The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Episode 5: Mental Health

Episode Date: December 30, 2021

In this episode, Bryce gives a brief discussion on mental health and Christianity.

What's up, guys? My name is Bryce Crawford, and welcome back to episode five of the Heaven on Earth podcast. My name is Bryce Crawford, and today our episode is about mental health. What I think is one of the greatest struggles of our generation. Sadly, people are defined by mental health, and it breaks my heart. And so today I'm going to talk about it, talk about mental health, talk about how to deal with it, what it looks like. I don't know how long this episode is going to be. I don't know how short this episode is going to be. We're just going to let the spirit flow.

We're going to let the Holy Spirit do his thing and move. So let me pray before we get into this. So, Father, thank for this day. Thank you for another breath of life. I just pray that in this episode, that people are impacted by what you have to say, about what you have to do, and the way you move.

And Father, I just pray that whoever listens to this, their heart may be impacted, and that you may be given the glory for it. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. All right, let's jump right into it. Man, mental health. Something I've struggled with a lot, something that a lot of people have struggled with, whether it's anxiety, depression, and all different forms of it.

It is very common in today's society, sadly. And it is one of the ways that Satan can get to us, quote-unquote, get to us, or getting our brain. Mental health is a big issue because our brain is our brain. biggest battlefield. It is the biggest war zone. We get in our head because we have a free will to make conscious decisions. So it becomes our biggest battlefield. And I don't like it. And people think that because they struggle with mental health, that they're a bad Christian, or people think that because I struggle with anxiety, because I struggle with depression, or because I struggle

with this, it makes them be a bad Christian, it makes them have, quote unquote, little faith. No, these are struggles that are caused by the imperfect world that we live in with sin. My friend, just because you struggle with mental health does not mean you're a bad Christian. My friend, it doesn't mean you have little faith. These are common issues that happen in day-to-day society. Satan just wants to get in your head and make you think you're a bad Christian, make you feel worthless, make you feel shameful, make you feel guilty for the things that you struggle with. my friend guilt shame and fear are not from the lord they are from satan there is a battle going on in a

spiritual realm for your soul that's how valuable your soul is because christ died for you so that you may have the chance of eternal life but with that comes the consequence of satan trying to win your soul but christ bore the cross on his back shed blood resurrected on the third day so you can have a chance an eternal life. But Satan's also fighting for your soul, my friend. And so he wants to do everything in his power to stray you away from Christ. And with that, he's going to get in your brain.

Make you feel worthless, shameful, and guilty. My friend, sometimes when we struggle with things, when I'm in a deep struggle, when I'm struggling with mental out there, I'm anxious, or I'm sad and I feel lonely. And Satan's getting at my head, I sit there and just, I'm like, thank you, Jesus, for the life you've given me. thank you for the ways that you affirm me every day.

Thank you for the strength. When we thank Jesus in our times of most distress, most anxiety, and when we are at a peak of struggle, when we thank the Lord, then Satan goes, oh, he's not biting for the bait. I can't get him that way, right? When we sit there and genuinely thank the Lord for every aspect of circumstance,

then Satan's like, oh, crap, I can't get them anymore. Because here's the reality. No matter your circumstance, if you are struggling with anything in the moment, whatever you're struggling with in the moment, that circumstance can refine you and shape you into the human being that God wants you to be. But that circumstance, Christ may allow a certain circumstance that may seem bad in the moment, but without that circumstance, it wouldn't have shaped you in the human being you were today. That's the reality of it.

But we get so sidetracked because Satan's in our head. And he thinks he rules us, my friend, that Satan has already been defeated. He has no dominion over you. He has no dominion over you. So I understand. Struggles are hard. We get sad.

And there are times when we can you even imagine the struggles that the apostles went through after just going out, spreading the gospel, preaching. Like, think about the struggles that Paul went through every time he was in jailed, or maybe when, even when Christ was still in his earthly ministry, when John the Baptist would get arrested, like imagine the mental health and the struggles they would go through in jail, or maybe, you know, when Stephen was being martyr,

the thoughts he was thinking. But no, he began to forgive the Sanhedron when they were stoning him. You see, that's a prime example. of when things get tough, he presents the greatest gospel presentation I think I've ever seen in my entire life, anyone's ever seen. And the Sanhedron are like,

let's kill this dude, he's a boon. He's a buffoon. That's what they say. And so they stone him, and as they're stoning him, instead of letting that circumstance to find him, he begins to forgive the Sanhedron.

