Overcoming Depression

Depression has been in the news lately. Sports and well-know personalities are taking their own lives due to depression. In Singapore, it is estimated that about 6% of the population are affected by depression during their lifetime. People with depression may experience persistent sadness or fatigue, difficulty in sleeping or sleeping excessively and/or have thoughts of death or suicide. These are but some of the possible symptoms. Christians are not immuned to expriencing depression. It can set in anytime but mostly after a crucial turning point event, be it good or bad. However, we don't have to remain in that state of disrepair for long, if we know what to do.


The life of prophet Elijah makes for an intereting read in the Bible (1 Kg 17-19). He was mightily used by God so much so that his words carried immense power (2 Kg 1:10). I want to focus our meditation on his successful campaign against the prophets of Baal and Asherah. He challenged them to a 'duel' whereby each will call on their own god to ignite the altar of sacrifice. Israel would then know which is the true and living God by this means. And as the story unfolds, the prophets of Baal cried out and cut themselves till evening time to no avail. When it came to Elijah's turn, he took his time to build the altar of sacrifice, laid the wood and sacrifice neatly and requested that water be poured on them thrice over. He prayed a simple prayer requesting God to answer him with the result that fire came down to consume the entire offering including the water, wood, stones and dust. It must have been an awesome sight.

The offshoot of all this was that the Israelites fell in reverence before the LORD, acknowledging that He is God (1 Kg 18:39). The false prophets were executed and Elijah gave a prophetic word to King Ahab concerning a heavy shower that would break the dry spell. To be sure, this must have been an emotionally high point for Elijah, after having carried out God's word successfully. However, his mountain top experience was short-lived; it nose-dived when he heard the word of Jezebel (1 Kg 19:2-4). He suffered great depression, wanting to end his own life. That happened when he did not focus on God but on the words of the enemy. He also mistakenly thought that he was the only prophet left in Israel (v 10, 14); little did he realise that God had preserved 7000 (v 18).

God restored Elijah by speaking to him not in the wind, earthquake nor fire but through the still small voice. In the busyness of our life, we are often attracted by the spectacular as exemplified by the wind, earthquake and fire. We tend to be go-getters, striving to accomplish one thing after another; thinking that we are the only ones capable and that we would be indispensable. As God has revealed to Elijah, He often speaks to us in the stillness of our lives where we can find time to be quiet and meditate. Depression can be overcome when we stop our ears from listening to the lies and deceit of the enemy and start listening to God's word. Elijah didn't have the last word, God has. God told Elijah to anoint his successor and prepare to return home. This shows that no one is indispensable in God's kingdom.

Water Baptism

Our children would be going through the waters of baptism this evening at the Mandarin service in church.  This is the culmination of a series of lessons they have been attending the past few months.  They were also interviewed by Pas Andrew regarding their decision to go through water baptism.  There is no age limit to when one can be baptised as long as we know the significance of what we are going through. 

Water baptism is one of two sacraments instituted by our LORD when He was on earth.  The other was Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper.  Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist in order to fulfill all righteousness (Mt 3:13-16).  Even though He had no sin, He chose to identify with sinful humanity, leaving us an example that we should follow in His footsteps (1 Pet 2:21-25).  Water baptism symbolises our identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.  Though the practice of baptism may differ, (sprinkle, pour or immerse in water) it's important to know the significance of this sacred act.   Our church observed water baptism by immersion, as it best represents the symbol of death, burial and resurrection, unless the candidate is infirmed. 

When the candidate is immersed in the water, it represents dying with Christ to the elementary principles of this world (Col 2:20).  This means our old sinful habits and nature are dead and buried; equivalent to us considering ourselves dead to sin (Rom 6:6,11).  And when the candidate is raised out of the water, it represents resurrection with Christ to newness of life whereby the spirit man is given a renewed mind to seek the things that are above (Col 3:1-2, 10).  Does it mean then that we would no longer struggle with sin after water baptism?  The obvious answer is no as the warfare between the spirit and the flesh continues until the day when we shed this old sinful body through physical death (Rom 8:20-23). 

By going through water baptism, the candidate demonstrates his/her obedience to God and pledges, in all good conscience, to follow Christ fully, enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit which raised Christ from the dead (1 Pet 3:21).   It is an occasion to witness to the world and we are using this opportunity to bring my dad to church to see how this sacrament is carried out, with the hope that one day, he too can be baptised. 



"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."  Col 2:6 (NKJV)

One step closer to God's Kingdom

In an earlier post, I shared about praying for my dad when he had this pain in his hip region.  After his discharge from hospital out-patient treatment on 17 Oct, my mom brought him home to recuperate.  However, on the 31 Oct he had himself admitted to CGH due to the unbearable pain and stayed there till this evening when he was discharged.  Due to a fall, an MRI was done on him but no fracture was discovered.  Over this period of time when he was at the hospital, my wife, brother, his wife and I visited him at different junctures.  We continued to pray for him without him rejecting our prayers.  The surprising thing was that he uttered "Amen" at the end of our prayers.  This in itself speaks volume as my dad in the past was dead against Christianity.  When my brother and I were much younger he forbid anyone of us from becoming Christians or talking to him about Christ. 

At around 3 plus today, my family visited him again to pray for him.  My wife and I took the opportunity to share God's word with him, asking whether he believed in Jesus.  His reply was that those who pray to Him would believe.  He mentioned that all paths lead to the same God.  I also took the opportunity to share that the healing of the soul is more important than the healing of the body, as all of us would ultimately die physically one day.   And that Jesus came to die for mankind in order to give us eternal life through the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness the sins.  We prayed another prayer for him that God would reveal Himself to him as the true and living God.  I quoted John 3:16 to him and prayed for the lifting of the veil over his heart and mind.  I invited him to the healing service next week and he agreed to come.  Praise God!  Pray for the healing of his soul and body. 

Eversince God spoke to Pastor Tay in August regarding His heart from parents, I have been intensifying my prayers for my dad.  I prayed for him using the principles found in the book How to pray for lost loved ones which I shared in an earlier post.  Collectively as a church at P&P we have also been crying out to God for our unsaved loved ones.  I have also enlisted the help of an intercessor to pray for my dad and she has not failed to cry out to God on his behalf.  My brother and my dad's sisters have also been crying out to the Lord for his salvation.   We believe that dad is one step closer to God's kingdom and that it's just a matter of time that he would give his heart to the Lord.  In the meantime, we do not lose heart but have to keep on praying; remembering the words of Scripture which tells us that we are to be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God (Heb 6:12). 

Do not give up praying for your unsaved loved ones.  He is an awesome and mighty God as we have been reminded today at service.