Tag: slave to sin

BY Pastor Andrew Farland

In the Bible, God tells us to cast all of our anxiety on Him, that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, and He reminds us that He works all things out for the good of those who love Him.

These promises are beautiful and trustworthy.

But, the problem is that our minds can become a barrier, a wall that prevents us from experiencing the life of peace that only God can give. What I’m trying to say is that as much as we want to give God all of our worries, it’s not going to happen when we are in the middle of a season of depression and experiencing frequent panic attacks. And listen: that’s okay!

Scientists have known for decades that men and women who are depressed ruminate more on their thoughts and emotions, and dream more at night, than people who aren’t going through depression.

The truth is that panic attacks are a normal part of depression and anxiety. They are the result of your brain telling your body that it’s in danger, that your life is being threatened. It instigates your natural fight-or-flight response sending an incredible amount of adrenaline through your body. And even though you aren’t actually in a life-threatening situation, it sure does feel like it. Doesn’t it? Your heart rate skyrockets, it gets more difficult to breathe, and you feel suddenly out of control.

What I want you to hear today is that panic attacks are normal. They are just shots of adrenaline, sent by an over-reactive brain, that aren’t going to last forever. Your body doesn’t have an endless supply of anything. So, as you work toward navigating panic attacks, the first thing to keep in mind is that your attacks, and this season that you’re in, are going to stop one day.

I didn’t believe it when I was having dozens of panic attacks per day. But, now that I’m on the other side, you can trust me when I say that things will get better.

Isaiah 40:29
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.

By Pastor Andrew Farland

The President of the United States typically has fifteen cabinet members, people who lead important executive departments of the government. One person is in charge of housing development across the country while another might be tasked with caring for military veterans. The cabinet is intended to be a place where the President can gather information and piece together a picture of reality based on fifteen different perspectives. If the President listened to the leader of the country’s infrastructure more than the head of the energy department, he would come away with a skewed understanding of what’s going on.

Here’s my point. Your emotions are part of a cabinet of voices that paint reality on the canvas of your mind. The problem is, when you’re in a depression, you tend to allow one member of your cabinet to be the loudest and most influential in your decision-making. When I was going through a difficult season of depression, my emotions affected everything I did, believed, and kept me from healing for a long time.

It was when I realized that two other voices deserved the same amount of attention that I began to see a clear picture of who I was and where I needed to go.

Other people. What is true about you based on people’s perspectives? Even though you will filter their words through negativity, try to believe your friends’ encouragement. They are speaking the truth about you and you will need to lean on their words if you’re ever going to get better.
Your past. What is true about you based on past experiences? It is difficult to look back and remember the type of person you were before you got sick. I struggled with the same issue. But, force yourself to remember what interested you, what made you smile, what you were passionate about. You have not changed. The gifts, talents, and heart that God placed in you have not disappeared. Believe this.

Today, begin to put less stock in your emotions. Why? Because they will lie to you and keep you from healing. Just like the President, gather information from different places so that you can begin to clean up the metaphorical bacteria that has been growing in your mind that keeps you from believing how amazing you really are.

1 John 3:20
“God is greater than our feelings and he knows everything.”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.

By Pastor Andrew Farland

Yesterday, we talked about the power of our thoughts and their ability to take us forward or shackle us to the past and, in some cases, move us far away from recovery. Today, we are going to have an extremely practical conversation about how we can transform our negativity into thoughts that are productive and help move us closer to victory over depression.

I am going to teach you a technique for reframing a negative thought.

It’s going to take some extra time. So, if you are headed into a meeting or you’re about to fall asleep, it might be helpful for you to work through this exercise at another time. Grab a scrap piece of paper and a pen. Or use your smartphone or tablet. Spend at least five minutes on each of the following questions and write down your answers.

What is an unhelpful thought that you’ve had today or in the past week?
How does that thought make you feel? Rate that feeling on a scale of 1 to 100.
What is true of that thought? What facts show evidence that it is real?
What is false about that thought? What facts show evidence that it isn’t true?

After you take the time to work through these questions, write down an exact description of how you feel now, how you would describe your thoughts and emotions. What is the new truth that you can tell yourself?

When I was going through depression one of my negative thoughts was, “this is never going to get better. I am going to be like this forever.” When I did the reframing exercise that you just did, I was able to tell myself something that was truthful: “It feels like this is going to last forever, but it’s not. I did not experience this until I was 30 years old and it’s likely that I’ll get to live a lot of years without the feelings that I have right now.”

Finish by writing down whatever new truth came to mind. Say it out loud to yourself. Then, do this exercise again next week. Keep putting in the work and you’ll be surprised by how much God blesses your efforts.

(Proverbs 16:3
“Trust your work to the Lord, and your plans will work out well.”

By Pastor Andrew Farland

Scientists say that people have over 60,000 thoughts a day, the majority of which are negative. How’s that for an uplifting intro to today’s devotion?!

The reality is, though, that when you’re depressed, your thoughts are even more negative than usual. The types of things that used to annoy you are now annoying at an even higher level. And somehow, you’ve found new people to be cynical toward and new foods to hate.

This is important to talk about because thoughts have the power to affect us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Because of their capacity to influence our overall health, I want us to comprehend the impact that our thoughts can have on our recovery. Don’t get me wrong. The goal is not to prevent all negative thinking because that would be impossible. The objective should be to begin acknowledging our unhealthy and unhelpful thoughts so that we can manage them in our daily lives.

Author and speaker, Zig Ziglar, famously said, “your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude.” In other words, how you think determines your success.

Ziglar could say this because he overcame challenges with a positive attitude from the very start. When he was 9 days old, he stopped breathing. His mother whispered in his ear until he was revived in her arms. As a teenager, one of a dozen kids, Ziglar sold vegetables and milk to help support his family. Giving up his dreams of being a Navy pilot, he stuck with sales and continued to overcome poverty until, one day, he could look back on a life of success in which he saw millions of lives impacted by his message of positivity. He didn’t let his circumstances influence his thoughts. In turn, he didn’t allow his thoughts to influence his circumstance.

Your thoughts have the power to move you closer to or further away from health. Tomorrow, I will share with you the essential, practical steps for transforming your thinking. We’ll do some hard work together. But, today, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed, spend time focusing on these words of Jesus from John 16:33. Remind yourself that you are an overcomer because He is in your life.

John 16:33
“In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Be encouraged today because God is with you.