Above Stress and depression

1kings19 speaks of Elijah's depression because of stress caused by Ahab, the king of Israel, and his wife

Jezebel deserted God Jehovah and worshiped foreign gods Baal and Asherah in Israel. Elijah became

furious about what affected his faith  and prayed to God. God heard him and didn't give rain to

Israel for three and a half years. After that, Elijah confronted the 400 prophets of Baal and the 450
prophets of Asherah on Mt. Carmel. When Elijah prayed again, God Jehovah answered him by sending fire instantly. As a result, all of Israel recognized God Jehovah as the true God and Elijah killed the 450 prophets of Baal at Gishon. After that Elijah earnestly prayed again for rain and God gave rain to Israel.

While doing such a wonderful work, suddenly Elijah was under heavy stress attack. He came back into

the city and was threatened by Jezebel. She sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with

me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." , I wish Elijah could have prayed again instead of taking it in to stress him !!!!!!!

Today in our times the devil is attacking us with all manner of weapons, while we serve God in church, or support the work of God, we expect rewards from God, however while we are still waiting on Gods

rewards the devil comes with stress reports which causes depression. We find we are pressured by too much work and earn little,we face health problems, document problems, racism in society or  no job, difficulties at home, school, work ,family etc.  We are not alone brethrens, the bible says 1Cor 10:11-13 

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,that ye may be able to bear it.

 Elijah was a great prophet of God, when he heard jezebel report, he could not overcome stress any more and collapsed. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.

What is it you have heard or you are passing through? We are exposed to and surrounded by various

stress. Nonetheless, we must overcome stress.

 First don’t carry it alone, your battle is Gods battle and God has anointed his servant in the church  to

help you in your battle therefore swallow your pride and share out what is causing stress and depression

to you , don’t be Elijah who took it upon himself alone without seeking help . Psa 20:2  Send thee help

from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt

sacrifice; Selah.

Second is prayer,Peter problems became when he neglected prayers for ambitions service,

infact jesus told him peter satan has desired you just like he desired judas , but you I have prayed for

you.While jesus is still talking prior to temptation peter argued with jesus you all the story. After

denying Jesus three times, he could not stand himself. He cried and became hysterical, restless and

almost desolate. He gave up his mission as a disciple and went fishing. Prayer draws the hand of God

into a situation. It is the link that connects man to the throne room of God. If you want to

know the ways of God in any situation, you must pray and ask Him for direction. Daniel was

never stressed to depression,why, he prayed and fasted. When we try to carry our burdens by

ourselves, we can't overcome stress.

Jer 33:3  Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which

thou knowest not.

Psa 50:14  Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:

  And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Above Stress and depression

1kings19 speaks of Elijah's depression because of stress caused by Ahab, the king of Israel, and his wifeJezebel deserted God Jehovah and worshiped foreign gods Baal and Asherah in Israel. Elijah becamefurious about what affected his faith  and prayed to God. God heard him and didn't give rain toIsrael for three and a half years. After that, Elijah confronted the 400 prophets of Baal and the 450
prophets of Asherah on Mt. Carmel. When Elijah prayed again, God Jehovah answered him by sending fire instantly. As a result, all of Israel recognized God Jehovah as the true God and Elijah killed the 450 prophets of Baal at Gishon. After that Elijah earnestly prayed again for rain and God gave rain to Israel.
While doing such a wonderful work, suddenly Elijah was under heavy stress attack. He came back intothe city and was threatened by Jezebel. She sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." , I wish Elijah could have prayed again instead of taking it in to stress him !!!!!!!

Today in our times the devil is attacking us with all manner of weapons, while we serve God in church, or support the work of God, we expect rewards from God, however while we are still waiting on Godsrewards the devil comes with stress reports which causes depression. We find we are pressured by too much work and earn little,we face health problems, document problems, racism in society or  no job, difficulties at home, school, work ,family etc.  We are not alone brethrens, the bible says 1Cor 10:11-13  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape,that ye may be able to bear it.
 Elijah was a great prophet of God, when he heard jezebel report, he could not overcome stress any more and collapsed. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, Lord," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.What is it you have heard or you are passing through? We are exposed to and surrounded by variousstress. Nonetheless, we must overcome stress.
 First don’t carry it alone, your battle is Gods battle and God has anointed his servant in the church  to help you in your battle therefore swallow your pride and share out what is causing stress and depression to you , don’t be Elijah who took it upon himself alone without seeking help . Psa 20:2  Send thee helpfrom the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burntsacrifice; Selah.
Second is prayer,Peter problems became when he neglected prayers for ambitions service, infact jesus told him peter satan has desired you just like he desired judas , but you I have prayed for you.While jesus is still talking prior to temptation peter argued with jesus you all the story. After denying Jesus three times, he could not stand himself. He cried and became hysterical, restless and almost desolate. He gave up his mission as a disciple and went fishing. Prayer draws the hand of God into a situation. It is the link that connects man to the throne room of God. If you want to know the ways of God in any situation, you must pray and ask Him for direction. Daniel wasnever stressed to depression,why, he prayed and fasted. When we try to carry our burdens byourselves, we can't overcome stress.
Jer 33:3  Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, whichthou knowest not.
Psa 50:14  Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:   And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

FOLLOW THE RULE

2 Tim. 2:5 Beware!

Just as it is in the physical so it is in the spirit.There are fouls that lead to penalty in the race.  Avoid them! Why would Nadab and Abihu be slain before the Lord? Lev. 10:1-2

What about Uzzah? 2 Sam. 6:6-7, They were not hated.  They simply played against the rule.

