How To Deal With Depression by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The job of a pastor: bind up the broken

Ezekiel 34:1-4

Are you seeing the job of a pastor? There is a power dimension to it. One of the jobs of a pastor is to bind up the broken

In Lagos, about 1 in 4 residents struggle with some form of mental health condition. Depression affects about 5.5% of residents, and in Nigeria any stat is always understated

Anxiety disorder affects roughly 3.5%, and the most vulnerable group is age 18 to 24. Nationally, studies indicate up to 25%, about 40 million Nigerians, suffer mental illness

The chances that you will marry someone with a mental illness is 25%. That is staggeringly high. You can almost conclude the society is not normal

Stats like these explain behavior but do not excuse it. They help you give people grace

Illustration: the man in my DM

A man came into my DM cursing me and my children. I felt the Lord led me to ask him for his account number so I could bless him. He sent it.

I sent what the Lord had put in my heart. He made a video and tagged me. He had repented

Depression can have different roots

• Biological: the depressive chemicals are not balanced
• Circumstantial: you lost a job, a relationship or a loved one
• Relational: someone said something that hurt you and the wound is still in your heart
• Spiritual: you can be dealing with the spirit of Jezebel

The spirit of Jezebel

2 Kings 9:30, Revelation 2:20

When we hear Jezebel we think of a seductive spirit. That is Delilah. There is nowhere in scripture where Jezebel seduced anybody.

When she painted her face for Jehu she was an old woman showing she was still a queen. She was not trying to marry him or seduce him

The spirit of Jezebel is a very sophisticated, intelligent demonic spirit. It is only named after her.

It operated in different people. It was in Nimrod's wife. You see it in Delilah, and in Herodias in the New Testament

You see it again in the early church, where she had become a prophetess teaching

What did Jezebel want? Elijah's head. When John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah, what did Herodias ask for? John's head. Same spirit

In the Old Testament she was second to power, whispering to Ahab. In the New Testament she was in charge of the church.

There is a lot of the spirit of Jezebel in the church today

Mark 8:15

The Jezebel spirit was working in the scribes and Pharisees. They knew the new order Jesus brought would displace their functions. They could not live with it.

After he rose they paid people to lie that he did not. They moved from unbelief to disbelief

The Jezebel spirit is the spirit of discouragement

Elijah just had a major win on Mount Carmel, mocking the prophets of Baal, and then he was asking God to kill him. 1 Kings 18, 1 Kings 19

It goes for anointed people. Every time there is a major win, expect an attack. Look at the sequence in the life of any public person

Introduction: you can look okay and not be fine

Genesis 2:17

Adam lived centuries after he ate, but something died inside before anything died outside

Globally more than 720,000 people die by suicide every year. This is a pandemic. In Nigeria, about 15,000 die by suicide annually

Lagos has fewer than 100 psychiatrists and about 200 therapists and psychologists, and 1 in 4 are struggling. So who is taking care of them? Probably pastors. Then you wonder why pastors are not fine

Illustration: the dodo

On the phone in one day with a sequence of people: a testimony, someone trusting for healing, a birth, a proposal. You are happy, sad, praying, happy, sad, all within 5 hours

I was about to break my fast. My wife brought my food to the room while I was on the phone with someone who said they wanted to kill themselves.

I put the dodo in my mouth and said, "Please don't kill yourself." My wife asked what I was doing.

I put the phone on mute and she said, "I don't understand. Somebody is talking to you about killing themselves and you are eating dodo."

It dawned on me that I was being insensitive

You can harden your heart and normalize pain until you are numb. Numbness is the worst place to be. Hatred is better than numbness, because in hatred you are still interested.

Numbness means your heart is not there

Internal wounds are worse than the ones we can see. In church we focus on believing God for external healing and forget that Jesus also heals the brokenhearted

Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18

Jesus heals the brokenhearted. In other words, wounds that people cannot see. Most times they are clinical, but sometimes they are demonic

You can come to a service blessed and leave after the preaching feeling cursed. They preach you into bondage. Do not leave carrying what is not yours. I am not diagnosing you

3 things that look alike

It is important to discern what you are dealing with. You might not be depressed and think you are. You might be depressed and not know it

1. Leanness of soul

   Psalm 106:13-15

   Leanness of soul is when you ask God for something He does not want for you, the permissive will. When you get it, the satisfaction you expected is not there.

   It is false hope, and it makes the heart sick

   You married because you were lonely, thinking this person would be everything. After a year or two you realize you settled for a churchgoer.

   You never were in a relationship with a Christian and you rushed.

   You did not wait for God to give you your wife

   You got the dream job and everybody in the office hates you. God told you not to take it

   On campus you were on fire for God, then you left ministry to become a kingdom financier.

