For the Day of Trouble
How the Lord delivered me from severe depression and my own hypocrisy.
I’ve heard it said that in life we either overcoming or being overcome… how true, how true, how true! And the good news is that when you let Jesus lead you… keeping Him on your heart’s throne… victory becomes fun!!! But when you’re in the heat of the battle, especially before you know what Christ can do (and I speak from my own experience), ‘fun’ is the last word I’d use to describe it! Amazingly, Psalm 119: 71 is something I have seen come true in my own life, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted…”. The last half of that verse explains why. Oh how important it is to trust and obey, no matter what it cost to get you to that point! Even if doing so is just for our very OWN good!
I’m SO glad God is patient and kind! Later yet another test… another loss… as well as another friend! Another friend who knew I was struggling and loaned me a teaching by Dr. Chuck Missler, who I’ve mentioned earlier, but this was my first exposure to his teaching. I was preferring to feel sorry for myself at the time and after a long while, I realized I really ought to return it to her but thought she might ask me if I listened to it so I thought I’d better do that at least a little, so I could tell her I did, and not need to find an excuse or be tempted to lie.
It sure pays to be careful from whom you take counsel! I am so glad I listened to her! Chuck Missler was amazing! I could tell he had a firm grasp on the Word and was able to bring it to life in ways I’d never heard! Acts 4:12 tells us, “For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.” If you want to be right with God every day, (let alone the day we stand before Him) you and I both need the Word!
Then a strange thing happened. A rich uncle passed away and I received $1,000. I wasn’t accustomed to having money like that at my disposal, and I started thinking about all the various ways I could spend it.
One of the verses Dr, Missler was quoting a lot started to really come to my mind. It was Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.”. The part about the reward was what really intrigued me. I’d experienced the blessings of God’s rewards before in my life, and I knew it doesn’t get better than that! Answered prayers are just one fine example!! But I hadn’t realized it could help my depression! Until now…
So as I pondered my new found wealth and my choices, I couldn’t help but thinking about that verse. I decided, NOT because I FELT like it, but by a sheer act of faith, to take God up on that promise. Because it meant I could afford Chuck’s teachings on every book of the Bible. And at that time, I just happened to be spending a lot of time on the road and just happened to have had the time to listen. I am SO glad I did! Listening to how he explained truths was just like protein to a starving soul! It encouraged my heart and my mind and my soul, and I was on fire for the Lord again!
Now I want to address the danger of being religious, vs having a fully dependent relationship with the Son of God. Did you realize there are scary verses in the Bible, not for the lost but for those who think the supposed people who claim to have God? When Christ was here the first time as the prophesied Suffering Servant (but soon to return as the King), it was the religious leaders in His day, who hated Him most. Jesus said of them, “Let them alone, they are blind leaders of the blind.”[1] “But when He saw many of the pharisees and Sadducees coming to His baptism, He said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?’.”[2] Matthew 7:23 is a verse where God is addressing people at the Judgment seat who tell God about all the wonderful things that they did for the Lord, and are told, “…then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].” How would you like to feel you are right with God, and have Him say that to you?
Just think about this verse, “But we all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are like filthy rags”, Isaiah 64:6.
Chuck Missler was fond of saying that if you really want a good measuring stick to check how mature you really are in the Lord, read 1st Corinthians 13 but substate your name every time the word love is used. For example, “_____ is patient. _____ is kind. _____ is not rude, nor self-seeking, is not provoked and easily angered.”
One litmus test to be assured you are really saved is that sin bothers you. That you start to love righteousness. And that His Word becomes alive and attractive to you. And that every once in a while you can look back and find your own self changing from the inside out, in ways you know you couldn’t and also wouldn’t have ever been able to do just by the strength of yourself. Maybe a movie you once loved and that you now watch again, you are surprised by, as now you realize and see contents in it that you are shocked didn’t bother you when you saw it before. Or you find yourself more patient and at peace in a situation than you ever used to be. And more honestly loving as well! You don’t have to work so hard at pretending the thoughts from your heart are honestly good, because they start to be! (No matter if you could win a Golden Globe for trying!)
Golden Globe
The Changes God’s Made
The Stronger the Struggle
If you happen to currently be struggling and depressed or under the hand of the Lord’s discipline, and having the opportunity to change and repent, be set free and grow closer to God, then I hope you’ll be glad! I’ll never forget the scene in the book or now movie, Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s an allegory about the Christian walk. When Pilgrim didn’t heed the instructions, he got himself into trouble and when the angel came to undo the trap and give him a spanking, Pilgrim was actually, honestly, whole heartedly glad! Because Pilgrim’s goal was to succeed on the journey and anything, even discipline helping motivate him to do so was dearly most welcome!! It’s much like the Hebrew people’s wilderness wonderings! It’s second most popular book ever sold, next to the Bible, that is. If you want to watch a young Liam Neeson play the evangelist, that version is found on You Tube. Although there are many to choose from.
Promised Land
Pastor Mark Biltz on his website, El Shaddai Ministries.us has on his many wonderful handouts, the progression of sin, all the way from just not knowing the law, to steps like trying to pretend we didn’t know the law, to actively rebelling against the law. I’ve always found t’s easier to start tackling the sins I was aware of, and then ask the Lord to reveal those that I was doing which were purely out of ignorance. We can always ask God to search us and see if there be any wicked way in us, like King David did.[3] Especially if you’re struggling with having victory like I have. A big key in my own life was learning what seemed like a new revelation… to just be honest with God about it. Sounds simple, but for me it wasn’t always just that easy. But I think my struggle was more about learning to be ok with being honest with myself, let alone God, or anybody else.
The late author, Nancy Missler, had a fantastic way of putting things. She spent hours studying the practices of the Old Testament priests, for example, and was able to bring those lessons to life in practical ways that are really helpful. In her study, Be Ye Transformed, that she describes a wonderfully helpful process of how to bring our burdens to the Lord, and to actually leave them there. She called it a spiritual survival kit. She has many books found at The King’s Highway.org.
I put her lesson I had just mentioned this way. The priests first had to thoroughly inspect a sacrifice to begin with, before they actually gave the sacrifice. When we have a problem that’s upset us… being that we are called New Testament priests, we can do the same. Get alone and bring our problem to the Lord. Tell Him all about it. And I mean ALL about it! Inspect it as thoroughly as you need to for your heart’s content. What concerns you have, how it makes you feel. What your request would be about how the Lord handles it. By an act of faith, entrust the issue to the Lord. And then be sure to listen.
Help Me be Honest
If you’re still not having victory, you can always ask a fellow believer whom you trust, to hold you accountable and pray! There’s also an a very helpful verse teaching us to confess our sins to one another, NOT so that we’d be forgiven. We have to go straight to our only high priest, Jesus Christ for that![4] But the Lord says confess our sins to others that we might be healed![5]
Matthew 7: 24-27 inspired the following poem… “So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a [sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great and complete was the fall of it.”
The Big Bad Wolf (You know the tune!)
Where is your real estate investment? Do you need to move onto the Rock like I did?
That is a similar thought to 1st Cor. 3:12 and 13, “But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.”
- [1] Matthew 15:14
- [2] Matthew 3:7 and Matthew 23:15
- [3] Psalm 139:24
- [4] Hebrews 4:14 and 6:20
- [5] James 5:16
