Depression is a state of the mind, which has the absence of hope as the underlying cause irrespective of the diagnosed causes. It is a culmination of thoughts over time in the process of which hope thoughts are being squeezed out.
People need a sense of hope to move on in life. It is hope that generates a positive vibe about the future, be it distant or otherwise. People build this hope on people, things, events and assumptions. However, when these premises of hope fail or change, a riot of thoughts would likely occur. The first response in us as humans is that our thoughts quickly adopt another premise to absorb the shock. The newly adopted premise could have been a conscious or unconscious backup premise. At times, it is just an emergency premise that our mind quickly brought up to counter the shock.
Nevertheless, even the new premises have the potential to fail and do fail leading to a cycle of shifting to several new premises. The cycle generation amplitude and frequency differs from person to person. This could explain the reason some are more susceptible to depression than others are over seemingly similar matters and conditions. As these cycles continue, alternative premises diminish and in turn hope thoughts vanish.
Even in the supposed presence of these premises, people might still get depressed. This is because those hope were only present to the soul but absent in the spirit of the individual. Giving hope to the soul without giving hope to the spirit is only a cosmetic fix. Such superficial hope even at its best is false.
In living above depression, ones premise of hope must be checked if it is true or false.
Original/true hope comes from the Word of God. The Word of God enters your spirit, giving hope to your spirit. Other sources give hope to your soul and that is not deep enough. The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear it if the spirit is crushed? (Proverbs 18:14 NLT)
While hope in your spirit can influence your soul, hope in your soul cannot influence your spirit. The flow is from the spirit to the soul and not vice versa. It takes a greater thought to displace another. Thoughts that emanate from your spirit are greater than those domiciled in your soul are. It is a hope that rises from your spirit that can work for you in the true sense.
Just like your words flows out of your thoughts, the Word of God is an expression of his thoughts. Exposing yourself to his word is exposing yourself to his thoughts concerning you. Yes, he is thinking of you and those thoughts are good (1 Peter 5:7, Jeremiah 29:11). Your cognizance of his thoughts makes you see things from another perspective, which is the best perspective. Seeing things outside your narrow perspective allows other thoughts aside those depressing thoughts to float in you. Allowing these other thoughts to multiply will make them to outgrow and outnumber those depressive thoughts and soon push them out.
You multiply thoughts by meditation. Little wonder one of the initial strategies of the enemies attack is to put a distance between you and the Word of God. The enemy is well aware that separating you from God’s thoughts gives room to all kinds of thoughts including depressing thoughts to thrive in you.
A deliberate reading of the Word of God instills hope in us. Seeing the letters printed in the Bible lifts up our countenance. Recalling God’s promises bring smiles to our faces. Knowing God’s mind produces a peace in us that passes all human understanding. A consistent devotion to the Scriptures makes us glad and a cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength (Proverbs 17:22 NLT).
