Depression and the Believer Part 39 - Hope For Paul

Depression is a matter of what we think in our minds. God's Word tells us to watch over our hearts with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. This tells us that how we think establishes our life in one way or another. A renewed mind is a mind that is centered in the truth of God's Word. It is this truth in the innermost being that God desires and that gives us true joy as we are encouraged by what is true and protected from what is false. God's provision for all Christians who are in any situation that could bring us to the road of depression is that we lift our spiritual eyes of faith and fasten them on Him and on His unchanging promises so clearly given to us in His Word. He wants us to so fully know Him and His Word that the realities that we face in time are dwarfed by what He has in store for those who by His grace are secure in Christ. This hope is ours as we study His Word and believe the great promises that He has given us concerning what He has in heaven for us. By faith we are to lift our eyes off of the temporal to the eternal by faith in the Matchless One. This is a study of Paul's time when he was burdened excessively beyond his own strength and despaired of life itself. At this time his hope was in the God of hope and all comfort.