The Answer for
Depression and Anxiety - Purity 801
Purity 801 08/04/2022 Purity 801 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a path through the woods comes to us from
a friend who “made a few wrong turns on the Blue Trail at Garnsey Park” in
Rexford NY but got lost in its beauty and vows to absolutely go back again. And
just like our friend, if we make a few wrong turns in life, we should remember
the beauty we experienced in the Lord’s presence and vow to follow Him again.
Well it's Thursday again and I share a photo of a pathway
as is my habit because Thursdays are the days that I encourage people to get on
the path of Christian discipleship as I will be leading a men's group through Freedom
in Christ Ministries’ “The Grace Course” on Zoom this evening.
As much as I experience the joy that comes from walking in
the Spirit on the path of Christian discipleship, I have to admit that with the
joy comes a considerable amount of pain in the terms of the compassion I have
for the friends, family, and old acquaintances that I see as they struggle
through life without the Lord.
A good deal of my morning this morning was spent sending a
reply to a text that I had received from an old friend who was reporting that
his son was depressed and feeling anxious. His son had reached out to me in the
past and I had done my best to encourage him to seek the Lord and to the find
the peace that comes from following the Lord, but the son failed to do what I
suggested and never contacted me again.
Now months later, things have deteriorated to the point
where the father is thinking about referring his son to a psychiatrist and
putting him on medication. While there is certainly need for doctors and
medications to help in certain situations, my familiarity with this case would
lead me to state that the overwhelming problem here is that this young man does
not know who he is in Christ and because of that he does not know his self-worth or the purpose
that the Lord has for his life.
Instead he isolated himself by doing things his way. He
surrounded himself with the things of this world. Instead of going the way he
should go, as according to the word of God, he has gone his own way and is
suffering because of it.
As someone who was lost in the darkness for years and
years and years, I can tell you that when you isolate and surround yourself
with the things of this world, you will eventually have reasons to be depressed
and to feel anxious. The world doesn't
offer any answers. It just offers temporary relief and when that relief is gone,
you are left feeling empty.
They say the prophets’ curse is that you know the truth
and no one listens to you. Well I don't claim
to be a prophet, but I think I have a small idea about their pain and I can tell you I do know what happens when you
decide to follow the Lord. As much as I
can encourage others, I also understand the need for a personal revelation of
the Lord's goodness which only comes from seeking Him.
Our faith has to be more than just an intellectual belief
or a theological understanding. Our faith has to be a deep trust in the Lord, meaning
we turn to him, talk to Him, read His word, and try to align our lives with His
wisdom.
When we fail to do that, we can easily doubt that God is
even real. Reading the Bible, going to church, and praying can seem like cold
and empty things unless we really believe that God is with us and we reach out
to Him in faith to establish that connection, that personal relationship with God.
So my heart bleeds for this man, his son, and for other
people who have left me or who I have left behind simply by walking forward on
the path of Christian discipleship.
We say we want peace but some of us don’t want to pay the
cost.
If we want the peace of the Lord, we have to surrender to Him.
That's what “Lord” means. He's the boss. We are bondservants- slaves – and God
is our Good and Holy Master who loves us. We follow Him because he is powerful.
We follow him because he is wise. We follow him because he knows what's best.
So we have to exchange our control of our lives for His.
Don’t get me wrong, We still have free will. We can do
whatever we want. But when we decide to follow the Lord and do what He suggests
in His word, which is contrary to everything we learn from the world, our
families and society, we discover that God is real, that God is with us, and
although it might not always be easy, we discover that His way is the only way,
the best way, to live.
Our faith has to be more than theological understanding.
Our faith needs to be a relationship. In a relationship we talk to the other
person. We also listen. So in our relationship with God, we have to talk to Him,
literally with our voices, but also through the study of His word and through
the practices of the Christian faith such as going to church and praying.
We also need to make ourselves open to His suggestions to
do good works. After we follow the Lord for a while we'll get intuitions to do
good things. We'll get invitations to serve at church or serve in our
communities or help with family and friends. These invitations to do good works
are another part of our relationship with the Lord. When we answer the
invitation, and actually help people which we wouldn't do on our own normally, we
enter in deeper to our relationship with God.
Our relationship with the Lord is really shown in that the
fact that we are shaping our lives to live the way He suggests. When we don’t do
that, or step off His path, we suffer. Ask me how I know.
Even though I pray and read the Bible every day, I
recently wasn't diligent in terms of what I put before my eyes and in terms of what
I was putting in my mouth, in terms of food, and I suffered the consequences.
But the good news is that I saw what I was doing and I repented.
Over the last several days, I have made a concerted effort to adjust my eating
habits and to be discerning in terms of what I spend my time watching or
focusing on. I decided to turn back to the Lord in a deeper way and I've
benefited greatly already.
From last week to today, I've lost three pounds and I feel
spiritually regenerated because I am being self-aware about my physical and
spiritual health. My focus hasn't gone to the silly things that I was watching
before. I've found my rest and my peace in the Lord instead of the things of
the world and realize now my mistake and I shouldn't necessarily go back to the
world when I want to “take a break and relax”.
I get it though, life is hard but God is good!
So all I can do is encourage others to do the same as I've
done. “Seek the Lord” is my one a piece of advice that will never change. But
it's not my advice that will help you. The only One that will help you is the
Lord and the only thing that will help you is your making the daily decision to
follow Him.
