The Struggle Is Real | Part 2: Dealing With Depression

In 333 BC, Alexander the Great marched his Macedonian army into Gordian, the capital of Phrygian. There he found a wagon tied to its yoke with what a Roman historian described as several knots so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were even fastened. According to legend and tradition, the wagon belonged to Gordius, the father of King Midas, and an ancient oracle had declared that any man who could untangle its elaborate knots was destined to become the ruler over all of Asia. Alexander attempted to untie the knots to no avail, and in his great frustration decided to solve the problem in his own way, as he often did. He drew his sword, and with one powerful swing, he sliced the knot in half. Now, if you know your history, you will know that Alexander the Great went on and was never defeated in battle. He never lost a single battle, and he would go on to become the king of Persia, the pharaoh of Egypt, and the lord over all of Asia. Yet it was the cutting of the Gordian knot that Alexander considered to be his greatest accomplishment. Here's the irony about Alexander the Great. Alexander died at the age of 32. Now, keep in mind, there was no forensic pathologist back then, no CSI, and so nobody had really proof of what took his life. There are many conspiracy theories that have surrounded his death, but if you read history, you will find out that most historians agree and have become unified that it was his rampant alcoholism that contributed mostly to his early demise. Here's what we do know for sure. We do know in history that he once killed one of his top-ranking generals in a drunken rage. We do know that he sponsored a drinking contest that resulted in the deaths of 41 people due to alcohol poisoning. I tell you all that to say this. Here was a man that history records was never defeated in battle, who literally conquered the entire ancient world from Greece to India, but could not conquer himself. He conquered everyone and everything, but could not conquer himself, and it's still happening today. There are so many people who are crushing it publicly, but collapsing privately. They are killing it professionally, but they live their life defeated emotionally. That's why we're in this series, the second week of our series, that we're calling The Struggle Is Real, because for all of us at some time or another, the struggle is indeed real. And for many even in this room or at the UC or online, they are right in the middle of the greatest emotional struggles and mental struggles of their entire life. Many people that are going to be watching online or in this room are caught in an ongoing cycle of mental and emotional stability. And if that's you, I want to start today by just giving you a ray of hope that you need to grab onto, hide it in your heart, and settle it in your soul, that Jesus broke the curse so that we could break the cycle. Jesus broke the curse so that we could break the cycle.

Sin is what caused our lives and this world to be broken and plagued with pain. And when Jesus was nailed to the cross, he took all of that sin and paid for it once and for all so that you and I could go free. And it doesn't just apply to our spiritual lives. According to the Bible, it applies to every part of our lives, even our mental and emotional health. All is not lost. All is not lost. Jesus gave us the power to master our emotions instead of being mastered by them every day of our life. You can be free. I don't care how long you've dealt with it. I don't care how much the enemies told you. You'll never be free from it. You can be free by the power of the blood of Jesus. I want to give you a scripture right here that we're going to launch from today, 2 Corinthians 10. Paul said we live in this world, but we do not wage war the same way the world does. They're not missiles and they're not bullets and they're not guns. The weapons we use are not human ones. Our weapons are infused with power from God, and they are able to destroy the strongholds of the enemy. Let me tell you three things that 2 Corinthians is telling us. Number one, he's telling us the enemy specializes in strongholds. In other words, he's not about pitch and tents, y'all. He's not about doing small things. He's into building forts and strategic strongholds in our lives. He's in it for the long haul. What Jesus said about him is true and must be taken seriously. That he is only about three things. He's always been about three things, and he's only going to be about three things. to steal, to kill, and to destroy, and that ought to make us serious about this war. Number two, he tells us war must be waged. There must be an area in your life, a time when you resist.

The Bible tells us that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. You can't lay down, roll over, and just accept it's always been this way, and it's always gonna be this way. There has to be a moment in our life that we stand up in the power of the Spirit of God and fight the good fight of faith. We can't just accept it, surrender to it, or lay down and let it have us. If we think that one day it'll get better on its own, it will not. You've gotta find some grit, someone in your life, and believe the word of the Lord over your life. He's into strongholds, war must be waged. Third thing it tells us is the weapons that we have are not weak or anemic. We will not be free because we're so strong. Yes, we must resist, but we're not gonna be free because we're so powerful or we're so good. The Bible says that we will only be free because of the goodness of God, because his power is so great. If you think it's only up to you, you will live your life discouraged. But when you open your life up to the power of the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit, and lean into the word of God every day, big things can and will happen. Now last week, I laid a foundational message

