A few years ago, Natalie and I went on a Pastor/Spouse Retreat with several other pastors and spouses that we knew, and at one point while we were going around and sharing about our lives and just kind of updating everyone on what was going on.  When we got to one particular pastor his head just kind of went down, and he got really quiet and just started to sob.

When he finally collected himself, he began to tell us that he was battling severe depression.  He talked about how tired he was, and how sad he felt most of the time.  He talked about anxiety and how he lost pleasure in activities and always had a general feeling of apathy.  He told us about how there were days that he would call in sick and just stay in bed all day long. 

And worst of all, he said there were some days while he was in lying in bed he would take a gun and point it at his head and think about how all of these feelings would go away if he would just pull the trigger.

He didn’t pull the trigger, but that’s the kind of stronghold that depression and anxiety had on his life.  This was a real struggle for him and was affecting his whole world and it was crippling him at times.

Some of you may struggle with depression as well, but even if you don’t, then I’m almost positive that you know someone who does.  Statistics tell us that in 2018 there were 284 million people throughout the world who struggled with anxiety and 264 million who struggled with depression, and that number is only growing due to the pandemic. 

All throughout last year counselors and psychiatrists were talking about how many more people they were seeing with anxiety and depression issues, and I’ve talked to so many of you who are school teachers and counselors.  You have been seeing first-hand the anxiety, depression, and mental health issues that kids and teens have been facing.

And so, anxiety and depression can affect anyone.  Kids, teens, adults, men, women, and yes, Christians too.

As a matter of fact, many people believe that from the way certain things are described in the Bible and the language that they used themselves that the prophet Elijah and King David in the Old Testament battled with depression and anxiety.

So, depression and anxiety can impact any of us, and can impact us on a wide range of levels.  So, as we continue our message series titled “The Struggle is Real” today, we are going to talk about the struggle with depression and anxiety.

And I of course am no psychologist or psychiatrist.  And I don’t want to pretend that I am an expert in this area by any means, but I want to at least begin a discussion about this and offer some insights from the Bible and things I’ve learned from Christian psychologists and psychiatrists.

And I hope it helps and will at least open the door to get help if you need it, and I hope that others of us will open up our hearts to be there for people who need us when it comes to dealing with depression and anxiety in their lives.

And when it comes to mental health issues like this, these are comprehensive problems and the best people I’ve ever heard writing or talking about treatments for people have been those that take a comprehensive or holistic approach to deal with it.

And so that is what I am going to do today.  I am going to look at this from several different components:  spiritual, thought processing, biological, physiological, and a social component.

SPIRITUAL COMPONENT

And here is what I want you to see.  Now some of you have heard me talk about spiritual anatomy and seen a few of these diagrams, but I think they’ll be helpful for us to see some things when it comes to depression and anxiety.

Scripture tells us that we are made up of a body, a soul, and a spirit, but the problem is that because of sin we are born spiritually dead.

We talked about Ephesians 2 a couple of weeks ago and how Paul tells us that we are dead in our transgressions and sins.  We are spiritually cut off from God who is holy and pure and without sin.  So, at the core of our being, we are spiritually dead.  We are empty. 

And so without God in our lives whom we were meant to be in union with and who is our Source for life and fulfillment, then we are operating from a place of lack in our lives.  A lack of meaning, a lack of purpose, and we will always be searching for something to fill that lack, that emptiness we feel.  But of course, nothing we try will ultimately satisfy us because that hole in us was designed to only be filled with God.

So you can imagine that this alone is enough to fill many of us with anxiety and send many of us into depression because we can never find lasting fulfillment in our lives and we just keep chasing and chasing and nothing ever works.  So we get anxious and depressed, and we feel trapped in a black hole of emptiness. 

BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT…Ephesians 2 goes on to say that if we put our faith in Jesus to forgive our sins, based on His death on the cross to pay the penalty for them that He will save us by His grace and that we’ll be made alive in Christ…The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and unites us to Jesus spiritually so that we are now…

We are born into someone new.  We become a new creation in Christ.  We are given a new identity and are made whole.

And so my point is that for some of us, much of the cause of the anxiety and depression we face could be spiritual and the fact that we are spiritually cut off from God who is our Source for Life and meaning and fulfillment.

And when we realize that is our problem and we receive Jesus and His forgiveness into our lives through faith, then that hole on the inside gets filled, our emptiness goes away, and the anxiety and depression begin to fade.

And so it all really does start with Jesus, and to a degree, we will all face some level of anxiety and depression without Jesus because we will never find fulfillment and real peace outside of Him.

But here is the next thing we need to talk about:  some of you have accepted Jesus into your life and you still have anxiety and depression.  So what’s up with that?

Well, let’s go back to that last diagram…

Look at where the change takes place in us, at the core of our being in our spirit.  However, our souls and our bodies are not made whole when this conversion takes place. 

One day we’ll be made completely whole when Jesus comes back and we spend eternity with Him in glory, but until then our minds and feelings and our bodies are still under the effects of sin in this world.  So, it is still very possible to experience anxiety and depression even as Christians. 

