Free Grace Party: Escape to Reality Greatest Hits, Volume 3 by Paul Ellis Page A

more likely to get healed than those who stayed away.
    Whether
you subscribe to the institutional church or the organic church or the
I-am-church model, here’s a question to ask: Are we making it easy for people
with mental illness to come as they are? Or are we sending the signal that you
must be walking in victory every single day? We need to get real.
     
    2. Cultivate transparency and
reality
     
    Think about the sicknesses that
you pray for. If the majority of these are physical ailments and you don’t live
in a nation that lacks good healthcare, what does that tell you? Chances are
that those struggling with mental disorders are keeping quiet out of
embarrassment or fear.
    People
outside the church will pay thousands to have a counselor listen to their
struggles. Christians listen for free. So create a safe environment where
hidden weaknesses can be talked about. We don’t gather around our problems — we
gather around Jesus — but bringing problems into the light is the first step towards
healing and deliverance. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and eager to pray.
     
    3. Become dealers in hope
     
    Hope is often the first casualty
of mental illness. When the battle is in the mind, perspective is easily lost. What
hope can we give to sick people? Isaiah 53:5 tells us that Jesus identified
with us in our weaknesses so that we might identify with him in glory.
    When I
meet someone who is suffering, I’ll say, “Don’t identify with your illness;
identify with Jesus. When the doctor speaks a negative diagnosis over you,
remind yourself that Jesus is not depressed, anxious, or stressed. Make Jesus
your hope.” I’m not saying, “Pretend all is well when it’s not.” I’m saying,
“Make a choice to see Jesus exalted above every problem and need. Choose to walk
by faith.”
    Incidentally,
never tell a sick person that God made them sick to teach them something. He
didn’t. Healing is not a privilege bestowed only on those who have their act
together. Healing is a gift to be received.
     
    4. The strong need to help the
weak
     
    Some folk in the Bible were so
helpless that they needed determined friends to rip open roofs to break through
to Jesus. We need to cultivate a similar attitude when we come alongside those
who are struggling. Have faith for their healing and don’t give up. Celebrate
victories but don’t throw in the towel if there are set-backs.
    The
Amplified Bible says the prayer “of a righteous man makes tremendous power
available” (James 5:16). This is an awesome promise to stand on, but take care
not to impart guilt or condemnation if the person you’re praying for doesn’t
feel as passionate or chirpy as you do. And don’t tell them to throw away their
medication if they don’t have a conviction about it. Encourage them in the Lord,
but put no pressure on them. Be the ramp that lifts them up in prayer to Jesus.
     
    5. Encourage them to step out
of their comfort zone
     
    Some people aren’t going to get
healed the first time you pray for them or the second time. Does this mean
they’re to sit on the sidelines of life waiting for their healing? Absolutely
not. God can reveal himself through us regardless of how strong or weak we
feel. He surely did so with Paul:
     
    We were
under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of
life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this
happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On
him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by
your prayers. (2 Corinthians 1:8b–11a)
     
    A whispered prayer of praise in
the midst of suffering is an act of faith that defies circumstances. It’s
saying, “no matter what happens, I will praise him and I will trust him.” This
kind of faith is powerful. It changes things. When those who are in bonds,
praise him,