about what it means to master our moods, and I gave you five biblical steps to do that. If you weren't here for that, I'm gonna encourage you to go listen to it. It'll set up where we're going these next three weeks. But today, I wanna wage war against one of the biggest that I've seen rock people's lives forever, one of the biggest emotional problems, and that is depression, depression. I have been in ministry 32 years, and I've been in it long enough to see what real depression can do to real people, even Christians, and people that follow the Lord. I've watched it ruin marriages. I've watched it destroy families. I've watched it rob people of their futures. I've watched it steal the joy and the peace from people who love God and who Jesus had died to redeem. Now depression can be complicated, I know this, but today I'm gonna wade into it because one of the things that I've realized is that it is no respecter of persons. I have met depressed rich people, wealthy, financially independent, never had to work another day of their life, and yet they were popping pills like Pez just to function every day of their life. Money will not change what this is. I've met depressed poor people. I've known depressed married people.

I've known depressed single people. I've counseled with depressed plumbers and yes, preachers. Yes, preachers. I've got friends who have pastored mega churches that dealt with depression for most of their life and had to learn how to live by faith on another level. Never think that it's only a certain category of people. In fact, all of us, in some form or at some level, will experience it, and I wanna define what we're talking about, okay, so that we're clear as we wade into this today. A depressed person has some dynamic problems, whether they're either very real or imagined, that they feel is in total control of their lives, and it is compounded by a sense that they are powerless to ever do anything about it or to change it. They live with a sense that it will always be this way, and there is nothing they are gonna be able to do to break the chain of it in their life. Their perceived helplessness leads to a sense or feeling of hopelessness. Let me say it again. Their perceived helplessness leads to a feeling of hopelessness or doom, and again, it's no respecter of persons, and that's what I wanna show you today right out of the Bible. I wanna ask you a question. If you could eavesdrop on the prayer life

of a great man of God, a giant of the faith, someone you deeply respected, that you knew that God's hand was on in a unique way and that God was using them in a dynamic manner, and you just looked at him and said, man, this guy is a giant of the faith, what do you think you would hear when you heard him pray? Do you think you would hear them pray bold, powerful, faith-filled prayers? Sometimes, but I wanna show you three prayers from three great men of God in the Bible, and I want you to pay close attention to what they asked God for. And Moses, Numbers 11, said, the burden is too heavy for me. If you plan to keep giving me their troubles, just kill me now, God. Just kill me now, God. If you accept me as your servant, he said this again, let me die now. Then I will be finished with all of my troubles. How about this one? Then Elijah, you remember Elijah? He was one of the greatest prophets in all of Israel. He was the one that had the showdown on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal, and they got wood together, and they got a sacrifice together, and Elijah said, you pray to your God, I'll pray to my God, and the God that answers by fire, let him be the true and living God.

And the Bible says they moaned before their God, they cut themselves, they mutilated themselves to no avail. Elijah prays a 63-word prayer. 63 words, fire fell from heaven, and not only consumed the sacrifice, but the entire altar. That's who this guy was, and he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day, sat under a solitary broom tree, listened to his prayer, kill me too, I'm ready to just end it and die. I have had enough, Lord, take my life. I'm no better than my ancestors who have already died. What about one of the greatest evangelists in all of the Old Testament, a guy by the name of Jonah, who preached one sermon to a city, one sermon to 120,000 people, and every single one of them came to the Lord and repented of their sin and were converted. That is more than Billy Graham-type stuff. And here's what Jonah prayed. Then Jonah said, just kill me now. You tracking with me? I'd rather be dead than alive if what I have predicted will not happen. These three incredible men of God that God used to do unbelievable things all went through moments in their life where they literally believed they would be better off dead than alive. They were suicidal, and they were overcome by depression. That's what depression has the power to do.

So don't feel as though you're alone. Don't feel as though you're weird. Don't feel as though you don't love God or that God don't love you. Don't you dare feel for a moment that somehow you've lost your faith and you're not a good Christian just because you struggle with moments of despair. I wanted you to see that you're in good company if you do. And I want you to know that God has a plan for your life. Now, I know there are different degrees in which people struggle with this issue. But again, all of us are gonna deal with it on some level at various times in our life. So here's what I wanna do. I wanna take a deeper dive. I wanna take a closer look at these men's lives and the situations that created these feelings in their mind, and more importantly, second part of the message, I wanna show you what God did and what God provided to set them free and to lead them out of their deep, dark depression. So here we go. Let me just get us there. I want you to first see the problems that created it because it's important to understand. As you dig deeper and begin to study the surrounding verses of these three prayers, you will see a pattern.

