Dealing with Depression
Introduction: Pastor Jeff Strite once shared a story about Psychiatry students who were in their college class one day when their professor began a discussion to prove a point. "What we’re going to talk about today," the professor said, "are the emotional extremes that many mentally disturbed people go through… for example “What’s the opposite of joy?" he asked one student. "Sadness" the student answered. "The opposite of depression?" he asked a young lady. "Elation," she replied.
Turning to a young man from Texas he asked "the opposite of woe?" "Well, now," the Texan replied "I suppose the opposite of woe, would be giddy up." (Sermoncentral:Jess Strite- Digging out of Depression)
According to the Christian Post the four top reasons for depression are
Unrealistic Expectations
Family Tensions
Fear of Man
Kingdom Confusion
Ill. A hiker was hiking along a mountain road and saw an old Cherokee Indian man lying with his ear to the ground. As he approached the Old Indian man, he heard him talking.
“Chevy pickup truck. Large tires. Green. Man driving with large German shepherd in passenger seat. Loaded with firewood. BC license plate 830 EJE”.
The hiker was just astounded at the Cherokee Indian perception. He said, “You mean you can tell all that from listening to the ground?”
The old Indian replied: “Ear to the ground, nothing, That truck just ran over me.”
Many a times we feel that way, like a big truck has just ran right over us. We see times of tragedy and trouble in the scripture and we find people just like that, real people who experience real pain, rejection, depression, and just have given up on life. People like the prophet, Elijah and like the apostle Paul. (adapted from Adrew Chan: sermoncentral.)
I want to spend this morning talking about a very real problem that exists today. The title of our message is 'Dealing with Depression'. This is a subject that many in the church world won't discuss. Because we are Christians, we are not supposed to have depression but victory. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy! But there are times that in spite of our best efforts we make the same mistake Peter did while he was walking on the water in great faith but his attention was distracted from the eyes of Jesus and was placed upon the storm and he began to sink and he cried out to Jesus who then reached down and saved him and he will save you too. But if we were to experience constant joy in life there would be no reason for us to be on earth, because there would be no way for us to relate to the countless numbers of broken souls that need Jesus today. Jesus was tempted so he can relate to us when we are tempted. We must experience pain, sadness, depression so we can sympathize with those who go through such things and offer them peace in Jesus
Before I go any farther today, let me say, If you are a perfect person you came to the wrong church this morning. Because in this church, we are all broken people with all different kinds of issues serving and praising a perfect risen Lord.
So for anyone to look down their self righteous nose at those who suffer such hardships as depression, it may be because Satan has such a strong hold on your life that he is actually using your insensitivity to taunt the true men and women of God who are going through a hard time. The pharisees saw Jesus eating with the likes of lepers, sinners, and tax collectors and they were appalled that a man who had a such a reputation for being holy would associate with such a low class of people. There are people who have Bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia and maybe something worse and there is a stigma that says that these people are beyond all hope, they are only worthy to be mocked and made fun of. Well, I praise God, that Jesus didn't feel the same way this morning!!
We read about a man who was bound with chains and filled with demons and Jesus didn't mock him, Jesus didn't condemn him, Jesus didn't say he deserved the torment he was receiving because he made a mistake or something that his father or grandfather did. No. In Luke 8:35 we read “and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.”
Notice they were not afraid of the demon possessed man that had hulkish strength to break chains that bound him, no, they were afraid of the one who broke the chains that were on the inside of that man. Because they had come face to face with the one who could not only calm the man but cast the evil out of him forever! They had met the man who was greater than storms, greater than blindness, and greater than all the demons in hell! Praise The LORD!! The realization that Jesus really was the Messiah was too much for them to believe even though the evidence was right in front of their faces.
Transition: When dealing with depression. I think it is important remember that there is a depression that is biological/clinical and there is a depression that is experiential, and there is a depression that is spiritual; that comes from the devil.
