Scriptures that Bring Hope to the Depressed.....Believers, care for your Neighbours!

• Depression can be solved through spiritual means and processes. 
• Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down (depression), but a good word cheers the heart up. Proverbs 12:25 
• Brethren, take care of your depressed brothers, for God is pleased with that!

Introduction

Most people know what depression is, though many have not experienced full-blown depression, and it is my prayer that none of you should experience it. Depression can be scary when there is no counselling and help from family members and friends. Depression can simply be described as a state of hopelessness.  Hopelessness makes a person give up, lose confidence in himself and have little or no value for their life and personality.  It can affect people in the following ways:

1. It overwhelms our spirit. The psalmist tells us in Psalms 77:3 how he remembered God in his depressed moment and his spirit was overwhelmed. Overwhelming of spirit is today regarded as a sign of stress and not depression.  This is rightly so because we live in a different world where things happen so fast and stress can graduate into depression in a matter of days.  It is a fact that when a person is stressed for long, with additional trouble from another source perhaps, the person can easily digress into a state of hopelessness.

2. A depressed person will hardly sleep, due to worry and anxiety.  Depression rob people of sleep. Depression works to devastate a person's psyche and emotions.  Such a person can stay awake all night thinking of the problem, refuse to eat and drink anything.  Initially, he would think he is getting the solution to his problem and may just need additional time to work more on the problem, without knowing he or she is sinking deeper into a state of hopelessness because if the solution did not come from that late work, the turns hopeless.

Word of God
God’s word can bring hope and encouragement to anyone going through depression at this moment. Depression is surely a slow and silent killer that people of God cannot ignore. Depression can be described as a personal feeling of hopelessness and so, people close to anyone depressed have a duty before God to restore that person.

There is a practice in some parts of Nigeria, where I come from.  When a person is sick and the sickness lingers to the point that people feel they may lose that person, you will notice people far and near coming to cheer the sick person and bringing him gifts to help him recover from the sickness, even people perceived as enemies are not excluded.

This is a good practice when done in love.  This is what believers should to their friends and relatives going through depression, locking themselves in the room for days, refusing to speak to people, mingle and probably eat together...How can a believer possibly ignore such conduct of a friend or relative and not take that person home to his house to counsel, care and provide comfort to the believer?

People of God, know for sure that Prayer and counselling are keys that will help a victim of depression get out of their low self-esteem into vibrant life. Help from matured and competent people can be so helpful in emotional battle like depression.  So, if you suffer from deep ongoing depression, seek help from the Church and I believe you will get. 

 What is the cause of Depression?
Believers are expected to be their neighbour's keepers.  That means that the welfare of your neighbours should be of interest to you.  You should love your neighbours and colleagues enough to look-out for them in the office and at church and when you cannot see them, take a step of love, inquire about them and find out why they are not at their post.  When you see your neighbours and colleagues in the morning, you greet them, and when you close for the day, let there be someone you should walk up to and say"Goodbye sir or ma". Don't just close and walk away without leaving a word to someone. 

When If people care for their friends and neighbours, the feeling of hopelessness would be detected early and with little encouragement and help, the depressed person is restored back to life.  Take, for instance, a jobless man and his family have been asked to leave his residence and there is no money to get another apartment. 

A temporal accommodation or little job will restore the person back to life, but this will not happen if people around him are not willing to help him.  No one should be a lone ranger in society, though good people are hard to find, everyone should have some trusted friends to call when things are tough.

Root Causes of Depression
Some of the root causes of depression include failure in business or career, unmet expectations, the life of rejection and hardship, demonic agents and their monitoring spirit speaking negative words to people.  Failure and disappointments are not enough to slide a believer into depression, if there is no demonic voice speaking to them and telling them, they will never succeed. 

Ask anyone suffering depression and he would tell you a voice has been telling him to kill himself, that he will never amount to anything, that no one loves him or her and so on.

A believer that is depressed has been taken over by a wrong spirit and her solution will come fast when such evil thoughts and the spirit behind such thought are cast out of the person. All the story about morbid expression, pessimistic thinking is a waste of time, till the demon is chased out of the person. 

