Skip Navigation Links

The love that conquers fear and depression

Here is the love, the faith, the power that will conquer every anxiety and fear you now have!

 

THIS is good news! There is a right and happy solution to human fears, to anxieties and mental depression!

 

False Solutions

Yet, why do so many depend upon temporary or false solutions to their problems?

The right way of dealing with problems and fears is not denying they exist. It is not drowning them in alcohol or drugs. It is not assuaging conscience or feelings of guilt with human invented personal philosophies.

Nor is the solution to fears, worries and problems, as some religious people emphasize, just "accepting Christ" without facing the causes of depression and anxieties.

The cause of fear and depression is the breaking of God's spiritual laws. The solution is to teach humans how to obey God's spiritual laws, how to develop spiritual mindedness, the attitudes and power of God, which is the love of God that conquers fear and worry. That love shows humans how to change, bear, escape and conquer problems, fears and worries in this life (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Jesus Christ promised, ". . . ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32). He meant that truth — the truth taught in God's Word, the Bible — would open up to human understanding the real cause of human problems. He meant truth would set you free from the consequences of wrong knowledge and ways of thinking. He meant truth would set you free from hopelessness and depression, free from sin.

What, then, is the priceless truth — Good News that will set one free?

 

The True Gospel!

Jesus came with a message about government — God's government. It is a message about how that government and the laws upon which that government is based will be set up on earth. It is a message about how humans may qualify for rule in that government. It is a message about a way of life!

The laws of God's government are the laws of true love — the way of giving instead of getting. They generate the love that conquers fear and depression, the love that would, if obeyed, eliminate every evil afflicting mankind today.

God's love is revealed, in broad principles, in the Ten Commandments. Fear and mental depression are caused by breaking God's immutable spiritual — and, possibly, physical — laws!

Fear and depression are caused by wrong values, desires and attitudes. They are caused by wrong ways of thinking and living — the "get" way. The only true solution is to quit breaking God's spiritual and physical laws and start living God's way in all our thoughts and actions.

"There is no fear in [godly] love; but perfect love casteth out fear. . . . He that feareth is not made perfect in love" (I John 4:18).

Many wonder why they don't have that love, even if they want it. Here is why: This love is a product of growing out of wrong ways of living and thinking. No human called from sinful ways develops perfect love all at once. It takes time. But as we grow in God's love, fear and hopelessness diminish.

But there is an even more critical reason why many don't have perfect love. The reason is that God's love is a spiritual love — ruled by spiritual law (Romans 7: 14). It can only be fully fulfilled by spiritual, not human, love. you weren't born with that love. It must be given to you and developed by supernatural power.

There is something missing in the natural mind of man. Man was born incomplete. He was made to need a vital missing element. What is missing is the Spirit of God. It empowers the human mind to understand and obey God's laws. The natural mind of man — until worked with by the Spirit of God — does not understand that most of its mental and emotional problems are spiritual in nature. The natural mind, by itself, does not understand it is breaking spiritual laws.

The natural human mind is attuned only to physical causes and relationships, to things it can see or feel with the five senses. From this incomplete knowledge humans speculate about the causes of their or others' problems. Many blame their problems and fears totally on others, never on their own weaknesses or wrong habits of living or thinking which, in turn, are caused by a wrong spirit or attitude of mind.

The Bible reveals the source of that wrong spirit and attitude. Though some may not believe it, every human mind has been influenced by Satan's evil attitudes. Scripture reveals Satan as "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2-3). His influence permeates the earth. The results of his bombardment of evil moods upon the minds of human beings, moods that fuse into human nature, are listed in Galatians 5:l9-21.

Notice these damaging actions and attitudes: fornication, adultery, idolatry, hatred, lust, sorcery, strife, wrath, envying, murders, drunkenness, uncontrolled living and thinking. From these attitudes and ways of living spring fear and depression.

This state of the human mind, called in Scripture the carnal or natural mind, is antagonistic to God's laws and ways (Romans 8:7). It refuses to totally yield and obey God in all things. It reasons around what God says to do in areas it doesn't want to change. Even true Christians have to work to root out these attitudes from their minds.

What, in contrast, are the fruits of God's Spirit? Scripture again clearly explains: love, joy, peace (including peace of mind), patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control and humility (Galatians 5:22-23).