I. The Clinical Depression
We know that we all live in a fallen and imperfect world. If Adam and Eve hadn't sinned we would never know depression or anything close to it. Bu the reality is sin has bound everyone in its prison and there is only one way out: Jesus. But because we do live in a fallen world, there is hatred, there is trouble, there is war, disease, envy, greed, addiction, abortion, corruption, wickedness, lust, perversion and there is also sicknesses. I believe in divine healing, I have experienced it. I have seen it. I know God can and does miraculously heal people.
But when it comes to a sickness of psychological things, that is where there is a lot of confusion in the church. I said it before but I will say it again, the mind and the brain are different. The mind is what thinks and the brain is what the mind thinks with. The piano player knows the songs she wants to play but if half the keys on the piano aren't working then the song won't sound right. There are people who have suffered strokes, they know what they want to say but the tool that they use to say those things isn't working quite right. Sometimes there are chemical imbalances in the brain that can cause people to not feel like themselves. That they are disconnected from reality, that though they desperately want to be a part of life, they feel that life goes on without them and does not miss them. I am no doctor, so I can't tell you if this is a spiritual or clinical depression.
But I can say that I think a very good thing that is beginning to happen in more and more churches is that counselors that deal with grief counseling, marriage counseling, and are now licensed to help those who are dealing with anxiety disorders and depression.
Natasha Stewart who is the director of counseling at the Potter's House church in Dallas Texas made a great point that the great mystery of depression is how it effects different people differently. She said that there are levels of depression where some people can get up and take a shower and brush their hair and teeth and function pretty well and then there are those who are dealing with a more severe level of depression, where they can not get out of bed because there simply is no motivation to go on. The point that you should be concerned is when the depression lasts past a two week period. Having depression doesn't mean you are sinful, it doesn't mean you are not a Christian, it doesn't mean that you are not saved, it doesn't mean that you don't have faith in God. Don't let the devil lie to you, rebuke him say “I may not be completely well but my Lord said He would never leave me nor forsake me!”
she continued: “A lot of times in the Christian community we are isolated to the feeling of joy. And joy is not the only emotion that we experience, but we can be so use to stuffing the negative feelings down inside us that it causes something worse to happen. Then you notice that two weeks has gone by and you haven't gotten out of bed, you haven't eaten anything, you haven't called anybody, but you are saying 'I got the joy of the Lord' when in truth is you wish the Lord would take your life so that you wouldn't have to.
I got news for you church, God uses doctors to heal us also!
I believe that you are going through somethings now that people in earlier generations couldn't handle, and God knows that medical breakthroughs are necessary for us to deal with the hardships of physical problems. God is good! If he can provide a nest for a sparrow he can provide a healing and if not a healing he can provide a medicine that will help us cope with whatever peculiar cross we are meant to carry in this life. Thank You Jesus!
When I was pastor in Savanna, Ok. A person asked me if it was alright to take some medicine (I can't remember for what) and my response was “What did your doctor say?” I believe their response was “He said I should take it” I said “well then you should take it.” and very confused and doubtful look came over them, as if I had just blasphemed God. They informed me that their former pastor had told the congregation to stop taking medicine. Folks, if you are taking medicine, keep taking the medicine your doctor has prescribed for you.
Transition: Next lets look at the experiential depression, that comes from grief, tragdey, or other traumatic events
II. The Experiential Depression
One of the things that has been falsely taught and promoted in some charismatic circles is that God will give us whatever we ask for, if we ask in faith, because that is exactly what we read in Mark 11:24, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believed that you have received it, and it will be yours.” and if we are in the will of God, this is true it will be ours. But a closer examination of this combined with other insightful scriptures from the apostle James reminds us that there are times we pray in faith asking for something and we are denied it because we ask with selfish motives. We asked from the flesh and not from the spirit, something that had nothing to do with the promotion of the gospel or anything that would in any way glorify the name of Lord. It is true that God wants us to have victory, but there can be no victory without struggle, If we wrestle with God all night we must learn to limp in the morning. We teach our kids to play sports and we coach them the best we can to help their team win. But we don't skip all the games and give them a trophy. Why? Because they must earn it. We can not expect God to give us a crown that never was won. We can not have spiritual victory, if we run from every spiritual battle we encounter. Some run to drugs, others to alcohol, others to something else. How many have gone through the battle of divorce and ran to drugs or they were dealing with abuse or had just lost a child and ran to booze; anything to take away the pain.
