The Antidote for Anxiety and Depression: Trust in Abba Father’s Care – Pt 56
Healing by Blurted Faults and Prayers!
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
–James 5:16
For the past 55 days in my devotional blog, I have shared with you graphically my experiences with anxiety disorder and major depression. In doing so, I have highlighted various factors that contributed to my experiences, which included several events related to my family. I am aware that one can easily take what I have written and judge my family in a negative way. However, this is by no means my intention for sharing as vividly as I did. The truth is that I have always felt the need to protect my family. I remember as a teenager in therapy, because I found it difficult to disclose the traumas, my counsellor asked me why am I protecting the people who hurt me and my life was being destroyed while they continued to live their lives. I have not stopped thinking about her words up to this day.
I asked myself, why the need to protect my family? Protect my family from what? The answer is the harsh tongue of our society, the shame, the negative criticism and judgement. I felt that sharing my experiences would have a negatively reflection on my loved ones so I wanted to preserve their reputation. However, the force behind this need to protect my family and their reputation is pride but pride is not of God. The devil is so subtle, he knows that if he can influence me to keep pride in my heart then I will remain in bondage and he will continue to attack my mind with negative emotions.
However, the Bible commands us in James 5:16, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
The word “confess” is the Greek word ekzomologeo, which means to declare, to say out loud, to exclaim, to divulge, or to blurt (Renner, 2003).
The word “faults” is the Greek word paraptoma, which defines a falling in some area of one’s life. This word refers to a person who has fallen, failed, erred, or made some kind of mistake. This falling may represent either an actual falling into sin or a tripping up in the way one thinks (Renner, 2003).
It therefore means that we ought not to remain silent about the things in our lives in which we fall. We should be able to trust one another and not be afraid or ashamed to declare, say out loud, exclaim, divulge or blurt out the mistakes we have made, whether actually sinning or being bombarded with negative thinking that leads to anxiety and depression. Confessing our faults to one another should lead to us praying for one another and not condemning or judging one another. It is then that we are healed. Hence, we shouldn’t be anxious about protecting and preserving the reputation of our loved one. We can lose the fear, shame and pride and receive the liberty and peace of God. Jesus left us the greatest example when He made Himself of no reputation and became obedient unto death.
The truth is that people will always have an opinion of you, good or bad no matter what you do. I heard Steve Harvey make a statement that is so profound it resonates with me to this moment. He said he heard Joel Osteen say, “People’s opinion of you is none of your business nor should you make it yours.”
For me, even though I have been opened about my experiences, I am still mindful that my family maybe uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I have committed my family to the Lord and I trust Him to preserve everyone. The truth is that I am loved by my family, I have always been but my perception of their love was distorted as a result of complex trauma. In hindsight, my big sister’s and my mother’s actions were all driven by their love for me. It was the only way they knew how to show their love and protection. They no doubt wanted what was best for me. Therefore, they did not intentionally cause me pain but even with good or their best intentions, I was hurt and they were not aware that I was hurting. They didn’t have the necessary skills to recognize that I needed help or to even help me.
Most importantly, what I really desire my readers to glean from my story more than anything else is to see the hand, power and authority of God working in my life in the midst of complex trauma. See the love, goodness, faithfulness, grace, peace, patience and protection of God in my life. See the saving, delivering and restoring power of God in my life. See the awesome, wonder of the Almight God in His daughter’s life. See the perputal presence and protection of my Faithful Father and Friend in my life even when I felt I was neglected. This should inspire you to make Jesus the centre of your life and family.
When Jesus is the centre of your life, you will be able to freely obey his command to confess, that is, to declare, to say out loud, to exclaim, to divulge, or to blurt your faults, or the areas in your life where you are falling, be it falling in actual sin or plagued by negative thoughts that are causing you much distress, and not feel ashamed, fearful, condemned or judged by others, then pray one for another so that you can receive your healing. Once You have committed your life and your family to God, people’s opinion of you and your family wouldn’t matter anymore, they would be like water on a ducks back because Abba holds them in His everlasting, mighty arms and He is Faithful and able to keep that which you have committed unto Him against that day.
God bless you!
MY PRAYER FOR TODAY
Papa I worship You and glorify Your Great name. Thank You for the tremendous work that You are doing in my life and my family. Thank You for Your Word which commands us to confess our faults to one another and pray for one another. I declare that I am healed and my family is healed as a result of my obedience to blurt my faults and the faults of my family without fear, shame and pride. I declare that the effectual fervent pray of the righteous makes tremendous power available to me to destroy the plans of the enemy to steal, kill and destroy my life and my family. I condemn every tongue that rises up against me and my family in judgement right now in the mighty name of Jesus. I speak the freedom, peace and restoration of God over our lives now and declare that we are blessed in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen!
