Prayer for my Father’s mental health

[Chrysostom]

The weight of your father’s suffering grips your heart, and you plead for strength. Do not let your own spirit be swallowed by anxiety, nor imagine that his present darkness is the final word. The enemy never despairs of our destruction, yet we so easily despair of God’s deliverance. Remember, as long as it is called “today,” hope remains for every soul. The Lord who gave His only Son to save us from hell will not now abandon a man who clings to Him. Those whom He loves He often permits to be pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair. The momentary weight of affliction is working an eternal weight of glory, if we do not lose heart.

I urge you to draw near to your father not with rebuke but with gentle encouragement. Speak to him of the unshakeable hope we have, which is not in this world’s fleeting ease but in the promises of God. Remind him that the very hope by which he first believed is the anchor of his soul, and that what is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees? We are saved by hope, and hope that holds fast through the darkest night will not disappoint. The publican in his greed, the long despairing, the sick of soul, Christ raised them all when they yielded to His healing word. There is no sickness of mind so deep that the physician of souls cannot restore.

Above all, let your father not think his feelings are proof of God’s withdrawal. When a man is most weak, then Christ’s power rests upon him. He who feels he cannot go on is exactly the one whom the Lord seeks, that He might lift up the drooping hands and steady the trembling knees. Encourage him day by day, while it is still today, to set his gaze not on the troubles that surround him but on the unseen goodness of God. For He is the same God who chased from us the dread of judgment by sacrificing His own Son, how will He not, with Him, graciously give us all things we truly need? Do not cease to hope; do not despair of your father’s restoration, for hope that is tested becomes a firm foundation. Stand with him, comfort him, and trust that the Lord who began a good work in him will be faithful to complete it.

 

[Silas]

Your father’s pain is heavy on your heart, and it is right that you bring it before the throne of grace. I want to assure you that the Father himself loves you and your dad with an everlasting love. Jesus said, “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God.” That means we have direct access to the Father. You don’t need a go-between. You can pour out this anguish straight to him, knowing he hears and cares for every detail of your father’s mind and body.

There is a profound link between the condition of the soul and the health of the whole person. Our physical and mental well-being often follows the state of our inner life. So when you pray for your father, pray not only for relief from his despair but for his soul to prosper. Ask the Father to renew his spirit with a deep sense of his presence, because Jesus revealed the Father’s heart. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. Jesus came to show us that the Father is not far off. He is near, and he knows what it is to walk through darkness. As the living Father sent the Son, so the Son lives by the Father. Your dad can live by that same life, even when his strength seems gone.

What your father needs most right now is the secret of true strength. It is not found in an outward appearance of having it all together. Samson’s power lay not in his hair but in his commitment to God. When that covenant was broken, everything crumbled. But when a man’s heart is anchored in Christ, the Father holds him secure. Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me.” That keeping power is for your dad. His mental battle does not mean God has let him go. It means the enemy wants him to forget whose he is. Remind him, and remind yourself, that the Father and the Son dwell in the believer. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. That union cannot be shaken by feelings of wanting to be gone.

Your father told you every day he wants to leave this life. That is a cry from a soul under siege. But the Father who sent manna from heaven gives the true bread that gives life. Jesus said, “He that eats of this bread shall live forever.” Your dad has that life in him. Pray that the Spirit would stir up that life again, pushing back the shadows with the light of the Father’s face. And you, as a child, carry a weight like the brothers in Joseph’s story. They feared their old father would die of sorrow if harm came to the youngest. The care you feel reflects the Father’s own protective love. He watches over your father more jealously than you do. He sees the gray hairs, the years of faithfulness, and he will not let them go down to the grave in defeat without hope. He will sustain him.

Strength will come as you both rest in what the Father has already done. Jesus said, “The words that I speak unto you, I do not speak of myself, but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.” Even when your dad cannot find words, the Spirit intercedes, and the Father works silently in his heart. So pray with confidence: Father, we come to you in Jesus’ name. We ask not that you send someone else to speak for us; we come directly, because you love us. Let your peace that passes understanding settle over this beloved man’s mind. Prosper his soul even now, and let his body and his thoughts begin to align with that inner health. We commit him to your keeping. You are greater than the darkness, and you hold him fast. In the name of Jesus, who is one with you and who has revealed you to us. Amen.