God gave us tears so that we could use them. Jesus said “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” turn to Jesus and cry upon his shoulders and let him comfort you.
Transition: Finally, let's examine something I happen to know quite a bit about and that is
III. The Spiritual Depression
let me say first that I have met some super spiritual people who have said “If you have depression, you have missed God somewhere.” they insinuated that depression or sadness is a sign that you lack faith. These people should be thrown out of any ministry and the sooner the better. In the church we are often taught that we must wear a smile and show that we are happy when in reality we are hiding our weariness, we are smothering our feeling of depression.
Let me share with you some people who went through depression: Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, Martin Luther, the reformer of the protestant church,
The greatest Christian believers are often most susceptible to depression or what has been called fainting fits. A great preacher once said that “Many of the best of ministers, from the very spirituality of their character, are exceedingly sensitive – too sensitive for such a world as this.” This is indeed a hard world and we do not belong to it, we belong to another world and the only reason we are here is to bring others to the saving knowledge of the one who has changed our lives and to make them as sensitive to this evil world as we have learned to be, through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
Two other spiritual leaders who suffered depression, you may have heard of, the apostle Paul and the prophet Elijah. I want us to take a quick look at the two most common times of spiritual depression; first, after a great victory and second before a great breakthrough.
A. After great victory
The reason that this is an opportune time to experience depression is because it is most likely when we have our guard down. When we feel the victory is won, we feel that we have earned a time to take of the heavy armor in order to celebrate and dance or to at least rest for a while. But even though we are given a Sabbath to rest God never commanded us to let down our guard or take off our armor. Some of the most notable victories ever won in God's service was when God had done miraculous things through the prophet Elijah. A man of great faith and anointing. He caused the rain to stop for 3 ½ years, and caused it to rain again, He was fed by ravens, He kept the woman and her son alive by God's miraculous provision: The jar of flour never ran out and the oil never ran dry, He called fire down from heaven three different times and slaughtered the false prophets of Baal! That's just to name a few of the things that Elijah is known for.
Let's turn our attention to I Kings 18 and 19
“Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.... Then Elijah commanded them, seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away! They seized them, and Elijah had them brought to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there” -I Kings 18:38 & 40
While Ahab rode off, in verse 46 we read “The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.” God came upon Elijah so that he actually outran the chariot.
Elijah was like a superhero. You didn't confront Elijah, you ran from him. What he said, you did or else . . . you may anger God. When he spoke you not only listened, you obeyed.
Charles Spurgeon wrote in his book 'Lectures to my students': “The Lord seldom exposes his warriors to the perils of exultation over victory; he knows that few of them can endure such a test, and therefore dashes their cup with bitterness.” and later he added “excess of joy or excitement must be paid for by subsequent depressions.”(p.164)
What could stop this mighty man of God? Nothing. At least so it would seem. But we must remember everyone has a weakness, for every Judas there is 30 coins, for every Samson there is a Delilah, for every Ahab there is a gap in the armor. For Elijah it was a woman, and not just any woman, this woman was Jezebel.
In I Kings 19:2 we read “So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, 'May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” Who cares what this woman says right? After all, this man has just whipped Satan's backside from one end to the other, called fire down from heaven beat 450 false prophets, and now I wonder what He will do to this crass loudmouth blaspheming woman Jezebel? So lets' look together in the following verse...
“Elijah was afraid, and ran for his life. . .” v. 3 Wait. What?! There must be some mistake this is Elijah that we are talking about here. Elijah isn't the type of man that would run from anybody! Elijah is the type of prophet that fears nothing! Surely there's a mistake. And we read in the next verse “while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die.” 'I have had enough, Lord,” he said “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
What is going on here? What has happened to this powerful prophet of God? I will tell you . . .what happened was at his weakest moment, right after a great victory, this woman had planted something in Elijah's mind. It is not uncommon for the most productive and fiery hearted servants of God to have a desire to die. There is nothing in this world for that can satisfy their thirst. It is only the living water they desire and it is only the living water that satisfies them and when they feel or fear it is gone, then comes despair.
