Defuse Depression

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Defuse Depression

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

INTRODUCTION

Good Evening Southpointe!! Tonight we want to talk to you about is a very touchy subject, but I believe that it is something that in the months to come and maybe right now with are going to be dealing with which is depression.

But I want to be a correct understanding about depression before we began.

The truth is that the number one illness in our country today is emotional illness.

Which is an illness that we call depression. Now my numbers might be old but that means that would be larger. But because of depression 125,000 people are hospitalized each year.

Because of depression an additional 200,000 or more seek professional help and around 70,000 people annual commit suicide.

Depression is a big deal!

Now I am not dealing with Chemical imbalance depression. But I am dealing with emotional and mental depression.

Emotional and mental depression can set in on us as we deal with this virus outbreak. All the stress, all the bad news, and all the death and sickness.

We are wondering if the sun going to shine again? We are asking questions like:

Will we every get are life back, are we going to lose our home, job, vehicles? are our kids going to be ok? What are we going to do with our kids if we are called back to work with no school?

I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery.

Lying in bed, I think, 'When will it be morning?' But the night drags on, and I toss till dawn.

My body is covered with maggots and scabs. My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.

"My days fly faster than a weaver's shuttle. They end without hope.

Any way you look at this Job’s situation was a sad picture. Job was basically saying I have had it, I am down to the end, I can’t sleep and I can’t eat, my body hurting, and I feel as I am going to die any minute.

Job was depressed. And I believe that we have all been there and many are there today and a lot more will be there in days to come.

This depression can threatens our lifestyle and changes our moods. It affects the kind of person we are and the degree of happiness or unhappiness we experience.

Some people say depression is aggression turned inward. We become angry and turn it on ourselves. Others say it is the result of separation. We become separated from our resources. We feel useless and inadequate.

We run of options and can see no way out.

People will begin to not be able to sleep, they lose their appetite, they quit taking care of their self, or they eat so much more.

This is a tragic picture! But the question is what do we do about it. What do we do when we get to the end of our rope and don’t know where to turn?

This is when the Bible speaks that loudest. This is when the power of Jesus Christ has the greatest message for us.

The Bible tells us how to defuse depression!

So let’s look at a man in the Old Testament. He was a prophet his name was Elijah.

We don’t really know a lot about his background only that he was a Tishbite and nobody really know for sure who the Tishbite were.

But we do know that he was a man’s man. And above all we know that Elijah was a man of God.

He stood up to the wickedness of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He denounce the idolatry of the King and Queen. By the power of God, Elijah brought a drought that last three and half years.

Because of his faith he was able to provide for the widow with a cruse of oil and jar of flour that never quit giving.

Because of his faith God raised the widow’s son from the dead.

God send fire down from heaven when Elijah prayed and Elijah killed 450 prophets of Baal.

The Lord gave him special strength that he was able to run 17 miles and beat King Ahab’s chariot that was being pulled by horses.

What a man of God!

Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!

Elijah was as human as we are.

Because we find him dealing we depression. The thrill of victory didn’t last long because we find him in our text:

So we find this great hero, curled up like a little child and suffering from depression. But this is the deal, he didn’t stay there, He defused his depression.

Few things we must look at:

Life moves in cycles.

Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, "Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you."

This is what I want you to notice that God sent angels to minister to Elijah and look what the angel said: Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.

In other words, recognize that life moves in cycles. It has its ups and downs. There will be mountains and valley. Some days you will be on top and some days you will be on the bottom.

So the point is this is normal living, with all of its pressure and problems.

But to be down does not mean that we are abandoned by God, to be down does not mean we do not have faith.

To be down does not mean we have lost our Christian witness.

I would be as your pastor more worried a person who is always on the this high and never go into the valley. The super spiritual one.

The point is that life is normal when it moves in cycles.

2. Function, whether you fell like it or not.

The second step in the process is that God told Elijah this:

"Go out and stand before Me on the mountain," the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

God told Elijah, Function, whether you feel like it or not. It doesn’t matter that you are cold,muddy, depressed, discouraged. Get up! Quit feeling sorry for yourself and stand on the mountain before the Lord!

We must understand that we don’t have to quit living because we feel depressed. The dishes have to be washed, the shirts have to be ironed. The kids have to feed and bathe. Diapers still must be changes. The yard still need to mowed, garage clean out. etc.

life goes on regardless of how we feel.

the best time to worship is when we are depressed, the best time to pray is when we are depressed. The best time to sing is when you are depressed. ( talk about apostle Paul and Silas)

Outcome for Apostle Paul and Silas the prison door open up.

3. Touch your assurance point.

Elijah went up to the mountain and as he stood there wondering what to do next look what happened.

And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.

The King James version translates as a still small voice.

You see, Elijah got in touch with his assurance point of faith. It was not in all the big stuff, it was touching the heart of God.

It when we get to the heart of God then we have that assurance that everything going to be ok.

This third step defuse depression because we have this confidence that only God can give us.

This is the assurance point:

"What do you mean, 'If I can'?" Jesus asked. "Anything is possible if a person believes."

Every one has a break point: (Tell Linda short’s story)

4. Get outside of Yourself

Then the LORD told him, "Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.

Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as My prophet.

God told Elijah one last thing to get outside of himself and do something for somebody else.

You see, the essential element in depression is becoming ingrown and locked into our own lives.