I had continue to look at the signs and symptoms of
depression. And in that continued
search, I found out what would alleviate depression, I heard a godly medical
teacher and doctor speaking and teaching that depression can be helped by taking
simple things like Co Q10.
Now, I am
not a doctor and I do not play one on television, but I know some things about
how my body works and what makes it wake up to live another day with energy and
a smile on my face. I also know that I
have to note how body is responding to that new day. One thing seen and
exercised to do is :To simple take count of what you place in your body can
make you realize what is junk and what is actually useful.
Now this depression is not the poor, poor pitiful me, but that when all was being seen and done in the Lord and for the Lord and then all becomes the quiet. No one seems to notice you, or ask for prayer. The scene turns from the those who are the joyful to the those who have sand in their shoes and dirt on their tongues. Lord, are YOU still there? Lord, I know we continue in this. I know what the unknown author senses in their spirit man when they write for YOU. I know the one everyone calls anonymous for they neither remember names nor what was spoken. And what was given: WAS A WARNING!
Was thinking about the two on walked on the road to Emmaus. Everything displayed, people being healed, they believed Jesus to take the throne as king over Israel, but Jesus died. He died for those who believe in Him! For each of us have had that moment, when everything appears to fall apart and no one is found to pick up the pieces. And yet what pieces, we continue in the Lord. He makes all things new!
Lord, I do not want to
be like those on the road to Emmaus, who stood still with their faces downcast
when You asked, “What are discussing together as you walk along?” they
responded, “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”
(Luke 24:17, 21) certainly they did not understand that the cross had to come
before the kingdom. How foolish they were! The very death they had responded to
with hopelessness represented the greatest hope of all time! God, I ask for
forgiveness for every single time I have blamed my hopelessness on You. You are
the God of hope. You are the Blessed Hope, Himself!
Jesus broke
the bread and blessed it and He disappeared. He who walked with them, who asked
them questions and sat with them for bread disappeared. Oh that spiritual eyes
would be open to the Scriptures Jesus spoke about to the two who were held in a
depressive state.
How can we identify with others going through situations we’ve never encountered face-to-face? Walk trenches we’ve never been pushed into? Because based on the way Jesus lived his life, that’s what I believe He’s asking us to do as Christians. To put away sympathy and embrace empathy. That’s where true comfort lies.
I can sympathize
with someone who has lost a parent. I cannot sympathize with some who has lost
a child. Although I know they are in a state of insurmountable pain, a heartache from the center of their being, but still I
would have no words to give them. A hug I could give, a tissue for the eyes,
but to open my mouth would bring a “mess” when just a polite appearing is
enough to them for that moment. Pieces of their lives scattered, from the bedroom of a child to the room made in a cemetery.
Philippians
2:5-8 – Jesus Christ, who being in the very nature of God did not consider
equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather he made himself nothing by taking the
very nature of a servant (left his home), being made in human likeness. And being found as a man, humbled himself
even further by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Father God had this empathy. Father God knew the heartache of losing His Son to the hands of wicked men!
Jesus is
empathy’s perfect example. He didn’t come to earth to save us as God, detached
and gazing down in sympathy and pity. He came as man, born into the trenches,
to live and suffer as a human. His empathy makes Him the perfect sacrifice. The
perfect bridge between God and us.
Hebrews
4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we
are, yet without sin”
Jesus did
not hide in a trench. Did not run to another place to hide out in a basement,
but He moved in power: Initiated grace to the least of them, Served those who
dishonored Him the most, His beliefs were not fables or fickle, His opinion was
not swayed: He was on His mission for Salvation who kept the future focus, faith
and determination and He acted on complete conviction!
