Elijah gathered all Israel together for a showdown on Mount Carmel.
It was a high day for the God of heaven, a good day for Elijah, and a new day for Israel. All that Elijah had worked for over the last three years was coming together…and it was raining too. Hopes were high. The future looked good.
A couple days later Elijah received a message from the King’s wife. She had evidently refused to go to Mount Carmel, and she heard what happened there from her husband, later. She wasn’t happy with revival in Israel, and she had taken a vow that she would kill Elijah within 24-hours. When Elijah got the message he took his servant and left town—south towards Beersheba. There, he left his servant and went into the wilderness about 25 miles and sat down alone under a juniper tree, a touching picture. “Take my life Lord, I am no better than my fathers.” He was deeply depressed. Like so often happens in my life & yours we expect certain things and when things don’t work out the way we think they should, we often feel bad inside. Elijah was hoping that the King, after having seen all that the Lord had done, would turn to God and be a Godly leader. And it looked like Jezebel was going to continue being a bigger influence in the King’s life then God was. Elijah was deeply depressed. He felt all alone and hopeless.
Picture the prayers of Elijah on Mount Carmel rising into the great heavenly sanctuary, and God breathing them in. Picture the fire flashing from heaven and lighting up the mountain that evening.
Then picture a lone juniper tree in the barren wilderness with a man sitting under it, head bowed with despair. “Lord, let me die, I am no better than my fathers.”
What happened?
Many people struggle with negative thoughts. As a result of those negative thoughts, they attack others out of the pain inside—because if you feel worthless inside, you are going to respond to another person out of that pain inside your heart.
I knew a lady several years ago. She was depressed at 99%, was hostile, turning anger in at 99%, and felt rejection at 99% as well. Not a good combination.
Her Story
My husband loved and accepted me but I didn’t accept myself. I always said I didn’t need any criticism for I was my own worst critic. I was always so hard on myself and others. We had three children and they suffered as well as my husband. I desired so much to be the model mother, and be a loving and gentle person, but instead I was harsh and angry. I was unable to be the compassionate woman I desired to be. I couldn’t understand why I would get so angry. I cannot count the times I prayed and asked God to take my anger. I would at times do better, but then the anger would return and I’d be miserable. My family and my husband worked so hard to keep me happy. Doing things for me, buying me things, but that only worked for a short moment and everything would go back. This went on for sixteen years.
One day I decided I had had enough. I faced my problems and allowed the Spirit of God to heal me through forgiveness. I had taken some tests to show my strengths & weaknesses. It was pointed out to me that the root of my problem was unresolved bitterness towards my father and all the negative thoughts that were inside. I went through a prayer of forgiveness from the heart for all of the painful memories that I had in my past. Wow! I felt so incredibly free and clean inside. Not bound up or depressed anymore. I’d never before experienced what I felt when that week was over. I was alive, I was loved, the birds were singing. I was in love with living. The most incredible thing was that for the first time in 39-years I knew my heavenly Father loved me, and I felt emotionally His love. Satan had almost destroyed me, my children, and my marriage. To love others and experience peace in my heart is so incredible. Since that day, I’ve worked through other areas which I’d kept repressed. Some with the Lord alone, and some with my husband. I am so very thankful to be free to live.
I share this story with you because I want you to see how there are specific unresolved problems that are deep within the heart of an individual, and those problems prevent a person from responding the way God intends.
Proverbs 23:7 “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
Whatever goes on inside your heart is the way you’re going to respond. If in your heart, you feel rejection, you’re going to respond out of the pain of those feelings inside. If your rejection causes you to turn anger in, you’re going to respond in anger. In the story above we had a person who felt intense rejection from people that loved them the most. Because of the rejection, they turned anger in. And when they responded, they responded with anger and attacked others. This can also lead to bitterness which we hope to address in another article.
It’s a wonderful thing to know that God knows every one of your thoughts inside. You & I often believe that what we feel inside is only known by us, but God knows every one of our thoughts.
