If you are anything like me, your emotions will be highly volatile. Sometimes you are elated, at other times depressed. Not only that. The joy or unhappiness you feel is clearly expressed and revealed to all, on your face. But my face (which some good friends have come to accept) is not really the focus of this sharing. Dealing with depression is.

An ability to dispel depression is helpful for any one. But it is more so for the Christian. For a depressed Christian has to bear two burdens: the unhappy situation itself, and the additional baggage of being a “poor witness”.

In the pragmatic world we live in (and Singapore is well known for its pragmatic ways too), people are primarily interested in results. So how do we stop having the appearance of living in the doldrums? How can we attract people to God, instead of putting people off Him?

Depression is a very common condition that has afflicted God’s people throughout the ages. For even the Psalmist (Psalms 42) has cried out, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” This is a complex subject I’m sure and I will mainly offer some practical suggestions from a personal perspective. My exhortation echoes the Psalmist who cried out, “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God!”

We are creatures of our temperament. I have shared about my mood swings, but that is not all. I am generally inward looking, an introvert if you like. I am told that this makes me more prone to experiencing depression, compared to one whose temperament is outward looking.

If you are wondering whether you are like me, check “yes” if you tend to analyze yourself quite a lot. You will also analyze everything you do, and always worry about the consequences of your actions.

We need to careful about the purpose of our self-examination. We are meant to “search” ourselves periodically. But when in a sense we do nothing but examine our self, day in and day out, this process may have become the chief end in our life.

So one thing that I do to avoid depression is to tell my self to “stop it”! Self-examination must not lead to self-centeredness. Such excess will cause an introspective nature to become dark, gloomy and miserable.

A sister in Christ once gave a word from the Lord. The scripture verse was, “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

Paul wrote to Timothy under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to encourage him with the same word. The circumstances of both men were not good. For Paul had been imprisoned for some time. And Timothy had to face the difficulties that were arising in the church alone. Persecution was stirring again and Timothy must have felt insecure.

I doubt if the sister who gave me the word knew what an insecure temperament I have. The devil if un-checked will have a field day with me. I tend to be very fearful of what can go wrong. And the devil will try to magnify your fears, whatever they may be.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, one of the highest regarded pastors of the last century, explained in one of his sermons what Paul is in effect saying to Timothy. “Timothy, you are thinking about your self and your circumstance but you seem to be doing so like you are still an ordinary person. But my son, you are not an ordinary person! The Spirit of God is in you. But you are facing these things as the person you once were, as if you are still an ordinary person.”

Hallelujah! God did not give me a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. The word has blessed me. I know that it sounds too simple, but we can fend off the devil if we truly know who we are, and what we have in Christ.

Like Timothy I have received the free gift of the Holy Spirit, who enables me to call my God, my Daddy. Now if a child, then I am an heir of God and co-heir with Christ. And if all of these things then surely, I am “deeply loved, highly favored, and greatly blessed by my Father” (as the senior pastor of one of our mega-churches here is fond of saying).

The Spirit of the living God who is in me is the same Spirit that was in the Son of God when he was on earth. And surely the Spirit that enabled Christ will enable me. And among other things, I will have his attributes of power, of love and of self-discipline.

Praise God, my whole outlook brightens up the moment I realize who I am and what I have in Christ. Be assured that this experience is not a side effect from engaging in “positive thinking”. I do not place my trust on feelings. Rather, I place my trust on the whole counsel of God’s word.

Indeed since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; but the life he lives, he lives to God. Therefore I am to count myself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

What this means is that I am to consider what it is like to be free from depression, and to come under the overwhelming influence of the Holy Spirit. Then I am to act it out by faith, and behave in the manner of a person in whom the kingdom of God has come.

We are fighting a war against an enemy who has usurped power and authority over the world and its creatures. The battle is not only on the “outside”; it being waged inside us. We are the battle field on which two ages are competing for supremacy in our lives. The kingdom of God is the rule of God in power. The power, which is present in the coming age, in the new heaven and the new earth, has arrived in advance and unexpectedly in the coming of Jesus Christ. And the kingdom of God is upon me when I demonstrate the power, love and self-discipline of God.

We will not win by our own strength. We will win only if we live in the life and the power of the Holy Spirit. To do this is to sincerely invite and allow Him to have an overwhelming influence over my entire personality including my emotions. I can invite the Holy Spirit to pour out and fill me with the love of God, and enable me like the Psalmist (Psalms 36), to declare:

Your love, O Lord reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains.
Your wisdom is like the depths of the sea.

Filling my heart with your loving kindness, I find my peace in the shadow of your wings.
I eat my fill from the abundance of your household.
And I drink from the streams of rejoicing.

No matter what my temperament is. No matter how difficult my circumstance is. No matter what mischief the devil may be up to. Depression will be dispelled and kept at bay when by faith I behave in accordance to who I am and what I have, in Christ. I know that in everything, with thanksgiving, I may present my requests to my Father God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.