Have you ever been in that low point in your life? If not, I truly hope you never experience it. It must be the closest thing to hell there is on earth. And I cringe at the thought that hell is infinitely worse than that. *shivers Notice what this mighty man of God has just said here.
First, he prayed that he might die. He wouldn't allow himself to take his own life or to be taken by the servants of Jezebel, so that they would proclaim victory. At least he had the presence of mind that God would get the glory for what he had already accomplished but reasoned to himself (although by fear) that he had done enough. So he might have asked God, “God please take my life from me, I don't want to live here anymore.” Secondly, he said “I have had enough, Lord” and thirdly, he said “Take my life..”
You just earned a diploma, you just beat cancer, you just got a promotion, you just got rid of some great challenge or difficulty in your life and yet, far from being excited, you are depressed, in extreme cases, like Elijah, you may even want to die? You're tired of the fighting, you're tired of the complaining you're worn out from the anxiety, You're tired of being tired, you are through being lonely, empty, vacant, and hopeless, 'I'm done, I'm through, I'm finished.' “I'm tired of pretending that I don't have any problems, I'm tired of telling people all is well, when I'm suffering inside, I'm tired of being quiet because I know no one wants to hear about my problems anyway. I'm through being false, I'm done being this messed up person. We feel that as Christians we must pretend that we got it all together, and that we don't have problems. - “I don't want anyone to know about this. Just, take my life”
This is just like human nature, One moment we have prayed away not one but two or more enemies, we have faithfully prayed away illnesses, and proclaimed the word over several problems, victory upon victory and when we should be the most jubilant, we find ourselves shivering in fear for so small and unreasonable a thing that we would blush if we were to mention it out loud. We Christians are so zealous one moment and then so doubtful the next. One moment Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus to protect Jesus and a short time later he denied ever knowing Jesus three separate times. Elijah just completed incredible works of faith and had won the day and when he should have been the most joyous, he was just the opposite. Depression and can come after great success. Elijah was weary. According to Webster's dictionary one of the definitions of the word 'weary' is 'to have your sense of pleasure exhausted.' Elijah's energy of excitement was exhausted for having done great things for God, he was emotionally empty, and as a result he was now ripe for despair and at this point, just like Jesus in the desert, that evil opportunist, Satan comes along and plants a fear in the heart of this great prophet of God, by his agent Jezebel.
How could it come to this once you have accomplished so much. Usually we have imagined such heights of ecstasy after accomplishing something we have worked so hard to achieve, that reality can never reach our imagination's expectation and we get depressed.
The apostle Paul went through the same thing
“We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.” -2 Cor. 1:8
I had so much pressure and stress and anxiety and fear and concern that the heaviness of it all had finally broken me down to the point that I despaired of life itself! What should I do?
Whatever you do, do not ever stop praying, if I'm going down, then I want to go down reaching up to Jesus saying with the disciple “Lord, save me!” I would much rather be rebuked for a lack of faith and be rescued than to say nothing only to drown in despair. The first thing we must do is go to Jesus. Then the second thing we must do is go to Jesus and the third thing we must do is go to Jesus and return to him over and over and over again. At the same time we are crying out to him, we must reach out to others to pray for us. Notice that Paul did not hide his depression but openly shared it with the Corinthians: If you do not go to Jesus and ask others to pray, you either don't trust God or you don't believe in the power of prayer. I am a living example to the power of both and you can be also!
The devil will try to drive a wedge between you and you asking others to pray for you, he will try to drive a wedge between you and Jesus, he will try to drive a wedge between you and the word because he knows that is where your strength is. He knows that is where the solution to your problem is. Hitler is the most notorious evil man of our era, he not only tortured and killed millions of Jews, but he would also starve them to death. They were captured and then they were not allowed food, and before long they hadn't the strength to live at all. This is what Satan would do to us if he could. Capture us, imprison us, and keep us from the one that would set us free and keep us from the nourishing word of God that gives us joy and peace.