Some Negative Thoughts
I’m worthless
I’m ugly
This is all my fault
They’d all be better off without me
No one loves me
I don’t know why God gave me my kids, I can’t ever do anything right anyway
I’m a miserable mother or father
And on and on… One lady wrote down 47 negative thoughts that she was believing about herself
The woman above had been raised in a Christian home. She had gone to church all of her life. And she never knew how to resolve the negative thoughts inside, or all of the lies that Satan placed inside her heart.
Where do those lies come from? What causes a person to experience that kind of pain?
That kind of pain may come from generational problems, our parents may have negative thoughts, and we inherit those tendencies. When we turn anger inward it leads to depression, and it took me a good while to understand that cycle. We need the Holy spirit to unlock our hearts.
What Influences Our Thoughts?
There are five ways negative thoughts gather in a person’s life.
By our own sinful desires Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Our heart is sinful, and many times the Enemy will take our own sinful desires, our own problems in our heart and create negative thoughts and lies that Satan places in our heart.
By circumstances in our lives There are things that you & I experience and we have no control over them. Most people don’t choose to be rejected, although we sometimes make choices that lead to it. The enemy places lies in our hearts on top of rejection and makes us feel worthless. It’s all your fault. Or “It’s all God’s fault that you’ve experienced all this, because surely God would want you to be a happy person and surely God would want you to be loved by your parents.” As a result of that, these problems start to build and a person can’t stop the cycle of negative thoughts, and the enemy keeps adding one thought on top of another, until all of a sudden the person spends fourteen hours a day emotionally locked in their pain and they can’t get out of that cycle. And they go to a medical Doctor, the doctor puts them on a medication to basically mask the problem and nothing gets resolved. Let me say this to you in all kindness. God can orchestrate every circumstance of your life for good, because He has a special purpose and design for your life. Even negative things can be turned by God into positive ones. Two examples come to mind; Joni Erickson Tada, and my father, both beautiful examples of how God can turn bad circumstances into good opportunities.
There is a problem in our churches that we’re not addressing. And that’s the problem of people feeling rejection and unloved. Most of you belong to a church. Next time you’re in church, I encourage you to look around and watch how many depressed people are sitting in there. Wives who can’t smile. Men who can’t smile. They’re carrying loads & burdens they can’t unload. If you’re a lady, just go to a wife like that, put your arm on her shoulder and say “I just want you to know that I care, and I want to help you.” Love covers a multitude of sins. Reach out to people. You say “I don’t know how to help people, Gerry.” I don’t either. I just know that when we ask God for wisdom He gives it, and when we are free inside, we are free to care about other people. Ask God to show you how to love people, and to take them from pain to freedom. When you love people, you will resolve 50% of their pain. And if you say “I don’t know how, but I’ll walk with you to help you resolve these negative thoughts inside” all of a sudden they’ll say “You mean you really care about me?” That’s what God wants you & I to do.
By others…. Other people’s statements, other people’s rejection, the things that other people do to us affect how we respond. If your father or mother or siblings called you stupid, idiot, dumb, you’ll never amount to anything.. that will affect your heart. You will feel like an idiot, stupid and worthless for the rest of your life—until you break that negative thought inside. If your parents compared you to a brother or sister, and made you feel inadequate, and you didn’t measure up, for the rest of your life you will feel that don’t measure up. Many times a person will experience the pain another person has caused them, and they can’t respond the way God intends.
Generational problems. If you had a parent that’s depressed, and felt rejection—and people have told me this before—for instance, that their mother constantly said “I’m no good, I’m a worthless mom, I can’t do anything right.” Or a parent who kept putting their spouse down in the home and calling them stupid and rejecting the spouse. All of those things create these negative thoughts of rejection inside. But there’s final way…
The enemy Satan can put thoughts in your mind. The Bible says that the enemy,
Can blind your minds (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Deceive us, so that we can believe something that’s not true (2 Corinthians 11:3).
Puts wrong thoughts in your mind. He does this with the intent that you think they’re your thoughts, and you act on them as if they were part of your life (2 Corinthians 2:10-11).
