Confronting Depression

Depression is not a feeling or a mood. Rather, depression is a draining of one’s energy, usually in response to great stress in one’s life. It can be a part of a normal life, but often depression becomes overwhelming, taking away the ability to experience joy in anything, or to accomplish anything for God. When depression seems too much to bear, it needs to not just be lived with, but confronted. Below are some things to warn against in depression, and then some steps to confront your depression.

What not to do in depression

Don’t beat yourself up (Romans 14:4)
Depression is a response that is normal in your body. Don’t blame yourself for what you had no control over. Don’t blame yourself for what you are unable to do, even though you could have done it at other times.

Don’t blame others
It is easy to blame others for how you feel, especially if they have done something wrong to you. But how we respond to someone’s actions is not their fault. Some might respond in anger, in anxiety, in depression. But we cannot blame another because we are miserable.

Don’t doubt God or his ways (Deuteronomy 6:5)
In depression, many doubt God or decide to give up on trying to follow Jesus because it is “too hard.” But God wants to assist you through and out of your depression, and Jesus died to free you from all oppression, even your depression. Don’t give up on the One who is your deliverer.

Don’t use it as an excuse to do what you know is wrong (Colossians 3:5)
Many people do certain things because they want to overcome their stresses, to feel better. But to act in sin to overcome depression—using alcohol or drugs or to yell at someone, for example—does not assist your depression, but only gives you guilt that causes you to deepen your depression.

Don’t isolate (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Those in deep depression often want to be by themselves and not to have anything to do with anyone because people are just too stressful. But to isolate is to give into the depression and only deepens it.

Don’t doubt those who love you (Colossians 3:12-13)
Those who have proven themselves to be your friends and to help you often seem unsympathetic or distant when you are depressed. Perhaps they don’t know what to do for you or maybe they are trying to not treat you any different and finding it difficult to do. Remember, though, that they have not changed in their care for you, so don’t give up on them.

Don’t make promises you can’t keep (Matthew 5:37)
Often in our depression we want to pretend that we are just as able as any other time to do what we would usually do—but we are not able to. When we are depressed, we have to take care to promise to do only what we can—even if it seems that we ought to be able to do more.

Try not to express negative thoughts to those not ready for it (Galatians 6:1)
We need to confess our faults, and communicate our needs, but not everyone is ready to hear the amount of negativity our mind is feeding us when we are depressed. We need to chose those whom we communicate to carefully, so that we do not destroy others with our words.

Confronting depression
Depression isn’t just to be lived with, it must be confronted and dealt with so that we can live before God with all the energy he gave us. While it may sound like just another stress to deal with, in fact it is a simple way of living:

1. Pray for deliverance (Luke 11:5-13)When we are oppressed by our moods or lack of energy, we need to be persistent in praying to God for deliverance. Deliverance won’t come from a person or an organization, it comes only from God. We must ask him continually for deliverance. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and when we are depressed, that is the power we need. Jesus said to keep praying for that power and we will receive it.

2. Deal with the cause of depression
Often there is a reason for our depression that can be resolved: perhaps we are guilty about our sin, perhaps we are anxious about our security, perhaps we are oppressed by the evil one. If so, we can deal with these issues, and soon the depression will lift away.

3. Be grateful to God (Psalm 86:12-13)
In depression, we think no one and nothing is on our side. At these times, we need to remember all the blessings that God has given us, all the purposes he has shown us, all the works he has accomplished for us. We need to make a list of thanksgiving, so that we can give thanks to God for what he has done.

4. Resist the evil one (James 4:7)
Many times depression is an oppression visited upon one by Satan to keep one from service to God. In that time, all one has to do is command the evil one to go and he will leave. At times it is good to seek out others to pray for you in this as well.

5. Balance your rest (Proverbs 6:10,11; Psalm 127:2)
We need to have just the amount of sleep we need. If we have too little, we will be overstressed and our depression will deepen. If we have too much, we will never move to have the energy we need to live. We need to get the sleep we need, even as God has blessed us with it, but not take advantage of having too much.

6. Balance stressful situations (Matthew 22:39)
Depression is often a response to overstress, and so we don’t want to overwhelm ourselves unnecessarily. However, we also want to balance ourselves to remain involved in life, so that our body isn’t overreacting to any and every kind of stress. We need to remain active, be involved with people, but we also need to have time by ourselves, resting before the Lord.

7. Balance your nutrition (I Kings 19:7)
Depression is either caused by or induces a chemical reaction in your brain. God has given us chemicals to balance out depression in the brain—and we gain these chemicals by eating good food that the Lord gave us. Often in depression we aren’t hungry or just don’t eat. But if we don’t eat, we will not heal. We need to eat nutritionally, especially fruits and vegetables and whole grains, all of which give us energy. Also B-complex vitamins can often renew our energy.

8. Do God’s work empowered by the Spirit (Acts 1:8)
God has given each of us certain tasks that we are to do. If God had given us the task to do, then he also will provide us with the power and energy to do it. Often, when we are depressed, the best thing to do is what God has called us to do—then we are no longer dependant on our own power, but on the power of the Spirit.

9. Tell your issues to a believer you can trust and listen (James 5:13-15)
It is good to meet with brothers and sisters who will appreciate our trials and recommend positive courses of actions to deal with it. We can pray for each other and encourage each other in overcoming our needs.

10. Take medication (I Timothy 5:23)
It is not always helpful to take medication, but sometimes it is, and there is nothing wrong with needing medication to help you do what the Lord asks you to do. In evaluating a medication, remember this one test: Is this medication helping me to do what is right before the Lord or not? Is it giving more self-control so I can honor the Lord with my actions? If it does, it might be a positive medication for you.

Confront Depression with Righteousness