Hope does
not disappoint me, because YOU, God, have poured out Your love into my heart by
the Holy Spirit, whom You have given me. (Romans 5:5)
Recently a
pastor on the East Coast had sent us a scripture. He has never
met us but we have corresponded by his teachings on a “God channel”. Touched by
his heart for people, he had prayed to reach the “stranger”. And so we too have
praying that prayer nightly going on three months. And it was last week he sent us this
passage from Psalm 142. We read it and then knew God was speaking to us: But when we give the whole of Psalm 142 we
are praying for relief from prosecutors. I cry out to the LORD with my voice;
with my voice to the LORD I make my supplication. 2 I pour out my complaint
before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me, then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have secretly
set a snare for me. 4 Look on my right
and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; no one
cares for my soul. 5 I cried out to You, O LORD. I said, “You are my refuge. My
portion in the land of the living. 6 Attend to my cry, for I am brought very
low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my
soul out of prison. That I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround
me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.”
Persecutors are those who once stood with you, but now turn their backs. Persecutors can speak evil against you now because of what your beliefs are in the Lord. Persecutors will even change the numbers of views on your teachings of the Gospel to make it look like you fail. But we did not continue to look a numbers: We forgave them!
And we forgave them and we forgave them. Yes, this passage came to us and then our daughter told me of this dream she had two weeks ago. She told how the Lord had given me a degree for healing, but it was from His word and how it would be used. She also gave reference to a counter installed on this mount and the numbers starting moving at a fast rate. The Lord was showing that our prayers were answered. We had been praying for the "Stranger" and God was revealing they were coming to hear the word of God through what He allows us to send it out for His glory and to His praise!
For the Holy Spirit has come as given in Acts 2:4. Those present within that prayer time were filled with Holy Spirit and they spoke in languages they had never spoken before. Holy Spirit is the "breath" the air we breathe. God who breathed into Adam is the same God who raised Jesus from the dead. He breathes into us and activates us to speak His words. Our hearts resident is He Who is written about throughout the entire bible and not just the beginning with His birth in Bethlehem.
Of the several appearances of Jesus after His resurrection, women found Him and they saw Him. Mary told of her seeing Him in the garden: John 20:11-18 NKJV 11 but Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the fee, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 then they said to her, "Woman, why are weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid Him." 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him and I will take Him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me for I have not yet ascended to My Father but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, that he had spoken these things to her.
Several appearances of Jesus then ensue. Meeting with Jesus, their response is one of wonder and joyful worship!
Instruction was given: “Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee and there they will see Me.” Yes, instruction is important to us. And when are active in receiving the Lord’s instruction we see Him! For instruction is seeing Him and hearing to obey: Marks 16:17 And these signs will follow those who believe: “In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues, 18 “they will take up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.”
And if you
have seen the teaching we did on Mark 16 both in Life Giving Wells and Voice of Prayer, this verse 18 taking up serpents is a
person who is so set against those of God’s people, so set against the people
who have the Lord enthroned on their hearts, but the serpent wants revenge on the believer!
I always heard that to have depression or that depressive state is having the Lord absent from us. We must maintain that walk or that run. Though Jesus left the disciples He appeared in His glory! Though they saw Him die on the cross, dying at the hands of government, of religious leaders and even those of Roman soldiers, He rose from the dead. We can see all that God has purposed for us fulfilled when we continue to speak His name, declare His truths and expect His return. He is for us and we know this because He came to touch man, to give that hug, to help them rise from a sickened condition and see their heart smile when He touched them by that grace and by power of the Holy Spirit!
Depression has no place in me nor in you. People may hear something we wrote but others call out it was by anonymous. Others might hear of you giving a speech or even a teaching and call you the unknown author. But we are not hidden nor are we invisible. The Lord knows those who are His. He knows the way in which we walk for He ordered our steps in Him. Today, you and I drink our daily intake of water, we take in the adequate food for strength and energy and we provide fuel to our heart from God’s word. Jesus died and He rose again, and He did it when all Israel was in turmoil. He rose even though Rome ruled. He rose according to God and His plan. Today, we too, rise for God's plan. No depressive state, no name can rule us that is of man, for we will not be ruled by some virus, nor some man blind to God! For it is God who is to be glorified for He knows our frame, He knows we are dust and still He loves best. We are signs and wonders to a decaying world, and I will not quit, this is the finest hour for the Lord's glory!
New teaching at: Voice of Prayer
Perfection
