So many people find themselves trapped by the pit of depression. This study will help you grasp God’s plan for your deliverance.
Linda Crawford Ministries
Day 1
Scriptures: Isaiah 59:19, Psalms 37:25, Psalms 34:18, Philippians 1:6, Jeremiah 29:11
I remember the night that I literally gave up. I had been doing so much better with the depression and with my wrecked life. I assumed I was okay, but I was not. That night, I lost the desire to fight. Curling down into a fetal position, I felt the darkness sinking in. Tears spilled over each eyelid and fiercely rolled down my cheeks and onto my neck. I felt a tightness in my chest, like something heavy was pressing against it. “It’s too much,” I thought to myself. “It’s too much.” It seemed as if I was no longer breathing, and why should I try? It was better this way. Someone would find me in the morning. I would die a natural death, depressed and alone.
In the lowest of times and in the worst of times, somewhere on your journey, you might feel as if there is no way out. Depression might take over and thoughts might try to trick you into thinking that everyone will be better off without you. But as God’s child, you have an advocate who will fight for you, who will provide a way out. For me, my 15-year-old son came home early from a ballgame because he felt like he was supposed to. God was looking out for me, and he did it through my son. Seeing me helpless and almost breathless in the chair, he immediately began praising God for my deliverance. I remember his screaming, “Devil! You will not take my mama. She will live and not die.” God sent him home early to sing praises and to rescue his mama.
Sometimes on your journey, you may experience the lowest of the lows. That’s when you have to “get it” that life is sometimes just hard. I remember the times when things were going okay, and then something unexpected would happen. That’s life, though. Maybe you lost a loved one and you don’t understand why. Maybe you lost your dream job, or your dream home, and you don’t understand why. Maybe the depression is getting worse instead of better, and you don’t understand why. Maybe your best friend of 30 years turned out NOT to be your best friend after all, and the pain seems unbearable. And to make it worse, you don’t understand why.
Through it all, God will give you the strength to keep going. You can’t give up because that’s just not the way you are supposed to roll. You must be persistent and be obedient in your pursuit of fulfilling your purpose. This is your life that you are fighting for. Your destiny will affect many other people as well. Expect your deliverance. Expect your sudden rescue. It is on the way. You must make up your mind that no matter what, you will reach your destiny. You will have everything that God has for you. Find scriptures to back it up. Read the word and say it out loud. Renew your mind and spirit with the Word of God, even if it seems to be doing no good.
Giving up? That’s just not the way you roll. The problem may be big, but your God is bigger. Meditate on the Word, even if you don’t feel like it. Constantly praise Him for your progress, even if you don’t really see it just yet. You are walking by faith. Turn to prayer and turn to scripture. Allow God to keep his promises to you.
Day 2
Scriptures: Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:8, Proverbs 12:25, Matthew 11:28, Jeremiah 29:11
Many times as Christians, we believe we should be “stronger than that.” Often from past teaching or from a lack of understanding, we are convinced that, as Christians, we should not come under the attack of depression or hopelessness. On the other hand, unbelievers sometimes feel as if they deserve to be in darkness because they don’t believe in a higher power or they are not “living right.” Sometimes we are embarrassed to talk about our feelings of sadness and despair and deep, deep depression. And to make matters worse, some of our Christian counter-parts accuse us of not seeking God enough or of having sin in our life.
As a result, we keep our struggles private and never experience the inner peace and joy that God has for us. We might have a slight glimpse of our future journey, but we can’t enjoy each day. So many people, regardless of religious beliefs or backgrounds, don’t realize that they need emotional healing.
I call this lack of knowledge, this lack of acceptance and of understanding, the Cover-up Scheme. This practice of covering up emotional pain will slow our journey toward our destiny, or even cause us to self-destruct if it is left unresolved. In scripture such pain resulted for some people in continuous suffering for generations. The scriptures call it “the broken hearted.” Elijah, a powerful man of God, was brokenhearted and wished for death. David was brokenhearted and wished for death. Saul was tormented, brokenhearted and wished for death.
The bottom line is depression is not new. It is not something to hide, nor something of which you should be ashamed. I believe the Bible gives detail of the depression that these men of the Bible went through to show us that people of God can experience these emotional pitfalls, but we can also see that God will pull us through. Scripture says one way to begin your journey to healing is to pray and focus on God—that higher power who can and will keep your mind at peace if you continuously think of Him. Meditate on the Word even if you don’t feel like it. Constantly praise Him for your progress, even if you don’t really see it just yet. You are walking by faith. Turn to prayer and turn to scripture. Allow God to keep his promises to you.
