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.
Slilde 1
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."
Even though Elijah was wrong in his view of the situation,
he expressed what he was feeling and the situation as to how he saw it to God.
God corrected his thinking.
But sometimes, it is only as we verbalize what the situation is that we are able to understand what we are feeling and why.
Sometimes that is the best thing we can do in our depression.
Cry out to God in our pain. That is what many of the psalms are.
They are cries to God in desperate situations.
Psalm 77:1-2
I cried out to God for help;
I cried out to God to hear me.
2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord;
at night I stretched out untiring hands
and my soul refused to be comforted.
The author of Hebrews lets us know who it is that is able to help us.
Hebrews 4:15-16
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
God is able to sympathize with us
When we are in pain
When we are tempted
When we need forgiveness,
We can approach God and find mercy and grace to help us in our time of need.
Pray and tell Him what you are feeling.
Lord, things look so bleak to me. I don’t sense that you are with me. I feel terrible. Help me!
Pray and ask for wisdom and guidance so you can understand.
Lord, help me to understand why these things are going on in my life.
Pray and ask for peace.
Lord, give me peace through this pain I am suffering. Help me to not only know that you are with me, but to feel your presence.
It is possible to have peace when the world around seems to be falling apart.
But when you find yourself without peace, in despair and in pain, you need to express that to God honestly.
That is when we will receive that peace and God will use our circumstance to help us grow.
Another thing that we can do is
Persist in hearing God’s Promises
Slide 6
Slide 6 1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
We need to be persistent in hearing what God has for us.
God told Elijah that he would pass by. Elijah was probably fully expecting that when the wind came, God would be in the wind. But He wasn’t. The same for the earthquake and the fire. But Elijah persisted in his desire to hear from God.
We need to do the same thing.
We need to be persistent in reading the Word of God so that we can know the promises of God and be encouraged and strengthened by it.
So often when we begin a cycle of depression, one of the first things to go is our time with the Lord.
We need to
persist in having that time and
persist in reading His word
so that we can know Him better and hear from Him more.
When we are not in His Word and not spending time with the Lord in meditating and remembering His word, thoughts of God move to the back of our mind instead of the front of our mind where they are needed.
His Word to us brings hope and healing.
Psalm 119:49-50
Remember your word to your servant,
for you have given me hope.
50 My comfort in my suffering is this:
Your promise preserves my life.
We can hang on to the promises of God to help us out of our depression. Be reading His word and meditating on His promises so that you can know His promises and they can give you hope and comfort in your suffering and preserve your very life.
The fourth thing you need to do to defeat depression is to
Put your history in the Past
Slide 7 Slide 7
1 Kings 19:14
14 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."
This is the second time Elijah has stated his concerns to the Lord. He is saying,
Lord, I have been faithful to do what you wanted me to do.
I have preached to the Israelites, but I have been a failure. They have rejected your covenant and killed your prophets.
I have failed in what you wanted me to do.
Have you ever felt like a failure?
Probably most of us at one time or another have.
But just because we don’t see the results that we expect does not mean that we are a failure.
When we do what God wants us to, we have been successful.
The results are God’s business.
Don’t let what appears to be failures in your past, bog you down in doing the things that God wants you to do.
Paul wrote to the Philippians and said
Philippians 3:13b-14
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Don’t let your past stop you from being used from God. Leave the past in the past. Be faithful to the Lord. That is our job.
And the next thing we do that goes along with putting the past behind is to
Put on a Proper Perspective
Slide 8
1 Kings 19:18
Slide 8 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel-all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him."
Often when we are down, it is our thinking and worrying that has gotten us down. In Elijah’s case, he was worried because he thought
Jezebel was out to kill him
He had failed to be successful
And He was the only prophet left.
He did not have the proper perspective that God was in control.
He had stinkin’ thinkin’. He had the perspective that everything was bad.
We need to first put our past in the past and then put on a proper perspective.
But to gain a proper perspective requires that we are challenged with the truth.
