Do you know, you do not have to live with anxiety or depression? There are real solutions that can be effective immediately! With anxiety, circumstances could be great but there is a war on the inside of your soul.
Out of the Cave by Pastor Chris Hodges was written during the pandemic of 2020 and has been tested and tried by Pastor Chris himself as he struggled through dark days of anxiety and depression to come out with renewed passion and purpose.
Anxiety is not a malfunction of the mind. It is your body’s signal that something is not right. Most causes of depression are psychosocial. In other words, there are things a person can do to be healed, things you can change.
In I Kings 19, the prophet Elijah had just fled from Jezebel after a resounding victory over 850 prophets of Baal. As an aftermath, Jezebel sent him a message resolving to kill him. He ran for his life into the wilderness. He’d had enough and asked God to take his life. As he slept, the Angel of the Lord appeared and said “Get up and eat.” Strengthened by food, Elijah was able to travel the next 40 days.
Prescription #1: Get yourself healthy. Talk less about chemical imbalances and address the way you live your life. Find a “pace of grace”; do what you can do and still stay sane. Ecclesiastes 4:6 says “Better to have one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” Take a nap and eat something. Walk through the neighborhood. Go to bed a little early. These things bring emotional energy.
After his travel, Elijah went into a cave to rest and God asked him what he was doing there (I Kings 19:9-12). In response to Elijah’s answer, the Lord told Elijah to stand in the presence of the Lord. There is something about experiencing the manifest presence of Almighty God. It is one of the greatest prescriptions for anxiety and depression that exists.
Prescription #2: Cultivate the presence of God in your life. We have to be able to enter the sanctuary of God on our own. Psalm 73 by Asaph, King David’s chief musician, starts with how bad life is. Then in verse 16 & 17, he has an epiphany, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood.” Turn to God in prayer and worship at any time during the day, but especially at the start of each day. Set aside each morning. Try it for one week. Set your clock 15 minutes early and do “The First 15” - 5 minutes in the Word, 5 minutes in worship, and 5 minutes in prayer. This will calm the savage beast on the inside of you.
God then told Elijah to stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord and asked again, “What are you doing here?” In the same way as before, Elijah said, “I’ve been zealous, I’m your best man, I’m the only one left and they’re trying to kill me.” He was not the only one left but this is what he was telling himself. Have you talked yourself into a lie, rehearsing it over and over again. Lies you have believed can come from what people are saying to you about you. Stop listening to the voice of the haters. You don’t need to hear it. Lies can also come from what you are telling yourself. According to Brian Tracy, as much as 95% of your emotions are determined by the way you talk to yourself.
Prescription #3: Let the narrative you believe about yourself come from God’s Word. Here’s a good place to start. Read these scriptures over yourself everyday:
- I Peter 5:7 - “God wants me to give him my anxiety.”
- Joshua 1:9 - “God is with me.”
- Isaiah 35:4 - “God is fighting for me.”
- Isaiah 54:17 - “Anxiety doesn’t get to win.”
- I John 4:4 - “God is greater than my anxiety.”
- Philippians 4:6-9 - “There will be peace in my life.”
- Deuteronomy 20:3-4 - “There will be victory.”
The Lord told Elijah to go back the way he came, Beersheba, “The place of the oath.” Beersheba was where Elijah said he would serve God. God told him to get back in the game. He gave him a list of things to do and he corrected the lie that Elijah had been repeating to himself.
Prescription #4. Find or renew your God-given purpose. You won’t come out of anxiety as long as you’re focused only on you. “Life is never made unbearable by circumstance, but only by the lack of meaning or purpose” (Victor Fankel). In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Paul was going through his own set of struggles. What did he do? He fixed his eyes on unseen things, on the eternal.
The next thing Elijah did was to find a godly friend, Elisha. You are not meant to walk alone. Are you battling anxiety and depression on your own? You need a friend.
Prescription #5: Maintain your life with godly relationships. You can’t live your life alone.
Above all, know God loves you and cares for you. He sent Jesus to pay a price you could not pay so you can have intimate fellowship and relationship with God. As a prayer, tell God that you believe Jesus, the Son of God, is Lord of all and that he was raised from death to life. Let us know you have made this decision by emailing us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for a free online resource! Remember, you do not have to live with anxiety and depression.
