Depressed? Opressed? Repressed? Suppressed?

Stop the Press!

Years ago I realized that I suffered from depression. Sometimes I blamed it on situations. Sometimes I blamed it on other people. As a young mom I could blame it on lack of sleep or lack of much needed time to myself. And sometimes I blamed it on hormones.

Overwhelmed?

But whatever the cause, I discovered there was something I could do about it. I could de-activate it by activating the living word of God in me. It's a weapon, you know. Like Ephesians 6:17 says, let the Holy Spirit wield that sword for you to pommel and annihilate that depression, and let Him release into your spirit the joy of the Lord -- which is your strength!

Over time the Lord showed me several scriptures that I wrote down in the back of my Bible so I could turn to them when depression or oppression would start to overwhelm. Here's the list:

Nehemiah 8:10

Psalm 16:7-8

Psalm 18

Psalm 34

Psalm 40:1-3

Psalm 42

Psalm 43

Psalm 146:5-10

Psalm 147

Isaiah 26:3-4

Isaiah 35

Isaiah 40:10-11 and 21-31

Isaiah 43:1-4

Isaiah 50:7-10

Isaiah 54

Isaiah 60:1

Isaiah 61

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Lamentations 3:21-26

John 14:27

1 Corinthians 2:16

Ephesians 4:27

Philippians 2:5

2 Timothy 1:7

Hebrews 12:12-13

James 4:7

The Kingdom of God is very often voice-activated. Find the scriptures that speak to your "mountain," and say them out loud over yourself and your situation. Depression will flee!

Be filled with Joy!

The Secret

Fruitfulness comes from Intimacy -- Heidi has found the secret. 

All the soul food we'll ever need comes from this. 

Find some soaking worship music -- it's all over the web --  and get into His Presence! You can learn to operate out of a place of rest. More can happen in a few minutes in the Presence of God than can happen in years of our own efforts.

More Soul Food

A second way to feed your soul is by all-out praising and worshiping God. For me, music is one of the best ways to get there. Thank you, Lord, for all of the psalmists and worshipers through whom you've given gifts of music for your people. 
 

Takes you right into His Presence . . . Hang there for a while. 

Lift Him Up . . . and feed your soul!

Soul Food

3 John 2 says: 

"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."

How does your soul prosper? I believe one way we can ensure that is by feeding the soul well. What food is good for the soul? 

The first thing that comes to mind is the Word of God. Give your attention to it.
Relish it. Grab a piece of it and make it your food for the day. Pull out a promise and practice it, saying it and believing it all day long. Let it be the food for your soul for the day. Feed on it and be nourished by thanking God that what He says is true and alive. Don't just read it and think about it in your head -- Ask the Holy Spirit to make it relevant to you and to teach you what the particular word means for you for this day. Ask Him to give you a new word, every day, to feed your soul, to make it prosper! Draw your nourishment from the Living Word of God.

Inflexible

Here's a paraphrase of Hebrews 10:23 from Chris Gore, speaking at Bethel Church earlier this month:

"Let us come into agreement with God and begin to speak what He says, tightly wrapping our arms around the promise we are confessing, embracing it with all our might, holding tightly onto it, rejecting all attempts of anyone who tries to steal it from us, not allowing ourselves to be fickle in our commitment, but determined to be inflexible and unmoving from that which we believe and we confess."

All of God's promises are "yes" and "amen" in Christ. (2 Corinthians 1:20). Find the promises God is speaking into your life and your situation. Grab onto them! Hold on tight! Be inflexible, unwavering, immovable in your determination to see them manifested according to the will of God. Here are some promises you may need to latch onto today --

"Call to Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you." -- Psalm 50:15

"The Lord your God in your midst is mighty to save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." -- Zephaniah 3:17

"I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants." -- Isaiah 44:3

"I will restore health to you and I will heal you of all your wounds." -- Jeremiah 30:17

"And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." -- Philippians 4:19

"He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." -- 2 Peter 1:4

Standing Invitation

As long as you are on the earth, my invitation to enter the Most Holy Place, by the blood of Jesus, stands without reservation, without hesitation. Enter in freely, fully, often, even continuously.

Peace, rest, calm, quiet, release, surrender. This is my invasion of your soul. Invite my infiltration. Soak in my solace. Plunge into my powerful Presence. Receive.

Wait in expectation. Settle into my Presence. Sink down into the deep of Me while I raise you up to the heights of my love for you. Receive. Partake and feast. Be filled and satisfied.

Allow thankfulness and gratitude to rise from the depths of your innermost, because you know Me. Praise will surface. It floats upward from the deep.

Divine Addiction

Don't be caged.

We are addictive people. I believe we've been created that way. You've heard the song from Plumb that says, 

"There's a God-shaped hole in all of us
and the restless soul is searching. 
There's a God-shaped hole in all of us, 
and it's a void only He can fill."

Addiction to God will set us free. 

Addiction to anything else will cage us.  

It's from Acts 17:

"Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: 'People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.  For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: "To an Unknown God." So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.  The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.  And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.  From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.  

"God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.  For in him we live and move and have our being."

We will be addicted to something. Let it be the One who created you and knows you best, but loves you most! He gave the very life of his Son to set you free from every shackling addiction. Feed your God-addiction by listening to Him, watching how He works, inquiring of Him, dreaming of Him, thinking about Him, thanking Him, meditating on his words, trusting Him, responding to Him, submitting to Him, and clinging to Him. Fill the hole, and be whole! 

God + me = a whole person. 

Be Free!