Overcoming Depression Through Prayer And Worship

Sunday, October 18th, 2020

I encourage you to marinate your heart, marinate your mind in the Word of God to renew it daily...
Jamie Lyn Wallnau

TRANSCRIPTION

Hi, my name is Jamie Lyn Wallnau, and I am the host of a podcast called Set Apart.  Welcome to God Today. I want to discuss a topic with you that is not commonly discussed in the body of Christ. It is the word: depression. I don’t if this has affected you as a believer, or if it is affecting somebody close to you. I battled depression for 10 years. It was like the secret only my mom knew about, I was medicated off and on for it and I knew deep, down in my heart that it wasn’t from the Lord. 

 

I didn’t have that miraculous, in a moment, I was delivered from depression.  It was a journey that I took with God to understand why I was battling this and how I could overcome it with Him. The thing that really brought me freedom is knowing that Jamie Lyn, herself, I could not overcome it on my own. I was not made to. God created us to lean into Him and to walk closely with Him – in everything we are going through. He is not afraid of what you are going through. He loves you, He sees you, and He wants you to know how loved you are and how amazing you are. He wants the one that you are walking through this with, that may be battling depression, to know how loved they are.  You may be the solution to help them see how amazing they are.

 

During this time of depression, I remember it was this last time, in my mid-20s, and I was like, “God, I know this isn’t from you.” I couldn’t remember what joy felt like and I was really struggling to understand how – I am one of the most joyful people I have ever met too. So this was really hard for me to understand why I couldn’t remember what joy felt like. I told our staff at my church, they prayed for me, which opened the door of hope for me because I confessed that I was struggling with depression.

 

Then I went to a ministry call at the end of church that following Sunday because I did not want to carry this anymore.  I was desperate for freedom.  I am sharing this with you because this is Jamie Lyn’s process and your process could be any moment, right now today.  I go to a ministry call, a mom comes up and she encourages me to listen to Dr. Caroline Leaf who is a spirit-filled neurologist who talks about the power of our thoughts and our brain and what depression is. I began to listen to her teachings and listen to worship. Those are the two things I did. I listened to Dr. Caroline Leaf and I listened to worship over and over again. 

 

Finally, I ended up at a Bible study and I felt this thing come up in me and I just did not want to be in my body anymore. I felt dark, I didn’t know what was happening, but what was about to happen was me being completely delivered from depression. I had fathers gather around me, they looked at me and said, you know you are going to leave here without this. I knew. I knew in my heart, “I am about to be set free.” And because I believed when they prayed, I was completely set free from this darkness. 

 

And what I have learned is that one negative thought can spiral into thousands of negative thoughts. When we open the door to something that heavy and that dark. For me, depression was about me. That was really hard. I am not telling you to tell your friends to stop making this about you. We need compassion and we need love. But I am encouraging you – whether you are battling these negative thoughts. God has good things to say about you. He has amazing things to say about you. Anything else is not Him. I want to encourage you to lay every single one of these thoughts before the Lord and ask Him what He says. I want to encourage you to marinate your heart, marinate your mind in the Word of God to renew it daily, to listen to worship, to not watch things that are dark, to not watch things that are negative.

 

I would love to pray for you because I believe this could be your moment, I believe this could be your day. And that anything, you would be encouraged to read the Word, listen to worship, and believe and know. Get yourself into a place of believing and knowing that He is good and He is going to set you free.

 

Lord, I thank you for my brothers and sisters. And I thank you for those they are walking close with that may be battling the spirit of depression. We ask God, for you to come and reveal your truth.  Let them feel your love and peace that surpasses all understanding.  I decree and declare that depression will leave in the name of Jesus.  And that these men and women will know who they are in you and they will know how to set others free from this spirit as well.  In the name of Jesus. Thank you guys so much.  I hope you have an amazing day. My name is Jamie Lyn Wallnau and this is God Today.