The New Bible Cure for Depression & Anxiety (10 page)

Chapter 7: Joy-filled Living With the Word of God

As a physician, I am trained to carefully examine my patients and prescribe any medicines or lifestyle changes that may be necessary. I have found that my
most powerful prescription for healthy living
can’t be found in a bottle or at a pharmacist’s counter. It has one exclusive source, and it is freely available to everyone. I am talking about the Word of God, of course. Joy and peace can come to even the most troubled minds when people discover new ways of looking at life based upon the truth of God’s wonderful Word.

Most depressed people have a very pessimistic attitude and are constantly beating themselves down with their thoughts, words, beliefs, and attitudes. Depressed people are usually in a pessimistic rut of negative thoughts that they cannot break out of on their own. That is why I believe it is absolutely essential for people battling depression to begin rewiring their negative thoughts with the Word of God. These biblical “self-talks” are extremely important in overcoming depression.

You may be asking, “How do I begin?” Begin to read scriptures aloud at least three times a day—before you eat your meals and at bedtime. Whenever a negative thought comes to mind, quote a scripture aloud to break the habit of negative thinking.

Throughout this book, I have inserted selected portions from the Bible as your Bible cure verses for overcoming depression. Before falling asleep at night, repeat or pray these scriptures. Do so again when you awake.

Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.

—Isaiah 51:11

One person I know has written these scriptures on three-by-five cards and put them in his pocket. Each day he pulls out his scripture cards and reads each scripture aloud to fill his mind with hope and joy.

When Spiritual Warfare Is Needed

As I mentioned at the beginning of this book, certain symptoms of mental illness require treatment from a health care professional and simply cannot be addressed in a book like this. Likewise, when it comes to spiritual issues, there are certain spiritual conditions that can cause a person to become depressed or anxious, and they are much too serious for me to address in pages of this book.

The Bible speaks of a spirit of fear and other types of spirit beings that we must defeat through the authority of Christ. Some people can become victim to demonic oppression or possession, and situations like this fall beyond the scope of this book. If you think you may need to deal with this type of situation, I recommend that you seek the help of a qualified pastor or Christian counselor. I also recommend reading
Bondage Breaker
by Neil Anderson and
Dressed for Battle
by Rick Renner. I have also referred many patients over the years to Pastor Philip Fortenberry of Reconciliation Encounters, located at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio. (Please see
Appendix B
for more information.)

Speak Uplifting and Encouraging Words

You may not want to admit it, but you probably talk to yourself from time to time. Don’t worry; it is very normal. In fact, the most important conversations that we have are those we have with ourselves! Unfortunately, people who are depressed tend to have mostly negative conversations with themselves. This makes things even worse because it means their minds are constantly barraged by nagging negative thoughts that beat them down a little lower each day.

I have seen fathers at Little League baseball games constantly criticizing their children, calling them stupid, dumb, pitiful—saying that they can’t do anything right. I have seen the poor children standing in the outfield or slumped over sitting on the bench with dejected, depressed looks on their little faces. Unfortunately, some of these children who have been told that they are losers, that they are dumb, stupid, and can never do anything right, grow up to believe those words. They become depressed, unmotivated, and unsuccessful people.

If a person feeds on negative thoughts throughout the day, every task or every trial that comes his way will be approached from a defeated attitude before he even undertakes it. However, we have the ability, through the Word of God, to
speak
God’s Word throughout the day and rewire these negative thoughts into positive thoughts, which will then bring healing and health to the body and the mind.

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.

—Isaiah 61:1–3

Think Joyful Thoughts

As I mentioned in
chapter 3
, if you intend to overcome depression and anxiety, it is important for you to train your mind to think positive thoughts rather than dwelling on the negative. When a negative thought pops into your mind, it is important to cast down that thought and to speak out the solution, which is the Word of God. That is why memorizing and quoting scriptures is so important. Biblical, positive thoughts lead to winning attitudes.

An attitude is a choice. You can choose to have a negative attitude, or you can choose to have a positive attitude. You can choose to be angry, bitter, resentful, unforgiving, fearful, or ashamed. These negative attitudes eventually affect your health and allow diseases to take root in your body.

Avoid Resentment and Unforgiveness

Resentment and unforgiveness are commonly associated with fibromyalgia and arthritis, whereas fear is commonly associated with cancer. Anxiety is commonly associated with ulcers, and anger is very commonly associated with heart disease. These are deadly emotions. If they are not taken out of us through the Word of God or with the help of a trained professional, they can eventually lead to disease.

When Paul and Silas were placed in prison, they prayed and sang praises (Acts 16:23–25). Paul had a choice. He could have had a negative attitude and become angry, resentful, and bitter. Instead, he chose to rejoice and sing praises. He chose the healthy attitude. He decided to “always be joyful” (1 Thess. 5:16).

