Depression has many negative effects, but among them, the loss of precious time is one of the most devastating. You can’t regain time after you’ve lost it. Depression comes with inaction and bottles up your greatness. While you’re depressed, excellent opportunities for success and lifting will come your way, but you can’t leverage them. Therefore, you need to stop yourself from even getting depressed.
To defeat depression before it defeats you, you have to resist the thoughts that precede it. But resistance doesn’t mean just rejection thoughts. It means keeping the right ideas in place. So, you must withstand depressing thoughts and conditions with knowledge. The first thing depression tries to do is influence your sense of self. However, if you are full of the knowledge of God’s Word concerning you, you won’t be easily overwhelmed.
The bible teaches us to resist negative thoughts the same way we resist the devil because he is working behind them. 1Peter 5:8 (ESV)says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.”
This Scripture keeps us on our toes; satan is always looking for an opportunity to launch his assaults. Observe how we are asked to resist: firm in our faith. Faith requires knowledge. So, God expects you to have knowledge of His Word and His promises. It makes you unmovable and unbeatable when the enemy shows up.
In her book, “HEALING YOUR DEPRESSION,” Apostle L’Tanya C. Perry, MDiv. wrote, “Sometimes we allow depressing thoughts to take hold of us because we lack knowledge of God’s intentions and plans. Galatians 4:1 (KJV) says, “Now I say, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.” Being an heir without the knowledge of your rights and privileges can be frustrating. In the same vein, we need to have a perfect view of who we are from God’s word to overcome the pressures of life.
Giving in to depression can sometimes be a sign of lack of knowledge of God’s Word for us; negligence of His promises. Why would an heir live like a servant comfortably in his palace? Does it not show a high level of ignorance? Living at the mercy of the devil’s negative thoughts thrown into your mind is not God’s plan for you. When you’re about to rise and your mind begins to play tricks, you must fight back with what God has declared concerning you through the Scriptures. When men say there is a casting down, we should say there is a lifting up.”
Do you want to learn more about how to overcome depression and live a life full of laughter and fulfillment? Then get this life-transforming book, HEALING YOUR DEPRESSION by Apostle L’Tanya C. Perry, MDiv.