   Now you have a lot of money, you meet Moses and Aaron, and realize your money is not making you happy. They look broke but you want what they have

   Now you are with the consequence of your haste. You did not wait for His counsel. That feeling is not depression. It is leanness of soul

   Nothing you can do disqualifies you with God. If you are not a virgin, He will give you intercessory ministry

   Luke 2 If you are not Mary, you will be Anna the prophetess. You cannot just waste like that. You are His son

   A woman came to me. Her daughter wanted the older brother out of the house because his character was bad and she did not feel safe.

   The mother said, "I can tell him to leave, but he is my son." For me it showed the heart of God, that God will never give up on you

   What you do: go to God and ask for mercy. Remember the man who could not see and asked for mercy? What did Jesus give him? Sight.

   You cry out for mercy and He gives you sight

2. Burden

   Psalm 32:3-6, 1 Peter 5:6-8

   The mighty hand of God that is going to lift you will first humble you

   That is a burden. This one is not the devil. You do not pray this away. You pray with this

   Many of us do not know the difference between burden, depression and boredom. If God gives you peace He cannot take it back. But He can put a holy weight on you

   You can wake up with a strong urge to fast. You call friends and they do not pick up and you ask why they are rejecting you.

   In the spirit you have been isolated for a season. If it is very intense, they can break up with you for a season.

   When you pass through it the person brings their coconut head back. You might think they are unstable, but something is happening in the spirit

   The sin acknowledged here is the sin of omission, not commission. The sin of omission is worse than the sin of commission, because it is the sin of omission that takes people to hell.

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   Pastor Dolapo Lawal

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   The sin of omission is what you did not do. The sin of commission is what you did. What takes people to hell? They did not give their life to Christ.

   Who committed it here? A godly person. So it cannot be commission. There is something God wants you to see that you are missing, so He places a burden on you

   2 things to do with a burden:

   1. Carry it to Mount Sinai and come back with the law
   2. Or be down with the children of Israel making an idol, eating, drinking and playing Exodus 32

   If you are in a season of burden and have a nudge to fast, the devil can twist it so you wake up at 2 a.m. and start cooking beans.

   You change four movies in one night and none hits. You are trying to silence the burden with what will not fill it, and mistaking it for boredom

   Humble yourself under the mighty hand. Apply yourself to the unforced rhythms of grace. If you resist, it lifts, you will be fine, but you missed an open door

   Before Jesus entered public ministry, the Spirit led him into the wilderness where he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Angels came and ministered to him, in other words he was strengthened.

   Then he started picking disciples. It was time for ministry. He humbled himself under the mighty hand and was exalted in due time

   When you are in the wilderness, the devil comes as a roaring lion with temptations and shortcuts. Bow to me, I will give you the glories of this world.

   The devil never steals from you and leaves you empty-handed, because he is a thief, not an armed robber. You think you still have what he took, until the day you need it

   In stealing there is deception. What God wanted to give him was things in heaven and things on earth. The devil will collect three and give you one

   Do not mistake depression for burden. A burden from God is a breakthrough, the open door of Revelation 3:8

   • I pray for you that you will not be like them.

   1 Corinthians 10:7

   This is what people call soft life. Soft life vacation: I just want to go somewhere where I can eat, drink and play

   The three temptations of Jesus were the same three the children of Israel faced in their wilderness

   Examples of burden:

   • Nehemiah had a burden for Jerusalem's broken walls
   • Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt
   • Esther to intervene for her people
   • Hannah for a child and for Israel's future
   • Daniel to pray for Israel's restoration

   • I pray for you that when you are Hannah, you will not allow Elkanah to deceive you.

   The mercy of God to Hannah was Peninnah. Mercy is mysterious

   Elkanah said, "Am I not better than 12 sons?" No, he was not. If he was, why did he go and marry another woman?

   Peninnah laughing at her put a burden on her so she would go and ask for her son. That is the mercy of God

   Pharaoh was the mercy of God. If he does not beat you, you will not cry out for freedom. Egypt was designed for 70 people and they became 2 million. God raised Pharaoh.

   Pharaoh even raised their leader Moses

   People who open their mouth and blame God have not read the Bible. His ways are not our ways

3. Depression: a cast down soul

   Psalm 42, Proverbs 18:14, Psalm 34:18

   The Bible renders it as a cast down soul or a wounded spirit, a crushed or broken heart

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   The Hebrew word for broken heart there means something crushed to powder

   This is deeper than someone no longer dating you.

   There is breakup that is bread and tea, and breakup that is yam and egg.

   You dated for 8 years and pictured your life with that person, and there is almost nowhere you have been that they have not been.

   You are not just mourning that they left, you are mourning that they follow you everywhere in memory

   It refers to the weight of hopelessness, sorrow and condemnation

   Psalm 42:1-5

   You sing that song and do not know where it came from. The sons of Korah wrote it from a place of brokenness. They felt crushed, and they were men of God, Levites.

   This person is disappointed, yet he says hope in God

   The Bible has a whole book called Lamentations. It starts with the word "how". It also has a book on the doctrine of suffering, Job.