There is also the spirit of loneliness that descends on people, that they prefer to keep to themselves for days, some refuse to go out for some days, doing nothing at home.  They are not reading, fasting, praying or doing any domestic work.  This is another danger signal for depression.  It does not mean they are not born again, it's just that they are overwhelmed by the conditions of life, which they cannot help.  Many of such people would lose hope in God and in His word until some come to comfort them and divide the word of God to them to help them understand that God is still with them and ready to get them out of the problem.

Cure for Depression
A depressed person is like a bankrupt person, he cannot help himself, someone else will have to counsel him and restore him in the Lord.  The Word of God rightly divided and skillfully presented will do the work.  Also, necessary and important is deliverance, to chase away the contrary spirit speaking negative words to the person and finally, a help, no matter how little in resolving the problem that threw him/her into a coma, would go along way to restore the person.

God is pleased with the willingness to help others, and these scriptures below are God's promises that cannot fail. They will give you hope and build your faith in Christ, the Rock.  It is my expectation that as you meditate and pray with these scriptures, every hopelessness will disappear from your life and the lies of the devil will lose its hold on your mind.  

SCRIPTURES...

Deuteronomy 31:8 – The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.

Deuteronomy 33:27 – The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

2 Samuel 22:29 – You are my lamp O Lord; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

Ecclesiastes 9:4 – Anyone who is among the living has hope.

Psalms 9:9 – The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

Psalm 27:14 –  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psalm 31:22,24 – You heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help… Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.

Psalm 34:18, 19 – The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (19) A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Psalm 37:23-24 – If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.

Psalm 43:5 – Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.

Psalm 55:22 – Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.

Psalm 62:5 – Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

Psalm 126:5 – Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

Psalm 143:7-8 – Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I’ll lift up my soul.

Psalm 147:3 – He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

Psalm 145:14 – The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

Proverbs 12:25 – Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down (depression), but a good word cheers it up.

Isaiah 35:10 – And the ransomed of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away

Isaiah 40:31, But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 53:4 – Surely he took up our sicknesses and carried our sorrows.

Mark 9:23 – Everything is possible for him who believes.

Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Philippians 4:6-7 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

James 4:8 – Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:10 – Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

2 Peter 2:9 – The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials.

1 Peter 4:12 – Dear Friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange was happening to you.

1 Peter 4:13 – But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed

1 Peter 5:7 – Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Your deliverance is sure

When you are experiencing depression, you need to admit that you have tolerated a strange voice speaking negative word enough for that voice to lead you into a state of hopelessness, which you are not expected to.  You should seek deliverance, discuss your problem with a knowledgeable Pastor, including the voice you have been hearing and what the voice has been saying to you.

Positive words, encouraging word of God should be used to restore the person's hope and confidence in God.  A skilful servant of God should be able to let the person see the lies of the enemy and how the devil wanted to kill the person through lies.  If the person's eyes of understanding can open to see that, with God, nothing is impossible.  

He will suddenly realize that all the bad feelings, suicidal thoughts were not necessary and a plot of the enemy to waste his life, his faith in God will rise.  Once his faith rises, deliverance ministration will be easy, because he will agree with the Pastor and the demon will leave.

Prophet Jeremiah: The prophet Jeremiah was a real Christian, and he said his soul was depressed within him in Lamentation 3:1-8.  This was how he described his feeling:

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me, he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago … though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.– Lamentations 3:1–8 

Charles Spurgeon was also a real Christian, and he told his congregation, “I have spent more days shut up in depression than probably anybody else here.” He was said by many to be the greatest preacher to ever live, and he frequently considered quitting the ministry because he was so depressed.

Martin Luther went through times so dark that his wife would remove all the knives from their home for fear he’d kill himself. “For more than a week I was close to the gates of death and hell,” he wrote. “I trembled constantly. I could find no thoughts of Christ, only of desperation and blasphemy of God.”

FIRE...