Imbalance or Spiritual Attack?

Lie #3: Anxiety and depression are ONLY physical issues that medication can cure.

Medicine was created to help us. However, it is not the answer, but an aide to the solution. There are so many underlying issues that lead to and feed anxiety and depression. Issues that need to be dealt with. Issues that medicine cannot cure... Only God can.

I have had many benefits from taking medication for my depression. However, I knew there was something going on that was more than just an imbalance. There were things I was doing and lies I were believing that kept me in this state. When I was first prescribed medication, I shared my struggles with the psychiatrist. He disregarded my feelings that something more was going on (spiritual attacks) and I needed to seek out God's help. He just wrote on his notepad and handed me a prescription. This may have not been his intentions, but it was my perception of the situation. I left a little mad, but even more confused. What part of my depression is a result of an imbalance and what are actual spiritual attacks on my mind that need to be addressed? Recently, I was able to ask a Christian physician this question. He brought me answers by leading me to this verse.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

We are tri-part beings (spirit, soul and body) and He cares for every part of us. These parts are separate, yet work together. A diabetic takes medication to keep his blood sugar levels in balance. A hypertensive person must take medication to keep their blood pressure in balance. The same is true for someone who deals with a chemical imbalance. These three scenarios are no different. They each deal with the "body" part of the equation. Our soul and spirit are different areas and much harder to understand.

Ironically, I'm now in a great study through my church called Living in Freedom Everyday (LIFE). We just studied 1 Thess 5:23 and it explained the tri-part of us and how they work together. My understanding...long story short is...We were created in the Image of God (Genesis 1:27), therefore, at creation we received His spirit (a spirit person that was connected to God's spirit). However, the fall of man (Adam & Eve, Genesis 3) resulted in the death of our spirit person. In other words, we are dead in sin when we are born (Romans 5:12). When you become a Christian (through the salvation prayer), the Spirit person comes alive (is resurrected within us through a relationship with Christ - Eph 2:1-6). Even though, His Spirit is now alive within us, our soul (mind, will, emotions) and body (health, cravings, sinful desires) do not automatically relinquish control to the spirit (Eph 4:22). Our goal as Christians should be for the soul and body to submit to and be led by the Spirit. Sanctification is a process and can be a long one ... a lifelong one.

I am now learning the difference between what is brought on chemically (that physical pulling down feeling), and what other ways my body gets the best of me (its habits and cravings). I also realize how powerful the soul part of me is, which is my mind, will and emotions. This is where my strongholds reside. Wish I could say that my issue was all chemical, but that would be a lie. I have strongholds that need to be demolished. I also have habits and tendencies that "feed" my depression. They need to be broken. 

Depression is so much more than physical sickness. There is a battle going on for your soul. Even if you have come to salvation and your spirit is made alive with Christ, Satan can still keep you down if you allow your soul and body to continue making all the calls. THIS IS WHERE MEDICINE CAN NOT HELP.

You CAN and HAVE TO FIGHT BACK? But how?


Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer brought me a true breakthrough and showed me how to fight! I recommend the read for everyone not just those with depression and anxiety.

1) There is a battle going on for your soul. Are you aware that it's going on and you are a victim? If Satan can keep your soul and body in bondage and away from God's saving grace, he is winning.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

2) Satan attacks us through mindsets, feelings, habits. He works diligently to build strongholds in our mind. A stronghold is a belief you are held captive to. All of these begin and continue with thoughts or lies He strategically places in our minds. Thoughts produce feelings, produce beliefs, produce actions. Do you know what you think about?

Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

3) Did you know you do not have to think on everything that comes into your head? That is the one thing in life you have control over - What you choose to think about. This is your weapon. Do an assessment of your thoughts. Are they true? The Bible is Truth. Does your thought line up with what God says about you or others in scripture? What if it does not?

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and ever pretension that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

4) How do you know what thoughts are true? Become a student of the Bible. Here's where to begin. Make this verse your filter.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

5) If your thoughts are not backed by Truth (Word of God), then you must take them captive AND replace them with Truth. Search the scriptures in those areas where your mind is caught up in a lie and find that verse that speaks against it. Memorize these verses and speak them when your struggling.... speak them before you are struggling.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.