their brain, which in turn causes them to experience the physical symptoms of anxiety.

That is what I was talking about.
 
Major said:
The specific concern I was speaking to was the inability of our sister to stand up for herself and speak out so that she is not taken advantage of. My thought was that maybe it was a personality problem.

I am not a doctor of mental issues, and I am not saying that she has anything like that at all. There are all kinds of disorders that affects the way a person thinks, and finding godly counsel is always advised by me and the Scriptures say in proverbs 1:5........
"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance".

I always advise spending time in God’s Word 2 Tim. 3:16-17...........
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

I do understand what you are saying. There are many articles and thoughts, and books produced essentially argue that mental problems are a social concern created by secular doctors and psychiatrists, and therefore, is not biblical. So, when a person is depressed, he is really just experiencing sadness, and to try to treat it medically is to short circuit the power of God. When a person is anxious, she is really just experiencing worry, and to treat it medically is a secular answer to a spiritual problem. You get the idea.

The desire behind these articles are usually good. The authors are trying to demonstrate that Jesus is sufficient for every facet of life. They are in essence saying that the advise given in Scriptures are all one needs to be free of the problem they are experiencing. There was a time that I said the very same thing. But there is in fact "clinical" issues which can not be removed by reading the words of Scripture.

However, I now believe that treating mental illness as only a spiritual problem is both profoundly unbiblical and incredibly hurtful to those who struggle with mental illness. I say that with humility in that my wife and I have taken care of my mother, her aunt, saw what happened to my a grand father and now a grandchild and they all knew what the Bible said.

Understanding and seeking advice from the Scriptures are essential. In order to do what is right, we must know what is true. However, there are mental problems that just can not be fixed by reading the Bible and seeking God's advice through them. Things such as bi-polar, and manic depressive and personality disorder alter a person’s perceptions of reality, so a strong foundation in truth is a necessity when dealing with its symptoms.

Here’s the unfortunate reality: there are those who have chronic anxiety. Some of those people can not even drive a car because of the way they feel. Even if their thinking is biblical, faith-filled, and God-honoring, their physical symptoms of anxiety probably won’t go away. Why? Because most of the time the problem is primarily physical. Something isn’t working correctly in their brain, which in turn causes them to experience the physical symptoms of anxiety.

That is what I was talking about.
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Thank you Major for your well thought out reply.
In dealing with some of this stuff (mental illness) on my own in the past and also taking care of my mother....I have to disagree with some of what your said.

But at least you have peace and faith in what you think and that is the important part.

God Bless you abundantly
 
Cturtle said:
Thank you Major for your well thought out reply.
In dealing with some of this stuff (mental illness) on my own in the past and also taking care of my mother....I have to disagree with some of what your said.

But at least you have peace and faith in what you think and that is the important part.

God Bless you abundantly
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It is OK to disagree sister. I am no expert in any way on this matter. I only know what I have seen and lived through. I would loved to have been able to read God's Word to my mother and have her draw some relief from doing that. In fact that is the 1st thing we did. and did, and did.

May I say to you that my mother was a saint. She was simply one of God's best people. However she was severely bi-polar. She had no problems until she had a hysterectomy when she was about 50 years old. The doctors did not give her any hormone treatments and when mentapause come over her she dove into deep episodes of depression which we later found out was caused by the condition of being bi-polar.

While on medication she stayed somewhat stable. But almost anything would cause her to become someone else. When that happened She had no control over her emotions when she was down and had no way to stop the surge on her way up. There was no telling what she would say or try to do and then when stable would have no memory of what had happened.

One day, while sitting in my living room with my wife and I, she heard a car door close and was positive that the sound she heard was the trump of God and she threw off her housecoat and ran down the street yelling..."Jesus is here, Jesus is here" completely naked. It took myself, my son, and my uncle to hold her still so we could get her to a hospital in the car. Believe me when I tell you that there was no amount of Scripture reading that would have helped her. We told her that Jesus said to

As a result, you could read Scriptures to her all day long and they meant nothing at all to her. I am not quite sure what you are thinking about this but it seems to me that there are two explanations for this. One is demonic activity and the other is clinical mental illness. It seems that is what you are moving towards.

Since we know from the Scriptures that a demon can not posses a Born again believer, what we have left is mental illness. I say that because Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirt. Surely the Holy Spirit would not allow a demon to possess the same person He is indwelling. It is unthinkable that God would allow one of His children, whom He purchased with the blood of Christ and made into a new creation to be possessed and controlled by a demon.
 
Major said:
It is OK to disagree sister. I am no expert in any way on this matter. I only know what I have seen and lived through. I would loved to have been able to read God's Word to my mother and have her draw some relief from doing that. In fact that is the 1st thing we did. and did, and did.

May I say to you that my mother was a saint. She was simply one of God's best people. However she was severely bi-polar. She had no problems until she had a hysterectomy when she was about 50 years old. The doctors did not give her any hormone treatments and when mentapause come over her she dove into deep episodes of depression which we later found out was caused by the condition of being bi-polar.

While on medication she stayed somewhat stable. But almost anything would cause her to become someone else. When that happened She had no control over her emotions when she was down and had no way to stop the surge on her way up. There was no telling what she would say or try to do and then when stable would have no memory of what had happened.

