When we are depressed, we have no energy, no desire, no joy. Even worse, we have no motivation to look up or to look forward. Our eyes are locked into our past. We find ourselves always looking behind us talking about what could have been. It is now time to realize things will never get better if we stay in this state. We must put the hurts and the pain of the past behind us and take the steps necessary to move on with our lives.
Usually, generational curses have us in its grip. There are areas of our lives that generate a lot of pain coupled with our unwillingness to forgive. Because of the pain we want to hold someone responsible. We want someone to apologize for the misery we have experienced. Unfortunately, we only punish ourselves. The individuals responsible are not acknowledging their wrong and precious years of our lives are vanishing.
I have a word for you today! You are not reading this devotional by chance. Today is the day that you will say goodbye to that area of your life that has been dominated by pain, frustration, anger, abuse or hurts. Your life can be dominated by any one of these emotions or all of them, and your feelings are not limited to just these destructive emotions. There is a decision you must make. You must first be willing to take steps of faith toward a future that you know that you have been called into. Yes, there is a calling on your life, a God ordained purpose. The only reason you have not embraced it or recognized it is because of your being overwhelmed by your past. However, without even the release of your past, look up and when you are confronted with past hurts you will now have the power to release the curse that seeks to destroy you.
Second, be prepared to release the pains of the past as they confront you. Use forgiveness as your tool to keep your focus. Even when no apology is forthcoming, forgive. Third, embrace the promises God has already provided for you and move toward your place of blessing and power. Last but not least, give God all the glory.
In the 26th Chapter of Genesis, we see Isaac taking these steps. We see him releasing the wells of his father. These wells represented his painful past of contention and hatred. He was hurt by his older half-brother's mocking of him. His father hurt him by tying him up and putting him on an altar with the intention of putting a knife into his heart. For many of us this would not only have depressed us but sent us to a mental hospital. However, God had a word for Isaac. (Genesis 26:2-5) After being confronted with the generational curse of denying his wife, Isaac responded to the Word of the Lord and planted a crop that God blessed a hundred-fold. Isaac looked up in the midst of his struggle and planted. In the midst of your pain and misery move forward, look up, and plant. Do not let the pressure of the moment keep you in an invisible jail. As you see the work of the Lord in your life, it will strengthen you to release that curse that would try to destroy you.
After ridding himself of his father's wells, Isaac was able to move to what was truly his inheritance. He found himself at a place called Rehoboth, which means room enough. Isaac went from feeling like there was nowhere to go but to Egypt, to a place where there was room enough to grow, be delivered and receive his heritance. The Bible let us know he departed from Rehoboth and went to Beersheba. The Bible had not placed him at Beersheba since his father took him to the mountain to place him on the altar. But with his deliverance he now can return, over 60 years later, to the place that once gave him pain. It is here that the Lord visits him once again and this time he responds by building an altar and praising God.
Notice that once he responded to the Voice of God and moved forward, the Lord was able to bless him and when confronted with the pain of his past he moved on. My friend, begin today by looking up and moving forward. Can you not hear the Voice of the Lord this very moment? I guarantee you that if you talk to Jesus He will talk back to you. Change your life. Look up and move forward. Curse the spirit of depression forever in your life by responding to the Voice of the Lord. Next week, we will complete this topic by showing the way to keep depression free.
