Fighting spiritual depression
Are you discouraged? Are you feeling depressed and out? Wondering why you should bother to keep living the Christian life, especially since you seem like a failure?
Who has not ever felt useless? Who has not become impatient with himself and has felt sick because of his lack of spiritual progress? (Luke 8:15). YOU’RE NOT ALONE! We all pass through those valleys of the shadow of death. But take heart: the path must reopen soon! “Why are you downcast, my soul? And why are you troubled within me? Wait on God, because I still have to praise him, who is the health of my face and my God” (Ps. 42:11).
Who would encourage you to quit smoking? Would Christ want you to surrender? The one who DIED for you? Would God pressure you to give up? Too many have never realized the vicious beast and the enemy we must face. Even those who have not rejected the devil as superstition have not understood how dangerous it is to our health and well-being. God picks up the pieces of lives that have been savagely ripped and torn and left for dead by sin (Isaiah 49: 24-25; Amos 3:12).
Satan froths at the mouth against our incredible human potential and wants to take us out like a sniper, one at a time. He hates all mankind with jealousy (because we are created after the divine gender), but he has the brothers as a special goal (1 Peter 5: 8-11).
The Devil can take some things that are true about you and twist them, taking them out of context, and disproportionate to DESTROY your will to survive. He never stops talking bad about us because he is a MURDERER WITH A KILLER AND LIAR CHARACTER! (John 8:44; Revelation 12:10). Target don’t let the powers of darkness defeat your will to live in the light. Do not accept the depressed mind of Satan. Do not fall prey to his desperate attitude of defeat. He has no right to condemn (Rom. 8: 1,33).
King David was discouraged, but ended his prayers on a positive note, showing the healing effect of God’s Spirit on our minds as we prayed from the heart. “I had passed out, unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. Trust in Jehovah: be of good cheer, and he will strengthen your heart: wait, I say, in Jehovah ”(Ps. 27: 13-14). David believed in God’s goodness, hoped in His mercy, and waited for His sufficient grace – either forgiving grace or empowering (2 Cor. 12: 9).
God will give us grace to bear the many burdens of life (Hebrews 4:16). His Holy Spirit enables us to be gracious, full of grace, even in adverse circumstances. Us Live and learn through a variety of situations to be merciful in word and deed, attitude and action. David knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that: “Jehovah will give strength to his people: Jehovah will bless his people with strength” (Ps. 29:11). So “Be of good cheer, and he will strengthen your hearts, all you who hope in the Lord” (Ps. 31:24).
Even if you have been carried away, your sins have alienated you from God and Satan holds you captive (2 Timothy 2:26; 1 Corinthians 5: 5), remember God and He will remember you. Not that he has never forgotten you: “But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Will a woman forget her suckling child, so as not to have compassion on the child of her womb? I forgot, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have you sculpted in the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me ”(Isaiah 49: 14-16). God’s love for us goes far beyond our love for Him. He proved this when the palms of Jesus’ hands were pierced by stakes (Zech. 13: 6).
Some have been foolishly deceived by sin and recklessly entangled, trapped in a danger zone, but as long as they don’t give up, they CAN overcome what has currently defeated them (Hebrews 3:13; 2 Peter 2:20). Only those who have turned their back on God completely, who refuse to stand up when they are knocked down in the ring, will lose the victory.
And yet, despite all this (despite us), when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I abhor them, to destroy them completely, and break my covenant with them: because I am the LORD their God ”(Lev. 26:44).
God promises to release, gather, and restore. He will free us from those sins that have cruelly taken up our time and attention, he will regain our spiritual senses, since Satan’s psychological warfare has left us in a quagmire and clueless (Luke 22: 31-32; Deuteronomy 28: 66). -67) – and restore us to sanity and a correct relationship with Him (where we belong), including “If any of yours is cast to the ends of the heavens, from there Jehovah your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you “(Deut. 30: 3-4). No matter how far you’ve strayed, God has not lost sight of you. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” (Ps. 139: 7).
If you start crying out to God for help, even if it’s just a groan because you are so weak, He will see, hear, and respond. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the contrite in spirit … none of those who trust in him will be desolate” (Ps. 34: 18,22). “For I will not contend forever, nor will I be angry forever; because the spirit will fail before me, and the souls that I have made … I have seen his ways and I will heal him: I will also guide him, and restore comfort to him and his mourners ”(Isaiah 57: 15-18).