   The idea is that good people can suffer, you can be good and suffer

   Job had restoration. Jesus did not. Jesus is the peak of Job's experience: the righteous one dying for the unrighteous.

   Jesus, in eternal perfect union with God, now says "why have you forsaken me", which is deeper than "why did you leave me", because they have been together eternally

   Psalm 88

   I titled this psalm "Darkness" in my Bible. Why is this in a book of hope? It shows that God is not scared of sorrow

   This lowest point was the biggest privilege of his life. The sorrow qualified him to have a chapter in the Bible.

   Everything he experienced was a prophetic declaration of what God, the one he was complaining to, would experience

   When you say "God use me", what do you picture? A Bible in hand and a mic. 2 Timothy 2:20

   I know you want to be gold so bad, but what if you are wood? It is not a great house without vessels of wood, because you do not use gold to pack stuff

   You cannot say God is unfair. Whatever you want to say, He will say "me too". Hebrews 4:15

   You say, "My younger sister died early." He says, "I died at 33."

   You say, "But you promised me long life." He will tell you that scripture did not apply to Him. "Do you understand the betrayal I am going through?"

   You will hear "me too, I have been there". The eternal Son of God is dying on a cross, and if you see Him you will talk like Him, as Stephen showed us

   You can be mocked on earth and be a wonder in heaven

   Jeremiah 1, Jeremiah 20:14

   When God called Jeremiah, Jeremiah said he was a youth and could not speak. God rebuked him. But in Lamentations, God allowed Jeremiah to pour out his mind and did not rebuke him once.

   He was cursing the day he was born and the anointing still came on him, fire shut up in his bones, and he was still prophesying. God did not say "how dare you"

   God is unquestionable, but we can ask questions. There is no reason to play church if you are not okay. Too many people practice a Christianity void of heart.

   They say amen but do not believe it will work. You can pause and say wait

   Job 38, Job 42:5

   God answered Job's questions with questions, for four chapters. When God was done, Job saw that his problem was no longer so big.

   Then he interceded for his friends, and that was the turning point

   If you focus on your pain you are finished. Numbers 21 You do not look at the snake bite, you look to the bronze serpent.

   You say I do not have money, people do not like me. You have to lift your eyes up to the hills Psalm 121:1-2

   In the New Testament you do not even need to lift up your eyes, because we are now a city set on a hill Matthew 5:14

   What we drink to quench our thirst is on our inside John 7:38

   Psalm 42:6

   Remember, this guy was complaining and talking

I am a pastor, not a therapist

I am not a therapist. I am a pastor. The only thing I can provide is spiritual material, the word of God

For some people, honestly, you need a psychiatrist, a counselor or a therapist. AI cannot take the job of a psychiatrist, a counselor or a therapist. Mental health issues are increasing by 50% every year.

We cannot pray it away

Caution for those with the gift of counsel

That is a calling and there is a gift for it: the spirit of counsel. You can be advising people and saying deep things while failing in your own life.

You do not really know what you are saying, but it flows. There is an anointing on you for it, but be careful

My iPad background now says "Speak with grace". Love the people. You can get used to preaching so much that frustration with how people receive the teaching changes your tone.

If you do not have the gift, do not dabble in it

Illustration: the police officer

In New York a man wanted to jump from a very high building. Three officers shouted, "Don't jump." He did not jump. Then one officer went to him and the two sat at the edge.

The officer spoke with him for 3 hours, and at a point they both stood up and jumped together

That is the spirit of heaviness. The person absorbed him into their world. If you have this counseling gift you might behave bipolar.

You wake up heavy and cannot explain why you feel sad all of a sudden

When people say "after I talked to you I felt light", where did they drop their problem? They dumped it on you. You are not Jesus. The government shall be upon his shoulders.

If you are not intelligent enough to carry it in prayer and hand it over to him, you will not be a normal person

Praise in the valley

Have a testimony that you praise God in the valley. Mountain praise is high but it is not conviction.

Valley praise is when you look at your life, take stock and say, "I do not see what you have done for me, but let me see if I can beat you to faithfulness."

That is the sacrifice of praise. It is a praise that is sacrificial. People will not know why you are dancing

Philippians 4:6-7

You pray about something and it does not change, but your disposition changes. Because your disposition changed, it is unreasonable. People cannot understand why you are happy if what made you sad has not changed.

What God gave you is peace. Money cannot buy it. Wealth is having what money cannot buy

You have to decide. Participate. Sing the songs and apply your heart. It is not a dancing competition. Best dancer, you sweat and your life is not changed

Nehemiah 8:10, Isaiah 12:3

Psalm 42:6-11

We are entering that dimension of praise in the valley Job 13:15

David said praise waits for you in Zion Psalm 65:1. When it comes to my praise, you will be catching up. Come and meet us, we are praising.

I will not wait for you to do something. This is prophetic praise, thanksgiving praise