Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for being honest about how tired, lonely, miserable, depressed and angry you feel. God hears that cry. He sees when you are worn out and unhappy with life, and He does not turn away from an honest heart that says I need help and I need a miracle.
The greatest miracle God wants to do is not only to change your circumstances, but to change you. In Scripture a man named Jacob was changed when God gave him a new name, Israel. The new name meant a new nature. He was no longer to be self governed, clever and striving in his own strength, but governed by God. That is what Jesus called being born again. It is no longer a life mastered by self and the flesh, but a life mastered and led by the Spirit of God. God wants to bless you in that deepest way, to make you new from the inside and to give you power with Him and strength to walk before others. Even a deep rooted anger and a hard past can be touched by that change.
God has set before every person life and death and calls us to choose life. From the beginning there were two trees, one that brought death and one that brought life, and God still offers the tree of life through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus said He is the bread of life who came down from heaven to give life to the world. The things of this world, its glitter and gain, cannot satisfy. Chasing them leaves a person empty and bored even if he has everything, but when God is at the center, life becomes full, content and rich. His words are spirit and they are life to those who believe.
That life comes through a real turning. The baptism John preached was a baptism of repentance, a sign that the old life is buried and a new life after the Spirit has begun. It means straightening what has been crooked and lifting up the low valleys. Depression is like a valley in the landscape, and God does not want you to live in that valley. He calls you to joy because the King has come to bring new life. You said you are tired of reasons and excuses, and God agrees. He is not looking for outward tears alone or for words without change. He says to rend your heart and not just your outward garments. A changed heart will bring changed actions, and that change cannot be worked up by willpower alone. It comes by the Spirit as you turn to Him. The goodness of God, His love and willingness to forgive and to make you His child and share His eternal kingdom with you, is what leads a heart to true repentance.
You said you will keep track, and it is understandable to want proof that God is working. God is faithful and nothing in your life happens apart from His knowledge and care. But real life is not found by trying to save your old life or by searching for purpose only under the sun. Solomon searched that way and found only emptiness. Real life is in the Son. He who has the Son has life. Jesus said if you try to save your life you will lose it, but if you lose your life for His sake you will find it. That means placing your life in His hands and following Him.
You can change. The gospel is about immediate and deep change through Jesus Christ entering a life. It is not about searching for some new truth, but about experiencing the power of the old truth that Jesus died and rose again to give you life.
I am praying for you now.
Father, I lift this weary and lonely heart to You. You see the misery, the depression, the anger and the unhappiness. I ask that You would do a miracle of new birth inside. Forgive sin, wash the past, and give a new nature governed by Your Spirit. Give the bread of life that satisfies, lift this life out of the valley, straighten what is crooked, and set Yourself at the center. Let there be the joy of knowing that to have Your Son is to have life. Show Your goodness that leads to repentance and give a heart that is truly changed and then a life that follows. Bring Your peace and Your presence today. In Jesus name, amen.
The greatest miracle God wants to do is not only to change your circumstances, but to change you. In Scripture a man named Jacob was changed when God gave him a new name, Israel. The new name meant a new nature. He was no longer to be self governed, clever and striving in his own strength, but governed by God. That is what Jesus called being born again. It is no longer a life mastered by self and the flesh, but a life mastered and led by the Spirit of God. God wants to bless you in that deepest way, to make you new from the inside and to give you power with Him and strength to walk before others. Even a deep rooted anger and a hard past can be touched by that change.
God has set before every person life and death and calls us to choose life. From the beginning there were two trees, one that brought death and one that brought life, and God still offers the tree of life through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus said He is the bread of life who came down from heaven to give life to the world. The things of this world, its glitter and gain, cannot satisfy. Chasing them leaves a person empty and bored even if he has everything, but when God is at the center, life becomes full, content and rich. His words are spirit and they are life to those who believe.
That life comes through a real turning. The baptism John preached was a baptism of repentance, a sign that the old life is buried and a new life after the Spirit has begun. It means straightening what has been crooked and lifting up the low valleys. Depression is like a valley in the landscape, and God does not want you to live in that valley. He calls you to joy because the King has come to bring new life. You said you are tired of reasons and excuses, and God agrees. He is not looking for outward tears alone or for words without change. He says to rend your heart and not just your outward garments. A changed heart will bring changed actions, and that change cannot be worked up by willpower alone. It comes by the Spirit as you turn to Him. The goodness of God, His love and willingness to forgive and to make you His child and share His eternal kingdom with you, is what leads a heart to true repentance.
You said you will keep track, and it is understandable to want proof that God is working. God is faithful and nothing in your life happens apart from His knowledge and care. But real life is not found by trying to save your old life or by searching for purpose only under the sun. Solomon searched that way and found only emptiness. Real life is in the Son. He who has the Son has life. Jesus said if you try to save your life you will lose it, but if you lose your life for His sake you will find it. That means placing your life in His hands and following Him.
You can change. The gospel is about immediate and deep change through Jesus Christ entering a life. It is not about searching for some new truth, but about experiencing the power of the old truth that Jesus died and rose again to give you life.
I am praying for you now.
Father, I lift this weary and lonely heart to You. You see the misery, the depression, the anger and the unhappiness. I ask that You would do a miracle of new birth inside. Forgive sin, wash the past, and give a new nature governed by Your Spirit. Give the bread of life that satisfies, lift this life out of the valley, straighten what is crooked, and set Yourself at the center. Let there be the joy of knowing that to have Your Son is to have life. Show Your goodness that leads to repentance and give a heart that is truly changed and then a life that follows. Bring Your peace and Your presence today. In Jesus name, amen.
