What is Fear, Anxiety, and Depression?

Do you struggle with fear and/or anxiety or depression?

If you don’t know what this feels like, I am sure know someone who is suffering from these debilitating and frankly, highly annoying issues.

If you can relate to this, my heart is with you.

My question to you is, do you believe these overwhelming feelings and thoughts are from you?

I have news for you!

Last year, for the first time I began having anxiety attacks. They are completely awful and I didn’t cope very well with them at all. I didn’t want to leave the house and I would have to coax myself to get out of the shower in a morning because I knew that once I turned off that water, my day would start. I didn’t want it to. I can’t even tell you what I was scared of but the anxiety was very, very real. Of course life had to keep going and I kept thinking, “How on earth do people do this?!”

I put it down to hormone changes, I was drinking coffee at the time as well as being bombarded by what I presumed were my own thoughts. I even went to the doctor to get checked out but there was nothing wrong. (I can’t go on any anxiety or depression medication as they send me suicidal.) I was getting desperate and I asked God what I was doing wrong.

He answered by saying, “You are presuming that these thoughts are from yourself” and reminded me that fear is an actual spirit that speaks.

Argh, was I mad! Furious actually that I had listened to the demon’s lies and believed that it was all me!

“For God HAS NOT given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

Fear, (and it’s cohorts of anxiety and depression) are demonic entities.

Do you see that in the above verse? It calls it a ‘spirit of fear’. It’s an actual thing that talks!

That was mind blowing to me when God highlighted it.

My Research

I spent some time researching this thing called fear, anxiety and depression and how to overcome them. It’s an interesting search I must say. Some of the antidotes were just plain weird so I narrowed down my search to ‘Christian’. The thing I found most interesting was that not one person talked about fear as being a someone.

Demons talk and their language is liar-ese.

The only way that fear can get a grip in your life is if you come into agreement with the lies that it tells you.

Let me explain.

For years I would hear the verse from John 8:32 quoted, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” It really bugged me because I kept asking myself, “Free from what? Sin? Hell? What am I being set free from and how do I get set free from it?”

This is the problem when words are taken out of context and shoved into any given scenario. In verse 31 of this same chapter it says, ““If you abide in my word …” OK. Now we are getting closer but we still aren’t there yet.

In John 1:1 the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So the Word is another name for Jesus. How else is Jesus described? In John 14:6, Jesus calls Himself ‘the truth’.

If Jesus is THE Truth and Satan only copies, what must his kingdom be?

LIES!

I am going to take some liberty here and greatly paraphrase John 8:31-32. My additions are in the parentheses.

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, (know, believe and trust what the Word, Jesus, says and believes and come into agreement with the truth of what He says and believes) you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, (Jesus and what He says and believes) and the truth (Jesus and what He says and believes) will set you free (from the lies of the demonic kingdom which only bring fear and kill, steal and destroy).”

Does this make sense now?

The only tactics that the demonic kingdom have in this world are lies, fear and manipulation. If a demon can get you to agree with his lies through fear and manipulation, he can begin to control you.

The only way to be set free completely from the bondage of fear, anxiety and depression is to break agreement with it, recognise when the tormenting lies are coming at you and only agree with the truth of what Jesus says about you – both in the Bible and through Holy Spirit speaking directly to you. The more that you get to know that God loves you and that His character is always good, the easier it is to believe that He really is for you. (I write about who you truly are here.)

This may sound difficult but with practise, I can assure you it is possible. I would also recommend that you have trusted friends praying with you and for you. It is much easier with support.

Learn to recognise your thoughts

“… We also capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 (ERV)

Do you know what you are thinking at any given time?

This was a real challenge for me at first and even still, I find myself going down a track that I don’t want to be on in my thoughts and I wonder how did I get there. The thing I find much easier now is that I can stop my thoughts mid track and analyse what is truth and what is a lie. If it is negative or fear is beginning to set in, I replace it with a truth either a verse from the Bible, a promise that God has given me or just reminding the enemy that I am a child of God and that He only has good things planned for me. I will usually speak it out loud to interrupt my thought pattern and change it’s direction.

You firstly need to realise and be aware of what thoughts you are allowing to sit in your mind. Only then can you capture the thoughts and make them obey Christ. This means that you stop them in their tracks and cause new thoughts to continue on that path.

One last thought.

I was listening to Todd White this week and he said something that confirmed what I had been processing with God. (You can watch Todd’s whole message here.) He said that the spirit of rejection is a lie. My ears pricked up and he continued to explain that the reason why it is a lie is because we have never been rejected by God. Neither Believers or pre-Believers, since the Old Covenant was abolished in 70AD, have EVER been rejected by Father God while they were alive on earth. Wow! I don’t know about you but lightbulbs went off in my brain and excitement welled up in my heart.

I have struggled with rejection because I had agreed with its lies! The truth is, I have never been rejected by God. Have you heard that lie? “You are not good enough. God will never love you. Just look at what you have done. You are not loveable.” BIG FAT LIES!

Action Steps

1. Recognise that these fearful, anxious and depressive thoughts are not from you and that they come from the enemy of your very life.

2. Begin to take note of what your thoughts are and find out where that first thought of the commentary began.

3. Ask God to show you the truth and read the Bible to see who God says you are and what He is saying about you and your situation.

FORGIVE everyone and I mean everyone, including God and yourself, who you believe has wronged you in any way. These evil spirits have a right to torment you if you have any type of unforgiveness, bitterness or resentment in your life. (For more on forgiveness and it’s utmost importance, click here.)

4. Tell the spirits of anxiety, fear, and depression to go and speak out loud with forced confidence, if need be, and tell the enemy what the Lord has said to you and about you.

5. Learn how to walk in your newfound freedom and don’t give up. The enemy will try and capture your thoughts again but you can take control of your own life.

6. Find people who love you to pray with you and encourage you as you learn to take your life back. It’s yours to have and to live it to the full.

I would love to hear from you. Is this thought of fear being an actual spirit new to you or have you just been wondering how to defeat it? If you have tried these steps and found success, how do you feel now? Please share in the comments below as I would love to hear your experiences.

If you would like prayer, please me know in the comments below also or send me an email from here.

Always remember, Satan and his minions are defeated foes (Hebrews 2:14) and Jesus claimed full victory over them – for you. You just need to come into agreement and receive the revelation of this fact and victory will assuredly be yours.

If you know someone who needs encouragement that there is hope today, please share this with them. Their lives really can change and they can live with hope for the future.

Abundant blessings to you.

Faith and Personal Transformation Mentor & Strategist