Monday, August 24, 2015

YOU CAN BE FREE!!



   
  I remember a time when I received a phone call from a woman who in the past couple of months her family had experienced the deaths of two relatives from suicide. And, a third relative attempted suicide.  Receiving that call reminded me of times myself and others have had to battle the lies about suicide. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2001 suicide took the lives of 30,622 people. All that said I would just like to encourage you once again that there is hope beyond where you are.
     There were several people in the bible that battled depression, fear & being suicidal for one reason or another. King Saul, King David, Elijah, Jeremiah and Judas; just to mention a few. Let’s look at a few examples from the life of King David. In Psalm 38: 6-8 “I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long…I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.” Sound familiar? Depression, fear, suicidal thoughts, etc. all begin in the mind. The mind is the battlefield that the devil uses to bring us to a point of despair, defeat and the desire to give up on life. The fact of the matter is that none of those negative thoughts are true. The Word of God is true.
     In many of the Psalms you find David going through depression and other negative emotions. Depression, self-condemnation, etc. are usually rooted in guilt. We feel so badly about our life that we begin to isolate ourselves from others. Isolation is a major tool that the devil uses against us. If he can get us alone and keep bombarding our minds with his lies that we’re no good, useless, or no one cares, and the list of lies goes on.
     Back to King David. In many of the Psalms you will find that David starts off with despairing thoughts but by the time you get to the end of the psalm he ends on a happy note. Why is this? We find the answer in 1 Samuel 30: 6 – “Now David was greatly distressed…But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.” God is the ONLY one who can help us and deliver us of our hopelessness. Allow me to share just a few pointers from the bible that may be helpful to you.
God has a good plan for your life. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” Jeremiah 29:11-12      God has a specific plan in mind for everyone but we won’t know that plan unless we ask him. God's plan for you is life, not death. The Bible teaches that both physical and spiritual deaths are the result of our sin and disobedience to God, but eternal life is a gift to those who receive it. (See Romans 3:23) Repentance is the first step in moving forward.
Death and destruction are the work of the devil.  “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “ John 10:10
     In this scripture Jesus refers to the devil as a thief. That’s what he is! All that Satan wants to do is steal from our families, and us. He does it by filling our minds with his lies so that we will become discouraged and give up.
The giving and taking of life belongs to God. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
I won’t dwell on this point because I want to focus on some positives in closing. Simply put, it is never our place to take our own life or someone else's life.
     If suicide is not the answer then what is?
Hope in the Lord  “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.” Psalm 33:20
     We must put our hope in the Lord, not in other people, not in our job, not in ourselves. Our hope should be in the Lord Jesus Christ only.  The solution to hopelessness is not suicide, but faith in God.
Tell someone -  “12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.”  Hebrews 12:12-13
     Tell your pastor or youth minister, your parents, a close relative, your teacher or school counselor, about the struggles you are facing and that suicide is in your thoughts. You can’t get help if the need isn’t made known.
     Lastly, but most importantly…
Accept Christ's free gift of eternal life and salvation –“For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:13
     If you call out to Jesus, he will answer you! But he’s waiting for you; he will not force himself upon you.  Look at what John 1:12 says; “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
Once you accept Christ, God gives us a brand-new life and helps you learn to walk a holy life. I close with one of my favorite scriptures… “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.“ 
2 Corinthians 5:17