Currently we’re in a message series called “Dealing with Difficulties.” What I trust we’re learning is that no matter what difficulty you’re facing in your life, there is hope. God is bigger than any mountain you may be up against in your life. God’s Word, the Bible, has all the answers you need to live the life God created you to live.
NLT 2 Peter 1:3 As we know Jesus better, His divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. Circle that word “everything.” Everything you need for living a godly life is available to you through the power of Jesus. Jesus’ power is made available to you through His Word, His Spirit and His church. As a believer, you lack nothing to live out God’s purpose for your life. However, sometimes believers begin to doubt that truth. Sometimes the mountains of difficulties around them loom up bigger than God Himself. Sometimes they wonder if God cares about them. Sometimes they get depressed.
Today, I’m going to talk about “Defeating Depression.” God doesn’t want you to be depressed, He wants you to be filled with His joy. Depression is an enemy that God wants to help you defeat. What is depression? Depression is a whole range of emotions that range from feeling down for a day to being clinically depressed for weeks or months on end. For the purposes of this message, I’m going to lump them all together under the word depression.
When you feel depressed, the future no longer looks bright and worries cloud your mind. You don’t feel good about your ability to cope, even God seems far away. How do you deal with feeling down or depressed? Some people withdraw from being around others and even going to church. Others try to drown their troubles with alcohol or drugs. Still others try to escape in television, the internet or video games. None of those ways is going to help you defeat depression.
This morning, we’re going to turn to the Bible to discover how God moved a great prophet named Elijah from depression to a sense of purpose. In the story, Elijah had just won a great victory over the prophets of the idol Baal. However, the queen of the land, Jezebel, was greatly enraged. NLT 1 Kings 19:2 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow I have failed to take your life like those whom you killed.” So Elijah ran for his life and became depressed. Elijah became depressed because of wrong thinking. So the first topic we’re going to look at is how to avoid depression and secondly we’re going to look how to defeat depression if you’ve succumbed to it.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my October 21, 2007 message entitled Defeating Depression
Thanks for these words! May I not only stand on believing He is in control, but may my family see “Him” in action in my life- may He be glorified through me and may I seek to walk in the paths or directions that reveal Him to others that are under looming circumstances as I feel I am!