One day, while sitting in my living room with my wife and I, she heard a car door close and was positive that the sound she heard was the trump of God and she threw off her housecoat and ran down the street yelling..."Jesus is here, Jesus is here" completely naked. It took myself, my son, and my uncle to hold her still so we could get her to a hospital in the car. Believe me when I tell you that there was no amount of Scripture reading that would have helped her. We told her that Jesus said to

As a result, you could read Scriptures to her all day long and they meant nothing at all to her. I am not quite sure what you are thinking about this but it seems to me that there are two explanations for this. One is demonic activity and the other is clinical mental illness. It seems that is what you are moving towards.

Since we know from the Scriptures that a demon can not posses a Born again believer, what we have left is mental illness. I say that because Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirt. Surely the Holy Spirit would not allow a demon to possess the same person He is indwelling. It is unthinkable that God would allow one of His children, whom He purchased with the blood of Christ and made into a new creation to be possessed and controlled by a demon.
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I fully understand and can empathize with what you went through, that was definitely a horrible effect on such a precious woman of God.

In what God is teaching me right now.... we all have imps or low ranking demons assigned to us, to whisper wrong thinking or lies into our minds (for the mind and emotions and flesh is the place where only we have control, God is not in control there). It is there where we must make the decision to shew away those thoughts, and take them captive like 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says to do. If we choose to hang onto the thoughts and allow ourselves to be obsessed with thinking them, then only when we choose to refuse (this is part of resisting the devil) to think them and stand upon God's Word will we be free from them. It's part of fighting the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). This battle is not and never will be a flesh fight...it's always a spiritual fight.

The very sad thing is that lots of people have just accepted the world's diagnoises. Because the Word of God on how to fight, or that there is a fight, has been hidden from them (not by God). How many preachers have you heard talk about the battle of the mind, and go in depth into what fighting the good faith fight is all about? And how to use our armour? Not many that I have seen.

And yet it's out there and very real. I know that what I'm saying doesn't help with your mom. And yes I trust that you did everything you could possibly do in the natural to help her, for I do trust and know that you are a man of the Word and will run to that first. And there's a great chance that you will not even agree with what I'm saying..... which is ok, because this is something I am learning and being taught. And it's something that goes against the world's ways of doing things.

I am in the process of teaching it to my mom, and am working on writing my son-in-law about it as well.

This battle is not just a one time battle. It's a daily, moment by moment fight, that if one does not get ahold of it from the beginning, can be difficult to conquer, but not impossible...for with God all things are possible :)

In my opinion, people have let their experiences make God's Word of no effect. The devil has lied to so many precious saints of God, and kept them captive, that it really saddens my heart. That is why I chose to not keep my silence anymore about what is being said here. To many precious lives are being stolen from people and I know God wants it stopped. He wants His people free from all that ales them. It truly grieves God's heart for His people to be trapped by the enemy. And the only way to free them is to preach the truth of The Word, and how to gain that freedom. Even if I stand alone (which I know never alone, for The Holy Spirit is always with me).

I truly love and respect you major, and my heart weeps for what you have been through. But don't give up on the truth of God's Word as the solution of all of life's issues. For proverbs 4:20-22 says it is life to those who find them and health to all their fleah.

You and your family are constantly in Jim and I's prayers!
 
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Major said:
The specific concern I was speaking to was the inability of our sister to stand up for herself and speak out so that she is not taken advantage of. My thought was that maybe it was a personality problem.

I am not a doctor of mental issues, and I am not saying that she has anything like that at all. There are all kinds of disorders that affects the way a person thinks, and finding godly counsel is always advised by me and the Scriptures say in proverbs 1:5........
"Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance".

I always advise spending time in God’s Word 2 Tim. 3:16-17...........
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

I do understand what you are saying. There are many articles and thoughts, and books produced essentially argue that mental problems are a social concern created by secular doctors and psychiatrists, and therefore, is not biblical. So, when a person is depressed, he is really just experiencing sadness, and to try to treat it medically is to short circuit the power of God. When a person is anxious, she is really just experiencing worry, and to treat it medically is a secular answer to a spiritual problem. You get the idea.

The desire behind these articles are usually good. The authors are trying to demonstrate that Jesus is sufficient for every facet of life. They are in essence saying that the advise given in Scriptures are all one needs to be free of the problem they are experiencing. There was a time that I said the very same thing. But there is in fact "clinical" issues which can not be removed by reading the words of Scripture.

However, I now believe that treating mental illness as only a spiritual problem is both profoundly unbiblical and incredibly hurtful to those who struggle with mental illness. I say that with humility in that my wife and I have taken care of my mother, her aunt, saw what happened to my a grand father and now a grandchild and they all knew what the Bible said.

Understanding and seeking advice from the Scriptures are essential. In order to do what is right, we must know what is true. However, there are mental problems that just can not be fixed by reading the Bible and seeking God's advice through them. Things such as bi-polar, and manic depressive and personality disorder alter a person’s perceptions of reality, so a strong foundation in truth is a necessity when dealing with its symptoms.