You're gonna see a pattern emerge that contributed to their depression. They all had literal, physical problems that contributed to these dark, despairing moments. Let me show you by example. Moses, for example. Read all of Numbers 11 and you'll discover that Moses was leading and pastoring two million people. Not two million good people either. I mean, our church is almost 3,000. I can't even wrap my mind around the responsibility of two million people and not two million people full of joy and peace and understanding. The Bible makes it clear. They were two million complainers, grumblers, gripers, whiners, criticizers of everything that Moses was doing and that God did. Day after day after relentless day of leadership and navigating serious problems took its emotional toll on Moses. He was responsible for them and he felt like no matter what he did, it was never enough and years of trying to navigate the logistical complexity and problems that leading that many people brought began to overwhelm his soul. I get it. Kill me now? Yes, I get it completely because I've led. Number two, what about Elijah?

Read the verses up to Elijah's prayer and you're gonna discover this. Elijah had just ran a 30-mile marathon escaping for his very life from a queen who had decided and declared she was going to take his head and he had not eaten anything for 40 days. He had not eaten a bite for 40 days and just ran a 30-mile marathon. His energy and strength were completely depleted and that's when he prayed, Lord, just kill me now. What about Jonah? The story of Jonah is pretty well known by many and it starts with him doing everything he can to run from God, to escape the call of God. in his life, he spent three days in a well for a jail. A well for a jail. God told him to preach to Nineveh, a place and a people that he hated. I'll explain this in just a moment. But the last thing he wanted to do was go and preach to Nineveh, and after he does what God told him to do, he sits down on a city wall, and the Bible says, a hot east wind began to blow. And what it describes is a heat stroke. The Bible says he got so hot, and it beat down him for so long, he literally passes out on top of the wall. Now here's why I'm telling you all of this. I have learned in 32 years of people,

of dealing with people, that depression or deep discouragement almost always starts somewhere as a physical experience. Physical weariness sets us up for emotional and spiritual exhaustion. Let me say it to you this way, if you're taking notes. I've learned that when fatigue walks in, faith walks out. I've experienced this myself. In my mid-40s, I went through something where I had just gotten burnt out from all of these years of ministry. I didn't know how to discern it. I didn't know how to define it. I didn't know what was happening to me. But I went through a two-year funk in my life because I was just exhausted from all of the years of ministry. When fatigue walks in, faith walks out. Somebody well wrote that fatigue has the power to make cowards of us all. It makes us wanna quit. It makes us wanna walk away, sometimes from our purpose, for some people, from their marriage, for some people, they just wanna check out of life altogether like these three men. Eventually, these men's physical exhaustion spilled over into full-blown emotional anxiety. Let me give you a little bit more specific for context about where their depression came from.

All right, watch this. For Moses, it was a people problem. Moses had a people problem. Let me show it to you, Numbers 11. And Moses said to the Lord, why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me, God. What did I do to deserve the burden of all of these people? Where am I supposed to get meat for all of these people? I cannot carry them by myself. The load is just too heavy for me. I have often said to people over the years that leadership is brutal. It is brutal and it is beautiful. There is something wonderful about leading people and this privilege that God would give someone to be able to help people and inspire people and motivate people. But the problems that come along with leading people are brutal, and some days, it's way more brutal than beautiful. The constant problems of the people were things that he constantly could not solve. And when Moses could not solve them, they complained and criticized and blamed him for their troubles. They would say that, read the Bible, just read the book of Exodus. They say the same thing over and over again. You showed up, led us out of Egypt for what?