So let me share Psalm 138, because if you get nothing else
out of this blog or podcast today, at least I would have proven faithful by sharing the word of God.
Psalm 138:1-8 (NKJV)
1 I will praise You with my
whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You.
2 I will worship toward Your
holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For
You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
3 In the day when I cried
out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul.
4 All the kings of the earth
shall praise You, O LORD, When
they hear the words of Your mouth.
5 Yes, they shall sing of the
ways of the LORD, For great is
the glory of the LORD.
6 Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards
the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar.
7 Though I walk in the midst
of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the
wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.
8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy,
O LORD, endures forever; Do
not forsake the works of Your hands.
So praise the Lord, worship Him, and He will answer you when
you cry out and He will make you bold with His strength.
Keep walking and talking with God and you can overcome all
that ails you and regardless of the difficulties or troubles of this life, when
you follow Him you will have the peace that goes beyond all understanding, the peace
that only comes from God, when you have peace with God, through faith in Christ
alone.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Luke 18:27 (NLT2)
27 He replied, “What is
impossible for people is possible with God.”
Today’s verse are the words of Jesus, who encourages us to trust the Lord for the impossible.
In Neil Anderson and Timothy Warner’s book, “The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare”, the authors state that the biggest lie the enemy tells the Christian is that something is “impossible.” As we can see from today’s verse, the belief that something is impossible goes directly against the words of Jesus.
But let’s be clear here, Jesus does not say that “nothing is impossible”, He says that “What is impossible for people is possible with God”. The key here is “with God”. So if you are not walking with God, you will discover that there are many things that are impossible.
But let’s keep it real here too. Even if you do walk with the Lord, and we know that the Lord can do the impossible, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the Lord will grant all your impossible wishes.
Remember, Lord means that God is the boss, and He has infinitely more knowledge and wisdom than we have, and that He has His own purposes too.
One of the most faithful Christians was the Apostle Paul, and he confesses in one of His epistles to an affliction that he associated with the devil, a thorn in the flesh, and he prayed to have it taken away, but the Lord let it stay and advised Paul that His grace was sufficient, saying.
2
Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)
9 …, "My
grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
To which Paul responds by saying:
“Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Although he didn’t get what he was hoping for, Paul did pray for the “impossible healing” so we should pray and work to overcome “the impossible things” in our lives too.
The
Lord may choose to do the impossible in our lives or He will give you the
strength to endure impossible situations and be strengthened through them. But either way we can rejoice that the Lord
is with us and the power of Christ rests upon us.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Clinton E. Arnold’s
“Powers of Darkness”
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and
encourage all to purchase Clinton Arnold’s books for your own private
study and to support his work. This resource is available on many
websites for less than $20.00.
11 - Spiritual
Warfare
For our struggle is
not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms.”
Ephesians 6:12 is one
of the best-known verses of the entire Bible, yet one of the most
misunderstood, misconstrued and practically neglected texts of the Scripture.
Immersed in a culture that says evil spirits do not exist, Western Christians
struggle even to begin the task of spiritual warfare. We spend more time
wondering if we really should believe in demons than grappling with how we
should respond to them.
On this topic some of
us suffer double-mindedness. Although mental assent is given to the likelihood
that evil spirits exists since it is affirmed in the Bible, in reality it makes
no practical difference in the way we live our day-to-day lives. When dealing
with a personal problem such as illness or depression, medical and
psychological services are the only considered alternatives. Little thought is given
to the spiritual side. Even in Christian ministry the spiritual dimension is
often ignored. Ineffective evangelism, for example, is often attributed to a
lack of training or persuasive skill rather than powerful demonic hindrance.
Some segments of Christianity
do take seriously demonic existence. They attempt to confront the spiritual
dimension. Unfortunately the excesses of a few of these groups sometimes
overshadows the healthy aspects of the teaching and practice of others.
Ephesians 6:10–20 wrongly becomes a manifesto on exorcism. Or demons are seen
behind virtually every problem. The rest of Christianity lamentably writes off
the helpful perspective of these groups on the demonic because they appear to
be extreme.
We need, more than
ever, to gain a revitalized perspective on spiritual warfare. If we are not
aware of the subtle and powerful work of our enemy, he will defeat us. Perhaps
he already has certain areas of life strongly in his grip, where we have not
been aware of his devious work.
Many thinkers believe
Western society is on the verge of a major world view shift. Scholars such as
Hans Küng are anticipating an epochal move from the “Modern Era” to a
“Post-Modern Era,” a major paradigm change in the way Westerners view reality.
There is no doubt that the rising influence of Eastern thought and the
burgeoning impact of the New Age movement will have influence on how Western
culture perceives the supernatural. The church needs to be prepared for this
new challenge. Few would give the church a strong mark on its preparedness to
handle effectively the special problems that arise in ministering to people who
have been involved in the “occult.” The best way to determine what spiritual
warfare means for us now is to discern what it meant for Paul and his readers
back then. First of all, spiritual warfare needs to be understood in terms of
what it meant to people living in Ephesus and western Asia Minor where occult
beliefs flourished and the reality of the influence of the spirit realm was
unquestioned. Second, it needs to be understood in the larger context of the
entire book of Ephesians.[1]
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tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
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Encouragement for the Path of
Christian Discipleship
[1]
Clinton E. Arnold, Powers of Darkness:
Principalities & Powers in Paul’s Letters (Downers Grove,
IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 1992), 148–149.