PSALM 42

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
    so pants my soul for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?[b]
3 My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
    and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
    a multitude keeping festival.

5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation[c] 6 and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore, I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep
    at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
    have gone over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God, my rock:
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
    because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
    “Where is your God?”

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
    my salvation and my God.

WHY ARE YOU CAST DOWN?

 

I suffer from depression.. does that shock you, the biggest unseen killer in the world, there are millions who suffer silently from this, millions have suicidal thought every day, just like me, yes, I have thoughts about taking me own life, they flit in and out of my head sometimes, sometimes they stay for a few seconds, sometimes for longer.

So, I am writing this, for one reason, not to tell you about my depression, but about the one who despite it all, gives people victory over this terrible pain and agony, I want you tell you about my God. The God of David in Psalm 42 is MY GOD. He is the only one who can heal the scars of depression.

What are my scars, well my childhood was characterised by bullying (school) and neglect (my parent’s job), thanks to God he saved at age 16, but pain continued. Let me tell you everything was not others fault, my parents were great, they were just busy, my dad died at age 20. I did not help myself, I caused some of my own problems, in my 30-40’s, I had prolonged periods of being unemployed, and this led to me being on Cipramil 15mg tablets and being virtually addicted to them for the best part of 15 years.

I haven’t touched them in seventeen years and marriage to Helen has helped me beyond words, her love and understanding have supported me. I can’t say that my depression has completely gone, I have and continue to have days that are beyond awful, days where my anger flares and where memories of my past completely torment me.

Like many people in the bible, especially Elijah, as in Chapter 19 of 1 Kings, he was found depressed sitting under a juniper tree, he was touched by the Lord. All people who suffer from depression needing a touch from the Lord, to all of you who suffer from depression, it is only God who can touch you. It will not be a one-off touch, it will be a continual touch, fighting depression is a daily battle. So how can we overcome it.

By remembering that God is greater than depression, in 1 John it says greater is he than he that is in the world. God’s power and God’s faithfulness are two of God’s attributes to especially hold onto during times of depression. Remember that God has brought you through it before and he will do it again.

Remember, what Jesus has done for you on the cross, he has saved you and is transforming you. He has justified you, read and make personal such verses as Romans 8:35-39. Make every promise of God personal to you.

Ask God to fill you with his Holy spirit every day Ephesians 5:18, manage your time correctly Ephesians 5:16 and put on your spiritual armour Ephesians 6:10-18.

Saturate yourself with the word of God, renew your mind with God’s word.

Psalm 119 and Romans 12:1-2.

Listen to the word of God on your phone, computer etc. Listen also to good and edifying praise music. Colossians 3 and Ephesians 5

Find a good bible believing church that has people who understand and also preach the whole counsel of God

Draw near to God…come to God and share your heart with him, tell him all your heart, what is bothering you.  Then leave it with Him.. Cast all your care on him for he careth for you 1 Peter 5:7

Fill your mind with good things Philippians 4:8-9, remember God’s mercies and grace Lamentations 3 and psalm 103.

Forget or try to forget your past, remember your past has been forgiven by God. Psalms 32, 103 and Philippians 3

All the above are helpful, but here is the one thing that will help you above all others,

SEEK THIRST, PANT, DESIRE and RUN AFTER GOD HIMSELF

Finally, in verses 1 and 2, we have the antidote to spiritual depression and that is to seek and thirst after God himself

You cannot and will not suffer from depression if your soul is focused on seeking after and thirsty for the living God, because in him is found fullness of joy.

HOW DESPERATE ARE WE FOR GOD?

Are you as desperate as David was?

In him, lies every blessing we have read Ephesians 1:3-14. Read and saturate your life with the scriptures, but come to well like in Isaiah 55:1-2 and buy without money and without price.

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Your depression will be powerless, under the power and authority of the living God, seek him, thirst after him and then you will be free.

Remember that depression is not of God, we allow depression to come into our lives, to be depressed is not of God, it is of your flesh, because it puts the focus on you and not God.

I pray what I have shared will help you as we walk together in God’s grace.

I often sit under the juniper tree, if you do, ask God to touch you, focus and seek after him.

God bless you

Keith

1 Thessalonians 4

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:[b] that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body[c] in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 

THE SECRET THAT NOBODY SHARES

This is probably the hardest devotion, I have ever written, it is brutally honest. I pull no punches with myself and share openly with you.

Paul is writing to a young church, a church that is surrounded by sexual promiscuity and perversion. Sound familiar, we think we are bombarded by it today, but there were literally hundreds of temple prostitutes, sex was readily available and on show in this place.

Young men in those times could have their choice of the slaves in the household, sex was the norm in these places. It paraded itself on every street corner, it was brazen, it did not hide itself.

The words Paul speaks to the church here,  apply directly to us, things haven’t changed, nowadays we have perversion all over the net.

Purity was God’s call to the church and it is his call to us today, we are called not to live like the world, but many believers, especially men are trapped in sexual impurity, fornication, pornography and other deviant behaviour.

