Anxiety, depression, and panic attacks are spiritual issues
Jesus cast out demons, and we are supposed to cast out demons, but James tells Christians to ‘resist’ the devil. There is a difference. Resisting the devil is more important than casting them out, because when a Christian resists the devil and they flee, they draw closer to God because they have trusted His word and Jesus becomes more real to them, and they prove to themselves that the scripture is true, greater is He that is in you then he that is in the world 1 John 4:4.
We learn that the word can be trusted and they usually want to help other people with simpler issues, because we now have the confidence in the finished work, and we have learned how to overcome based on the finished work.
James 4:7 is the key to bondage’s and getting people free.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
How do you submit to God?
Bow your knee to His Word, accept the word and give it supreme authority over you in your life. Accept is as ultimate truth, and you will do your best to live and walk by it.
Once you submit to God you are submitting to truth. You are putting down your own understanding and you are lining up with what the Word of God says about The Finished Work of Christ, which most Christians still have a problem with…they are still asking God to do something He has already done. It goes back to the Finished Work.
Real humility is a Christian that bows their knee to the word and trusts in it, and is obedient to it, this is real humility, not the fake religious kind.
Exodus 14:15 ——-Why Cry unto me, use your Faith and The Name
We all get into a difficult position like Moses did and we want to cry out to God to do something for us, but Heaven gives us the same answer that it gave Moses and we don’t like that: “Use what you’ve got!”
We want the answer ‘hamburger style’….right now and we don’t want to do much to get it. The Church today is full of apathy, people are not taught how to fight.
These demons are not going away until Jesus returns, they are going to be around. They are going to keep attacking us until we make them flee. And there is only one way to make them flee, and that is to resist them, and show them that you believe and understand the finished work of Jesus and you insist that they flee. Demons have a difficult time with a committed Christian, who understand the authority that they have,and understand how things are supposed to work in the spiritual realm.
How do you resist the enemy? Don’t do what they want you to do.
If they want you to be enraged, take offense easily, get into self pity…these are all very common to people dealing with depression…just do the opposite.
In the 4 years I have been dealing with people struggling with depression, I have found that at the root is usually self pity.
What is the opposite of self pity? Gratitude. Be thankful to Jesus Christ that you are saved. Rejoice! Thank Him for your health, Thank Him, Thanks Him and Thank Him again and again, make a list of all the good things in your life “All good things come from above” James 1:17. The more you Thank Him the less you will be in self pity, and you must kill all self pity, if you want to escape any oppression.
1 Thess. 5:18: in everything give thanks.
In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
As Christians we sometimes have a very tough time doing that.
Numbers 13-15 (read these chapters and compare the promise of God to the finished work of Jesus) when the 12 spies Moses sent out came back from spying out the land. Ten of them were moaning, groaning and complaining. Heaven does not like that…from ANY of us. We all have been tempted when things get difficult to start complaining but we know God doesn’t like that!
Paul in Acts 16, was thrown in prison for setting a girl free from a spirit of divination. You can imagine what prisons were like in those days. If he had been like most Christians today, he would have been asking, “How could this have happened to us, get us out of here, we must have messed up somewhere, God must be mad at us”.
What were they doing? Praising and rejoicing. This is indeed a high bar for all of us, but what an example to us, just thing of what you would be thinking about if you were with Paul in that jail, yes, we all are a long way off, but we can try to get on this path of Thanking Him no matter what the situation, this makes demons mad, when we act like this even when things go wrong. This a what a committed Christian does, giving Thanks even when things look bad in the natural realm. Things looked bad in the natural for Joshua and Caleb, but they keep they eyes on the prize and trusted the word of God, that they were given the land, even though in the natural things did not look good, fortified cities, well equipped armies, tall strong men, but they had courage and perseverance……
Paul and Silus, with their backs beaten and bloody, in a filthy prison with rats running around,did not get into self pity and the ‘poor old me’s’! Demons like it when Christians complain. Their goal is to get Christians to say: “God, its your fault”. This is a horrible thing and it will get you in a lot of trouble and we’ve all dealt with self pity at some point, and we must REPENT when we blame God for our problems..
In everything give thanks, we must get to that place we are doing that all the time, not just in church, but on Monday morning when things get messy and things are not good at all. Everyone has family problems, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have them. “Thank you, Jesus”. My circumstances go up and down, but as a faithful Christian I must always come before my Father thanking Him for my salvation and the members of my family that are saved. Those that aren’t, I pray for them in tongues and I believe that they will be saved. But we must always be coming to God in thanksgiving. If you are not speaking in tongues, get in touch with me on Skye at depression_help and I can help you with this….
Isa 61:3 The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness
Self pity is a very subtle thing. All of us have been through it. Not a good place to be, and a very dangerous place spiritually. The opposite of that is to be glad and give thanks.
