This sermon originally preached 5/5/13.
In today’s sermon I’ll continue from where I left off last week. I had mentioned the fact that sometimes it’s necessary for you and me to suppress that inner person inside of us if we don’t want to begin our day feeling anxious and gloomy. Unless we take immediate spiritual action we will cause ourselves to become worrisome and set the stage for plunging into a depressed state of mind. Last Sunday I stated that it seems as though our inner self has been programmed to start chattering away non-stop with all sorts of thoughts the moment we wake up.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that listening to these kinds of rambling thoughts from our inner self are wrong. That’s a characteristic of being human. However, if what we find ourselves listening to discouraging suggestions about not trusting God or that He isn’t all-mighty, or that He isn’t all loving, or wise, or faithful, or good, or just, or merciful, and perfectly righteous and completely holy; then we must stifle our inner person and instead talk to him or her.

In my last sermon I quoted Lloyd-Jones who explained, “that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing ‘ourselves’ to talk to us! “The essence of this matter is to understand that this self of ours, this other man within us, has got to be handled. Do not listen to him; turn on him; speak to him, condemn him; upbraid him; exhort him; encourage him; remind him of what you know, instead of listening placidly to him and allowing him to drag you down and depress you. For that is what he will always do if you allow him to be in control. The devil takes a hold of self and uses it in order to depress us. We must stand up as this man [King David] did and say:

Psalm 42:5 (MSG) 5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God— soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God.

I ended my sermon by saying; “Engaging in that kind of spiritual warfare my friends is what I consider to be taking advantage of, metaphorically speaking, the most underutilized antidepressant.” I believe that all followers of Christ will profit greatly if they remind themselves and prayerfully meditate on certain facts about God. Facts such as,

2 Timothy 3:16 (TLB) 16 The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right.

Romans 15:4 (NIV) 4 … everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Among other mind boggling facts they will be able to tell their inner self that on the other side of eternity there was only God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit plus nothing or anyone else. This Triune Being decided to display the glory of His eternal power and of His infinite wisdom and goodness by creating the world and everything and everyone in it, whether it is visible or invisible, and He would do this in the space of six days. When He finished creating He would be able to declare that it all was very good. We should remind our inner person of what the divinely inspired author of the letter to the Hebrews wrote to his fellow Christians.

Hebrews 1:2 (TLB) 2 But now in these days he has spoken to us through his Son to whom he has given everything and through whom he made the world and everything there is.

The most memorable and most wonderful fact that has ever been or ever will be spoken in the history of mankind, was contained in a single sentence that was uttered by Jesus in the dark of night to a Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus.

John 3:16 (NIV) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 1:2-3 (TLB) 2 He has always been alive and is himself God. 3 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.

That’s another awesome mind-boggling fact for you and me to ponder. Unlike all human beings Jesus has always been alive. Think about that amazing truth. Jesus created our infinite universe and everyone in it including you and me. God’s children should remind themselves often of the fact that before Jesus created:

Genesis 1:2 (TLB) 2 the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors.

Job 26:13 (MSG) 13 With one breath he clears the sky, with one finger he crushes the sea serpent.

Job 33:4 (AMP) 4 [It is] the Spirit of God that made me [which has stirred me up], and the breath of the Almighty that gives me life [which inspires me].

Job 33:4 (TLB) 4 For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Romans 1:20 (TLB) 20 Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of his existence and great eternal power. So they will have no excuse [when they stand before God at Judgment Day].

Jeremiah 10:12 (AMP) 12 God made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and by His understanding and skill stretched out the heavens.

Jeremiah 10:12 (TLB) 12 But our God formed the earth by his power and wisdom, and by his intelligence he hung the stars in space and stretched out the heavens.

Psalms 104:24 (AMP) 24 O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.

Psalm 104:24 (TLB) 24 O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches.

We will profit greatly if we continue speaking to and reminding our inner person of some of God’s divine attributes such as,

Psalm 33:5-6 (TLB) 5 He loves whatever is just and good; the earth is filled with his tender love. 6 He merely spoke, and the heavens were formed and all the galaxies of stars.

