3 Things to do to Battle Depression

I needed these verses today.

“Praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness” Psalm 150:1.2.

Sometimes I need help finding the words to adequately praise God.

There are days when I feel the unseen battle waging against me. Maybe it’s too much sugar or clouds—I need the sunshine. Yet my spirit knows it’s something else.

Occasionally I get stuck, and I can’t seem to do the things I need to do.

Clouds shadow my soul as well as the sky above me.

On those days, weeks, or months when I can’t seem to move forward, energy lacking while blessings overflow—these are clues that the antithesis of Good schemes to stop my work for the Kingdom, or at least slow it down. And he wants to steal my joy.

But the devil can only steal what I allow.

Even as I write, a smirk has formed on my face, and I feel the shadows dissolving.

That’s when I know I need to simply worship God.

Worship.

Praise.

Worshiping God is the strongest weapon against the powers of this dark world.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” Ephesians. 5:12.

It’s a battle.

We experience depression, thoughts of hopelessness, and discouragement because there is a war for our joy. We must worship to win the battle.

3 Things to Do to Fight Depression

• Read psalms of praise to help get those worship juices flowing.
• Write the scriptures down helps etch them deeper into our spirits.
• Dig into the ancient words under our English in our translations. This unites our hearts with the writer who inscribed the praise. (The Key Word Bible is my favorite resource for this and blueletterbible.com. You can find the Hebrew or Greek words that were translated.)

Here’s an example:

“Praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness.” Psalm 150:1.

Do you notice anything about the word “lord” in this sentence? Look it up in your Bible too. Are all the letters capitalized? Have you noticed this before?

The word “LORD” has been translated from the Hebrew word Yah.

Yah is a contraction for the word YHWH, the sacred name of God of the self-existent, covenant God.

Rabbi Irwin Kula explains in his book Yearnings: “The name of God is not meant to be uttered. YWHW is not meant to be known. YHWH is meant to be breathed.”

Try to say it. YHWH.

When I try to pronounce it, all that comes out is a deep breath.

David said, “I praise Yah in the sanctuary.” In biblical times the sanctuary of God was found in His dwelling place–the Tabernacle. More precisely in the Holy of Holies.

But today God has made our spirits His dwelling place, His sanctuary.

“Don’t you know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16)

The next time depression threatens your joy, breathe.

Breathe my friends.

Praise Yah who lives in the sacred places of your soul.

He is there.

Andy lee is the author of A Mary Like Me: Flawed Yet Called and The Book of Ruth Key Word Study: A 31 Day Journey to Hope and Promise. She is a blogger, inspirational speaker, and empty-nest survivor. Join hundreds of viewers on her Facebook Live broadcast Monday-Friday for the Bite of Bread, and visit her website at www.wordsbyandylee.com where Andy writes about digging deep to live fully.