Phil. 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!
Again, James 4:7: resist the devil. Don’t be in rage. Don’t be in self pity, be in thankfulness. When that rage comes, you have to deal with it. You have to rebuke it.
All these things we do: rage, self pity, blaming others, these are clear cut choices we are making. Most people I’ve dealt with get really upset about this, but it is true. When you take an offense, you are TAKING it, you are making a choice..
You HAVE A CHOICE, you may not like this truth, but these ARE CHOICES ..
If you go to the grave of a person and start yelling accusations and all kinds of things at them, they don’t respond. They are DEAD.
That’s what we need to be too.
Over sensitivity is not from heaven. Over sensitivity is actually selfishness based. You are thinking about yourself too much. All demons have to do is watch your actions, and have someone come along who will cause you an offense knowing that you will get mad and go into a rage. That is how they get and keep you in bondage.
I usually ask someone: What do you have to resist in your life? This is a chance for you to be honest and to practice the scripture that talks about confessing your faults to one another,” (James 5:16). I will ask you what is going on in your life and if you hide something, you are going to still have trouble. You have to open up and be honest to overcome. Obviously, you have gotten yourself into these issues. You need to open up, identify what they are, and tackle them one by one. Resist the enemy…pull down the thoughts causing these issues. The lies you have believed for the past 5 years have brought you into this bondage.
James 4:7 again…
People have a hard time believing it can be as simple as resisting the things that are holding them in bondage and they will get free.
When people see this work in their lives they say, “Wow, I never saw that before!”
I tell them it is because they never really APPLIED the scripture. When people stop doing what devils want them to do, they will be amazed what happens. The devils will just stop pestering them and go on to someone else. But they will not flee until they realize that you know the word is true and they see you acting on the word. James 2:20 ————Faith without action is dead. Faith is very simple, if you act you are in faith, if you do not act you are not in faith.
When you resist the devil, you will loose some battles, but when you persist and keep resisting (don’t do what they want you to do, do what they do not want you to do), after awhile they will flee, just like the word says they will.
Mark 11:23 —-Jesus initiated this principle, believe in heart, speak with mouth
If you go to a counselor, they look at you after three or four sessions, without a blood test or CT scan, and they say to you that you are bi-polar. You go off and start telling people you are bi-polar. What are you doing exactly? You are operating in the principle that Jesus talked about in Mark 11:23-24, you are believing with your heart and speaking with your mouth and having what you say. This is so simple, and we ignore this simple principle, and usually we pay the price, bondage.
If you say that you are bi-polar or that you have a chemical imbalance, when there is no scientific evidence, this is and always was a theory, and you walk off and tell people you have mental issues, a chemical imbalance and you’re bi-polar, what happens after six months? You HAVE mental issues, because you have been walking in the principle Jesus talked about: how you think is what you become. We are snared by the words out of our mouth –Prov 6:2, as a man things in his heart, so is he, etc etc etc…
Christians need to realize that the devil is REAL, an it is the work of the demonic realm to try and bring oppression on anybody, especially Christians, we have a target on our backs, and if you think that you can hide this target, you are wrong. We are in a battle and if you try and ignore this fact, you put yourself in greater danger, they will have an effect of you even if you ignore them.
The New Testament is very positive. Every one who gives their life to Jesus Christ, God looks at them in a positive way. The devil is the accuser. You have to get yourself to the point that you are in a positive frame of mind. (Thinking about the positives).
Mark 4:26-28
Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seeds on the ground. He sleeps at night and is awake during the day. The seeds sprout and grow, although the man doesn’t know how. The ground produces grain by itself. First the green blade appears, then the head, then the head full of grain.
Luke 10:19: you have power over all the oppressors, they will obey you.
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
You must persist.
People will tell me, “It didn’t work for me!”
I tell them the reason it didn’t work for them is because they gave up too quickly. If they persist it WILL WORK for them –The word of God is true.
The devil resists weak Christians. He laughs at them.
That is why we must persist, to develop the strength to cause them to flee, rather than being overcome by them. When we quote the word and walk and believe it and are committed to the truth with passion, the devils aren’t laughing any more, they are on their way, they will flee!!!!
Prov. 4:20
My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.
The Word is so important, it must be given your constant attention.
Matt 12:34——-Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh
When you understand these principles and learn the word in relation to the issues you are dealing with, then out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak the truth of the word, instead of the lies that have been hounding you.
Pro 25:28 —–He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
And then you will be able to rule your spirit and take control over your life and circumstances, and live in complete freedom from oppression. We can live in the abundant live Jesus said He came to give us (Peace and Joy, Purpose and Fulfillment, Acceptance and Self Worth).
[schema type=”person” name=”Pastor Pat Buckley” orgname=”Haven of Refuge Ministries” description=”Free From Depressionn” ]