Depression is an emotional ailment that attacks millions worldwide. It can be referred to as a serious mental illness that inflicts a person’s mind and emotions.
It is a good thing, in the name of overcoming this problem, this topic is hitting the news and coming to the forefront. So, what’s next for us as believers in battling it?
As the topic of depression and mental illness is coming forth, we should be praying and interceding for the people afflicted. We should be praying for ministry leaders to receive revelation from the Holy Spirit on how to conquer this affliction. We need to be assisting people to and through freedom and deliverance.
Let’s not just expose this problem; let’s get active doing something about it! These people need our prayers to lift them up and help them believe they can have joy and truly live again. They need us to seek the Lord for divine strategies and how to assist them to receive their deliverance.
Depression is not a stronghold people have to live with and put up with. Jesus came to heal and deliver, and that includes from depression. However, before that healing and deliverance can take place, I believe identifying the source will lead to deliverance.
Fleshly Emotions
Depression can set into our emotions by our reaction to circumstances and how we handle the outcome of situations. We can put ourselves in a depressed state because of unfairness, conflict or personal problems. I think we could all agree we’ve put ourselves in a depressed state by how we have handled and addressed our problems and what has happened to us.
There are many times we have a choice on how to handle our reactions to a situation. We take in as stress, worry, anxiety and depression some things that we shouldn’t. We need to diligently choose what our burdens are to carry. We truly need to dismiss some of these negative emotions before even taking them into our mind and heart.
We do have to take some responsibility for the emotions we take in. We need to choose our battles. We need to dismiss more thoughts and emotions than we do. We can’t change people and situations and what they do to us, but we can change our reactions.
Therefore, I believe some depression can be self-invited. It isn’t a demon that needs to be cast out or a medical problem that needs a prescription. It requires a change of heart, a closer relationship to the Lord, and changing some behavior patterns and thought habits.
Demonic Attack
Depression is certainly a demonic stronghold. It can come in through trauma, torment, abuse, medical illness, grief, loss or a generational curse. Evil spirits do not desire for us to live in the fullness and freedom of Christ. They are out to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).
Behind depression is a luring spirit seducing you to think negatively and be heavy. It is a mind-binding spirit that is locking your mind down in a depressed state. It sort of paralyzes you in your thinking.
In order to conquer these demonic attacks, we need to first of all identify the entry point and root cause.
Six ways to identify demonic entry points:
- Meditate, think and discern when depression first entered your soul. Was it through a tragedy such as one of the items listed above or a generational curse?
- Forgive anyone who may have traumatized you or forgive your parents if it’s a generational curse.
- Repent for your emotions, for being passive in the deliverance process or for any part you had in owning this diagnosis. Repenting audibly will break demonic legal rights.
- Break agreement with a spirit of depression. Speak audibly, “I break agreement with depression, in Jesus’ name.” Declare that out audibly several times a day for weeks if you have to in order to break its foothold in your life.
- Cast out the correlating demons. While there could be many and you can ask the Holy Spirit for discernment, I have a short list here for you. Cast out the demons audibly. Speak and declare out loud, “I cast out a spirit of depression, in Jesus’ name.” Do the same pattern for mental illness, trauma, the generational curse of depression, grief, loss, abuse, mind-binding, anxiety, stress, worry, fear and heaviness. Trust the Holy Spirit to reveal the rest to you and keep casting them out in the coming weeks as you feel they are attacking.
- Put on a garment of praise! Pray! Worship! Ask the Holy Spirit to fill you up and renew your mind. Seek Him for instructions on how to walk out your freedom and how to renew your mind and change your behavior patterns.
Trust Jesus to be your deliverer. He came to conquer the powers of darkness. You no longer have to live in darkness. Whether it is a fleshly emotion or demonic stronghold, you can be set free.
Rise up and fight! Take your authority! Change your habits! Renew your mind! I know you can do this because, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
You have the resurrection life and power of Jesus Christ on the inside of you. Pull on that power, rise up and fight, and put your flesh and the devil under your feet! {eoa}
Kathy DeGraw is a prophetic deliverance minister releasing the love and power of God to ignite and activate people, release prophetic destinies and deliver people from the bondage of the enemy. She is the founder of Kathy DeGraw Ministries and Be Love Outreach. She is the host of the Prophetic Spiritual Warfare podcast. She is the author of several books, including Speak Out, Discerning and Destroying the Works of Satan, Unshackled and Warfare Declarations. You can connect with Kathy on Facebook at facebook.com/kathydegraw/ or visit kathydegrawministries.org.
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