The OCD encouragement thread

[Paige_something]

Hello,

I would like this thread to be one where we can all post wisdom which God has given us, as we have journeyed with OCD. This thread is for us to post the encouraging words which He has spoken to us, and any things which we have done to connect with His heart, in the middle of OCD. This is an encouragement thread that people can have a look at when they are feeling hopeless. I hope that we can all come on here and be blessed, and loved to health by His words of loving wisdom!

Put on the eyes of faith, you beautiful, lovely, blessed people

(And I will definately be posting on here later on today!)

 

[raven1]

I am thinking about writing an anonymous letter and putting it on the lunch table as a witnessing tool. If they know who wrote it they will be busier talking about that than reading it. Many are atheists where I work. I am going to talk about the doubt I have but the fact I still cling to God as a hope to not go to hell.

 

[tripletiger1200]

I am thinking about writing an anonymous letter and putting it on the lunch table as a witnessing tool. If they know who wrote it they will be busier talking about that than reading it. Many are atheists where I work. I am going to talk about the doubt I have but the fact I still cling to God as a hope to not go to hell.

That is really cool!
I just feel like God has been telling me lately that He is not going to leave me, and that He is a very big God. He is able to handle all of our problems, and He is able to put up with our sins and OCD because He loves us so much.

 

[SoldierOfSoul]

OCD has been a part of my life since I can remember, but in the backdrop of the struggle, God has always been there. God has been there through it all, during the hardest parts of my life God was there, He has watched me and kept me safe when I was young and in sin and He guided my heart to His Son during my repentance. He called me as a child to the alter of His love and continually drawn me throughout my rebellion. He holds my hand in doubt and warms my heart in times of worship. Compulsions try and take my peace, but they cannot take away the holy love that holds my soul. My hope is in Jesus.

 

[Paige_something]

This is great! Keep on encouraging, because God will direct hearts who need His hope to here!

Here are a few practical, basic things which have helped me as I’ve struggled with OCD (I’m in the healing process – I can see HUGE progress!).

1) Praise & Worship
I really believe that praise and worship can transform a situation, as we focus our eyes upon Jesus Christ and put on those eyes of faith. Some encouraging songs which I would recommend, that can fill you with faith, are:
- All Who Are Thirsty – Brenton Brown
- The Voice of Truth – Casting Crowns
- One Thing Remains – Jesus Culture
- Desert Song – Hillsong United
- You Are Here – Hillsong United
- How Deep The Father’s Love For Us (I’m not sure who this one is by!)
- What A Friend We Have In Jesus (I’m not sure who this one is by either!)
- Your Love Never Fails – Jesus Culture
If you don’t have speakers on your computer for some reason, Google the lyrics to these phenomenal songs!


2) Get a Brother/Sister to input into your life
Talk to someone in your Church who you can trust, such as an elder, in order to bring your struggles out into the light, and increase in wisdom. I go to my Church’s youth group, and every couple of weeks I meet up with one of the youth leaders there for coffee and a relaxing chat, and talk to her about the issues in my life. Even if she hasn’t been through the same battles as me, through her Spiritual maturity she is able to input Biblical wisdom, encouragement and grace into my life.

Also, she prays for me, and in these times of prayer, God uses her words of faith to speak very clearly to me. I have found that prayer really does open a door for God to speak, heal and work in my life. Don’t worry if you haven’t got someone that you can talk to about your problems just yet, keep praying about it, because God in His perfect timing will provide! If you need to email someone then I am here for you, even if we have never spoken before. I am sure that there are many people on this site who would be willing to input into your life as well.

3) Get familiar with The Word of God!

The way to get familiar with His Word and to hear what God is saying to you in your situation, is of course, to read His Word! If you are new to reading His Word, I’d recommend praying before you read e.g. pray for wisdom as you read, and that you would view The Scriptures with eyes of faith. Be expectant that God WILL set you free through the truth contained within His Word (John 8:32), and that the more time you spend thinking about and studying His Word, you will grow in virtue and knowledge (Mark 4:24). If anyone reading this does not yet have a Bible, then Biblegateway. com is a great website to check out!

Another way to gain Biblical wisdom and to hear from God is to write notes on the sermons which you hear at your Church (in particular note down the Bible verses), and to pray for a revelation of what God is saying to you through the sermon and those Bible verses. Joyce Meyer Ministries (JoyceMeyer. org) puts a new sermon, and radio podcast on their website every day except Saturdays, which you can watch/listen to for free, and God has often used Joyce’s sermons to encourage and help me. She also puts daily devotionals and really helpful articles on her website. She focuses on thoughts a lot, which I know will be of value to those struggling from mental OCD.