Try spending just 5 minutes thinking about that awesome fact. You’ll find that it’s a lot easier said than done. The devil will see to it that your inner person will pound you with all kinds of distracting thoughts. We shouldn’t listen to him or her. Instead we should remind ourselves of the fact that,

Proverbs 3:19 (AMP) 19 The Lord by skillful and godly Wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding He has established the heavens.

Genesis 1:1 (AMP) 1 IN THE beginning God (prepared, formed, fashioned, and) created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:31 (MSG) 31 God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six.

Genesis 2:1-3 (AMP) 1 THUS THE heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 And God blessed (spoke good of) the seventh day, set it apart as His own, and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had created and done.

After once again reminding our inner person of these eternal truths concerning God’s power and wisdom and the fact that everything in all of creation belongs to Him, including all the folks who we hold dear and who are precious to us; you and I should rattle off a barrage of additional facts concerning our Lord and our God, and why we shouldn’t be worried or depressed regardless of our troubling circumstances. For instance:

Psalm 23:6 (TLB) 6 Your goodness and unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life, and afterwards I will live with you forever in your home.

When I came across that verse it seemed to leap right off the page and hit me in the eye. And then when I thought about that truth that it contained and applied it to myself, it caused me to experience literal tears of joy. That’s how thrilling I found that verse to be.
Regardless of whatever difficult circumstance we may be currently experiencing, we should continue reminding ourselves of an awesome privilege we can utilize through Christ. For instance,

Ephesians 3:12 (TLB) 12 Now we can come fearlessly right into God’s presence, assured of his glad welcome when we come with Christ and trust in him.

Hebrews 4:16 (TLB) 16 So let us come boldly to the very throne of God and stay there to receive his mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.

Our heavenly Father invites us to come to Him in prayer at any time, especially when we find ourselves listening to the devil speaking through our inner person. He’s trying to drag us down into the pit of depression. We should give thanks to God that His Son Jesus has instructed us exactly how we should pray when we’re faced with this kind of a temptation.

Matthew 6:6 (TLB) 6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you.

I urge each of you to make the time to ponder that magnificent fact and while you’re at it do the same with the following.

Psalms 65:4 (AMP) 4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whom You choose and cause to come near,

Psalm 145:18 (NIV) 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth [in godly integrity].

Followers of Christ will profit greatly if they draw near to Him in prayer during those troublesome times; times when they’re having difficulty trusting Him and they are beginning to become overly anxious; times when they are on the verge of committing the sin of worry.

James 4:8 (AMP) 8 Come close to God and He will come close to you.

Psalms 16:11 (AMP) 11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

God doesn’t want His children to be afraid of what may or may not happen in the future, especially to the point that they worry themselves sick. He doesn’t want any of them to be worry-warts. Instead He wants us not to be afraid. Consider the following passages.

1 After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1 (NIV)

24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” Genesis 26:24 (NIV)

3 “I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. Genesis 46:3 (NIV)

2 The LORD said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” Deuteronomy 3:2 (NIV)

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 7 Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their forefathers to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. 8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” Deuteronomy 31:6-8 (NIV)

1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. Joshua 8:1 (NIV)

23 But the LORD said to him, “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” Judges 6:23 (NIV)

I’ll close with the following words of wisdom from Jesus. It behooves us to let them sink in and apply them every day of our life.

24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! 26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:24-31 (NIV)

When we start listening to ourselves rambling on and on with discouraging suggestions about not trusting God, or that He isn’t almighty or all loving, or wise, or faithful, or just, or merciful and perfectly righteous and completely holy, and instead draw near to our Creator; we’ll never get tired of telling anyone willing to listen how He drew near to us, and how greatly He blessed you and me. That’s why I searched the Scriptures to find these verses for each of you folks to savor on this Sabbath Day. Share them with your friends. There are enough of them to show everyone How To Break The Bonds Of Depression.

Lord willing, next week….