Defeating Depression Part 2 Series

Defeating Depression 2

Properly Care for your body

Pray Honestly to God concerning your Pain

Persist in hearing God’s Promises

Put your history in the Past

Put on a new Perspective

Pour into a new Assignment

Patiently Persevere

Slide 1

We are finishing up our 2 part series on Defeating Depression.

Last week we sought to understand Depression a little better.

We learned that it is common in the world and in the Church

We saw that there are many causes that can lead us into depression

We saw that there is a predictable pattern to depression.

And we saw that God cares about depressed people.

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When we understanding all of this and know that we aren’t the only ones who go through this, it will help us to more easily perceive and admit when we may have this problem.

Getting to this point is huge for anyone who has ever suffered through depression.

When we know that we are not the only ones to have gone through this, we can stop beating ourselves up for it and take positive steps to help us defeat it.

And that is what I want to look at today.

Knowing that God cares for us, what tools and ways has He given us to respond to and help us Defeat Depression in our lives?

Last week we looked at 1 Kings 19:1-4 to see the pattern of Depression and then in 1 Kings 19:5-18, we looked at how God cared for Elijah through that time.

Slide 2

Slide 2`` This week I want to look at 1 Kings 19:5-18 again and see it from Elijah’s stand point.

You can follow along on 255 of your pew Bibles.

One of the first ways that I want us to see that God has given us to help Defeat Depression is one that people may not off the bat deem very spiritual. That is the fact that you need to

Properly Care for your body

Slide 3

1 Kings 19:5-9

Slide 3 5 Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." 6 He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

7 The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

We talked last week about how God saw the need of Elijah and cared for him by providing food for him.

Our responsibility on this end would be to partake of the physical nourishment that God has provided.

So often when we are depressed, we let ourselves waste away physically.

We don’t eat healthy

We may not be eating at all

We don’t exercise

When we allow this to go on in our life, it deprives us of the energy we need to take positive steps toward seeing depression defeated in our life.

God has created us as physical beings.

If we are going to

live for God and

be useful tools in his hands,

we need to take care of ourselves physically.

Some may say, well God provided for Elijah the nourishment he needed. That is true, but Elijah partook of it. God provides for us too. God has provided means for us to have food and to exercise. We need to partake of it.

A positive step in exiting the pattern of depression is to

Eat and Exercise so that you have the Energy necessary to be productive.

Slide 4 Slide 4

When you recognize yourself feeling depressed, Ask yourself

Have I been eating?

Have you been exercising?

If the answer is no to either of these questions, then do something about it.

Eat something.

Go take a walk in the evenings.

Join a gym.

Ride your bike.

Take some step toward Proper Care of your body to Defeat the Depression that has you down.

A second thing that we can do is

Pray Honestly to God concerning your Pain

Slide 5

Slide 5 1 Kings 19:10

10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too."