According to the America Health Affairs research published in 2010, more than 253 million prescriptions were written for antidepressant in the US. To put it into perspective, as at the time of the research, the population of U.S was 311 million.

Anti-depressants have become the second highest volume drug in the U.S , based on a joint research by Ramin Mojtabai and Mark Olfson. The number of people diagnosed with depression increases by 30% every year. One million every year around the world commits suicide and the number increases each year. I in 4 families have one member who is suffering from this.

DEPRESSION is an intense feeling of sadness and worthlessness, so bad that you have lost interest in life, difficulty concentrating, feeling rejected and feeling isolated.

It has to do with feelings, thinking and mood; these are emotional struggles.

Depression is a mental illness, the bondage of the mind.

The mind is the Soul of a Man or Woman. The mind is where your thoughts are processed. The mind is one of the most powerful being of humans. Once you get hold of an individual mind, you are able to control the entire make up of such an individual. That is why God say to us in Proverbs 4:28 “ Guard your mind, for out of it flows the issues of life. Ralph Emerson said “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”

The destiny, actions, feelings, habit and character of any human always starts with a thought.

Depression is way beyond the physical but spiritual. If we are going to get the cure and be free from this, then we have to go to the root of this. It is called an illness in the physical world, but Depression is beyond an illness but an unclean spirit.

It is real, difficult and troubling, but yet this is why Jesus came, to empathize and also bring truth and healing. Jesus promised in His word “ I will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are on Me and trust Me. Isaiah 26:3.

The anchor of the Soul is peace. And don’t forget that the Soul is (connected to) the mind, will and emotion. The absence of peace is the presence of depression.

The body of man was given so man can live in this physical world and the five senses were given in other to relate in this physical world. The spirit of man is what connect man to the spiritual world( which is more real than the physical world and is eternal. The physical world is temporary and subject to destruction, that is why when man dies, there bodies are destroyed and seize to exist, because all that exist and exist for this physical world is subject to destruction. So where does the soul come in?

The Soul is the link between the physical world and the spiritual world. The Spiritual world can not operate in the physical world without connecting with the soul of man. That is why Jesus gave the greatest commandment “ Love the Lord - your God - with all your heart, mind and strength.” Without our mind submissive to the Father, there is no way God can work in the affairs of man here on earth. Likewise the devil knows, the only way to get to control man and destroy man is through the mind.

To better understand how depression sets in, let me share more insights. Like I said earlier on, I am dealing with the roots of depression and not the symptoms or the surface. Once the roots are dealt with, the symptoms seizes.

And those symptoms are: loneliness, rejection, unhealthy isolation, unworthiness, no one cares about me, cutting ourselves and thinking we will feel good by doing this, no one will help me, God does not care for me, I can not make it, I am fat , too thin, ugly, etc. The roots issues are spiritual.

Now I do know that trauma or natural disaster can led some people to be depressed for a while, but if that depression still lingers and don’t go away, then it has gotten deeply rooted.

THE BACKBONE OF DEPRESSION IS THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT OF FEAR AND LIES!

Fear is a demon so is lies. God says in His word that the Devil is the Father of all lies.

Fear and lying demon works hand in hand.

The lie (or) unclean spirit goes first by putting negative thoughts in your mind. They will use anything to get a control of your mind and sow those seeds, through TV content and other media tools, relatives, co-workers, friends, drugs etc.

They know that once they get a hold of your mind, they have control over your life. As a man think in his heart, so he is. If we receive the lies spoken to us by the unclean spirit through who ever or through a thought, the unclean spirit of fear comes in and therefore depression and anxiety sets in.

Now many think because the thoughts are coming from within them, then it is their thoughts. I stand to correct this; this is not true. The negative thoughts comes from the enemy and he whispers it to your ears, you have to rise and speak forth saying “This is not my thought but the thought of you unclean spirit of lies, I refuse you in the name of Jesus. When God made me, He declared I am fearfully and wonderfully made, also the blood of Jesus cleans me of all unrighteousness, my mind is now programmed to think of that which is true, pure and noble.

I remember suffering from anxiety and depression also. I was scared of the dark and also felt life was not worth living. Oh the spirit of lies and fear really had a party in my mind and took control of my actions. I got to a point where I was just tired of the fear controlling me. I remember coming across the scripture that says “God has not given me the spirit of fear but of love, boldness and sound mind.”

