Depression is real. It can be a lingering cloud that hangs over your life or a heavy darkness that seems to come out of nowhere. It can affect your sleep, your relationships, and your future. If you’ve ever wrestled with it, you could probably give me a lengthy list of how depression is robbing you of life. 
 
No matter where it comes from, your deliverance lies in God’s word.
 
Forgive me if I don’t mince words. If you’re struggling with depression, you don’t need someone to coddle you. This is war and the fight is over your life. The devil would like nothing more than to pull you down and keep you there. 
 
This is the battle over your soul.
 
And I’m here to tell you that you can fight this and you can win. You can regain hope. 
 
Your Victory Starts Here
Covering a span of eight years, the Center for Bible Engagement surveyed over 100,000 people worldwide about their spiritual lives. The findings revealed that people who read their Bibles four or more times a week experienced a significant and measurable impact on their spiritual growth and mental health. 
 
Reading the Bible at least four days a week affected how they lived their daily lives. It impacted the choices and decisions they made. It even decreased the tendency to “overeat or mishandle food.” (Read more results from the study here.)
 
And science is finally catching up to the truths in God’s word. Reading scripture is now scientifically proven to improve mental health. If you battle depression, anxiety or hopelessness, spending time in God’s word can bring the relief and healing you seek. (Watch this interview: “Neuroscience Confirms, Mental Health Healing Can Come Through Scripture” here.)
 
Faith Hinges on Hope
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV
 
Whether you gave it up willingly or the enemy snatched it away from you, often depression is rooted in lost hope. And lost hope leads to lost faith. It becomes hard to believe in God’s goodness toward you for your future, for your life.
 
If you’re not spending time in God’s word, the problem is only compounded. Without God’s word to guide, you will live by the platitudes of the world. They sound good and are great for bumper stickers, but they will not carry you through the storms of life. 
 
Like sinking sand, the world’s wisdom will fail you when you lose your job, your relationships crumble, or the dark cloud of depression hovers over you.
 
“Remember the word to Your servant, upon which You have caused me to hope.” Psalm 119:49
 
But God’s word will hold you steady. God’s word gives you something real to hold onto when the storms of life blow or depression blindsides you and threatens to pull you under. God’s word gives you HOPE to hang your faith on. 
 
It gives you something to believe other than the lies the enemy whispers in your ear.
 
This Habit Will Save Your Life
Would you like to be free from depression? Can you commit to reading your Bible at least four days a week? Spending time in God’s word is a habit that can save your life and help you heal. 
 
My preference, and a lifelong habit since I became a Christian, is to read a physical Bible with a pen and notebook at hand. 
 
Before you start with a long list of reasons why that’s not possible for you, the beauty of the digital age is that the Bible is at your fingertips. Download a Bible app and you can listen while you take a shower or eat a bowl of cereal or drive to work.
 
There is no excuse not to spend time in God’s word. If you really want to win over depression, you will find a way. It’s the number one habit that will literally change your life, backed by research and supported by science.
 
And I wouldn’t stop at 4x a week. Make it a daily habit, your new mode of operation. 
 
Make the Choice
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2
 
Read your Bible regularly, and you’ll gain a new outlook on life and make better life decisions (and... yes, even have better control over your weight). The simple act moves you from passivity to proactivity as you make that daily choice to let God’s word transform your life.
 
And when you do that, hope will arise. Faith will become a substance in your life—a very real and tangible strength that will help you push back darkness and win the battle for your soul.
 
“Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” Psalm 107:19-20
 
“God sent His word and healed them...” Reading God’s word is your starting point for physical, spiritual, and mental health.
 
The Other Four
I promised you five habits that can help you fight depression and regain hope. These all hinge upon spending time in God’s word. Once you have that down, the rest follow. 
 
There’s so much to say about each one, but here’s my quick list of five habits that will save your life:
 
1. Read God’s Word.
Establish a time and a way to read or listen to God’s word every day! Even if it’s just five, ten, fifteen minutes a day—you can do this.
 
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
 
2. Pray God’s Word. 
Incorporate scripture into your prayers! The angels go to work on your behalf when you pray his word. 
 
“Bless the LORD, you His angels, who excel in strength, who do His word, heeding the voice of His word.” Psalm 103:20
 
3. Sing God’s Word.
Yes, really. Open your mouth and sing out his truths. 
 
“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:18-19
 
4. Speak God’s Word. 
Speak God’s word out loud and over your life. Speak his promises. Speak what he says about you as his son or daughter. 
 
This is truth. This is who you are. One of my favorite things to say out loud (and especially when life takes a turn I didn’t expect) is: I have a future and a hope!
 
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

5. Live the Word. 
Be a doer of the word! Let your life and actions reflect God’s wisdom.
 
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22
 
 
Five habits. Get the first one down, and the rest will follow.
 
God has a good plan for your life, free from depression and filled with hope. It’s worth fighting for. 
 
You are worth fighting for.
 
 
 
These resources will help you incorporate Bible reading into your daily schedule:
YouVersion’s free Bible app. Download it here.
 
“Start Dreaming Again: From Valley to Vision” 30-Day Devotional
Available on YouVersion’s Bible app here.
Also available as a Growth Plan on iDisciple here.
 
Through the Valley—Move Your Life Forward in God
A 40-day devotional book with pages to journal! Available in print, Kindle, and audio here.
 
 
If you’ve ever wondered how to become a Christian, read this.

​Eyes wide open or eyes closed? How do you pray? Even more importantly – how do you live? 
 
There is a stance, an attitude towards everyday living that can open us up to be vessels of the Lord bringing truth and hope to those around us, and another that closes us in, shuts us – and the Holy Spirit – down, isolating us, closing us off from what God wants to do in the earth.