This is the first in a nine part series entitled “Overcoming Depression-Anxiety: A Responsibility Paradigm.” For the various counseling options available from this material visit www.summitrdu.com/counseling.

The complementing studies are also available in a video and podcast formats at the links below:

  • “Overcoming Depression-Anxiety: A Responsibility Paradigm”// video and podcast
  • “Overcoming Depression-Anxiety: A Suffering Paradigm” // video and podcast
  • “Towards a Christian Perspective of Mental Illness” // video and podcast

“The Battle Against What Might Happen
ADMIT I have a struggle I cannot overcome without God.

“Not overcoming my anxiety-depression would be more costly than anything God would take me through in the pursuit of His freedom. God is good for having brought me to this point of admitting my need of Him.”

Memorize: Psalm 56:3-4 (ESV), “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” As you memorize this passage reflect upon these key points:

  • “When I am afraid” – The authors of Scripture were never slow to acknowledge their anxiety or despair.
  • “Trust in you” – In moments of anxiety-depression we will trust something (our fear or God) and doubt the other.
  • “Whose word I praise” – The experience of anxiety-depression calls for more truth and right-thinking than peace.
  • “I shall not be afraid” – During times of anxiety-depression we must be direct with our own thoughts.
  • “What can” – Consider the influence of “what can” thinking versus “what if” thinking on depression-anxiety.

Teaching Notes

“Fear and anxiety are more confident than they should be (p. 63)… You will trust in something or someone; that’s part of being human (p. 16).” Ed Welch in When I Am Afraid

“It is a sin to complain against God, and we must see our complaints as such (p. 99)… The Bible speaks of contentment not only as a virtue, but also as a command (p. 107).” John MacArthur, Jr. in Anxiety Attacked

“The problem is compounded with men because men aren’t supposed to be afraid. With no permission to discuss fears, men opt for anger (p. 34).” Ed Welch in Running Scared

“At some point Eve went from suffering to using that suffering to justify living in a way that disobeyed, even rebelled, against God (p. 129).” Charles Hodges, M.D. in Good Mood Bad Mood

“Such strange creatures are we that we probably smart more under blows which never fall upon us than we do under those which do actually come. The rod of God does not smite us as sharply as the rod of our own imagination does; our groundless fears are our chief tormentors.” Charles Spurgeon in his sermon “Our Needless Fears” delivered June 11, 1874.

“The fact that human beings are self-transcendent and thus can contemplate their own nonbeing/death, creates an anxiety that is central to our lives… Human beings live in the dilemma of both creatureliess and self-transcendence, which generates immense anxiety—the simultaneous anxiety of living and of dying (p. 47).” Robert Albers, William Meller, and Steven Thurber in Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families

“Anxiety exists on a spectrum from normal to pathological and one of our tasks is to distinguish between the two (p. 34).” Robert Albers, William Meller, and Steven Thurber in Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families

“Worriers are visionaries minus the optimism (p. 50)… No one can prove worriers wrong, so there is a veneer of reasonableness to every worry… Worry has become your talisman to ward off future catastrophe (p. 51).” Ed Welch in Running Scared

Other podcasts on emotions are available at:

 

SUBSCRIBE

iTunes Google Play RSS