The Depressed Soldier

In this series of Facing Your Enemy we have looked at Choosing your Battles, Knowing Your Gear and Choosing Your Army.  We also looked at the Anxious Soldier, the Ashamed Soldier, the Coveting Soldier, the Lusting Soldier, the Bitter Soldier.  Today we will look at the Depressed Soldier.

Some of the objectives that I would like you to meet as a result of this message are:

1. Be able to identify the typical Depressed Soldier.

2. Be able to recognize the Depressed Soldier’s enemies and their locations. 
3. Be able to recognize some of the common symptoms of the Depressed Soldier.

4. Be able to provide the Depressed Soldier with immediate First Aid (we must learn how to do our part in helping the Depressed Soldier out of his or her depressed state).

5. Understand that the goal of this message is to learn to demonstrate love toward the Depressed Soldier.  To get the Depressed Soldier to rejoin ranks in the spiritual battle. (Paul says in I Timothy 1:5 “the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”)

6.  To learn how to help the Depressed Soldier learn from past defeats and move on. 

In attempt to be humorous I showed Charles Schulz’s a rather simplistic view of depression expressed by his cartoon character Charlie Brown.   Actually there is nothing humorous about depression.  Here are the 2012 statistics concerning depression in America. 

--Approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, suffer from depression.

--Depression affects all people regardless of age, geographic location, demographic or social position.

--Incidences of depression are appearing earlier in life with the average age of onset 50 years ago being 29 whereas recent statistics indicate it at just 14.5yrs in today's society.

--Nearly twice as many women (12.0 percent) as men (6.6 percent) are affected by a depression each year. These figures translate to 12.4 million women and 6.4 million men in the U.S. 

--Women between the ages of 25-44 are most often affected by depression.

--A recent study sponsored by the World Health Organization and the World Bank found depression to be the leading cause of disability in the United States. 

The Depressed Soldier:

1. Who is the Depressed Soldier? The Depressed Soldier could be a parent or sibling or friend or it could be you or one of your pastors.  

2. When it comes to the Depressed Soldier facing his enemy, the question must be answered “Who is the enemy?”.  Satan for sure is one of the main enemies on the outside but the Depressed Soldier has an enemy on the inside. "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” (I Peter 5:8-9) 

3. What are some of the symptoms of the Depressed Soldier? (i.e., symptoms other than being AWOL)

Symptoms of a Depressed Soldier:

     a.  The Depressed Soldier may be in a funk and or may be feeling sad with or without tears.  Most depressed soldiers suffer in silence 

     b. The Depressed Soldier may exhibit a lack of motivation or a lack of interest in activities that they used to enjoy. 

     c. The Depressed Soldier may have problems getting to sleep or staying asleep or dosing off at odd hours of the day. (I have this problems sometimes although I don’t think it is due to depression) 

     d. The Depressed Soldier may have a sudden change of appetite. 

     e. The Depressed Soldier may appear sluggish or get easily agitated. 

     f. The Depressed Soldier may have difficulty in concentrating on simple everyday activities. 

     g. The Depressed Soldier may have feelings of guilt and/or worthlessness. 

     h.The Depressed Soldier may neglect things like his or her personal appearance and or personal hygiene.  

     i. The Depressed Soldier may walk slowly with shoulders bent and head down. 

     j. The Depressed Soldier’s may have a facial expression that is typically associated with misery; frowning, downturned mouth, sad distance-gazing eyes.

Just because a person has one or two of these symptoms does not mean that he or she is suffering from depression.  There might be other causes.  However, if several of these symptoms are present, the chances are that he or she is suffering from some form of depression.

4.     Where can the Depressed Soldier get help?  The depressed soldier can get help by spending time praying to God and spending time reading God’s Word and by spending time with God’s people.  However in the more severe cases of depression the Depressed Soldier may have to spend time being treated by a doctor or spend time being treated in a hospital setting where he or she can have around the clock care.


5. When should a Depressed Soldier seek help? Whenever the symptoms stated earlier begin to appear.  

6. How do most Depressed Soldiers feel?  They feel numb or they like abandoning the battle line and distancing themselves from the rest of the active duty Soldiers in the Army.  

7. Why and how did the Depressed Soldier get this way?  There are many roads that lead to depression (For example grief, physical abuse, neglect, bullying, drugs and alcohol are some of the major cause just to name a few.).   In all cases the Depressed Soldier has lost connection to the vine (Jesus) and the branches (the Church), in some way breaking fellowship with Jesus and His followers in the church. 

I’ll try to define First Aid for the Depressed Soldier in terms of the Who, What, Where, When, How and Why questions. 

Who has the cure for the Depressed Soldier?  

You do and I.  We all do if we have the Holy Spirit inside of us, because the Holy Spirit is called “The Great Comforter”.  The Bible teaches us that He is “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (II Corinthians 1:3-4)

What should we do?  

1. Be on the alert for each other.  Remember the verse referenced earlier the Devil prowls about like a lion seeking someone to devour. ( I Peter 5:8) 

2. Be an encourager. “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.” (Proverbs 25:11)   

3. Be a prayer warrior. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16) 

4. Be strong in faith for those who are weak in faith.  Get their focus off of themselves and back on Jesus.  "Fixing our eyes on Jesus the author of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising its shame." (Hebrews 12:2) 

5. We should come alongside the Depressed Soldier to help and enlist others to come along side to help. “For day by day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army like the army of God.” (I Chronicles 12:22)  Remember we are in the Great Army of God 

How can we get the Depressed Soldier back in the fight?

Walk with him or her down the road that they are on.  Jesus did this with two depressed followers on the road to Emmaus Luke 24:13-35  

What if the Depressed Soldier is severely wounded? 

1. Honor and affirm the Soldier for the wounds that he or she incurred and for the courage and the sacrifice that it took to go on after being wounded. 

2. Help the Soldier get back on his or her feet. 

3. If the Soldier can’t walk, carry him or her (if you can). 

4. Encourage the Soldier in any and every way that you can.  That might mean thinking a little outside the box. 

5. To encourage a deeply depressed Soldier it might mean thinking way outside the box. 

6. Remind the Soldier continually what he or she looks like through Jesus’ eyes by giving them His Mirror. 

Here are ten reasons the Depressed Soldier should continue to fight and not just give up:  

1. Because the Depressed Soldier is a member of an all-volunteer army.  The Depressed Soldier was not drafted he or she volunteered. 

2. Because our Captain (Jesus) desires that you fight the good fight of faith until he returns. 

3. Because it pleases Jesus’ Father and ours. 

4. Because the very honor of being a follower of Jesus is worth it.  

5. Because Jesus is worthy of both allegiance and obedience. 

6. Because this depression will not last forever “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5b) 

7. Because there are others in the battle who need the Depressed Soldiers’ help and there is a great cloud of witnesses is watching and rooting for the Depressed Soldier. (Hebrews )  

8. Because being depressed puts the Soldier in good company with other followers of Jesus who were depressed and who got back in the battle.  Listen to what King David a man after God’s own heart prayed about being depressed:  

“Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me; O LORD, be my helper. You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.” (Psalm 30:10-12) 

Jesus also prayed for Simon Peter

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31-32) 

9. Because if you pray and ask him for help, then Jesus will hear your prayer and answer it.   
“Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13) 

10. Because Jesus said that He ask the Father to give a Helper that He may be with you forever.  

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever” (John 14:16) 

My Prayer is that this will help you as you help each other.  Tune in again next week when we will look at the Rescuing Soldier and the week after that when we will complete our series on Facing Your Enemy by looking at the Victory and Our Glorious Captain.