by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Nov 30, 2018 | Articles |
When someone tells you to “Get up and eat!”, ‘it means the food is prepared and ready to eat. “Get up and eat.” may also imply that the beneficiary may be fast asleep whilst the food was being prepared, or simply unaware that a meal is being prepared for him.
It may also suggest that the benefactor has been busy preparing a meal for someone who is tired and sleeping or just helpless but famished.
Sometimes, life’s challenges can hit us so hard that we become so helpless to lift ourselves up to face it. It takes a person with inner poise and a strength of character to be self- motivated in the face of severe hardship or depression.
Many people easily give in or give way to depression when confronted with seemingly hopeless situations. Some do impulsively make wrong assumptions and conclusions that it isn’t going to ever get better. Such attitude has led many to engage in despicable acts or at worst commit suicide.
Mr. Elijah was a very powerful and influential man whose words were always divinely ordered. He stood vehemently against the idolatry and injustice in the land, and was well respected for his uncompromising lifestyle.
He soon became a very powerful figure, an oracle of God, and a threat to the government of the day. He was feared, and dreaded by evil perpetrators, who neither acknowledge God or respected human rights.
King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel had a deep hatred for Mr. Elijah, and sought different avenues to get rid of him. But Elijah survived many attacks and assassination attempts, and continued to be a beacon of hope.
One would think that a powerful man who is so much feared and respected would continue to dominate the scene, and spread his positive influence on the citizens. But, for a moment, Mr. Elijah allowed himself to be wearied by moral depression, occasioned by threats from the Government.
He simply took to his heel, wishing just to die, when he got an inkling that he was going to be killed! He was downcast, and lost the strength to fight on. He gave in to the challenge, and was ready to die anyway.
He cried, “Enough is enough! God, take my life—I’m ready to die!” Amazing how a once brave man, by reason of the hardship never saw any justification to stay alive . He didn’t think life was worth living again. He never thought survival was worth the while.
Exhausted, famished and devastated, he got a call from an angel who instructed him to get up and eat because his journey of life was far from being over (1 Kings 19:3-5).
By divine intervention, Elijah got his strength back, and his motivation was rekindled. His vision was sharpened and his courage was restored. Then he stood up, ready to face life’s battle again, and empowered to face his fears.
When you are down and out, and it seems there’s no more chance to succeed, God gives you a life-line. He never fails to help the helpless who trust in Him.
Perhaps, your failed expectations have become a reoccurring decimal which have drained your mental capacity to believe in your ability to excel, I challenge you to get up and eat!
This is the time to summon up courage, rekindle your zeal and revive your hopeful expectations. Time, age, position is not a barrier. It may look so bad now, but if you can rise up from the ashes, and stretch your optimism, you can still win.
Dear friend, it is far from being over. There’s hope in your tomorrow. Get up and eat! You’ve got a long journey ahead of you. Don’t give up yet. Face your fear. Stretch yourself, push forward. Life’s beautiful!
You are winning! Yes, we are winning!
Also read: “THE PRESENT IS THE KEY TO THE PAST; BUT THE PAST IS NOT THE PRESENT.”
Greatmark
by Mark Ibigbami GreatMark | Mar 21, 2017 | Articles, Lifestyles |
Imagine being invited to a dinner party for fundraising for those who are suffering from depression, and to your amazement, you discovered that these people were on the guest list: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert Schumann, Ludwig Von Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain and Vincent van Gogh.
When you arrive Schumann and Beethoven are discussing the movements in their most recent musical compositions, Poe and Twain are listening to Van Gogh talk about the meaning of his art, while Roosevelt and Lincoln discuss politics.
You wonder to yourself why these people are here. After all, this is a fundraiser to help people suffering from depression. Maybe they all have someone in their family who suffers from depression? The time arrives during the dinner for speeches by special guests. You are shocked as one by one each of these famous people describes their own battle with depression.
Lincoln even quotes from a letter he wrote to a friend some years earlier: “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would be not one cheerful face on earth. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible. I must die or be better it appears to me.”**
You are not the only one who is been challenged! Therefore, suicide should never be an option. There are many others whose case are even worst than yours! To think that the whole world is against you; and that your life isn’t worth living is a lie of the devil! You are relevant that is why you are still breathing.
Why would you contemplate Suicide?
To think that you must take your life for whatever reasons you consider tenable is foolish! A mad man roaming the streets is better than a man who commits suicide, because he still has hope of being rehabilitated some day. You may not be where you want to be; you may even be far from your dreams even though you have labored so hard to get to where you are.
Perhaps, you have thought that when you have achieved your goals, then you would be happy and free, but sadly, you are still plunged in depression and fear. I tell you, you need to quickly look beyond yourself, for true victory is from above. Those who think they don’t need God always end in painful regrets, no matter how intelligent, wealthy or famous they may have lived.
Later on in another letter, Abraham Lincoln, encouraged everyone to persevere. He wrote, “The year that is drawing toward the close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. These bounties are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come.”** Imagined if he had given up on himself when he was dissatisfied about life, he would have not had this beautiful testimony of God’s magnanimity.
How to live above Depression
Who are you, what have you achieved that you think you are bigger than your creator? Even great men whose names and successes remain indelible understood that the way out of depression and hopelessness is God!
Here is one secret to live above depression, and overcome the act of suicide: let your heart be positioned towards God, and then you will be connected to heavenly signals that would position you for divine excellence. If you stand up now from your depression mood, turn towards God and tilt your faith towards heaven, you will be connected to possibilities, and trust me, you will be locked down to winning mode!
Those who are locked down to winning mode are those whose help is in the name of the Lord (Psalm 124:8). “God is always on the alert, constantly on the lookout for people who are totally committed to him…” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
Are you so worried about your performance? Have you received so many queries and rejections that you think you are so worthless? The truth is, that which you do is not who you are. Your performance is a product of what you do; and who you are is what God has made you to be.
You might have failed in what you do but that doesn’t make you a failure. Your performance may change but who you are doesn’t change! God says you’re His child, His masterpiece -beautifully and wonderfully made. He says you are good, and you are more than conqueror! So why settle for less of God? Why even think of suicide!?
Look, the enemy will do his best to magnify your problems. You’ve got to make the decision that you’re going to keep a positive attitude to life. So many things around you will seek to demoralize you but you must choose to be happy. The enemy always fight you the hardest when he knows that God has great things in store for you. Your best days is right ahead of you!
You’ve got to keep doing the right thing even when the wrong things are happening to you. You’ve got to stay positive and make a decision that you are going to step out in faith and outlast the enemy! Don’t settle for mediocrity so you don’t miss out on God’s best.
Just beyond the adversity is a place of abundance. You are winning! Yes, we are winning!
Also read: THE MANY BLESSINGS OF AN UNGRATEFUL MAN
How to overcome depression: https://thiswayup.org.au/how-do-you-feel/sad/
GreatMark
*Source: based on information found in an article by Liora Nordenberg “Dealing with the Depths of Depression” at US Federal Drug Administration website. **Final Lincoln quote found at sermons.com