To come out here and just die like dogs in the desert? We were better off in Egypt where they were beating us every day. At least we had something to eat. That's what he dealt with, day in and day out. And not only that, watch Exodus chapter 18. The next day, Moses took his place to judge disputes among the people. Watch this. There were so many that they stood before him all day long from morning until night, six days a week, because they would Sabbath. Six days a week from morning until night, all he did was listen to the disputes of the people, the complaints of the people, the problems of the people, and tried to judge them. From daylight until dark, that's all he did. Bro, are you kidding me? No wonder he prayed for God to kill him. He was leading and counseling and problem solving and navigating and communicating and working for a massive group of primarily ungrateful and negative people. What that can do to your soul is very real, and it eventually pushed him over the brink. So his was a people problem. Watch this. For Elijah, it was a pity problem. First Kings chapter 19. Then Elijah went on alone

into the wilderness traveling all day. He sat under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. Listen to what he said. I've had enough, Lord. Take my life. Don't miss this line. For I am no better than my ancestors who have already died. Don't miss that. Don't miss that small line. In his weary state, Elijah began to drink from the intoxicating cup of self-pity. I say intoxicating because it affects the way you see things. Pity affects the way you feel about things. Self-pity affects how you feel about things. It clouds and alters your judgment. Notice what he said. I am no better than my ancestors. Why is that important? Because what it's telling us is that somewhere along the line, Elijah actually thought he was better than his ancestors. He actually believed he was crushing it. Apparently. There was a moment in his life where he said, bro, I am the prophet of all prophets. I mean, I am the voice of God in this nation. God is using me in a way he has never used anybody else. I've built a pretty successful life and a pretty successful ministry.

In fact, I've done better than anybody that's ever come before me. And then all of a sudden, when it all fell apart and it did happen to him, all of his belief and confidence collapses. Now at once, he's worthless, a failure, and of no value to anybody anywhere else and his self-worth is crushed. That's what self-pity does. It makes you think things that are not true about yourself and your situation. For Jonah, it was a pouting problem. It was a pouting problem. Watch this, Jonah chapter four, verse one. This change of plans, I'm gonna explain this to you. This change of plans greatly upset Jonah. He became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it. Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? What's he talking about, save all those people? That's why I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you're a merciful and compassionate God. I know you're slow to anger and filled with unfailing love. You're always eager to turn back from destroying people. Now what does that mean? Why would he be so upset that God saved all of these people? Well, for those of you new to Bible study, Jonah was actually a super patriot. He loved his native land, Israel, more than anything.

And you need to know, historically, the people of Nineveh were brutal people who hated Israel, and they always wanted to murder and enslave them. Jonah did not want God to save them. He prayed for God to kill them. He wanted God to annihilate the nation of Nineveh. So when God sends Jonah to preach repentance to the people, and they actually hear the gospel and the entire nation repents for their idolatry and turn to God, it ticks Jonah off. He said, I knew you were gonna save them. Dang it. I knew you were gonna, I knew the word of God was gonna work. I knew the spirit of God was gonna move. I knew it, that if I preached the gospel, they were going to repent and get saved. That's not what I wanted. Listen, when anything we love and truly care about is threatened, when anything we love or care about is taken from us, we have the potential to get bitter, discouraged, and yes, even depressed. I've met people who lost their jobs and careers. I've met people that lost their marriages, sometimes even a loved one or a child, God forbid, or someone they deeply cared about, and they just hold resentment in their hearts forever, and eventually, if you hold that in, it will turn into a cancer that will slowly begin to eat you from the inside out.

This is where Jonah found himself, and it all culminates ultimately into spiritual problems. So you need to be clear about something, what the goal of the enemy is for your life and my life. The ultimate goal of the enemy is to make us lose faith in God. The ultimate goal of the enemy is to make us lose faith in God, to question the love of God, to question the goodness of God, to wonder if he can truly be trusted. See, that's what he did in the book of Genesis. It's what he did to Eve. He has no new tricks. He doesn't have to because it works. He did it then, and he's still doing it now. When the enemy sees you down physically, when the enemy sees us down emotionally, that's when he moves in for the spiritual kill. He tries to get us in our lowest moment and then finish us off. I want you to hear this. These were all good men. They were good men. We see how God used them, but somewhere, they began to doubt that God was ever gonna change their life and their situation, and they still believed they would never, if they did, they would have never prayed to die. And I'm so grateful that God doesn't judge us or throw us aside at our worst moments,

that he understands that we're just men and women wrapped in weak flesh, and that instead of rejecting us or rebuking us, he runs to our rescue. And that's what I wanna spend the rest of the time talking about. I wanna turn the corner, and I wanna show you the power and provision of God that brought every one of these men out of these moments of depression. Again, I'm thankful that God doesn't give us what we want, but that he provides us what we need. He knew these were good men who were just having bad moments, and I wanna say that to somebody that's listening right now. He knew these were good men that were just having bad moments. A bad moment does not define your existence. A bad moment does not define your entire life. A failing moment or a faltering moment or a doubting moment does not define your entire life. The enemy will try to make you believe it will, but you are not defined by your worst moments. I want you to see this scripture. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted, man. He rescues all those. Spirits are crushed. I wanna show you what he did. Because each one of these men had different problems that created their depression, and God knew that they had different problems, and God is not a cookie cutter God.

