Freedom from Depression Freedom Ministry A Synonym for depression is: _____________________________. The enemy wars against you to keep you from becoming you. Antonym for depression: __________________________. You were placed on earth to be a conduit for the power and presence of the living God. Believers have the ability to express who we truly are in Christ. That is also the ability to speak truth and life. Depression is a ___________________, not a state of being. You are either moving towards it or away from it. One of the ways Satan tries to attack you is by telling you, you need to try harder. He gets you to feel like a failure so that you’ll give up. Don’t give up. God always has a plan to defeat the plan of the enemy and set His people free. Here’s what you have to do: ____________________. Depression is something you can have a little bit of or a lot. The same with God’s presence. Engage with the source of life. Your ______________________ to God has everything to do with life that is or isn’t inside of you. Gen. 2:9-­‐ “The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-­-­trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” “Pleasing to the sight” has to do with the way that they saw. The way that it comes to our eyes. Adam and Eve could look at a tree and see at the end of the branch—life! This is what made them someone who had meaning and purpose and value. This was what gave them their identity…staying connected to life (God). So, Adam & Eve disconnected from their source. They way they were, saw and perceived. What they once could see with their eyes, now they could only see or feel with the eyes of their heart. The only way back to life is to have assurance of things you can ___________ see. What’s the definition of Faith? Assurance of things you cannot see. _____________________ is something you do, __________________ is something God does. Faith comes by hearing, belief comes by striving. Your religious exercise is not the source of life, _________ is. What you feed, ________________. The more you feed your appetite for a specific thing, it will grow. What’s our participation in this process called depression? Be very careful what you feed. Today, feed what you want to be bigger tomorrow. ___________________ are physical experiences. There are chemical changes in your body. Thoughts are connected to emotions and emotions are connected to thoughts. For those who struggle with depression, because of shame they start to isolate. The opposite of isolation is ______________________ choices about intimacy. John 3:17-­‐20 “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. ” When you bring to the light what you have, the light comes to you and changes what you have. The opposite of doing bad isn’t doing good, it’s doing “____________________.” The human body is an incredibly complex thing. When one part is out of balance, it starts kicking everything else out of balance. Let’s look at some of the parts: 1. Nutrition 2. Sleep 3. Emotional State 4. Self-­‐talk Fight through the noise and the crowd the way the woman with the issue of blood did to touch the hem of his garment. Grab hold of what He’s saying and don’t let go. Knowing that the words He speaks offer healing and power. This is tapping back into the Tree of Life. The assignment of the demonic is to oppose the work of God or counterfeit it. Romans 8:15-­‐17 “For you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” The spirit of adoption is the Holy Spirit inside of us looking to God as our Father. The spirit of bondage looks at our need to be fathered and counterfeits it. We don’t get over our compulsions by fighting them; we get over them by finding the right use for them. Most common spirits involved in depression: Spirit of Perversion. Isaiah 19:14 The Spirit of Perversion is like a really bad filter that takes truth and twists it. By the time it gets to the other side has completely turned it to a lie. The way this spirit operates in depression is as a filter to processing truth and thinking clearly. Spirit of Heaviness (Isaiah 61) What’s the opposite of heaviness? JOY There’s no joy in the belief system that there’s no hope. You don’t win a battle over darkness by joining it. Refuse to allow things to get heavy. The work of heaviness is to oppose the expression of the fullness of God’s joy that is already in you. Don’t push joy away. Laugh, smile, and choose to focus on the positive.