Day 3
Scriptures: Proverbs 21:23, Proverbs 18:21, James 3:15, Psalms 119:171-173, Jeremiah 29:11
I grew up hearing that old adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.”
What a lie! The kids in school always made fun of me because I was from the country. They made fun of me because we didn’t have inside plumbing. Sometimes, my nickname was “Outhouse.”
They made fun of me because I was tall and skinny for my age and had long arms, and they made fun of me because I made “A’s.” They called me “Skinny Minnie,” and “Olive Oil.” Sometimes I was “Worm.” Every day was a challenge for me, but if words couldn’t hurt me, why did I cry so much when the kids’ said things that hurt my feelings?
Through the years I discovered that words heal and they hurt. Scripture has a lot to say about our words. Proverbs 21:23 says we can get ourselves in trouble with our own words. Proverbs 18 says our words (tongue) can heal us or they can kill us. James 3:3 says our tongue determines our path in life, and Matthew 12 says we are justified by our own words and condemned by our own words. What you say is what you get. It is time now to focus on what you have learned and stop confessing depression. You have made the step to begin the healing process from this evil disease. Don’t miss out on the plans that God has for you because of what you say or the words that you take in.
Follow through on your devotionals, starting over every time you finish a plan. This is the day that you will begin to be intentional about confessing your healing. Don’t continue to confess the big problem. Today begin confessing that your God is bigger.
Remember the steps in this journey: meditate on the Word, praise Him for your progress, and continue walking by faith. Turn to prayer and turn to scripture, yes. But now you must turn to speaking those scriptures over the situation. Allow God to keep his promises to you. What you say is what you get. Change your words!
Day 4
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:17, Deuteronomy 31:8, Psalms 3:3, Psalms 30:11, Jeremiah 29:11
Studies show that many people who experience emotional pain today most often experienced some type of trauma and/or rejection as a child. The most common way the enemy attacks is through some type of rejection, self-rejection, fear of rejection, lack of self-worth and abuse, all of which usually result in that shameful word called “depression.” So often these emotions stand between us and our destiny because we cannot move on.
Often our hearts are filled with hurts, unforgiveness, cloudiness…so much that it is hard to see ourselves having any kind of positive future. But there are things that you can do on a regular basis that get you on the right track, leading toward your happy place—your journey to freedom. While there are no quick fixes or magic formulas—short of an instantaneous delivery from God—the scripture says you can be set free.
As you walk through this journey to wholeness, one thing you can do is find your person to talk to. Acknowledge any hurts, and wrongdoings and talk about them to somebody, even if just in your journal, but to a counselor would be ideal. Then, purpose in your heart to make up your mind to study God’s word daily so that you spend time thinking about the One who is delivering you rather than thinking about the issue that is keeping you in bondage.
And finally, find a way to forgive yourself and the people who have hurt you. Forgiveness is so important in your search for joy and peace. Major health facilities are now incorporating forgiveness in their cancer treatment plans. Some hospitals even have forgiveness therapy that is used along with Chemotherapy. Why? Experts say unforgiveness negatively affects the outcome of a patient’s illness. Studies connect unforgiveness with just about every major disease known to medicine, and guess what! That’s Biblical!
The good news is you can be set free. You can become a new person because God really is with you. Meditate on the Word, even if you don’t feel like it. I remind you to constantly praise Him for your progress, even if you don’t really see it just yet. Again, you are walking by faith. Turn to prayer and turn to scripture. Allow God to keep his promises to you.
Day 5
Scriptures: Philippians 4:13, Isaiah 40:31, John 16:33, John 10:10, Jeremiah 29:11
Have you ever had a sore that scabbed over rather quickly, but it was still sore underneath? Every time you bumped it, it hurt because it was not really healed underneath? Did you become more conscious of that area of your body? Did you make an extra effort to be more careful to avoid bumping the area? Did you become intentional? So it is with our hurts, our habitual negative words, or negative actions.
We must make an extra conscious effort to change our thinking and thus our speaking and actions. You must be intentional about overcoming depression. No one can change it for you. You are on your own to simply STOP saying and DOING the things you have been saying and doing. You are on your own to stop thinking the way you have been thinking. You will need to make a conscious effort to continue to spend more time in prayer, more time in the Word, and more time reading and speaking positive confessions so that your Word consciousness and positive thinking consciousness become second nature to you.
Keep up the good work. You are on your way to freedom. It’s your time, so stay with the plan. Literally. Allow the Lord to keep his promises to you. Keep believing. Keep confessing. Keep praying. Keep being positive. And if you run into a negative speaking, negative thinking person, KEEP RUNNING.