Some totally unconverted persons have, through proper childrearing, developed some attitudes that are in harmony with some of God's laws, whether they recognize God's laws or not. They reap the automatic blessings in their lives as a result. (See Romans 2:14)

 

Love that Conquers Fear

The Bible reveals how mankind ought daily to be living in every sphere of life. '; Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," said Jesus (Matthew 4:4). Jesus was quoting from Deuteronomy, chapter 8, and verse 3.

Jesus quoted Leviticus (chapter 9, verse 18) when he said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

You can't love someone unless you know how. God's written words, in Old Testament and New, teach right marital, childrearing and human relationships. God's Word also gives examples of wrong human relationships, examples of how not to live. Scriptures also teach basic health, financial and agricultural laws for human prosperity and success.

Most important of all, the Scriptures reveal God's awesome purpose for human life — that of developing holy, righteous character. The gospel of the kingdom of God that Jesus preached (Mark 1:14) is Good News about how that character is developed.

The way we achieve that purpose is by having God's Spirit or love in our mind. God's Spirit operates only in accordance with God's laws. It leads to a constructive, positive and up building state of mind. A human with this mind respects, not degrades, his physical, mental and spiritual potential. He also respects the potential of all other human beings, whether or not they yet understand God's purposes and laws.

God's love has a two-fold thrust. Love first means loving and trusting God. This is summarized in the first four commandments: it means having no other persons or things, as gods, in place of the true God. It means not serving false gods and ideologies. It means not defaming God's name in word or by the way we live. It means respecting the things that are holy to God.

The second thrust of God's law of love is love toward other humans, your neighbors. This is summarized in the last six commandments. It is honoring parents, doing no murder (that includes hatred, which is the spirit of murder), no adultery, no stealing, no lying (or slander or false witness), and no coveting things of others. Jesus explained this two‑fold thrust of God's law of love in Matthew 22:37-40.

True love, explained the apostle Paul, "works no ill to his neighbor." Of course not, because God's love "is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).

God's love is not the way of hate, competition, lust, envy, jealousy, covetousness, selfishness or getting to exalt the self over others or to put others down. These ways are Satan's ways and attitudes, subtly placed in human minds by a clever devil. They produce the bitter fruits of strife, animosity, fear, guilt, walls of separation and loss of hope.

Obedience to God's laws of love produces the opposite results. Humans with this love have feelings of neither superiority nor inferiority toward others. We obey God's law of love and we no longer try to get the best of others and put them down. We no longer hate or fear those who set themselves up as our enemies or those that don't agree with our values or the way we live. We understand why they think and do what they do. They have been influenced, though they don't now it, by wrong attitudes or floods from Satan's workings upon their mind, or by wrong cultural values, or wrong experiences derived from this devil-led world.

We recognize we couldn't see God's ways either except for God's mercy to us. And we realize if we had others' circumstances or experiences, our attitudes and problems could be similar or worse. Instead we have hope for all who sin in ignorance. Ye understand all humanity will naturally be corrected in God's own time and plan. Until then, we are instructed to do good to all men, not evil.

But true love commands us to go beyond this. We are to pray for those who hate or abuse us. We understand we can't argue anyone into conversion. That call, can only come from God (John 6:44). We pray that God will work with an antagonist's mind according to his will and wisdom because we can't always fully understand how to do that ourselves in the most effective or best way.

We also pray we won't set up stumbling blocks about God's way by wrong actions, attitudes or words on our part. These instructions in living are taught in Matthew 5:43-48, Romans 12: 17-21 and Galatians 6:10.

When we understand God's love, we realize we also are imperfect. We, too, have wrong ideas, feelings, attitudes and habits to overcome. We don't exalt ourselves as great persons. We realize any true good or ability in us come from God.

But we know God's love is also powerful toward us. Though we fall short in many areas of life — even succumb to fear and depression on occasion — we have God and his mighty spiritual recourses — faith, hope and love — to help us overcome.

Why don't more experience that mighty power and help?

The answer is sin, the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4). Sin cuts us off from understanding God and utilizing his help. Sin against God and fellowman hinders our prayers from being heard, unless and until we repent (Isaiah 59:1-2).