There I was, in my bed, not wanting to get up. Not wanting to wake up. Asking God to take me in my sleep every night for over a year. Sad story? Nah, I’m writing this, aren’t I? That means God didn’t listen or He listened and didn’t act on it… because He has this silly notion that He’s God and He can do whatever He wants (I speak fluent sarcasm).
Depression, anxiety, drug addiction, alcohol addiction… we all have either dealt with one of these issues or know someone very close to us that has. This is the current epidemic in society. Some hear (and believe) the lie that you must simply learn to live with it. I firmly believe that no one is called by God to have these issues plaguing us our entire lives. I believe they can be a thing of the past. But this requires both knowing what God says about us and where the battle primarily takes place. My pastor is currently teaching a series called “Winning the War in Your Mind”, based on the book of the same title written by Craig Groeschel, lead pastor of Life.Church. And this series couldn’t be more timely. This is the primary issue we all face.
See, Paul wrote, “Be transformed by the renewing of your gym membership.” Wait… no he didn’t. He actually said, “Be transformed by the renewing of your bank account.” Hold up… no, not that either. Paul wrote, “Be transformed by the renewing of your MIND.” He understood then, while sitting in a prison cell, that your mind is where the battle is. Paul understood that when Jesus did what He did, that concluded the real war. From that point forward, the battle wasn’t against flesh and blood, but against… and I quote, “rulers, powers, principalities of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavens” (Eph. 6:12). None of that sounds like the stuff we usually think we’re warring against. If that’s all off the table, then the only thing left is the mind.
I firmly believe that no one is called by God to have these issues plaguing us our entire lives
Jason Grainger
I’m not going to address each of the aforementioned issues society deals with individually. What I want to focus on here is what God says about these issues, what HE says about you, and what I believe are practical ways to both get out of the shackles of these issues and avoid going back.
See, Isaiah 64:6 says that all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags. Romans 3:23-24 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. These verses basically state that no matter how good we are, we come short of God’s worthiness. The anecdote is Jesus. Once the crucifixion took place, you became heirs of God; adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God. That’s who we really are. God made us in HIS image.
To briefly address one aspect of anxiety, many times, anxiety comes about in “people pleasers.” The idea that we made mom and dad proud consistently and now it seems we can’t make anyone happy. This leads us to a dark place, wondering what it is we’re doing wrong. The sooner we see ourselves through God’s eyes, the less we care what others think. If someone is angry at you and you know you did nothing wrong, guess who isn’t angry at you… your God (and very possibly your spouse). I say that because that’s the only two people whose opinion of me I care about, God and my wife. For people pleasers, anxiety can begin to erode away when we really begin looking at ourselves through God’s eyes and understand that we simply cannot make everyone happy. So there’s no sense in worrying too much about it. Remember, if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
Ok, I get that He is for me, but what can He do about the issues at hand, depression, anxiety, and addiction? Check this out, “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation (enemy) you encounter. I will make ALL of your enemies turn their backs and run…But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exodus 23:29-30) The land is your own individual liberty from the bondage of depression, anxiety, and addiction. And it won’t go away all at once. Little by little God will drive it out! That’s great news!
But what if it was brought on by my own mistakes? Well, welcome to the club. This club includes…every single person that has ever lived, except Jesus. As Pastor Kody Woodard of Renovation church recently said, “Failure is an event, not a person.” Your issues don’t define you, regardless if it was brought on by your own transgressions or not. This goes for depression, anxiety, and addiction. That doesn’t define you. So if you’re not defined by that, then how are you defined? The Cross. That’s how you’re defined.
There’s something else. Look at this, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). REMOVED. When you remove something, it doesn’t linger around. If I remove my gym membership, they will not let me linger around and hang out when I want. I have been removed. Do you know why the writer said east and went instead of north and south? If you are walking forward headed north, when you get to the north pole and keep walking in the same direction, you are now headed south. But if you are walking forward headed east, you have to completely turn around in order to be walking west. That’s how far He has removed your transgressions (sins). So you are no longer defined by your mistakes, but by His acceptance.
I’ve said this before, but the two primary ways out of depression and anxiety (which are also the two ways to avoid going in or back) are community and service. Both of these are the antithesis of isolation, and that’s the key. Don’t isolate.
Community is a group of people. The best community is church. But community can also be a local club, or close friends. Church is usually the best community because they are there for you unconditionally and solely based on their love for Christ, which makes you eligible for their love and attention. You’ll need community in times of doubt and fear. Remember the story I shared at the beginning? Community got me out.
Service is simply serving someone else. This has two factors. One is that we were created to give. When we give, we benefit. That’s how God designed us. That’s why when we give a gift to someone, we feel great. The other factor is that it gets our minds off of our problems and on to someone else’s problems. And often times, in this, we find that our problem isn’t nearly as big of a problem as we originally thought. Again, with my story at the beginning, service helped keep me out.
So, if you’re headed east, turn around and head west through community and service. Don’t continue to believe the lie that you just have to learn to live with it. That goes directly against what our God says. You CAN and WILL be FREE!
Stay Classy GP!
Grainger