Have no doubt about it, when you are in depression and you want to read your Bible for comfort, but a a sudden great fear pushes you away from it and you find yourself wanting to retreat into the same habits of the past, you can be sure that one of the devil's agents has received his order to whisper in your ears: “stay away from that bible, it can not help you.” This is when you must press through and read it. Show that you fear God more than you fear the devil, for the word says “Blessings and prosperity belong to those who fear the Lord and obey him.”
We all need spiritual food and we must do whatever we can to get it. Jesus said “Seek and you will find.” Satan will have you trying to retreat into the one place he has set a trap, a place he has secretly placed a fear and knows that is the place you will eventually retreat; it is the sanctuary of your mind. I Timothy 1:7 says “For the Spirit of God does not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.”
The second most common time when we are most vulnerable to depression is
B. Before any great achievement
You may say how can you be such a man or woman of God and go through a depression – those are the exact people that the enemy attacks the most. God has a great destiny for you and the devil fears that destiny, the more he keeps you in bed, the less you can be the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
Many times it is the most humble who are susceptible to depression and it is the proud who are most prone to self pity. Numbers 12:3 tells us that Moses was not only a very humble man, but was the most humble man on the face of the earth. He would not only be called to be a great prophet of God, but would lead an entire race of people out of slavery and give them God's law to live by and would show the power of Gods provision, the power of God's protection, and the promise of God's love for his people. Many miracles were done through Moses and yet, when he was called to this honorable task, far be it from him to take up the task with great excitement, he doubted he could do it and it seems he didn't want to, by the excuses he was making.
I remember reading from Charles Spurgeon “...when I first became a pastor in London. My success appalled me; and the thought of a career which it seemed to open up, so far from elating me, cast me into the lowest depth, out of which I uttered my misery and found no room for a gloria in excelsis.” ('Lectures to my students' p.165)
I have heard of ministers who have run from God because the call to preach the gospel seemed impossible to them. Imagine if someone told you that you must speak in front of thousands and be accountable for every one of their souls. Would that not bring a heavy sense of responsibility to your soul? Sometimes we are more like Jonah than we care to admit, we know that God has called us to preach but we are always looking for the next boat to Tarshish. Always justifying the running away and resisting the call to obey God and do as he has commanded us, for fear of failure.
This depression comes over us just before victory is won. Just as the storm rages and tosses us here and there and we can make no sense of it at the moment, we find not only relief once it has finally passed but a greater sense of peace and blessing as well. Although miserable at the moment, God is preparing something that will having you praising God that you had went through such a trying time.
Conclusion: Remember there is a constant battle for your mind. Both God and the devil know that what your mind thinks is your reality. The word tell us that 'As a man thinks in his heart so is he.' Man is literally what he thinks. His character being is the complete sum of all his thought and desires.
Elvis Presley said, “I'll die at the same age as mom.” He did.
Bear Bryant said, “The day I stop coaching I'll die.” He did.
The mental picture that your mind perceives as reality is the picture that your subconscious mind works all your life to develop.
T.D. Jakes once said “If your God Conscious was greater than your self conscious your problem would be solved in a moment.”
The other day I was struggling with this issue and I cried out to God and simply told him I don't have the strength to do it today and if he wanted me to do it he would have to give me the strength and I began to wonder if I had angered God or failed him because of the soul melting pain I was in and then the radio came on, which was weird because it wasn't set to turn on, and a preacher's voice rang out like an angel and said “You may not understand it now, but God is working something for your good. I know it doesn't feel like it, but it is going to work out for the good. Some good will come out of all of this.” Needless to say that is all I needed to hear and I got up with renewed neergy and hope and with the power of God, made it through the day.
If God was done with you, trust me he would have already taken you out of here because your mission on life was through. Since you are here, that means that what he wants you to do in life has not yet been completed. I admit that there are times that just don't make sense and we wonder if God has forsaken us but we must remember what Hebrews 13:5-6 says “… God has said, ‘Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’”
When it seems that we can't trust anyone, hear the words in Proverbs 3:5,6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”
Amen.
