In a sermon I was listening to today, Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding California says this:

"The most unnecessary thing in the world is a depressed christian. This is not to heap guilt on anyone but to make the point that we don't need to let the devil fill us with his lies."

That's a very provocative statement, and he goes on to talk about his own experience about allowing the accusations and judgements of others to send him into an emotional spiral. He would go through periods of depression until he learned to recognise the signs and turn back to worshipping God.

When we listen to the judgements of others we are really listening to the lies of Satan and giving him far more credibility than he deserves. That allows him to add condemnation and more accusations to our account and dragging us deeper into self-loathing and depression.

The solution is to listen to the voice of God not the voice of Satan. What does God say of us? "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

When we learn to turn our attention to what God says of us rather than what Satan says, we can come up out of the emotional spiral and return to the joy of the Lord.