Questions to Ask Yourself
Have I been taking every thought captive in obedience to Christ? (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Is this God’s thought, or the enemy’s thought? (Philippians 2:5).
The lady who wrote down 47-negative thoughts— not one of those was God’s thoughts, all of them were the enemy’s thoughts (lies) John 8:44.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say a person is worthless. Just the opposite. It says that each one of you is created special and that God has a purpose for you. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works ((Ephesians 2:10). Over and over again the Bible talks about the worth of people. “You are bought with a price” the Bible says (1 Corinthians 6:20). That tells me that each one of you is worth as much as the Lord Jesus Christ.
That which you buy is equal to the price you pay.
Our culture has destroyed the value of life. Because we have rejected the Creator, we have huge problems with lies that people are believing. They are not true, and they’re leading people to make decisions that are destroying themselves, such as abortion, gender confusion, moral failure, political bitterness and substance abuse.
What Are The Consequences if Depression is Not Resolved?
Desire to be alone… (1 Kings 19:3-4)
Sense of being rejected….(1 Kings 19:10,14).
Feelings of worthlessness (1 Kings 19:4, 10).
Anger… (no one is born angry. Anger, like depression, is a secondary emotion. It never exists by itself—it always has a root cause, a cause that must be taken to Jesus for repentance or healing. (Genesis 4:5-6).
You will stop fulfilling responsibilities (1 Kings 19:4).
Desire to escape…you just want to run, to get away.
A sense of being alienated from others (Psalm 51:12; 77:7-9).
A loss of Joy. If your Christian life doesn’t bring you joy, where is the Holy Spirit? Is He indwelling in you, or is He an external presence only—reserved for the unconverted? (Genesis 4:6; Psalms 38:6; Proverbs 17:22; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16).
Complaining…(Numbers 11:14; Psalm 38:4; 77:3).
Desire for God to end one’s life… (I Kings 19:4; John 4:3).
What are the causes of depression?
Unresolved bitterness. I talked to a man recently…he’d been in the military in the 1960’s and spent a year overseas (with his gun) in a rice paddy. And when he came home, he was met by fierce rejection from outspoken people who disagreed with the war. This man related to me the intense pain that he felt inside. He struggled with bitterness.
Feelings of rejection/loneliness
Lack of purpose/fulfillment
Excessive stress
Self pity (James 3:14).
Disobedience to the revealed will of God
Guilt caused by sin
Expectations that are too high. Pride causes this.
Fear of the future. It is peace that you need [STC 49.2).
Two modern problems
Poor eating habits. Some people believe there’s very little or no connection between physical & spiritual things. I hope to convince you otherwise. Have you ever been in church with a splitting headache? How much did you get out of the sermon?
Israel in the wilderness had the best food available. The only epidemic ever recorded in the history of Israel’s wilderness wanderings came when they demanded their own diet instead of God’s (Numbers 11).
2. Stress !!!!!!!! You put enough stress on anyone, and you will push them over the edge. The solution to stress is taking some things off your plate and connect with peace from God.
God took a lonely man sitting under a juniper tree and gave him something to eat, and encouraged him. Not only did Elijah know that God was with him, he learned that there were thousands of faithful believers ‘out there’. He was not alone. And you aren’t either. God is with you, if you will accept Him in your heart. And He will give you a purpose, a family and a glorious hope for the future (Jeremiah 29:11).
Confession. I was asked to speak on this topic back in 2004 at a marriage seminar. When I was preparing it, I discovered that I couldn’t focus on it. I tried three times over a period of a couple days and nothing…
I asked God what was wrong with me, that I couldn’t seem to prepare a message on negative thoughts. He convicted me that it was because I had negative thoughts of my own, and I could not help others to freedom from something I was in bondage to myself. I stopped what I was doing and entered into prayer with the Lord for a couple hours, and asked Him to help me resolve my negative thoughts. He did. He replaced them with truths from the Bible.
Later that day I tried to write and the words flowed freely, like a dam had been removed.
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
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“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).