Dealing with Depression
I Want to talk about depression. Depression affects each and every one of us sometime in our lives. It can make you feel like you want to give up, commit suicide, withdraw within yourself, fatigue, and loneliness. It can be a constant everyday battle. But there is hope.
Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. Then in
Rom 15:11 And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and praise him, all ye people. God wants us to live joyous life’s not depressed and feeling unworthy. One of the ways of getting out of depression is stopped dwelling on self. When we dwell on our problem, we let our problem own us. And that’s all we can think of. We must turn our efforts outward and start giving it to God and look at trying to help others which will give us blessings and take her mind off the depression. To fellowship with good Christian brothers and sisters, a family of faith that you can depend on. They will talk to you and you can share your problems with them and lots of time sharing your problem with someone, helps get you out of that slump. You know how it is when you can get things off your chest, you feel like a burden was lifted. The word of God tells us in.
1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.Other words encourage each other and help each other grow stronger in faith.We are to build are brothers and sister up ,not tear them down. Then in
Ephesians 4:9-12 (Nowe, in that he ascended, what is it but that he had also descended first into the lowest partes of the earth?
Ephesians 4:10 Hee that descended, is euen the same that ascended, farre aboue all heauens, that hee might fill all things)
Ephesians 4:11 Hee therefore gaue some to be Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Euangelists, and some Pastours, and Teachers,
Ephesians 4:12 For the repairing of the Saintes, for the woorke of the ministerie, and for the edification of the bodie of Christ. Edification means uplift.
When we fellowship with our family of faith, you’ll find people that have when through the same things that you have. And you can share with each other your thoughts, and that person can tell you how they overcame the situation.
1 John 1:7 But if we walke in the light as he is in the light, we haue fellowship one with another, and the blood of Iesus Christ his Sonne clenseth vs from all sinne.
Here the word of God is telling us to fellowship together, meaning we need people that we can relate to and to edify us and to lift us up. That’s why I often said, you can be a child of God, and stay at home and watch preachers on television, and you can learn. But you can never grow. You need to fellowship with others to be able to talk about what you’re learning and usually there’s other people around with wisdom that can give you understanding of what you’ve learned that you don’t understand on your own. And when you fellowship with others it increases your faith, it shows that you believe in what is being preached and teached. It gives you a sense of belonging. The word of God says that we should always assemble together
Hebrews 10:24-25 We should think about each other to see how we can encourage each other to show love and do good works.
Heb 10:25 We must not quit meeting together, as some are doing. No, we need to keep on encouraging each other. This becomes more and more important as you see the Day getting closer.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you, but such as appertained to man: and God is faithfull, which will not suffer you to be tempted above that you be able, but will even give the issue with the temptation, that ye may be able to bearer it.
We have to remember depression comes from satan. It is something that he puts in our life to get us to lose track with our relationship with our Lord and Savior. We have to remember Christ is there to help us through the situation. Sometimes depression is caused by a medical condition that can be corrected with medicine. But still God is the ultimate source. He’s the one we have to look to and depend on. And with our family of faith, if we fall, they will pick us up and help us back into the fold. They will say let us pray together and seek Gods help. But if you fall in the world they would just kick you and let you lay there. And try to bring you down. They will say let’s go out and tie one on and you will forget your problems. And that never works when you wake up your problems are still there.
Paul tells us, not to let the world around us interpret who we are … … what Paul is trying to tell us it is not a works fight, it is a focus fight.
Paul reminds us as a child of God we have a whole new identity. Were a new creation.
Even when we are a child of God we can suffer from anxiety and depression. Look at Job.
Job is the oldest book in the Bible. And it’s all about suffering.
The story starts with Job—a rich, healthy, blessed man who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” But in one day, Job’s life falls apart.
Foreigners kill his servants and steal all of his animals (other words his livelihood). Then a great wind comes up and pulls down the house on his family, killing his seven sons and three daughters. And to top things off, Job ends up with boils all over his body.
You think your life is hard…
He ends up writing really depressing poetry.
In Job 30:16-20 he says, And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my tendon or ligament take no rest. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
You may relate to Job if you feel constant sadness. It may seem as if every day is filled with depression, or you may even believe God is absent. But he is not absent. God restored to Job.
Then Elijah
Elijah saw God do the most incredible things (like send fire down from heaven to win a bet against false prophets). You’d think after seeing God move in radical ways, he’d be on a constant Jesus-high, right? Well, he later becomes overwhelmed with fear, unsure that God is going to act in the way that he wants him to. He’s afraid for his life and begins to experience suffering. In the midst of that suffering, Elijah finds himself reaching the point of, “I don’t want to live anymore.”
In 1 Kings 19:4 he cries out, “I have had enough, LORD…Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” We have to remember the faith of the day is not the faith of tomorrow. When you have a great spiritual victory. That’s when satan will hit you the most and try to drag you down.
You may relate to Elijah if you’ve ever thought, “I am all alone. I can’t take it anymore. I don’t want to live anymore. There’s no point.” Then look at
. King David
David wrote most of the Psalms, and was maybe the most emotional in the whole Bible—up and down, up and down. One minute he’s going off praising God, and the next he’s like, “Where are you, God?!”
He feels like God has turned his back on him, and claims that his life is full of depression and sadness.