Avoid tragedy in your life and ministry.

Take time to study and understand details of the rules of the game.

Ignorance is not an excuse and point of exemption from punishment ? never make assumption.

Be detailed. Aaron and his other two children escaped because they became well informed. Lev. 10:7-9 In order to escape penalty and casualty, know the rules of the game of life.

Prayer for the week,

(1)Let the holyspirit  have his way and reveal the state of your heart to you and ask God            

     genuinely to forgive   you and get revived to live for God.

(2) Let’s repent and confess and denounce any sins known or unknown in our life, let’s

     repent and confess for forgiveness if we have offended other without knowing.

 (3)With humility let’s prepare our hearts to be used and blessed by God in this retreat  

     and every day. Repent any pride lifted in our heart or any altar that has replaced God

     from our hearts,

(4)Lets repent our self righteousness and glorifications and judging others or critical  

      heart or despise others because of their weakness or failures,

(5)Let’s ask God to search us and find out anything in our heart and help us repent,

(6)Let’s repent the spirit of comparison with others, or competing with others instead of following what God want us to do.

 (7)Lets repent of backsliding and compromising hearts, lets ask God to restore us.

(8)Let’s ask God to forgive the sins of our mouth(filthy talks, slanders,

gossip,lies, arguments, etc,) the sins of our mind (bad imaginations, pride, hypocrisy etc) the sins of flesh (fornications, lusts, all kind of impurity etc) .We pray against any sins from our heart

  (9) Lets make vow to God that I will not set my eyes on sin,(pornography, worlds films, demonic computer games, etc,) let’s make vow to God that my body will not be used by the devil as his vehicle, or participate in devilish activities, rituals, or any things accursed to God

 (10)We pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us afresh, and give us power to pray and serve God, it is only the presence of God that guarantees us victory over Satan, whatever we do from the strength of flesh alone can’t stand or bring glory to God.

PLAY WELL

Play well if you dont want to be played out. There are many up-comings who are warming up to take any available place. Just anyone is removable therefore take your place firmly; hold fast what you have lest any man should take your crown.

God is patient but He cannot slow down because of a man. When Elijah was slowing down, He first informed Him that He had several other thousands who are yet to bow their knees to idols. 1 Kings 19:18. When Elijah will not cease to claim that He was the only player remaining, God showed him the way out by replacing Him with Elisha.

Play well if you dont want to be laid off. Play with the understanding that you are not the only one on the field.

God has no favourite player, simply play well if you want to remain on the field. Do not be deceived, you are not the only one in the race. 1 kings 18:22; 19:10, 14. Don?t bury your head in sympathy.

God has several others scattered here and there who are preparing and warming up. 1 Kings 19:18. ITS OVER TO YOU HOW YOU WANT TO PLAY IN HOUSE OF GOD.

WHAT CAUSES CRITICAL SPIRIT

There’s an old saying that “We tend to judge others by their actions, and we judge ourselves by our intentions.” The truth is, we cannot rightly judge anyone else, because we do not know the contents of their heart. We should be content to judge only ourselves and seek to bring our own lives in alignment with God’s Word (1 Cor. 11:31).

Among God’s warnings to us in scripture, there are none more somber or serious than His warning to not become a stumbling block to His followers. “...whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6).

THESE ARE THE SOME OF THE CAUSES OF CRITICAL SPIRIT,

1. Negativeness - A bad attitude and a negative view of life. A person may have unconfessed sin in their life (Rom. 2:1), or may harbor unforgiveness or bitterness toward someone who may have offended them (Heb. 12:15).
2. Insecurity - Criticism is often a subconscious means to “elevate one’s own self image.” By putting others down, they are inwardly trying to feel more important or that “they know more.” Jealousy toward the spiritual victories of others is often the cause of criticism and belittling comments. Popular ministers of the Gospel are often the target of such tactics.
3. Immaturity - Believers must always keep their focus upon Christ and His Word, not man, who will often fail (Heb. 12:2). The young or immature believer who has not progressed very far in their own faith, remain overly dependent upon the faith of those within the body of Christ. Unfortunately, when they begin to notice the flaws in their brethren, subconsciously, this becomes a threat to their own sense of victory. Criticism becomes a reaction of disappointment, because their expectations in others have been crushed.
4. An Unrenewed Mind - Put-downs, making-fun-of, criticism, sarcasm are the world’s ways of reacting to the faults of people. However, as Christians we don’t behave this way. Our thinking and attitude should be renewed by the Word of God, which teaches us to bear the infirmities of the weak, to love, and show compassion and encouragement (Rom. 12:2).
5. The Devil - As we may realize, the Devil specializes in influencing obsessive behavior. He may use any or all of the above channels, or other techniques, to influence a complaining or critical attitude to stir up turmoil and strife within the body of Christ (Eph. 6:12). We must be on guard that none of us would be used as a tool of the Devil to bring harassment or discouragement upon our brothers or sisters through continual criticism, as the Bible warns us not to “give place” to the Devil (Eph. 4:27). Remember that Satan is specifically called “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10). Are you an accuser of the brethren?