Lately I have been struggling a great deal with my own insecurities: not feeling like I am a good dad, not feeling like I am taking care of my wife, and just generally feeling overwhelmed by stressors in my life.  Sometimes I would say I might even be a little depressed. I tell myself that I’m a counselor.  I know how to beat this. I examine my thoughts, I modify any that are negative, I come up with a plan to change unhealthy behavior, and I move on with my day. Unfortunately, I still feel the same.

Off and on for a month I continued to do this. Finally, I gave up and just allowed these feelings to overwhelm me. More stressors in my life kept coming. My family still needed me, but for the most part, I was just watching life pass by.  I’m not trying to whine about how hard life is for me, because it is not.  In fact, when I stop and look around me, I can easily see how God has taken care of me; however, I think that many of us get stuck in these same patterns of depression.  I would even go as far as to say that often times this depression is triggered by Satan bringing negative thoughts into our minds.

In Ephesians 6:12 it says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  So how do I move through these situations?  Believe and Confess

Believe
The first thing that I do is separate out what I feel from what I know to be true. Most of the time, and especially when you are depressed or anxious, your feelings are not grounded in truth or how things really are. Our feelings are almost always driven by the mood we are in. If I am depressed, I will have depressed feelings.  I might feel like I am worthless or not measuring up to my standards.  But what is really true?

The only place that I know where to find truth is in the Scriptures. I might feel that I am worthless, but God says that I am loved.  We compare our thoughts and feelings to Scripture and then try to bring them into alignment with what God tells us. We must know what Scripture tells us. Knowing what God tells us though isn’t enough.  We must believe it.  Lately Dad has been telling me a lot that knowing Scripture isn’t the same as believing it. Knowing Scripture means that we can recite the words. Believing the Word of God means that we act on it and that this belief changes us.

So first we must compare our thoughts and beliefs to Scripture to see if they are true, but then we have to believe and act on what we know to be true. So for example, I can’t believe that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and then act like the lowest form of life on earth. If I truly believe, I must and will act on that belief. Therefore, beliefs based on God’s Word leads to peace and no other beliefs will.

Confess
Here is my proposal. There is power in the Word of God and the name of Jesus. I don’t mean like the ideas of Christianity can change your life. I mean the actual spoken word can change things in your life.  In Romans 10:9-10 it says, “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  So even in salvation, we are required to verbally speak our beliefs. This can be quite difficult for me.

I am a very internal thinker. Speaking personal thoughts out loud is very difficult for me.  Through some encouragement and help, I have found that speaking what I know to be true has helped me to believe it more and be less stressed. When I am down, I may feel that there is no hope, but I can speak His truth out loud, “with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

There is power in speaking His truth to those around you. Not only does it change your perspective, but it will also help those around you.  Sometimes, even when I speak His truth out loud, the negative feelings of anger, jealousy, and low self-worth keep coming back.  As I said earlier, I think sometimes this is Satan attacking us or tempting us much as he did with Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11).

The best thing that I have found that works for this is to rebuke him in the name of Jesus. Simply say and believe, “In the name of Jesus, I rebuke you Satan and the thoughts that you keep bringing up in me.”  I have very little power to resist the evil in the world, but it must respect the power of Jesus. In Ephesians 6:12 it says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  The weapons we use in this fight is the Word of Jesus and Him being right beside us.

So in conclusion, next time you are struggling, go back to the source of our peace. Believe in the Word of God, confess His truths, and you will be saved. Have a great week.

— Written by Jeremiah

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