And as he's being stoned, we see Jesus, whenever they talk about him being at the right hand of God, he's sitting on the throne, but in this circumstance, he stands up off of his throne in honor for Stephen.

because of the way he handled his circumstance. He laid it at the feet of Jesus. That's something I think we forget to do in circumstance, and I understand it's very hard to remember to lay things at the feet of Jesus, but my friend, when you were in your biggest struggle and battle with mental health laid at the feet of Jesus, because there is nothing that can help solve it greater than the one that put breath in your lungs,

than the one that knows the numbers of hairs on your head. There is nothing greater that can help it than the being that made you. If you go and look in Luke 7, there's a story where Jesus was in the House of the Pharisees, and this woman knew the greatness of Jesus. She didn't have a lot of money, and she was a sinner. It tells us that she was a woman of sin in the passage, and she sees the greatness of Jesus to the point where she's weeping, and her tears get on Jesus's feet.

Then she wipes her tears off of Jesus' feet with her hair because she didn't have anything. And then she whips out this alabaster flask of ointment. This would have been someone's years' wages to get. And she, without hesitation, anoints Jesus with this alabaster flask of oil. She lays everything at his feet. And the Pharisees make fun of her.

They're like, why, why is she in here, Jesus? Why are you letting her do this? and Jesus is like, my friend, I came in your house, you didn't wash my feet, but she washes my feet with her tears. And she an alabasher flask of ointment. Because this woman knows the greatness of Jesus and knows that he is the one that can forgive sins. He is the one that can save her, right? And that's the outlook that we have to have on life. Is that the only being that can save us is Christ.

There is nothing that can help us out of our situation other than Christ. There is nothing. So we must rely on that. And I think a big misconception is that people think that mental health is like a recent thing. No, it's actually very relevant. If you look, if you look in First Kings 19, if you look in First Kings 19, you see that Elijah is fleeing from Jezebel and he's very discouraged, very discouraged. And so with that being said, he basically is 10. telling the Lord that he wants to die.

Basically what he's telling the Lord. And the Lord sends an angel with food and says Elijah eating. So Elijah's like, all right, he eats the food. And then Elijah gets told by God after he eats the food. God's like, Elijah go rest. So Elijah goes and rest. And I tell you that story. It's in 1st Kings 19.

I tell you that story because sometimes we need a little snack and a nap to rethink our decisions. We do. We do. We do need a snack and a nap to rethink our decisions. times because because our mind is our biggest battlefield like I said earlier and we can often we can often be led astray by the way that we think we need to let go of this cognitive distortation of bad Christian when our mental health isn't at its best and then look at ways that we can get healthier and the ways that we can get healthier is through Christ Christ can renew us

Christ can change our outlook. Yes, your mental health might not fully go away, but you will have blood on your sword to conquer this mental health issue with. My friend, there are these secret service like men for King David called the Mighty Men of David. And there was one mighty man of David that slayed an entire army of Philistines by himself. and after he had slayed the entire army, his sword was stuck to his hand because of the amount of blood that he had on it. That is how we should go into battle with Christ when battling mental health issues. We have our sword right here.

This is our sword. Scripture is our sword. We have Christ by our side. We can go into battle confident knowing that Christ is on our side. Nothing can stand in the way. Perfect light cast out all fear because there is nothing. that can withstand the will of God. There's nothing that can withstand the power of God.

My friend, your mental health issues don't define you. Your anxiety doesn't define you. Your depression doesn't define you. My friend, you are more than your depression. You are more than your anxiety. Your worth is not found in these mental health issues. Your worth is found in the Lord, but we get distraided. So my friend, to sum it all up, how do we conquer this?

Well, laid at the feet of Jesus. It's hard. It sounds easier than it looks. It's hard. Layed at the feet of Jesus. There's nothing we can hide from the Lord. He's an omniscient God. He knows everything.

He knows all. So laid at his feet. God loves your honesty. He doesn't want you to just pray to him for when you need things. He wants you to talk to him and be like, God, you know, I'm sad right now. God, I'm struggling with anger. I'm struggling with depression. Christ wants you to come before him and be honest with him. He wants you to say, God, I am struggling with depression. I'm struggling with anxiety. I'm struggling with mental

health. God, I need you. Because the beautiful thing about childlike faith is a child's necessity on their caregiver. The beauty of childlike faith is the child's necessity of the caregiver. They rely on them on everything. They blatantly and obviously show their emotion because they need help and they don't know who else to go to. When they're sad, they flunt and they scream and cry. When they're angry, they pout and whine. When they're happy, they laugh and smile and dance. They make their emotions known. My friend, bring your emotions to Christ. He knows all. He's omniscient and he loves your honesty. Because when you talk to him and get into this posture of prayer, one-on-one conversation with God, he will move mountains in your life.

But it's that small mustard seed of faith where you say, Christ, this is what I'm struggling with. This is what I need help with. Please help me. Guys, thank you for listening to this episode. I know it's a shorter episode, short and sweet episode, but guys, mental health is a big struggle.

We talked about a lot. If you need to go back and listen to it, listen to it, my friend. Thank you so much for listening. Check out our Instagram, Heaven on Earth. go check it out. We'll have a new episode the following week. I don't know what it is yet. We have a few special guests lined up.

It's going to be awesome. But I love you guys. Stay safe. And we'll see you guys at the next episode.