I realise this one is going to be a touchy subject.  I also realise that sometimes anxiety is a hormonal or nutritional imbalance.  FoodMatters dvd  has great information on the supplement Niacin which really helps with depression.

Sometimes anxiety and depression are spiritual attacks too.  I know because I’ve

been there and so has my husband.   Where you brain is seeing ridiculous images, is tortured over you’re not quite sure what, you’re moody and weepy and it’s awful.

 

Let me list 3 incidents:

1. When I was 17 I heard a very thought provoking sermon about rape and genocide in Rwanda and jumped right in and wrote an article about it for our local paper about helping them. The paper didn’t want to publish it; too big for a local paper, and from when I wrote the article, I was immediately tormented by images of the above mentioned topic, and just a heavy depressing cloud. The only way to receive some relief was playing Scripture verses to music.    The depression didn’t lift for several weeks until I repented of writing the article.  Why was it such a big deal?  God didn’t tell me to write it, and in taking on that topic without His permission or anointing, I took on board not just the social aspect of it, but the spiritual aspect of why it was going on anyway and what was controlling the country.

Ephesians 6:12

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the … dark world–the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.

2. Shortly after I moved to Toowoomba and stepped out into evangelism I read a very

   

   misguided book of visions by a witch who had converted to Christianity. This book caused me to doubt my salvation and that of others, caused me deep depression to the point of not wanting to be in the house alone. I had a pressing desire to see people saved but then doubted that they would stay saved so what was the point?  There were other wacky bits of doctrine in this book also, and the effects of this book lasted over my life for over a year  and not due to a lack of prayer, as I had several prayer ministry sessions over this, but as I renewed my mind on God’s Word I gradually won the victory.    This book was based on fear and one of the most helpful books that I read that helped me break free from a lot of it was ‘He Loves Me’ by Wayne Jacobsen.    My husband is wise and judges the books I read by their fruit in my life and the lives of others, and two other people we knew well were exposed to teaching s by this person at the same time as I was and were also severely depressed and struggled with their salvation.    God allowed me to read it so that I would learn to dig into what I really believed and not

Ephesians 4:14

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning

3. When my husband was in his early 20s, before we met, he and His family were living on an island where God was teaching them about spiritual warfare. He says God had shown him not to go to a particular part of the island, where there was demonic activity, but he went anyway, his spiritual eyes were opened and from that point on he suffered severe anxiety and depression until he confessed what had happened to his parents and received prayer.

James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

 

So if someone tells me that they suddenly are depressed or anxious, I ask them what has happened in the days leading up to that point in time, and pray through with them that issue.

So, communion and anxiety.  You’ve seen above some steps that we’ve needed to take to become free of spiritual anxiety attacks, and one step is communion, though I haven’t particularly high-lighted it.    One more thing that has helped through times like these is to discover what steps God has ordained us to take to discover JOY, and usually it involves getting loud about our praise and physical movement.  Here’s my study.

Whether your anxiety is spiritual or natural, God has better for you, and taking communion is declaring to the spiritual realm Christ’s victory in your life and over the demonic.

1 Corinthians 11:26

‘For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes’

And at His death, He won the victory for us.

1 Corinthians 15:57

And thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

Communion is also declaring healing.  Earlier in our study we looked at how our healing is 3 dimensional.  Body, soul (mind) and spirit, and there is healing for each part.

The words in brackets are mine.

^{Isaiah 53:4-5}

⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;

(spiritual sins)

The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,

(emotional pain)

And by His stripes we are healed.

(Physical body)

And why the crown of thorns?  Thorns were part of the curse, and they were pressed down into his head, the curse broken over mental struggles as we partake of the healing won for us.

I hope sharing some of my journey with depression and anxiety helps you to understand there can be more than one cause.  Peggy Joyce Ruth, author of Psalm 91, has further resources on overcoming spiritual depression and anxiety, in her book Tormented; 8 Years and Back.   I’ve interviewed her here