He knew each one of them needed something unique in their life, and in his divine providence, he provided what each one of them needed, and he's gonna do the same for you. Let me show you. For Moses and his people problem, God just sent him support. Numbers chapter 11. Then the Lord said to Moses, okay, here we go. Gather, Moses, before me 70 men who are recognized as elders and leaders of Israel. Bring them to the tabernacle to stand there with you. I will come down and speak to you there. I will take some of the spirit that I've placed upon you, the anointing that I've placed upon you, the power that I've placed upon you, and I'm gonna take that and put it upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you so that you can no longer carry it alone. Listen to me. We were not meant to do life alone. Sometimes the answer to our desperation is to simply get out of isolation. I'll say this again. Sometimes the answer to our desperation is to simply get out of isolation and make a move towards community. Some of you just haven't told anybody. You haven't shared it with anybody. You haven't got in community with anybody. You just have done it alone and tried to fight it alone,

and if you do it alone, you are a sitting duck for the enemy. You need to find someone that you can be vulnerable with and share your struggles with and quit worrying about what people are gonna think about you, that you're weak or you're worthless. If they knew the truth about you, this is what the enemy is hoping that you will do. When we are alone, we are easy prey, but together we become a formidable force. I'm telling you. I don't know if you've ever seen this real, but the first time I saw it, I said that's the church, that's community, that's what the Bible says about brotherhood and sisterhood. There's this reel or this clip of a father and a son. They're professional bull riders, and the son is riding a bull. I think he's like 20 years old, and as soon as he comes out of the chute, this 2,000-pound bull catches him right in the face with the back of his head and knocks him clean cold. He comes off the bull and he's lifeless. The bull makes a turn. He sees him laying there, and the father doesn't even think. He just leaps off the top rail and grabs his son and covers him up while that bull is raking him over the coals.

He knew his son was vulnerable, and he would rather take it than his son. That's what community will do for you. When you are weak and vulnerable, the church of Jesus Christ can surround you, and people who love you will cover you and help you survive when difficult moments come, but you can't do it alone. You need covering. You need protection. You need community. Let me give you some Bible. A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for when trouble comes into your life. A brother is born for when trouble comes into your life. Two people are better than one, Ecclesiastes says, because they help each other succeed. If one of them falls, the other can reach out, but someone who falls alone is in deep and real trouble. If you're here and struggling, God has put people around you that will love you and help you, but you have to make a move. You have to take a step and ask for help. When we get open and honest, miracles can and will happen in our life, but some problems are too big to handle on our own. So for Moses, he had a people problem, and God said, what you need is some community and support, and I'm gonna give you 70 men that's gonna help you carry the burden of the nation.

Watch this one. For Elijah, his pity problem, God just sent him supernatural provision. Remember he hadn't eaten in 40 days, and he just ran 30 miles escaping for his life? He was starving and exhausted, and it fueled his emotional breakdown. Let me read it to you. Watch what God did. Then Elijah laid down and slept under the broom tree, but as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and said, get up and eat, and he looked around, and there beside him was a cake of bread. Ladies and gentlemen, the first angel food cake in all of history, right here, right here. That's just for free. I gave you that one for free. That had been baked over hot coals in a jar of water. He ate and drank and then went back to sleep. Later, the Lord's angel came to him again and touched him and said, get up and eat again. You need your strength for the trip ahead. So Elijah got up and ate and drank again and felt strong. It's just what he needed. So much so that he was able to walk 40 days and 40 nights all the way to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. Let me just say two things about this, okay? Let me make two observations. What this tells me is that sometimes, ladies and gentlemen, we don't really need a miracle.

You just need a stinking vacation. I got one, amen, baby, I'd love it. Sometimes, you just need a couple days off. Sometimes, we just need a break. Break! Let me say this, you know how I feel about it, I preach this all the time. Work is not punishment. Work was a gift from God. The first thing he gave Adam was a job. Work is a gift, we're supposed to work. It's a gift from God. It's healthy and it's wonderful, and I certainly know some people who should do more of it. But I also know a bunch of people that wear their busyness like a badge of honor. You hear it all the time, how you doing, man? Busy, bro, busy in a one-armed paper hanger, man. And we congratulate him, oh, you're crushing it, man, good job! How you doing, brother? Man, wore out, wore out, day like the, I'm wore out, stretched in every direction. And we say it with a tone of honor, like we're proud of it. Listen, for many people, it's that we run at a pace that is simply not sustainable, and I'm telling you, you can't cheat it forever. It will eventually catch up to you. We were not created to live at a nonstop level.