When an individual wrongs you, it is very easy to hold bitterness, resentment, anger, and unforgiveness. However, this works against your body and will actually cause disease to set in. It is far better for your body—for both your mental and physical health—to forgive the person and release these deadly emotions before they take root in your mind, emotions, and body.

The Bible says it plainly: “Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Eph. 4:26). This, I believe, is one of the most important keys in preventing these deadly emotions from locking onto our minds, emotions, and bodies and eventually killing us.

Paul decided to forget those things that were behind him and to press forward to the prize of the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. (See Philippians 3:14.) Choose the right attitude as soon as you wake up in the morning. When someone wrongs you, forgive that person immediately. Do not focus on the wrong.

Six-Months-to-Live Test

I like to tell people to take what I call the “six-months-to-live test.” The philosophy is very similar to the Tim McGraw song “Live Like You Were Dying.” I have treated a lot of patients with only six months or less to live. Many of these individuals have given up most of their distortional thought patterns, forgiven people whom they were angry with, and decided to live the remainder of their life in peace.

Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!

—Nehemiah 8:10

I also helped many of these patients forgive, accept, and love themselves. Most of these patients were tired of the world’s treadmill of work, work, work. Instead of human beings, many had become “human doings”; many seemed almost relieved to be able to have an excuse to get off the world’s treadmill.

Many people were able to reframe their thought patterns and to see people, circumstances, and even their disease from a different perspective. They gave up distortional thought patterns, hurts, bitterness, depression, and anxiety, and they forgave themselves and others and accepted and loved themselves and others. Some of them entered into sweet peace and joy, and some are still living years after they were only given six months to live.

The Power of Gratitude

One of the most powerful treatments for both depression and anxiety is simply practicing gratitude; however, first it is critically important that you both identify and start reprogramming these distortional thought patterns as I described in
chapter 3
. If you did not read that chapter, please turn to it now. It is critical to do those two steps. Then you will be ready to practice gratitude, as I am about to describe.

In the past few years, there has been considerable research on living with a mind-set of gratitude. Researchers have found that gratitude helps you create a higher income, create superior work outcomes, experience a longer and better marriage, have more friends, have stronger social supports, have more energy, enjoy better overall physical health, develop a stronger immune system, have better cardiovascular health, lower your stress levels, and enjoy a longer life (up to ten years longer in one study).
1

Research also proves that expressing gratitude makes everyone happier. Most people wrongly believe that happiness comes from what we buy, what we achieve, or where we go on vacation. That is simply not true; true happiness and joy come from within, and gratitude is a great way to gain access to this joy. Grateful people also sleep better, take better care themselves, eat a healthier diet, exercise more regularly, and have less depression and anxiety and more enthusiasm and optimism.

I love this quote from Melody Beattie:

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, and a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
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One of the best examples of gratitude is the story of the ten lepers in Luke chapter 17. During the days of Jesus, the disease of leprosy was worse than AIDS. It usually started with disfiguring sores on the skin before advancing to nerve damage, fingers and toes falling off, and progressive disfigurement. It was also a very painful disease and, because there was no cure at that time, was actually a death sentence.

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.

—Psalm 147:3

Once a person was identified as a leper, he or she was cast out of the city to live in a poor leper colony. A strict law stated that people could not even get within fifty yards of a leper because lepers were considered “unclean.”

It was very rare to be healed of leprosy, but it did happen on rare occasions. To be allowed to leave the leper colony, a person was required to be examined by the priest and declared clean.

In Luke chapter 17 Jesus looked at the ten lepers and said, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” On their way to the priest, they looked down and saw that their skin blotches were entirely gone and their leprosy was healed.

One of the lepers, a Samaritan, said, “Wait, I want to go back and thank Jesus.” The other nine lepers were Jewish, but this one Samaritan leper (Samaritans were typically despised and treated as second-class citizens by most Jews) returned and threw himself down at Jesus’s feet and thanked Him. Jesus then told the one leper to arise and go his way and that his faith had made him whole. Realize that
whole
means, according to Bible scholars, that missing body parts were restored. Why did Jesus do this? Because of the man’s gratitude.

As in the case of the lepers, I believe that only about 10 percent (or less) of Christians practice gratitude on a regular basis. Therefore, there are just as many Christians suffering from depression and anxiety as the rest of the world. Think that over: 90 percent of Christians never stop and thank God for all their blessings

It’s time to stop complaining about what you do not have and start thanking God for what you do have. I often recommend that my patients make a gratitude journal. It can be a fancy journal you purchase from the store or a simple three-ring binder or spiral notebook.

In this journal you will want to write something you are thankful for each and every day. Be sure to include various body parts and functions, such as your vision; hearing; the ability to taste, smell, and touch; the ability to walk and to use fingers, arms, legs, toes, back, and neck. Be grateful for every aspect of your health.