This is truth! God word says you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Even though the fear of the dark had become real to me, I cried out to God for help and by the help of the Holy Spirit, gradually, I was filling my mind with the truth of God word. I also declared “fear you are false evidence appearing real. I will no longer be in bondage to you in the name of Jesus.”

Lies keeps people in bondage, only truth heals them. My medication was the word of God. God words did beyond making me feel better; it went straight to the roots, dealt with it and hence I became free and healed. Doctors, Psychiatrists, Counselors can not cure people but only help them for a while by placing them on medication.

I don’t want my life or emotions to be controlled by this little item before me called pill. God my creator declare over my life “ Raly you shall have dominon over the earth and everything in it. God made me the boss of the earth in submission to His will. So why will a pill decided to be my boss? The devil is a liar. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Raly, is it this simple? Yes! Jesus has paid the price. He commands we come to Him with our burdens and He will give us rest and peace. We have to take the step of going to Him. I did this daily until the unclean spirit of depression and anxiety lost it hold over me. God is not a complicated God. Our intellect tries to make Him complicated. All Jesus needed to do to set men free was to speak the word: “Be clean.”

Most of the time we want more than be clean; we look at the situation we are going through and say: this is so large - it will take something very powerful to overcome this. This thought is a great deception of the enemy. The woman who suffered with the issue of blood for 12 years and doctors could not help her but made her situation worse. She said to herself “if only I can just touch the hem of His garment, I know I will be made whole.” She did and she was made whole.

I remember how I got my final deliverance. It was through a vision. I was ready for bed and turned off the lights in my room. On crawling into bed and laying down, I saw my soul getting up from the bed. My body was still on the bed; I was wide awake. This was no dream. It was all happening right before my eyes. My soul got up, went out of the room, came back in, switch off the lights like I did early on and then came back into my body.

As my soul came into my body, I felt this great heaviness on my feet. It was like there was something very heavy holding on to my feet. I felt this and then decided to look down at my feet. What I saw almost scared me to death. I saw very strange and ugly looking creatures holding unto my legs. They were busy laughing and talking to one another.

They had no clue I was watching them. Then I heard a voice say “ Raly, look closely at what each of them have written on them. I looked and I saw anger written on one, then another was anxiety, another lies, another depression, another fear, another lack of contentment, another pride, another unworthiness, another bitterness. Then I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit say, call their name one after the other and tell them to let go of your legs in the name of Jesus.

The first I called was anger, as I called his name, he looked up at me and was so shocked and scared. The other unclean spirit or demons had no clue what was happening; they just kept on laughing and talking to themselves, the demon of anger was the only one who heard me and saw that I saw him. I then commanded let go of my leg in the name of Jesus.

Immediately he did let go. The others when they saw, why wondering what was going on; where did anger went. But they continued talking and laughing. Then I called another demon. I did this until every one of them let go in the name of Jesus.

Oh mine, the peace I had and relief my body felt was amazing. Then I heard the Holy Spirit say, “now you can fly and move with great speed.” With this command, my soul rose up from my bed and moved from one place to the other with such great speed. I was laughing, crying and rejoicing. From then on I began to enjoy the promise of abundant life.

Did I face rejection and isolation after that? Yes I did, but they were healthy ones; they did not come to break me, but to make me very strong, build my character and draw me closer to the Lord. The unclean spirit of course did want to come back, but I already knew their ways and tactics and strategies, if the thought was not pure, noble, praise, worthy, humble, content, peaceful, kind, loving, etc., then it is not of God and it has no place in my heart.

There are some of you reading this today, that needs to take that step and run to Jesus and daily take His medication and that is His word and take your sword in battle against the unclean spirit. Remember you are not alone. There are some of you that your loved ones are in severe depression and are in the hospital or at home in their rooms, and their mind is so messed up - they can’t even turn to Jesus or even hold a single word of God in their minds.

Don’t give up, there is a way. I will encourage you to lift them up in prayers and pray that just as Jesus met with the man who had severe mental illness – the mad man in the caves in Mark chapter 5, pray that Jesus will step in and come meet with your loved ones in Jesus name.

I declare strength and peace over you all in the name of Jesus. GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU ALL!