Fighting spiritual depression
Are you discouraged? Do you feel down and out? Do you wonder why you should bother to continue living the Christian life, especially since you seem like a failure?
Who has not felt useless at some time? Who has not become impatient with himself and sickened by his lack of spiritual progress? (Luke 8:15). YOU’RE NOT ALONE! We all go through those valleys of the shadow of death. But take heart: the road must be reopened soon! “Why are you downhearted, O my soul, and why are you troubled within me? Wait on God, for I will yet praise him, who is the salvation of my countenance and my God” (Ps. 42:11).
Who would encourage you to quit smoking? Would Christ want you to give up? 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 dismissed the devil as superstition have not realized how dangerous it is to our health and well-being. God picks up the pieces of lives that have been savagely torn and torn and left for dead by sin (Isaiah 49:24-25; Amos 3:12).
Satan foams at the mouth at our incredible human potential and wants to take us out like a sniper, one at a time. He hates all mankind with jealousy and anger (because we are created according to the divine gender), but he has the brothers as a special target (1 Peter 5: 8-11).
The Devil can take some things that are true about you and twist them out of context and out of proportion to DESTROY your will to survive. He never stops talking bad about us because he is a LIAR AND MURDERING CHARACTER KILLER! (John 8:44; Revelation 12:10). Aim do not let the powers of darkness overcome your will to live in the light. Don’t accept Satan’s depressed mind. Don’t fall prey to his desperate defeat attitude. He has no right to condemn (Rom. 8:1,33).
King David was discouraged, but he ended his prayers on a positive note, showing the healing effect of God’s Spirit on our minds as we pray from our hearts. “He had pretended, unless he had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. Wait on Jehovah; take heart, and he will strengthen your heart; he hopes, I say, in Jehovah ”(Ps. 27: 13-14). David believed in the goodness of God, hoped in his mercy, and hoped for sufficient grace from him, whether it be grace to forgive or to bestow power (2 Corinthians 12:9).
God will give us the grace to bear the many burdens of life (Hebrews 4:16). His Holy Spirit allows us to be graceful, full of grace, even in adverse circumstances. Us Live and learn through a variety of situations to be graced in word and deed, attitude and action. David knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that: “The Lord will give strength to his people: the Lord 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 let yourself go, your sins have led you away from God and Satan is holding you captive (2 Timothy 2:26; 1 Corinthians 5:5), remember God and He will remember you. Not that he ever forgot you: “But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. Shall a woman forget her suckling, so as not to have pity on the child of her womb? I forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have you carved 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 with stakes (Zechariah 13 :6).
Some have been foolishly deceived by sin and have carelessly re-entangled themselves, trapped in a danger zone, but as long as they don’t give up, they CAN overcome what has currently overcome them (Hebrews 3:13; 2 Peter 2). :twenty). Only those who have completely turned their backs on God, who refuses to get up when he is knocked down in the ring, will lose victory.
“And yet, in spite of all this (in spite of us), when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and break my covenant with them: for 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 captured our time and attention, recover 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 right relationship with Him (where we belong), including “If one of your people is cast out to the uttermost part of heaven, the LORD your God will gather you from there and take you from there” (Deut 30:3-4).No matter how far you have strayed, God has not lost sight of you.“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence?” (Ps. 139:7).
If you start crying out to God for help, even if it’s just a whimper because you’re so weak, He will see, hear, and answer. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the brokenhearted… None of those who trust in him shall be desolate” (Ps. 34:18,22). “For I will not contend forever, nor will I be angry forever; for the spirit shall faint before me, and the souls which 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’ve gotten ourselves into and where our backsliding into sin has misled us and dangerously stranded us, 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 transforms our lives (Ps. 51:10). God will finish what he has started in our lives (Philippians 1:6; Isaiah 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 “came to his senses” and headed home, even while still a excellent away–“his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:17, 20).
God knows where you are and what direction you’re headed in your heart and mind, even if your actions haven’t caught up with your attitude yet! God knows they will, eventually. “For He remembers our form (make-up); He remembers that we are but dust” (Ps. 103:14). God wants to encourage us to change, not discourage us from trying (2 Corinthians 2:7).
Constructive criticism, not destructive. Judgment with mercy. God helps but Satan prevents progress, but we CONQUEST CONTINUING, 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! We too (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 build 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 coals of the Spirit of God, light and truth that we hold and represent, as royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9; John 17:17; Ex. 27:20). God does not kick us when we are down, but rather encourages us to STAND UP AND GET OVER IT and carry on his work (Ps. 37:24; Phil. 3:13). When your faith wavers and your confidence is shaky, Christ will not quench you, but will add more oil so we can rise up and shine (Isaiah 42:3). “For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for OBTAINING SALVATION…Therefore comfort one another and build one another up, just as you also do” (1 Thess. 5:9-11).
“For God shows his love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if, being enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life … by whom we have received atonement” (Rom. 8-11).
If God can express so much love for us when we were not even trying to lead a Christian life that pleased him, how much more so now that we are trying, however imperfectly? Don’t we suffer because we hunger and thirst for justice? Brothers we appreciate your holy suffering! It is working on a PURPOSE in your life that will last for all eternity! Growing pains hurt.
We should love God all the more when we catch a glimpse of his mercy and patience toward us. His goodness should prompt us to want to draw near to him and to 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 to us His promise of the priesthood (Zechariah 3). We can be “a brand plucked from the fire,” saved from the “furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10). God can forcefully remind us the hard way that He is what we really want, His Kingdom and His righteousness that makes us real, 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 joyful anticipation of the Kingdom of God. This will help us face all the challenges that life brings us in this purification process that we call conversion. We must remember: “No temptation has taken you except that which is common [not unusual] to man: but GOD IS FAITHFUL, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond your level of tolerance; but he will provide with all temptation a way out, so that you can overcome it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 paraphrased).
And 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 return soon and every practicing Christian will be perfected. Then we will help our Savior prepare the way for our Father’s amazing arrival with the 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 ENCOURAGE ourselves to move forward (Isaiah 35:3; Luke 21:28). All stumble, but do not wallow (Ps. 37:24). Let your attitude be; “I have to No die, but live, and proclaim the works of the LORD. Jehovah has punished me harshly, but he has not given me over to death ”(Ps. 118: 17-18). Hallelujah!
God’s forgiveness and Christ’s cleansing power remain in effect (Isa. 18). God knows what we’ve been through and he’s been through it with us, through it all, wearing his crown of thorns (Isaiah 63:9; Genesis 22:13; Exodus 3:2). God couldn’t get much closer (Jeremiah 23:23). The bottom line is: have hope and not despair; faith and not fear! After all, “… your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
