Depression can be debilitating. It feels like a heavy cloak hanging over your soul, squashing the desire for life. Too many people battle with depression. Others suffer with some of the symptoms.
Most inner issues are rooted in trauma or unhealed hurt. To be completely free, we need to be healed. At the same time, there are two biblical principles that can help us find freedom. I covered the first last week. Now let’s look at the second.
Secret weapon
There is a weapon available to us all that has power over depression. It is called praise. I am not speaking about fast songs at the start of your Sunday service. I am referring to something that comes from deep within, a choice to rejoice that utterly confounds the devil.
Midnight
Rosa’s husband Marcos died very suddenly after 30 years of marriage. Their two grown-up boys had already left home so this untimely separation left Rosa feeling desperately alone.
After the funeral flowers had faded and everyone else had returned to normal life, Rosa found herself slipping into depression. Once a cheerful character, this dear lady was now somber and deflated. Nights were the hardest as she lay awake remembering.
Prescription
Rosa came to our ministry for help and God spoke to me very clearly, “Prescribe daily praise.” I asked Rosa if she would faithfully take whatever scriptural medication I prescribed and she agreed.
I shared what God showed me and I asked her to praise through the midnight hour every day for a fortnight. Within a few days of high praise, the depression lifted. The garment of praise drove out the spirit of heaviness and Rosa was free.
She then came to Healed for Life and poured out her pain in the presence of the Lord. The supernatural healing love of God filled her heart and she left completely healed and ready to live the rest of her life.
Learning from others
We read a terrible story in Acts 16. Paul and Silas brought freedom to a young girl who had been bound. However, instead of being thanked, they were accused of creating problems and local leaders stirred up the city against them.
They were stripped and violently beaten with iron rods in the market square. They were thrown into prison where they were taken to a dungeon and their feet fastened in iron stocks. It will have been dark, dirty and damp and they will have been in pain.
What did Paul and Silas do? They gave God loud praise. While rejoicing, their chains broke off and the prison doors flung open. When we choose to celebrate His greatness in the midst of our darkness, power is released from heaven to set us free.
Taking a stand
I invite you to make a covenant of praise. You could decide to do this for a few days, for a week or even for a month. Pick a time of the day or night when you can be alone. I suggest you choose the hour when you are most likely to be down.
Set aside at least ten minutes to praise God with all your soul and strength. Isaiah 61:3 describes a divine exchange that happens when we exuberantly celebrate the goodness of God. The garment of praise expels the spirit of heaviness from our lives.