The fourth of the 10 commandments is Sabbath. It wasn't a suggestion, it wasn't God saying, man, it would be great if you'd take a day off. It would be awesome if you could just find the time to settle down for one day and hit the reset button. He made it a commandment in our life that we would stop and reset our bodies, our minds, and our soul. It's that important. So for some of you, you don't need a miracle. You need a couple days off. For some of you, you do indeed truly need a miracle, and God knows how to deliver. I bet you I could pass the mic around in this room, and every person in this room could tell a story or a moment when God showed up in ways that only he could, and there is no doubt in your mind that it wasn't coincidence. It was the hand of God moving in your life. You saw him move, you saw him provide, and in those downward spiral moments, you have to remind yourself he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and if he met me there, I trust that he's gonna meet me and provide into my future as well, and you gotta tell yourself that. So for Moses' people problem, he gave him support. For Elijah's pity problem, he gave him supernatural provision. Watch this.

For Jonah's pouting problem, God just said, you gotta think different, dude. I'm gonna give you a new perspective. This really cracks me up. Remember that Jonah was mad about God saving the people of Nineveh and was sitting exposed to the sun and he passed out from the heat, but I want you to see what God did because he saw his frustration. He saw how mad he was that God saved all these people, and God said, man, you just need to think differently, and so here's what God did. You don't wanna get in debate with God. Let me just tell you that right now. The Lord made a gourd plant to grow quickly over Jonah. This made a cool and comfortable place for Jonah to sit. He was very happy because of the plant, but the next morning, God sent a worm. The worm was sent by God. He didn't happen to crawl up the wall and discover the gourd plant. God sent the worm the next day to eat part of the plant, and the plant died, and then God said to Jonah, watch this. Do you think it is right for you to be angry just because this plant died? I love this. Jonah answered, you're dang right it's good for me to be mad. I should be mad. I am mad.

Yes, it's 100% good for me to be mad and to be angry, and the Lord said, you didn't do anything to create that plant. You didn't do anything to build that plant. You did not create it or make it grow. The plant grew up in the night and then died the next day, and now you're sad about it, and if you can get upset over something as small as a plant, surely I can feel sorry for a city as large as Nineveh. There are more than 120,000 people who are living in spiritual darkness. God says, look how upset and worked up you are over a stupid plant. While you're sideways about a plant, my heart is broken for lost people. You may not like them, but I created them and love them every bit as much as I love you and desire to redeem them just the way that I redeemed you. That's when Jonah said, okay, God, you're right. You're right. What he needed was a fresh perspective. What he needed was a moment where he could think with clarity about actually what was happening in the moment, to see things the way they truly are. Watch this. Sometimes some of you that are dealing with your depression, you have a perceived idea of the way something is and what you need. is a supernatural perspective. You need God to help you see things the way they truly are,

not the way your emotions are telling you to feel about the way they are. And sometimes God will bring voices into your life to speak truth to you in love. Here's my word to you, don't reject those voices. Don't reject those voices. When they say what you don't wanna hear, do not immediately perceive they're wrong. Perceive that if they love you and wanna see you do well, and they love the Lord, that God has sent them into your life to help you. Be teachable, be open, lean into it and listen to those voices that love God and love you enough to challenge your feelings and challenge your emotions. I have learned the hard way. I have learned the hard way that when the only voice I listen to is the one in my own heart and the one in my own head, I have a great tendency to live in things that are not true. I thank God for the Holy Spirit who challenges me to think correctly. I thank God for his word that speaks truth to me constantly. I thank God for good people and good brothers in my life who love me enough to confront me and challenge me when they see something in my life that's not right. Ultimately, whether you suffer from true clinical depression or from the normal moments of discouragement in life, because of our great God and what Jesus did on the cross,

we can be free. Jesus broke the curse so that we have the potential to break the cycle. And if you're in this room or you're watching online, and God has been speaking to you today, I want you to walk out of here knowing that whom the Son sets free is free indeed. Your story is never over as long as Jesus is in it.