Last Sunday’s message went a long way towards de-stigmatizing two wrongs ways of thinking still present to some degree in the larger Church today. They are:

1. The idea that there is automatically something seriously wrong morally with a child of God who is struggling with any emotional and/or psychological illness.
2. The idea that only prayer is an immediate cure to such illnesses (although prayer being a vital component of the healing of the soul was in no way neglected, as the prayer time encouraged at the end of the service made crystal clear.)

The first wrong idea has been something that has dogged the body of Christ on and off for centuries. It can be summed up in the assumption that all an emotionally wounded and sick person has to do is repent of his or her sins and then claim healing to be “fixed.” There have always been those, for instance, who are ready to condemn a depressed person for not truly trusting in Christ or, at least, lacking in the ability to summon up enough faith to pull themselves up by their “spiritual bootstraps.” (In my personal experience I have found that, not surprisingly, such individuals have almost never experienced Clinical Depression themselves.)

They also forget that some of the heroes of faith in the Bible knew times of great personal darkness. A short list would include, Job, King David, Jeremiah, and the Apostle Paul. In addition, through the Christian centuries, famous disciples like Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon and even our denomination’s founder, A.B. Simpson, struggled with periods of depression.

Spurgeon, generally credited as the best English-speaking preacher of the entire 19^th Century, was even so bold as to write the following:

“There are experiences of the children of God which are full of spiritual darkness; and I am almost persuaded that those of God’s servants who have been most highly favored have, nevertheless, suffered more times of darkness than others.”

Now is all this to say that depression cannot spring from a personal sin issue? No, but to assume such sin is all that is involved in the condition is not only inaccurate, but cruel when universally applied to anyone and everyone who suffers from it.

The other very important thing gleaned from that message is that there are several ways that not only depression, but any emotional malady, can be treated successfully: counseling, medication, and spiritual healing/warfare.

Truly Holy Spirit-led Christian counseling can address deep emotional wounds from our pasts that can lead to a host of struggles later in life. The ability to be completely and safely open with another believer who is professionally trained in psychology, but who only uses that discipline by seeing it through a scriptural lens, cannot be underestimated. Counseling can be very hard work, however over time it can yield tremendous progress in overcoming illnesses of the soul.

God has also blessed modern science with the discovery of medications which can address the physical side of the problem. Using Clinical Depression again as an example, the condition often involves observable changes in brain chemistry. For instance a depressed person often exhibits a lack of a vital chemical involved in emotional well-being, Serotonin. Ongoing treatment with Medications in the Prozac-class of drugs, among others, can help restore Serotonin in the brain to normal, healthy levels.

The vital third approach, which some might justifiably consider ranking first, involves healing prayer and/or deliverance ministry. We are indeed, as Pastor Chris told us, at war, fighting “the powers and principalities” of this still fallen and enemy-occupied world. Some of us, through sustained abuse or our own actions, may have “given the Devil a foothold,” that remains even in our post-conversion experience (continuing in habitual sin as a Christian can open new doors to such footholds as well). For this part of the solution we may need to ask those both gifted in praying against the Enemy of our souls, as well as for healing from damage that Enemy has inflicted upon us, to help us. We are blessed at True Life to have several persons who can intervene on our behalf before the throne of God in this way.

So by both learning to give our emotionally ill brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt, while encouraging they exploring these three approaches to “soul care,” every one of us can lift them up rather than contribute to a continuing problem that can become life-threatening if left unaddressed.

I will end by way of confession. I know all this to be true from very personal experience. I struggled terribly with Clinical Depression and Anxiety Disorder, among other things, during my earlier years in the faith. The grace of God, the love of his children in my life, and the pursuit of all three of the above-mentioned ways of treating my condition has made all the difference in bringing me to a vastly better place in my pilgrimage through this world. In addition those years of struggle left me with an empathy for the emotionally afflicted which God has used greatly since I began to truly heal.

As with all things “for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” he has made even my time of darkness “work for the good” in both helping others and, ultimately, bringing Him glory.