The Power of God’s Word

A fast-paced world gives an impression of progress and success, but many people pay a costly price for such trend in lifestyle. More and more become emotionally and mentally restless. We think that the more we desire, the more we aspire, the more we work, and achieve, the better our life will be. However, it is not the case. The mental health of many people is at stake.

As a teacher, it is alarming to see and hear young students who appear to be cheerful but are actually suffering from mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies. Yet, when we ponder on our modern society, almost anything is within our reach. Things are fast and easy. Therefore, comfortability and ease are not predictors of healthy mental state. On the contrary, when everything is available to us or resources are in abundance, we tend to have anxiety problems due to hectic lifestyle.

I am not a professional or an expert to talk about mental health, so I am not going to explain why people suffer from depression or what the solutions are. What I am going to talk about is totally based on my opinion as I have observed and my personal experience.

My premise is that the more we become driven by goals, the more life becomes unbalanced, and we tend to self-destruct because we are not meant or designed to live that way. God designed that the human body should have a balanced activities of work, play, and rest. A computer will eventually shut down when it is overused. In similar fashion, our bodies will not work properly and will be impaired when we overuse it by overworking in activities that do not feed our spirit. What makes our physical body soundly able and living is our spiritual nature. When that is not taken cared of, our mental and emotional health are at risk of dying.

I share this from my personal experience. I had bouts of panic attacks and sleeplessness way back 2018. This was the reason why I stepped down from being the Coordinator of the Senior High School. The many years of overwork and demands of the job took a toll on me. It became a frequent problem for me to relax especially at night because without any warning, I experienced irrational fear and difficulty breathing. It became worst to the point that even when I felt sleepy, I coud not sleep because my mind was overthinking uncontrollably. It was like a machine that went out of order and it kept on working without a knob or controller to stop it. I felt so helpless that I would cry out of fear and frustrations. On several occassions, I thought I would go mad from the crowding thoughts swirling in my mind. There was a time that I longed to die fearing the night to come when I suffer. My best resort would always be to ask my husband to loudly pray for me and then I would feel peaceful.

During that time, I was asking the Lord where had I gone amiss? Why was it happening to me? I mean, I read the Bible and I prayed regularly, but why did I feel that way? After much self-assessment, I realized where my problem stemmed from. I was overworking and my life was not balanced. I was too focused on achieving my goals. I did read the Bible and prayed, but I had to admit that I put more time to working and fulfilling my career goals. I even lacked the quality time for my children.

From then on, I repented, and sought God’s forgiveness. I also sought for a more meaningful devotional time with God. I poured some minutes every day to meditate on God’s Word and pray. How is it different from the prayer time I had before? This time around I became more God-seeking, more God-reliant, and more studious of God’s Word.

And when I say this, I am not exaggerating. The moment I did this, I felt an unexplainable peace coursing through me. And upto now this episodes of irrational fear and panic attacks never returned again. God’s Word is powerful. It is living and active. The Word of God changes lives.

Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.

– Psalms 119:165 (WEB)

What we feed our mind and how we spend our life have a direct impact on the quality of our mental health. I don’t know every cause and root of mental health issues, but one thing I know is that how we live our life, what we think, and what we do with our time impact our mental condition. Imbalance of life activities, to the point of starving the spiritual health, is detrimental to our mental and emotional health.

I may not know also what the clinical solution is for mental health problems, but one thing is sure, turning to God gives a sure and lasting solution. I am not talking about any god, but Jesus Christ. Jesus holds the solution for peace and freedom from mental issues.

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.

– John 14:27 (WEB)

When we cast our cares upon the Lord, He sustains us. He gives us His peace which is unlike the peace of this world because the peace of God is beyond our understanding. It is impossible to have and experience this kind of peace without intentionally seeking God and following after Him. And it can be found through His word. Like our physical bodies that weaken without food, our spiritual bodies weaken without the Word of God. Once our spirit weakens, our mind becomes flesh-driven and we cannot have true peace if we are not led by the Spirit of God.

In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things.

– Philippians 4:6-8 (WEB)