Depression isn’t who you ARE, it’s just an indicator of where you’re AT.
Your ILLNESS is not your IDENTITY.
Proverbs 12:25 (NKJV)
Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.
DEPRESSION doesn’t DISCRIMINATE.
Four Root Causes of Depression
- Biological.
- RELATIONAL.
- Circumstantial.
- SPIRITUAL.
Directions Counseling – www.directionscounseling.com (need slide but doesn’t need to be in notes)
Lamentations 3:1-2, 5-8, 17-20 (NIV)
I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath. 2 He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light… 5 He has besieged me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship. 6 He has made me dwell in darkness like those long dead. 7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer… 17 I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18 So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.” 19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
Two Truths to Remember When You’re Battling Depression:
- Your EMOTIONS are VALID, but they’re not PERMANENT.
NAME it so God can CHANGE it.
Don’t make permanent DECISIONS based on temporary EMOTIONS.
- Your SITUATION feels HOPELESS but with God, there’s always HOPE.
Lamentations 3:21-23 (NIV)
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Two steps to break free from depression:
- ACKNOWLEDGE where you’re AT.
- ADMIT that you need HELP.
Genesis 2:18 (NIV)
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”
Don’t SEPARATE yourself from the people who can STRENGTHEN you.
Lamentations 3:24-26 (NIV)
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” 25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Romans 8:31-34, 37-39 (NLT)
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you can’t HANDLE it, HAND it over.
I Peter 5:6-10 (ESV)
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.