In Psalm 6:5-7 David’s words ring, “I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief...”
He becomes overwhelmed with sadness and unable to sleep. And yet God calls him “a man after his own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14).
You may relate to King David if you’ve ever just felt exhausted from grief, or like you can’t even sleep.
Heman son of Korah
This is one most of you probably haven’t heard of. Heman wrote Psalm 88, which has been described as one of the darkest Psalms in the whole Bible. The book of Psalms would be like the Spotify list for the Israelites (God’s chosen people), because they would go to the temple (where the church) and sing them. In this Psalm, Heman cries out that God has abandoned and betrayed him.
He says in Psalm 88:5-7, “I am forgotten, cut off from your care. You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths. Your anger weighs me down; with wave after wave you have engulfed me.”
He does what so many of us do when we’re in a bad place—he turns and points the finger at God. He feels like he’s already in the lowest place, and it’s like one wave after another just keeps hitting him. Do you know what he means?
He ends the Psalm by saying, “Darkness is my closest friend.”
You may relate to Heman if you’ve ever felt alone, angry at God, or stuck in darkness.Cause we say God when is this going to stop it been one thing after the other.But God is there to see us through,even though we think he’s not.It like the foot prints in the sand one you only seen one pair of footprints that is when he was carrying you.
Jeremiah
Jeremiah was another major prophet (chosen by God to proclaim truth and warn others). He had a lifelong battle with sadness and wrote an entire book of his sorrow called Lamentations.
In Lamentations 2:10 he says, “I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken.”
Jeremiah writes in the Bible that he’s cried so much that there’s nothing left to come out. Sound familiar?
You may relate to Jeremiah if you’ve ever thought, “I’ve cried so much that I ran out of tears…I feel so heartbroken.”
The Bible is not full of men and women who are immune or unaware of what it’s like to experience sorrow and pain. God made sure that these true stories were included in the Bible, partly so that you would know you’re not alone. Depression can come for anyone.
God doesn’t want you to experience depression, but he also understands what you’re walking through. He is merciful, gracious, and empathizes with what you're going through (Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that wee have a great high Priest, which is entered into heaven, even Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high Priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all things tempted in like sort, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore go boldly unto ye throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. What this means is
We have a great high priest who has gone to live with God in heaven. He is Jesus the Son of God. So let us continue to express our faith in him.
Jesus, our high priest, is able to understand our weaknesses. When Jesus lived on earth, he was tempted in every way. He was tempted in the same ways we are tempted, but he never sinned. With Jesus as our high priest, we can feel free to come before God's throne where there is grace. There we receive mercy and kindness to help us when we need it.
Even in depression, Jesus is your healer and hope in the darkness. Cry out to God in prayer when you’re feeling depressed and focus on the truth in his Word. He will work all things together for good.
Rome’s 8:28 We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him.
And one day, if you are a believer in Christ, he'll wipe every tear from your eyes in heaven.
Hold on to that hope. And keep fighting depression with the help of God's Spirit, his people, and his word. Your life has purpose.
And last We have to remember Christ was tempted also.
Luke 4:1-13 And Jesus full of the holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by that Spirit into the wilderness,
And was there forty days tempted of the devil, & in those days he did eat nothing: but when they were ended, he afterward was hungry. Then the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread only, but by every word of God. Then the devil took him up into an high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, in the twinkling of an eye.
And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of those kingdoms: for that is delivered to me: and to whomsoever I will, I give it.
If thou therefore wilt worship me, they shalbe all thine.
But Jesus answered him, and said, Hence from me, satan: for it is written, Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and him alone thou shall serve.
Then he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thy self down from hence,
For it is written, That he will give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee:
And with their hands they shall lift thee up, least at any time thou shouldest dash thy foot against a stone.
And Jesus answered, and said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a little season.
Jesus also suffered depression and anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:41-46 And he was drawn aside from them about a stones cast, & kneeled down, and prayed,
Saying, Father, if thou wilt, take away this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
And there appeared an Angel unto him from heaven, comforting him.
But being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was like drops of blood, trickling down to the ground.
And he rose up from prayer, and came to his disciples, & found them sleeping for heaviness.
And he said unto them, Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, least ye enter into temptation.
Remember were not supposed to fear them that could destroy the body , fear them that can destroy the soul. Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Have No Fear
Mat 10:26-33 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be disclosed, nor hid, that shall not be known.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye on the houses.
And fear ye not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father?
Yea, and all the hairs of your head are numbered
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heauen.
But whosoever shall deny me before me, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.
Just remember we will have rough times, we will have hard times. We will lose family members and loved ones. There will be times things seem like they never want to go right. Sometimes you just want to give up and say where is God. But he is always with us he’ll never leaves us or forsakes us. We have to remember were just passing through this world this is not our home, we got a heavenly home waiting for us and one day we will see that heavenly home if we stay true our father in heaven. Whatever we go through we must remember to praise God weather it is good or bad it doesn’t matter. Sometimes we think that we have it worse than someone else. But just remember it doesn’t matter what we go through or how hard or tough it is. Christ is went through it first, he is our rock,and our salvation ,we must put all trust and hope in him. So for anyone here today that’s going through trials and temptations heart aches , depression the altar is open this morning and if you come when we sing we will pray with you.
