1. A reading  from Derek Prince's book entitled:  "They Shall Expel Demons", in a chapter where he shares his honest testimony in his victory over depression.
   

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3. Through this valuable testimony, no matter what 'battle' you are in, this will help you understand how vitally important it is to not only intake the Word of God, but that in being a 'doer' of the Word as well, you are well equipped to overcome by using the Word as the powerful 'Sword of the Spirit' that it is!
   

This was a decisive moment in my life.  I had always regarded my depression and negative attitude as an expression of my own character--something I had been born with.  I had felt guilty that I was not a 'better' Christian.  Now it became clear to me that my struggle was not against part of my own personality at all. 

Immediately the Holy Spirit brought to my mind the promise of Joel 2:32:

1. "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered". 
   

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From my study of Hebrew, I knew this verb also means "to save, to rescue."  I determined to apply this promise and to act on it. I said a simple prayer that went something like this:  "Lord, You've shown me that I have been oppressed by a spirit of heaviness, but You have promised in Your Word that if I call on Your name, I shall be delivered.  So I'm calling on You now to deliver me, in the name of Jesus!"

The response was immediate.  Something like a huge, heavenly vacuum cleaner came down over me and sucked away the gray mist that shrouded my head and shoulders.  At the same time a pressure in the area of my chest was forcibly released, and I gave a little gasp.

God had answered my prayer.  Suddenly everything around me seemed brighter.  I felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from my shoulders.  I was free!  All my life I had been under that oppression.  It felt strange to be free.  But I discovered quickly that freedom was normal and that oppression was abnormal.

My old enemy did not give up on me,  I still had to struggle against depression.  But the great difference now was that its attacks came from without, not from within.  I gradually learned how to withstand it.

The main thrust of the attacks was to induce in me reactions or attitudes of pessimism.  When everything seemed to be going wrong, I would begin to entertain negative thoughts about what I  could expect to happen.  Quite soon I would feel the all-too-familiar gray mist beginning to settle down over my head and shoulders.

At this point God taught me another important lesson:  He would do for me what I could not do for myself, but He would not do for me what He required me to do for myself.  God had responded to my cry and delivered me from the spirit of heaviness, but after that He held me responsible to exercise scriptural discipline over my own thoughts.

Clearly I needed something to protect my mind.  As I meditated on Paul's list of spiritual armor in Ephesians 6:13-18, I concluded that what Paul calls "the helmet of salvation" was provided for the protection of my mind.  This left me wondering, Do I already have the helmet of salvation?  I know I'm saved.  Does that mean I have the helmet automatically?

Then I saw that Paul was writing to Christians who were already saved, but he still instructed them to "take" the helmet of salvation.  This placed the responsibility on me.  I had to "take" the helmet for myself.  But what was the helmet?

Fortunately I was using a Bible with cross references.  The cross reference to Ephesians 6:17 was 1 Thessalonians 5:8; "Putting on ….for a helmet, the hope of salvation".  So the helmet God had provided to protect my mind was hope!

This appealed to my logical mind.  My problem was pessimism, but the opposite of pessimism is optimism--hoping continually for the best.  Hope, therefore, was my protection.

From 1 Thessalonians 5:8 I was led to Hebrews 6:18-20

1. "That….we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus…"
   

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I found here two further pictures of hope.  First, hope is compared to the horns of the altar.  Under the old covenant, when a man was being pursued by an enemy seeking to kill him, he could find asylum by clinging to the horns of the altar, where his enemy could not reach him.  To me the altar spoke of the sacrifice Jesus made for me on the cross.  Its horns represented my hope, which was based on His sacrifice.  As long as I clung tenaciously to this hope, my enemy could not approach to destroy me.

What about the second picture of hope, as a anchor? 

What needs an anchor?

A ship.

Why does a ship need an anchor?

Because it floats in water--an unstable element that provided nothing for it to hold onto.  It passes its anchor through that unstable element, therefore, and fastens it onto something firm and immovable, such as a rock.

I saw that hope could be like that in my life--an anchor passing through the turmoil and instability of this life and fastened forever onto the eternal Rock of Ages--Jesus.

As I reflected on this, however, I realized there is a difference between hope and wishful thinking.  Reading on in Hebrews, I saw that "faith is the substance of things hoped for"  (Hebrews 11:1)  The kind of hope I needed as an anchor had to be based on a solid foundation of faith in the statements and promises of God's Word.  Without this biblical foundation, hope could prove to be nothing but wishful thinking.

Gradually I worked out a simple, practical way to apply these truths in my daily life.  I learned to distinguish between thought that proceeded from my own mind and those insinuated by the demon.  Every time my enemy approached me and sought to induce negative and pessimistic thought, I disciplined myself to counter with a positive word from scripture.

If the demon suggested that things were going wrong, I would counter with Romans 8:28:

1. "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." 
   

I love God, I would answer my invisible enemy, and I am called according to His purpose.  Therefore, all these things are working together for my good.

From time to time the demon would resort to the tactic it had often used successfully in the past:  You'll never succeed.  I would counter this with Philippians 4:13: 

1. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
   

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Complete victory did not come immediately.  But over the course of time, my mental reflexes were built up to the point that it was almost automatic to counter any negative suggestion from the demon with some opposite, positive word from Scripture.  As a result, that particular demon seldom wastes much time now in attacking me.

God also began to teach me the importance of thanking and praising Him continually.  This would surround me, I discovered, with an atmosphere that repelled demons...

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