In the epistles that Paul writes, most of the churches are set in places where pagan worship was the norm and where terrible sexual practices were rampant. The worship of temple prostitutes was rampant, young believers were exposed to all kinds of perversion. If you were a young man in these places and a Christian, you could have the pick of the servants to be your sexual pleasure, but like Joseph, you have to get out and run from these evil practices. Genesis 39 and Proverbs 7

Here is my confession, I too was in bondage to sexual impurity, even though I was going to church and being a good church member, I was trapped in bondage to a particular sin, it wasn’t porn by the way, if you wish to contact me, I will tell you

I grew up in a home, where sex was not talked about, when I asked about it, I was directed to a book, not the bible. I had no girlfriend till I was over 40 and this made me feel sexual inadequate. Everyone around me is getting married, what is wrong with me?

Things went from bad to worse, a failed marriage didn’t help, this thing was silently killing me, these things that I am sharing are silent killers to our Christian walk and witness.

If you have suffered from any kind of sexual deviance, there is hope for you and it starts with you coming to the foot of the cross, not once, but daily. Are you going to fail?, probably, it is about a daily dying to self.

How did I overcome this terrible sin:

To overcome this, we must come clean with the Lord, we must be like David in Psalms 32 and 51. We must openly confess our sin, before Him.

First of all, we need to acknowledge that these things, all sexual deviances are wrong in His sight. It is a sin against our body.. oh yes,  we are abusing our body, but it is a sin against God and him alone, against you and you only have I sinned Psalm 51.

If you are involved in viewing porn, you need to burn all your porn material and wipe the drive of your computer clean, if married, then be honest, with your spouse, repent in front of them.

Secondly, we need to realise that there is mercy and forgiveness available for us, oh yeah there will be consequences because of your sin, but we need to be also reproved of our sin. Hiding these things only leads to more moral failure. If you need an accountability partner, then get one or even join a group. Talk it through with Godly men in your church and your pastor.

If you are a pastor, involved in such things as watching porn, you should examine yourself and ask, should I be in ministry?

I heard a sermon, which stated that 30% of all pastors are viewing porn at least once per month, 10% of women view porn once per month. The pulpit is infected with this, if you as members of  a church know your pastor is committing this sinful lifestyle, he must be lovingly confronted.

Thirdly, God calls us to holiness, he calls us to a life of purity, the words to the Thessalonian church are still relevant today. Don’t you think that this church, had problems with sexual sin?.  Paul spent time there, he knew the city, he knew the circumstances. But in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, we are to live as light and salt, and not to follow the world. 1 John 2:15-17

The devil constantly will seek to remind you of past sins, remember, once confessed and repented of, that sin is remembered no more, it is as far as the east is from the west, the devil has no right to remind you, he is a liar and what he tells you is false. Psalm 103

Do you know of people involved in this, you need to lovingly confront them, if they are true believers, then hopefully they will respond, if not go with others who will confront them and then if no response, expulsion from the church, may be necessary, as with the man in the Corinthian church.

Six years ago I went to a men’s conference, all these things were exposed and shared openly by men who were broken by the power of God’s word. One brother, who I thought I knew well, confessed in our small group, that he had been trapped for many years in these things, he then shared it with his girlfriend, now his wife and they are now very happily married, she was shaken by his confession, but choose to stand by him and love him.

We must be prepared to let the light of God’s word shine into our hearts, we must let his word constantly challenge us, especially in our secretive thought life Hebrews 4. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus says that looking with lust is wrong, even to look, the standards of the bible and God are sky high. Matthew 5:27-30.

You may be in bondage to these things and yet you say, I can’t let go of them, Desperate times call for desperate measures, look at what Jesus says in Matthew 5:29-30, not to literally cut off your hand, but if you are watching porn channels, then remove them from your computer/phone, cut the other woman out, if you have engaging in illegal sexual relations, this also means to young people, sexual relations before marriage is not acceptable. Purity is the key to blessing.

If your girlfriend/boyfriend wants to indulge in sexual relations, before marriage, you need to ditch him/her.

Remember that Jesus went through all these temptations and has defeated them, he has overcome all these things, you have the victory believer. Hebrews 2

There are many people trapped in bondage to a variety of sexual sin, is it easy to get out of, the short answer is No. Do I fall to the sin that once trapped me, sadly I have yes, but there is freedom and victory, it comes at a cost, but it is worth it.

There was victory for the Thessalonian church, look at what is said of these believers in Chapter 1 of this epistle, they were an example to the rest of the churches.

Let me say that thank God, I have never viewed porn, but many others have, let me tell you, there is victory.

In Revelation 2:18-29, we have the church in Thyatira, a church deeply involved in sexual sin, a church polluted by sexual sin. To this church, Jesus tells it that he sees everything, he has eyes like a flame of fire. God sees everything.

Remember the next time you click on that pornographic image,  sleep around or get involved in something that is sexually immoral, that you are being watched by the one, who has the eyes of flaming fire.

If you are a believer, you need to stop and respond to God’s call for purity, there is no excuse, there is victory, but it does come at a cost, you may have to smash your computer hard drive, burn your books like the Ephesians did or even lose friends.

You need to clean house and this starts with open confession before God and then men and you need to put something, in its place. As I said above, that is God himself, only when he meets you can you find true release.

Feast your eyes on God and him alone, spend time with him, like I said in the first study on depression, it is only, we fall in love with Him, can we fall out of love with these disgusting and evil sexual practices, that being hurt to the heart of God, but praise his name, he does forgive and he does completely heal and restore.

I hope and pray that you are released from the secret that nobody shares and find your freedom in Christ.

God bless you

Keith