Silas
Beloved Servant
The weight you are carrying right now is not light, and the plea for your son’s healing, protection, and rest is one that scripture takes very seriously. When the mind is troubled by something like psychosis, it can feel like a storm that will not relent, but remember the One who slept soundly in the stern of a boat while the disciples feared for their lives. The chaos did not dictate his peace; his peace had authority over the chaos. We are asking the same Lord who stood over that raging sea to hover over the turmoil in your son’s mind and speak the same command: “Peace, be still.”
Do not let anyone suggest that this kind of deep, restorative intervention is limited by human reasoning. He made clay on a Sabbath to restore a man’s sight, breaking through the man-made rules that cared more for custom than for a broken body. He was far more comfortable bringing wholeness to a real, suffering person than he was with the posturing of the religious elite. Your son’s need is that sort of real desperation, and Christ’s heart is drawn to it. We ask him to cast out what is destructive, not because we understand the full mechanism of the affliction, but because we know the authority of the Healer. Whether he acts in an instant, as when he touched someone and she immediately felt the healing in her body, or through a gradual process he designed into our very nature, we are asking for his divine work. Any move toward sanity, peace, and a sound mind is a healing that comes from him.
The mind is the battlefield where this is fought, a neutral ground that can be dominated by the flesh or filled with the things of the Spirit. When the mind is filled with the Spirit, the promise is life and peace, a sharp contrast to the death and rebellion that mark a mind fixed only on its own distress or the world’s confusion. We cannot simply demand that your son think clearly; the enemy would love to plant despair there. Instead, we ask the Lord to guard his heart and mind with a divine filter, keeping out the perversity and violence that crave entry. The worst kind of poverty is not in the wallet but in a soul depleted to the point of sleepwalking. We are not praying for the sleep of a sluggard that leads to ruin, but for the deep, divine sleep that fell upon Saul’s camp, a sleep so heavy the guards could not stop the Lord’s protection from walking in. We ask that as your son lies down, the Lord himself stands as the door, like a shepherd sleeping in the opening of the fold, so that no predator can reach his body, mind, or spirit without crossing over the Shepherd first.
The physical wiring of the brain, the chemical pathways, the very sound of a voice transmitted through the air are all deep mysteries God manages with complete ease. He uses means we see as natural, and he uses the inexplicable, and both belong to him. Do not be discouraged if you cannot trace the exact moment of change. A wise person once kept sober counsel and waited until morning to speak truth, and the sick person who jumped out of bed on a Sunday morning still had to set their feet on the floor. Trust the process he established, whether it takes one step or five. He is always working with eternity in view, not just our immediate, anguished push for relief. That eternal perspective means he is doing something permanent in your son while addressing the immediate storm. There may be moments where your son’s mouth or mind moves before everything is in gear, a sign of the jarring shift from a deep sleep to awakening; in those moments, we trust that God’s voice is calling him out into a great, open space far from the danger that once camped so close.
Do not let the voice of the accuser whisper that this situation is a verdict or a rejection. The man born blind was not dealing with sin, but with an occasion for God’s works to be displayed. Your son is not beyond the reach of the One who heals the mind as surely as the body. A healing that mends emotional scars or untangles disordered thoughts is a real, divine healing; only a fool would call that “just” psychosomatic and not see the hand of God in it. Stand on this simple directive he gave to a terrified father: “Do not be afraid; only believe.” It is a word for this darkest hour before the dawn.
Seek him early on your son’s behalf. The very act of bringing this request in prayer is the right step. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. May the Lord grant your son the sound mind that comes from the Spirit, protect him in a sleep that restores, and make him safe and sound, bringing a season of joy where there has been only fear.
Do not let anyone suggest that this kind of deep, restorative intervention is limited by human reasoning. He made clay on a Sabbath to restore a man’s sight, breaking through the man-made rules that cared more for custom than for a broken body. He was far more comfortable bringing wholeness to a real, suffering person than he was with the posturing of the religious elite. Your son’s need is that sort of real desperation, and Christ’s heart is drawn to it. We ask him to cast out what is destructive, not because we understand the full mechanism of the affliction, but because we know the authority of the Healer. Whether he acts in an instant, as when he touched someone and she immediately felt the healing in her body, or through a gradual process he designed into our very nature, we are asking for his divine work. Any move toward sanity, peace, and a sound mind is a healing that comes from him.
The mind is the battlefield where this is fought, a neutral ground that can be dominated by the flesh or filled with the things of the Spirit. When the mind is filled with the Spirit, the promise is life and peace, a sharp contrast to the death and rebellion that mark a mind fixed only on its own distress or the world’s confusion. We cannot simply demand that your son think clearly; the enemy would love to plant despair there. Instead, we ask the Lord to guard his heart and mind with a divine filter, keeping out the perversity and violence that crave entry. The worst kind of poverty is not in the wallet but in a soul depleted to the point of sleepwalking. We are not praying for the sleep of a sluggard that leads to ruin, but for the deep, divine sleep that fell upon Saul’s camp, a sleep so heavy the guards could not stop the Lord’s protection from walking in. We ask that as your son lies down, the Lord himself stands as the door, like a shepherd sleeping in the opening of the fold, so that no predator can reach his body, mind, or spirit without crossing over the Shepherd first.
The physical wiring of the brain, the chemical pathways, the very sound of a voice transmitted through the air are all deep mysteries God manages with complete ease. He uses means we see as natural, and he uses the inexplicable, and both belong to him. Do not be discouraged if you cannot trace the exact moment of change. A wise person once kept sober counsel and waited until morning to speak truth, and the sick person who jumped out of bed on a Sunday morning still had to set their feet on the floor. Trust the process he established, whether it takes one step or five. He is always working with eternity in view, not just our immediate, anguished push for relief. That eternal perspective means he is doing something permanent in your son while addressing the immediate storm. There may be moments where your son’s mouth or mind moves before everything is in gear, a sign of the jarring shift from a deep sleep to awakening; in those moments, we trust that God’s voice is calling him out into a great, open space far from the danger that once camped so close.
Do not let the voice of the accuser whisper that this situation is a verdict or a rejection. The man born blind was not dealing with sin, but with an occasion for God’s works to be displayed. Your son is not beyond the reach of the One who heals the mind as surely as the body. A healing that mends emotional scars or untangles disordered thoughts is a real, divine healing; only a fool would call that “just” psychosomatic and not see the hand of God in it. Stand on this simple directive he gave to a terrified father: “Do not be afraid; only believe.” It is a word for this darkest hour before the dawn.
Seek him early on your son’s behalf. The very act of bringing this request in prayer is the right step. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life. May the Lord grant your son the sound mind that comes from the Spirit, protect him in a sleep that restores, and make him safe and sound, bringing a season of joy where there has been only fear.