Someone on this website also recommended for me to write relevant Bible verses on post-it notes. That is a really good idea to get His Word into our minds!

4) Confess His Word

Confessing The Word is important because words have power, and God’s Word has ultimate power to transform your situation. Joyce Meyer, in her book “The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word” talks about the importance of confessing the Word of God, and brings to attention that 2 Corinthians 10: 4 – 5 speaks about how “our weapons are not carnal but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds in our mind. Casting down imaginations, thoughts, reasonings, and theories that don’t agree with God’s Word requires us to use our offensive weapon – the Word of God. When we speak, it becomes a two-edge sword that defeats the enemy with one edge and opens the blessings of heaven with the other” – Wow! We better get confessing!

Books such as ‘The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word’ by Joyce Meyer, are great for people who want to get confessing God’s Word, because each chapter is titled a helpful topic such as ‘Fear’, ‘Grace’, etc. and then is full of Bible verses on the topic.

At the moment I recommend 2 Timothy 1:7, which says: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Confessing that is a great way to break through our fear-fuelled and fear-energised train of thoughts!

Also, don’t be discouraged if you don’t know which verses are relevant for you to confess; instead, ask God to lead you clearly to a specific verse to confess, and He will do.


5) Get into a good book on a related topic!
God has spoken to me a lot through the books I have read by women and men of God. I think that soon I may write some of my favourite quotes from these books on this thread, which have helped and encouraged me. Here are a few books I think may be helpful:
- The Battlefield of The Mind – Joyce Meyer
- Power Thoughts – Joyce Meyer
- The Spiritual Man – Watchman Nee
- Release of The Spirit – Watchman Nee
- Compelled by Love – Heidi Baker
- The Power of Simple Prayer – Joyce Meyer

 

[Paige_something]

I just want to share a few encouraging words for those of you who are struggling...These are a few of my notes from ‘The Spiritual Man’ (Volume 3, I think) by Watchman Nee, a couple of Joyce Meyer sermons, and a sermon from !Audacious Church in Manchester. God really is an encourager .

Humility delights God because it is a forgetting of both strengths and weaknesses. However, timidity recalls all the weakness, and is therefore self-remembering. Timidity is not humility. Focusing on ourselves and our emotion, and thoughts, to come up with the strength and wisdom to overcome our situations is not humility. Let your life be spiritual, so that is regulates feeling, rather than being lived in and dominated by feelings.

We should focus on things which are above [Colossians 3], rather than focusing on ourselves and our mistakes, because focusing on self is a dead-end.

Jesus Christ is a perfect Saviour, and therefore I don’t have to dwell on how guilty I am all day, and strive in my own strength to make myself perfect, out of my guilt. There is no good-work-guilt offering which I have to bring [Hebrews 10:11-17]. All I need to do is go to Him and be prepared in my heart to change.

His grace is sufficient.

Our mind is the natural man, and often when The Spirit of God is moving, our mind may not get it.

As Christians, through our faith in Jesus Christ, we have become a new creation in Him, going from one degree of glory to another, and the God who began a good work in us, will bring it to full completion. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We were born into an anointing. God has a plan to prosper and not to harm us. We have been anointed with His Spirit, who crowns us with love, grace, and power. Through Christ Jesus, we have been created in a pure heart.

The Holy Spirit within gives us the power and the desire to change.

(Check out Romans 8:11, Ephesians 1:17-23)

We need to stop listening to the voice of the accuser, because God has called, equipped and anointed us, enabling us to stand up. When we stop cowering away in the corner and stand up in our authority, the demons and my enemies have no choice but to flee! This is because God’s power in us is INCOMPARABLY (unstoppable, nothing can come between it or stop it) great. [Ephesians 1:18-19].

God raised us up with Christ Jesus, and through Christ alone (not through ourselves, we have no righteousness of our own to claim) we have become righteous. We have His righteousness.

The pure, beautiful, Holy Spirit of God has created us anew in Christ Jesus. Our lives are found in Jesus Christ. Our true identities are found in His light and truth, and the promises in His Word are our inheritance.
I shall continue with this next time I write in here. Keep updated!