God says to Elijah,
Hey, you have it wrong. I reserve seven thousand in Israel. I am in control of things. I have been with you and I am with them.
Some of this you should have known.
For one, I just got through doing a mighty work through you by defeating all of those false prophets.
Focus on the truth.
That is what we need to do sometimes.
When we have medical concerns,
we need to focus on the truth that God is in control.
We may not be seeing what is happening or understanding it, but we need to think back to the things God has done so that we are reminded that He is in control
I have had several situations in my life where I did not understand or see how God was working. It is only now, as I look back that I can see some of the ways He was working.
Maybe you are struggling through
marriage problems or a
job situation or a
financial situation.
Whatever the case, work at keeping the proper perspective that God is in control and it will help you to not see the lies that Satan is trying to tell you about your situation.
Because Satan will be telling you lies.
God doesn’t care about you
If He did, this wouldn’t be happening
Forget God, Forget Church, you can do fine on your own without them.
Those are lies. You can’t. I can’t.
Focus on the truth. Focus on what is right and proper. Paul tells us in
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. (from New International Version)
I will tell you. If it was not for God and the church, I don’t know how I would have gotten through a few of the situations of my life.
Think about that a second. You may be struggling through some situation right now.
Ask yourself, Would I be getting through this as well without my church family.
If you are new to Christianity, ask yourself, is it possible that I could be strengthened to get through my situation if I was part of a church family?
Put on a proper perspective of things and you will be much better able to get through and defeat depression in your life.
2 final things.
Pour yourself into a new Assignment
Slide 9
1 Kings 19:15-17
Slide 9 15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu.
God gave Elijah a new assignment.
He is saying Elijah, listen, Get a proper perspective. Now to help you keep that you need something to do.
Go back and anoint these people and pour into the one who will succeed you as prophet
Elijah went back and anointed the men and began ministering to Elisha.
And God continued to be with Elijah and do great things through him.
Sometimes, when we are feeling depressed, when we have taken care to nourish ourselves by the hand of God,
Pray to the lord
Remember and read his promises in His word
Put the past behind us
Put on a new perspective
We need to get busy pouring out into a new assignment.
Maybe that would be taking on a new ministry.
Maybe you see a need and need to step up and fill that need
Maybe there is someone who needs to be encouraged
Maybe there is someone that needs to be trained to take on the role you are currently doing.
Whatever the case, look for what it is that the Lord would have you do, because this I know for certain, He would have you be doing something. When we have taken the steps we have talked about today, we need to step out and begin pouring into something or someone new.
This will
Help us to take our mind off of the past
Help us to maintain that proper perspective
Help us feel productive again
There is no better way to get out of being depressed than being used by God.
Allow him to do that.
One final thing. We all need to
Patiently Persevere
Slide 10 Slide 10
We see that Elijah did this.
He persevered during the 40 days and nights
He persevered in waiting to hear from God
He persevered through doing what God wanted him to do.
We need to persevere. God grows us through persevering. There is no substitute for time in the growth process.
I wish there was sometimes, but I know this.
If I hadn’t gone through some of the things that I have gone through, I would not be as equipped to
lead this church,
do the things God wants me to
be effective in His hands.
You may be going through some very difficult circumstances right now.
I do not want to minimize what you are going through, but I do know this,
God will grow you
God will strengthen you
And as you persevere,
God will glorify Himself and use you in a mighty way.
Last week, I read from Psalm 40 and I want to do that again.
Psalms 40:1-3
1 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.
(from New International Version)
When people can see what God has brought you through, God can use that to bring others to Him.
Rejoice in that.
We have a choice this very day.
We have a choice to continue on and let depression beat us down or
We can choose to
Understand that God loves us in our depression and has
Provided ways that we can exit this cycle of depression.
And choose to apply those into our lives.
The kids from Impact are going to lead us in a closing song today.
The song is called trading my sorrows.
Our choice is to trade our sorrows for the joy of the Lord.
Kids sing
Close in prayer
