All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others

Spiritual victory followed by depression

In the last six months the Lord has done a lot of major works in my life that I am truly thankful for. The question I wanted to ask is this: Each time God hs brought me through a major Spiritual victory lately , I have gotten depressed. Depression was once something I suffered from before becoming saved but now only after huge victory in growth in the Lord. I know that elijah and samson both went through this but why would this start happening with me in the last six months and is there anyone else who has experienced this??? It is really bugging me why this is happening now!

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Permalink Reply by Grace by the Lake on August 15, 2011 at 5:37pm

I think too that it is different with every individual. I know many who were delivered completely from one stronghold but still have others while the next person was delivered from another stronghold. I also think it is a matter of not understanding the full power and glory of God. We cannot even fathom. I myself am three and a half years into my faith but I am STILL smoking. Do not drink anymore or gamble, have lost my taste for tv and listen now to basically only worship music. Io guess that is why God made us all different and unique! :)

Permalink Reply by Jane Smith on August 16, 2011 at 7:16am

You are on the right road, Nancy. I am happy for you and it will only get better as you grow in the Lord. I will add a few things that will help you to see how this works. First of all, I would counsel everyone that we can not get rid of strongholds in our lives without the power of the Holy Spirit. By that I mean, after one comes to Christ, the next step is to seek the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Sadly, most churches don't teach this, so new believers try to serve the Lord in their own strength, the flesh, and this can never work. They backslide or are up and down in their Christian experience. Once one is baptized in the Spirit, He will have a hunger for the Word, the desire to please God and the power to serve Him with. As one grows in the Word, strongholds will fall away one by one. The truth always negates the lies we have told ourselves. Sometimes God instantly delivers a new believer from a stronghold. Other times, He wants them to grow in the Word to the point that they are strong enough in the Spirit to let go of every last stronghold. He has things for them to see about how they got into the strongholds in the first place. Sometimes the stronghold is from generational sin of their parents or past generations and they had absolutely nothing to do with it, sometimes they just believed a lie somewhere in their life, because they were not saved and didn't know the Word. It can be a number of things, wanting to fit in, following the crowd etc etc. But Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free! God will be with you to deliver you from every last stronghold. He doesn't want us to be entrapped- He wants us free to serve Him and bring others to Christ. The more we give God, the sooner He can work in our lives. It is ok that this is a process in certain areas of our lives. God is a great teacher who wants us to get the lessons right so our deliverance will be permanent. One day you will look at how far God has brought you. You will be amazed that depression, tobacco or anything else ever had any control over you and you will be fulfilled through helping others get set free. The devil can attack all he wants, but you will know, greater is He that is in me than he that is the world, just one of so many promises that you will have in your arsenal to put you over until you complete the race!

Permalink Reply by Mary O on January 26, 2012 at 11:21am

Hi everybody,

Something that I do after I pray for people and situations is to ask God to sever any soul ties that were established. I was taught laying on of hands and praying for others and for situations establishes a connection. It's no wonder scripture says we aren't supposed to lay hands on anyone suddenly. I'm not saying anyone here has done that. This prayer works well for me. Just thanking God to break or sever any soul ties that may have been generated while I was praying and ministering to people. And using the name of Jesus Christ.

Have any of you taken personality tests? I'm a strong sensory person. Like off the charts sensory. Maybe empathy is a better word to describe it. It's the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings (such as sadness or happiness) that are being experienced by another. It's like I have these invisible antennas. I can walk into a room sense what's going on with others how they're feeling. I've kidded about it and said I could touch the doorknob and know the feeling in the room before I walked in. I was trying to communicate, best I can, how strong it can be. And it's great for ministering to people, but there has to be a time when it's finished. Sometimes I have to block it and shut it off to give others privacy. If I'm not careful, I can pick up and experience other person's feelings. It took me a long time to figure it out.

I thought maybe that's what could have happened.

Love and God bless,

Mary

Permalink Reply by Carla on January 27, 2012 at 9:27am

I think it's a 'women' thing. I've always been that way too. ;-)

Holy Spirit discernment is different than just being intuitive (not speaking to Mary's comment above---just generally speaking)

But generally women do tend to be quite intuitive.

Permalink Reply by Mary O on January 27, 2012 at 12:09pm

Thank you Nancy,

It's good to know this happens to other Christians.

When Shari was little, if she got up and moved around during the night, I always knew about it. That's through two closed bedroom doors and three fans on high. My minister said I had unusually strong motherly instincts. It was hard for her to sneak around. That can get frustrating for a little kid. I watch her relate to her two kids, she's doing the same thing. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. :-)

I'm trying to learn to use it to help others to reach out to them for the Lord. Maybe God is trying to tell me to pray for that person? Maybe that's why I can sense so strongly how that person's feeling.

Love,

Mary

Permalink Reply by Carla on January 27, 2012 at 8:21am

I often think of this life of faith in the Lord, and walking with the Lord ...as a roller coaster. It has highs and lows and twists and turns. Victories do seem to be followed by what might seem as a defeat.

It may not be a defeat...but a test designed to help us grow and grow and grow... Our compassion, understanding, trust, faith, and Love will grow most in these times as long as we abide in the Vine.

We are certainly in a spiritual battle. These 'defeats' or knocks that we take to our armour (hold up that shield of faith) will ultimately cause us to grow and make us stronger. They will also help us to be able to encourage others (once we are through it) as they go through them.

God has designed this life of faith to be lived out in relationship.

Your armour may be dented, but you will not fall down, because it is the Lord who upholds you.

Blessings, Carla

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 27, 2012 at 8:24am