God sees what trouble we have gotten into and where our relapse into sin has deceived us and left us dangerously stranded, bringing us almost to the point of no return, but NOTHING can separate you from God’s love unless you allow it (Rom 8: 35- 39). As long as there is a spark of the Spirit of God, God can renew our minds and transform our lives (Ps. 51:10). God will finish what He has started in our lives (Philippians 1: 6; Isa. 66: 9). Never forget that we worship a GOD WHO WORKS MIRACLES!
Remember that the prodigal son was still distant from his father, their relationship had grown apart, but when he “regained consciousness” and headed home, even when he was still a great away – “his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:17, 20).
God knows where you are and what direction you are headed in your heart and mind, even if your actions have yet to catch up with your attitude! God knows they will, in time. “Because He remembers our shape (makeup); He remembers that we are but dust ”(Ps. 103: 14). God wants to encourage us to change, not discourage us from even trying (2 Corinthians 2: 7).
Constructive criticism, not destructive. Judgment with mercy. God helps but Satan prevents progress, but we CONTINUING CONQUEST, one step at a time (1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Peter 3:18). God gave David the Kingdom, but he had to fight for it! So do we (Matt. 11:12; I Tim. 6:12). Otherwise, we would take it for granted. Keep fighting (Luke 13:24). All the things you believe in are worth fighting for. Growth comes in stages. We must patiently let our trials run their course and create the character of God within us (Hebrews 12:11; James 1: 4).
Satan wants to extinguish your light (I Tim. 4:16). He hates the sacred embers of the Spirit of God, light and truth that we maintain and represent, as a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2, 9; Jn 17, 17; Ex 27, 20). God does not kick us when we are down, but encourages us to GET UP AND OVER HIM and continue His work (Ps. 37:24; Philip. 3:13). When your faith falters and your confidence is unstable, Christ will not quench you, but add more oil so that we can rise and shine (Isaiah 42: 3). “For God has not appointed us to anger, but to ACHIEVE SALVATION … Therefore, comfort one another and edify one another, just as you also do” (1 Thess. 5: 9-11).
“Because God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us … Because if being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life … . by whom we have received the atonement ”(Rom. 8-11).
If God can express so much love for us when we weren’t even trying to lead a Christian life that pleased Him, how much more now that we are trying, even if imperfectly? Do we not suffer because we are hungry and thirsty for justice? Brothers we appreciate your Holy suffering! It is working on a PURPOSE in your life that will last for eternity! Growing loaves hurt.
We should love God all the more when we glimpse his mercy and patience toward us. His goodness should move us to want to draw close to Him and do what we can to show how much we appreciate His tender love (Rom. 2: 4; Luke 7:47). Nothing should get in the way of our relationship with our Creator God! If God rescued our ancestors over and over again, when they cried out to Him, how much more Will it save us from the lake of fire? (Jude 23:24).
God can save us from sinful situations and restore us to His priesthood promise (Zechariah 3). We can be “a brand plucked out of the fire”, saved from the “furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). God can forcibly remind us the hard way that He is what we really want, His Kingdom and righteousness that makes us come true, not the superficial things that couldn’t possibly fill the void in life (Ps. 106: 15; 107 : 9).
we must keep higher in mind the meaning and purpose of life: to develop the holy and righteous character of God in joyous anticipation of the Kingdom of God. This will help us face all the challenges that life throws at us in this purification process that we call conversion. We must remember: “You have not taken any temptation except the one that is common [not unusual] to man: but GOD IS FAITHFUL, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your tolerance level; but with all temptation it will provide a way out, so that you may cope ”(1 Cor. 10:13 paraphrased).
And to realize “… that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy of being compared with the GLORY that will be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18) because Christ will soon return and every practicing Christian will be perfected. Then we will help our Savior prepare the way for our Father’s amazing arrival in NEW JERUSALEM (Rev. 21: 3).
The Kingdom of God is closer every day, so we must raise our heads and not be discouraged, but allow ourselves to be ENCOURAGED to move on (Is 35, 3; Lk 21, 28). Everyone stumbles, but they don’t roll over (Ps. 37:24). Let your attitude be; “I should no die, but live, and proclaim the works of the LORD. Jehovah has punished me severely: but he has not handed me over to death ”(Ps. 118: 17-18). Hallelujah!
God’s forgiveness and Christ’s cleansing power remain in force (Isa. 18). God knows what we’ve been through and what he’s been through with us, in the midst of it, wearing His Crown of Thorns (Isa. 63: 9; Gen. 22:13; Ex. 3: 2). God couldn’t get much closer (Jeremiah 23:23). The bottom line is: have hope and do not despair; faith and not fear! After all, “… your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).