And so, this is why we need to talk about the next component that I said we were going to talk about, and that is the…

THOUGHT PROCESSING COMPONENT

Jesus said in John 8:31-32…

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 We talked about how Paul said in Romans 12:2 to renew your minds.  The mind is such a powerful thing.  Our thoughts are so powerful.

Jesus said if we know the truth it will set us free, which means if we don’t know the truth then we will live in bondage.

And so for some of us, one of the reasons we still struggle with depression and anxiety so much is that we don’t know the truth about who we are in Christ and all that we have in Him. 

And here is the truth:  I mean we have already talked about in another diagram how you are in union with Christ and are born again, have been made a new creation in Him, and have a whole new identity but here are some other truths…

You now have God’s power working in you and through you.

Acts 1:8 says, “8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”

You have God’s power in you and working through you to give you strength when facing anxiety and depression.

Here’s the 2nd thing though…

You are never alone.

In 1 Cor. 6:19 it says, “19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you.”

And in Heb 13:5, God says, “5 …“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

And a lot of times, when you are facing anxiety and depression, you will feel like you are alone.  Your thoughts will be that no one else experiences the things you do, and it can be a very lonely place to be. 

But listen, you are never alone.  God will never leave you nor forsake you. 

And here’s a 3rd truth…

Jesus is your peace and your joy!

Ephesians 2:14 says, “14 For he himself is our peace…”

 And John 15:11 says, “11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”

Our feelings and our thoughts convince us that peace and joy are found in our situations and circumstances, but the truth is that Peace and Joy are found in Jesus. 

And you are in union with Him always, so guess what you have always?  Peace and Joy!  You just may not feel like it, so you have to renew your mind to the truth.

Here is the most practical thing that I can give you, and I wish I could take credit for it, but this comes from Dan Stone in the book The Rest of the Gospel (INSERT HYPER LINK HERE). 

He dedicates a whole chapter to what he calls “the holy but.”

And he says that most of us in our thoughts put what comes before and after the word “but” in the wrong order.  We will say, “I know that Jesus is my peace and my joy, but I have so much anxiety and am so unhappy and it’s just with me all the time.  It’s just part of me.” 

But watch what David does in Psalm 13…

1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? 3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 5 BUT I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.

 See, David puts his feelings before the “but” and the truth after the “but.”  So, we could change what I said earlier to say this, “I am feeling so anxious right now and I am feeling so empty and depressed, BUT Jesus you are my peace and my joy and I will sing your praise because you have been good to me.”

This is renewing your mind to the truth, and Jesus says the truth will set you free. 

So this thought-processing component is so important, but again it’s only possible if the spiritual component is met first by trusting in Jesus as our Lord and Savior and having all of these things now be true of us in Him! 

Okay, there are 3 more components that I want to mention briefly.

THE BIOLOGICAL COMPONENT

It is very possible that because of sin and the effects of the fall your struggle with anxiety or depression could be caused by neurological problems and brain chemistry imbalances.  And if you go to a doctor or a psychiatrist and they tell you that you need medicine to regulate chemistry imbalances in your brain, then it’s important that you take the medicine they prescribe.

Even Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim. 5:23…

23 Stop drinking only water, and use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses

In other words, Paul was telling Timothy to use wine for medicinal purposes.  He didn’t just say, “Hey Timothy, trust God with it and pray for healing.”  

And this may be something for you to talk to your doctor or a psychiatrist about, but even if that is true, remember that this is a comprehensive problem and the best approach is always a comprehensive approach with all of these components we’ve been talking about.

Here’s the 4th component…

PHYSIOLOGICAL COMPONENT

We now know that God created our bodies to release these “feel good” chemicals into our brains with certain natural activities and one of those activities we now know God created us to experience that in is exercise.

Walking 3-4 times per week for 30 minutes can help break up the brain chemistry patterns that work with mental health issues.  So maybe one of the things God is saying is “Go get some exercise!”

And here is the final component I want to mention…

THE RELATIONAL COMPONENT

The apostle Paul in Romans 1:12 told those at Rome…

12 When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.

Jesus brings us into community with each other to be a support and encouragement to each other. 

And so if you are struggling with anxiety or depression, it is so important that you surround yourself with brothers and sisters in Christ who are going to encourage you and point you to Jesus and the life you have with him.  It’s important that you find someone to walk through these times of struggle with you.

And that also means of course that you have to be authentic, open, and real with them.  You can’t hide behind your mask.

But listen, even if you don’t struggle with anxiety or depression, don’t underestimate the power of encouraging someone who is struggling with anxiety and depression.  This may not be a huge struggle of yours, but Jesus can use you to make a huge difference in someone else’s life. 

As a matter of fact, I want you to check out this video testimony of Joel, and I think you’ll see what I mean.

So don’t ever underestimate the power of praying for someone you love who deals with anxiety and depression.  Don’t ever underestimate the power of human touch and encouraging and supportive words.

Jesus uses our voices, our hands, and our feet to grab people out of the stronghold and struggle with depression and anxiety.  So, let’s be a church that is willing to be the hands and feet, and voice of Jesus to others.