Scripture

My heart is breaking as I remember how it used to be…Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God!

~Psalm 42:4-5, NLT

Quote

When the soul is downcast, choose the words of scripture over the discouragement and fear that your soul is speaking.

~Russ Resnik

Russ Resnik encountered Jesus as Lord and Messiah in the early 70s as a young radical in the mountains of northern New Mexico. Later, he was drawn into the Messianic Jewish movement and founded Adat Yeshua, a Messianic congregation in Albuquerque, NM, which he led for nearly 20 years. He later served for 17 years as executive director of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations (UMJC), an association dedicated to uniting and  strengthening Jewish congregations that honor Yeshua the Messiah of Israel. Today, Russ continues as UMJC Rabbinic Counsel, teaching, consulting and serving as a rabbi to the rabbis of the Messianic Jewish community. Russ also maintains credentials and a local practice as a clinical mental health counselor. This gives him some expertise in the psychology of the soul. His thoughts on depression impressed me and what I am about to share comes basically from him. Of course, you know I have a hard time refraining from making editorial contributions.

Depression is a common malady in today’s society and it afflicts both believers and unbelievers. The depressed person often endures a barrage of endless words that stream from the soul. The soul becomes a chatter box…“This is not going to work…You are a failure…You can’t succeed…Give up…etc.” Sometimes you have to tell the soul to be quiet. Just say to yourself {soul}, “Shut up and listen to what God has to say.” Cognitive therapy has proven that depression can be overcome by simply replacing the negative thoughts of the soul with the word of God. This therapy does not seek a reason for the negative or fearful thought but simply replaces it with the truth from God’s word. Fear, depression and anxiety are not from God. He does not give us the spirit of fear but of a sound mind. David got depressed and there is no wonder; he was hiding in a dark cave, alone and being hunted by the government. He was the FBI’s most wanted. He had every right to be afraid but he took command of his soul. He praised God when he did not feel like praising God. You cannot give into the soul. The soul reacts to circumstances: if circumstances are good, the soul is happy but if they are bad, the soul is sad. If you allow the soul to lead, you will live under the circumstances. God has called us to rise above them. We are to be hyper-nikis {more than conquerors}.

Extra

Sorry about the late, late start. June refrigerator went out on Tuesday and you cannot live with June unless her appliances are in order. If it had been the washing machine, we would have went to Lowe’s Tuesday night. I stay out of it: she gets what she wants and then tells me what I have to do. In this case it was unhook and remove the old one which had an ice maker. Then when Lowe’s got here all they do is set it in place, I had to removes plastic and put handles on. PTL it is over but half of my morning is shot. I aint complaining. I have to keep the chief cook and bottle washer happy.

I hope you have a great Labor Day weekend. We are having outside worship at THE POINT at 8:30. Every car gets a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. Everyone is invited. You don’t have to be a member to qualify. Have a great Friday.

By the way, I did get to visit with Ken Nelson on Wednesday and he is doing great. Granny T was in the floor when I got to her room Wednesday but we got her up and she said she was fine. She bent over to pick something up and lost her balance. The old gyroscope gets out of wack when you get old.