incorrect attitudes corrected…

i want to deal with something that is very prevalent. depression is the number one health problem in the world. it has been called the common cold of emotional illness. everybody gets depressed from time to time. some people are depressed all the time. even great CHRIStians, great saints get depressed. and the holidays are a prime time for depression.

now over in the old testament book of 1 kings in chapter 19 there is a story about the prophet elijah who was a great example of this.

you will see in this chapter that he was a prime candidate for depression. he was physically tired. he was emotionally exhausted. somebody had threatened his life. he was a prime candidate, an emotional fruit basket at this point. and in james 5.17 (niv) it says, elijah was a man just like us. he had the same problems we do. he had a problem with depression.

so why do we get ourselves in such an emotional mess? the answer is faulty thinking. misconceptions. your emotions are caused by your thoughts, by how you think and if you think in a negative way, you're going to feel in a negative way.

if you look at life from a negative viewpoint, you're going to get down. if you want to get rid of negative emotions, you have to change the way you think. that's why proverbs 23.7 (njv) says, as a man thinketh, so is he.

the only way you change your emotions is by changing the way you think and to overcome depression you've got to get incorrect attitudes, or incorrect ideas about life, corrected. that's why JESUS said in john 8.32 (niv), you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. if you look at things from the right point of view, you will not be depressed. you can be free from depression.

so why did elijah get depressed? he got depressed because he played some mental games that everyone of us play when we get depressed.

1 kings 19.3&4 (niv), elijah was afraid. he ran for his life... the result of it: he came to a broom tree, sat under it, prayed that he might die. what did he say? i have had enough. he said, “GOD, i'm fed up! i don't want to put up with it anymore. i'm wasting my life. i'm trying to be your servant but nobody's doing what's right. i'm fed up. there's no use trying. i'm giving up.”

so his first mistake is the same mistake we make when we get depressed. he focused on his feelings rather than the facts. that always happens when we're depressed. we focus on how we feel rather than reality

just a thought from the front porch…