Get Off the Mat
I have a friend who is wrestling with depression. I’m careful about how I say things anymore, especially about myself. If I were in a season of depression, I would say I was wrestling with depression because I would not say I HAD depression or call it MY depression because those are not things I choose to speak over myself.
In Christ, depression does not belong to me.
It is not a flow of the Kingdom of heaven, but that doesn’t mean that we will not wrestle at times with it here on earth. It is not being faced with depression that is missing the mark, it is what we do when we face depression that matters.
I am not an expert on clinical depression, but I’ve spent a good portion of my adult life wrestling with it. I suppose this gives me license to at least share my experience and testimony with you.
Please do not take anything I say as medical advice and know that I have taken MANY different medications over the years when I have wrestled with depression. I believe God has given doctors wisdom in this area and I believe there are times when medical intervention is necessary. I have struggled with such a deep sense of hopelessness (even as a Christian) that if I had not believed in God and that it would be wrong to take my own life, I would have taken my own life many times over the years. I understand the weight of this subject.
Please hear this as well, I am not BLAMING you for being in a season of depression.
That is condemnation and scripture says that condemnation comes from our adversary, the devil. Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:33-34 tells us that accusing voices are answered by Christ’s intercession. Revelation 12:10 tells us that the accuser of the brothers who accuses us day and night before God has been thrown down, and John 3:17 tells us that God didn’t send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
If at any point reading this blog, you are hearing condemnation, tell the devil to shut up and keep reading.
So, this friend, she’s been struggling with depression for a LONG TIME. Over time, she gradually isolated herself more and more and if you knew her life circumstances, you would understand. She has faced a tremendous amount of loss and pain in her life. She has faced many struggles in her physical health as well and it would be natural for anyone in her circumstances to wrestle with depression, but there is a difference between wrestling with depression and surrendering to it.
Imagine you’re in a wrestling match, like in those weird little body suits on wrestling mats and your opponent is RELENTLESS. You twist and contort your body trying to gain the upper hand, but with one quick twist of the wrist, somehow, your opponent gets you pinned and you hear the referee slap the mat three times loudly counting to three to signal a pin. The referee then blows a whistle to signal the end of the match.
When you’ve been pinned to the mat over, and over, and OVER again, it’s easy to feel defeated. Our opponent seems so much bigger and stronger than we are and we can’t imagine standing in that corner facing him one more time. It would be easier to just close our eyes, stay on that mat, and cry ourselves to sleep day after day, and for many of us, that’s what we do. I did.
July of 2023 was the last time I really experienced defeat like that. I went in to both my psychiatrist and my counselor and began with, “I’m not suicidal,” because if you say you are, that will get you pink slipped…. “I’m not suicidal, but I REALLY HOPE that God doesn’t leave me here very long. When I wake up in the morning, if I’m good, am I TOO GOOD? And if I’m not good, when am I going to feel better? I don’t want to live like this anymore.”
My very wonderful Christian psychiatrist offered me what she referred to as an “emergency pill.” She said that if I was ever so high that I couldn’t sleep or so low that I didn’t want to be here anymore, I could take this pill, it would KNOCK ME OUT…I’d sleep all night and when I woke up the next morning, my brain chemistry would be reset and I’d be in a better place.
I left that appointment crying out to the LORD, “How can I say that I trust You AND need an emergency pill?!”
Friends, for the sake of brevity, I will just give you the bullet points of what I learned that changed EVERYTHING for me:
Medicine can only go SO FAR in helping us with SPIRITUALLY ROOTED problems.
It’s important to figure out what that SPIRITUAL ROOT is so that you can take that to the LORD and let Him dig it out.
When we pray, it is not “Little ol’ me” down here on earth praying to a distant God somewhere “way up there.” When we pray, we are simply turning to the Holy Spirit who dwells in the spirit of every born again believer in Jesus Christ and asking Him to intercede to the Father on our behalf.
It is important to understand the will of God. 1 John 5:14-15 “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
John 10:10 Jesus says that the enemy comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus has come to give us life, and that life, abundantly. Is there an abundant life in depression? NO. God did not author it and we can tell the devil to keep his stupid depression.
Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Me, therefore you, go…” He sends us with His authority over demons. We can pray for strength, but WE must exercise our authority over the enemy.
When you’re lying on that mat, you can declare in the name and by the blood of Jesus that the enemy get off you, and He must, but there’s a caveat. James 4:7-8 says “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
Notice it is bookended with your attention on GOD! Submit your life to God, tell the devil to flee from you, then DRAW NEAR to God and HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU.
YOU initiate intimacy with God. He offers it, but YOU must invite that intimacy. God is a gentleman. He gave us freewill and we have the ability to CHOOSE to have that intimacy with Him or not, and our lives will be a reflection of that choice.
This is not a ONE time invitation. Invite the Holy Spirit to involve Himself in getting out of bed in the morning, in taking a shower when you feel like you don’t have the energy to take one, in choosing healthy foods when you want to “comfort yourself” with foods that will keep your brain chemistry out of whack.
Invite Him to help you get dressed for the day even if you have no plans to leave the house.
Invite Him to help you clean your house when you don’t feel like you care.
Remember that you are a spirit being. You are an eternal being created in the image of God. That’s who you are. When you accepted Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior, the Holy Spirit of God came to dwell in you and He made you a new creation in Christ. That new creation in Christ has NO DEPRESSION in it! The fruit of that new creation is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. That is who you are in Christ.
While you ARE a spirit, you HAVE a soul and you LIVE IN a body, or flesh. Your soul is made up of your mind, your will and your emotions…what you think, what you want, and what you feel. You are NOT your soul. Your soul brings color and personality to your spirit, but it is NOT who you are.
TELL YOUR MIND and EMOTIONS what they are allowed to think, and COMMAND your flesh to get in line.
You don’t FEEL like taking a shower but you know you need one, TELL YOUR FLESH what it is going to do and tell your mind, will and emotions to take a back seat because you are GOING to do what your body needs even if everything in you is saying that you can’t. Remember that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
I could go on and on PASSIONATELY about this subject because I handed YEARS of my life over to the enemy through wrong thinking.
Get in the Word and see what GOD has to say about who you are and why you’re here.
Get in the Word and see what GOD says you should be thinking about. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy - meditate on these things.”
You might say, “Yeah, I was diagnosed with cancer. That is true and that is ALL I can think about.” It might be true in the natural, carnal, earthly sense, but is it also noble, just, pure, lovely and of good report? Is there any virtue or anything praiseworthy about that diagnosis? Then don’t meditate on it!
You can go to the doctor, receive the treatments, and do what you have to do because cancer is attacking your body AND not meditate on it.
This friend of mine doesn’t have cancer and I don’t know who I wrote that for, but FRIENDS….You DO have a say. You CAN stand and live a GOOD life even when depression offers itself to you because depression is spiritual, it has roots, and it is rooted in a DEFEATED FOE.
Don’t try to stand up against the enemy in your own power because he will pin you EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
He is EXCELLENT at winning battles, but the LORD has already defeated him and HE KNOWS IT! All YOU have to do is stand in that victory.