Here’s the unfortunate reality: there are those who have chronic anxiety. Some of those people can not even drive a car because of the way they feel. Even if their thinking is biblical, faith-filled, and God-honoring, their physical symptoms of anxiety probably won’t go away. Why? Because most of the time the problem is primarily physical. Something isn’t working correctly in their brain, which in turn causes them to experience the physical symptoms of anxiety.

That is what I was talking about.
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Thank you more your concern and prayers. Mom died 2 years ago, thank God. She died a terrible death and thee was not a thing we could do for her.

Her brain just could no longer process reality. Let me explain a little more. We tried and tried to get her to use a walker. She stumbled and bumped into things.
She would not use one no matter how much we insisted. Then one day, you guessed it, she fell and broke her hip. After surgery, rehab and rest, she finally was able to get up and walk around again. Now do you think she would use a walker to keep from falling??? NO! And you guessed it. The 2nd day home, she tried to walk into the bathroom and fell again breaking the very same hip.

Forgive me sister, I am venting to you and I should not be doing that. It was just so sad to see such a committed believer unable to make any correct choices at all.
 
Major said:
Thank you more your concern and prayers. Mom died 2 years ago, thank God. She died a terrible death and thee was not a thing we could do for her.

Her brain just could no longer process reality. Let me explain a little more. We tried and tried to get her to use a walker. She stumbled and bumped into things.
She would not use one no matter how much we insisted. Then one day, you guessed it, she fell and broke her hip. After surgery, rehab and rest, she finally was able to get up and walk around again. Now do you think she would use a walker to keep from falling??? NO! And you guessed it. The 2nd day home, she tried to walk into the bathroom and fell again breaking the very same hip.

Forgive me sister, I am venting to you and I should not be doing that. It was just so sad to see such a committed believer unable to make any correct choices at all.
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God bless you Major and your family and turn all your pain into peace. I rejoice with you that your mom is in a much better place and no longer in any harm. Well taken care of by God.

Blessings
 
Major said:
Thank you more your concern and prayers. Mom died 2 years ago, thank God. She died a terrible death and thee was not a thing we could do for her.

Her brain just could no longer process reality. Let me explain a little more. We tried and tried to get her to use a walker. She stumbled and bumped into things.
She would not use one no matter how much we insisted. Then one day, you guessed it, she fell and broke her hip. After surgery, rehab and rest, she finally was able to get up and walk around again. Now do you think she would use a walker to keep from falling??? NO! And you guessed it. The 2nd day home, she tried to walk into the bathroom and fell again breaking the very same hip.

Forgive me sister, I am venting to you and I should not be doing that. It was just so sad to see such a committed believer unable to make any correct choices at all.
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Man I'm very sorry about your mom--
 
Major said:
Thank you more your concern and prayers. Mom died 2 years ago, thank God. She died a terrible death and thee was not a thing we could do for her.

Her brain just could no longer process reality. Let me explain a little more. We tried and tried to get her to use a walker. She stumbled and bumped into things.
She would not use one no matter how much we insisted. Then one day, you guessed it, she fell and broke her hip. After surgery, rehab and rest, she finally was able to get up and walk around again. Now do you think she would use a walker to keep from falling??? NO! And you guessed it. The 2nd day home, she tried to walk into the bathroom and fell again breaking the very same hip.

Forgive me sister, I am venting to you and I should not be doing that. It was just so sad to see such a committed believer unable to make any correct choices at all.
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I'm very sorry about your mom... It is a tragedy that some of the worst things happen to the most fervent believers.
 
2404 said:
You might enjoy a Toastmasters club.
There are some good ones out there.
Building self confidence in speaking and a place to hear others.
No unlike this site...
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Oh yeah, I've heard about toast masters and really want to do it some day ..i think it'll help with my confidence.
 
autumn oddity said:
I'm very sorry about your mom... It is a tragedy that some of the worst things happen to the most fervent believers.
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The devil hits the believers the hardest because they are the biggest threat to him. They are the ones who are tearing down his kingdom.

The un-believers are already walking in his ways, and not a threat, they won't be trying to encourage others to believe in The One Who he hates the most.
 
calvin said:
I have knowingly come across four people with Bi-polar, how many others that I was unaware of?
There are many other disorders of the brain that can be misunderstood too.
Scripture says very little on the subject of mental disorders....it says nothing of auto mobiles, yet we ride around in them just about every day.
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It says nothing about football either but I love it, played it and still watch it. What does that make me?????
 
autumn oddity said:
Oh yeah, I've heard about toast masters and really want to do it some day ..i think it'll help with my confidence.
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It may also be help to you to look into taking some "Dale Carnige"(spelling ?) courses. They are designed to teach self confidence and the ability to speak in public. Just a thought.
 
Cturtle said:
All is forgiven! :) Honestly I never realized you were venting... I never saw anger, all i could see was the pain of what you and your family have had to endure. It still brings tears to my eyes.
Jim and I love you all so very much!
Blessings
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Thank you sis. I didn't mean venting in the classic anger scenario, but venting as in just releasing some of the emotions.
You are very kind and it is obvious why Jim loves you!
 
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