“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls” (Prov. 25:28).
To help reverse the curse of the affects of sin on our life and in our mind, our decision-making process is something we must constantly guard to be certain that the outer walls of our “city”—our emotional state—are in order.
If you get lazy and don’t exercise that God-given ability to reject the thoughts bombarding your mind, your “inner walls” will be broken down, your emotions will be ruined, and you will be a basket case.
“Well, I just can’t help it. I’m an emotional person.” That’s all right. We are all emotional people. God gave us emotions, but they are not to rule us; we are to rule them. What you feel is a direct result of what you think.
Whatever the emotion is—anger, fear, sorrow, grief—all the emotions we experience are a direct result of what we think. Your emotions are not something that overtakes you without any warning. You may say, “I can’t help it. This just happens to me; this is the way I am.”
No. You rule over your own spirit. You rule over your own emotions. And you do it by sorting through the thoughts that come to your mind. Thank God for our minds.
Emotionally healthy people are people who can think clearly and make the right decisions about the thoughts that come into their mind. Do you want to know why people end up in the pits of depression? It is because they do not guard their mind.
Protect Your Heart
Look at what it says in Proverbs:
My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
(Prov. 4:20-23)
Let us study this Scripture. The word “keep” is used today as a very passive word. If we ask someone to “keep” something, we usually mean to “hold it until I get back.” However, if you look it up in the Hebrew, it means “to guard and to protect with everything you have.”
You say, “Well, God is going to protect me from these things.” No, you are to protect your own spirit. You are to rule over your own spirit. And the Word of God tells us in this Scripture that we should guard our mind and our heart above everything else. We should give all diligence to protecting our city by being diligent to guard our thought life.
Depression
How does a person fall into the depths of depression? I have had people tell me, “It just comes over me, and I don’t know what happens.” Another person may say, “I can’t control my emotions. I cry all the time. I just can’t help it.”
There is nothing wrong with crying. It is only when you can’t control your emotions that you enter a dangerous area.
You must constantly monitor your decision-making process by checking up on your thought patterns. If you let your mind wander and do anything it wants to, you are not in control of your spirit.
You can’t let it feed on soap operas, adultery, sickness, and disease. If you allow these things to pass through your gates and go into your inner city, you will be ruined. You will have holes in your wall!
This is what happens to people who fall into the depths of depression. They say they don’t know what happens, but something does happen. A thought comes into their mind.
For example, at work someone makes the off-handed remark, “The job you did yesterday was not done right, and you’re going to have to do it over again this morning.” No one said, “You’re a failure.” They simply said, “You’ll need to do it again; it wasn’t done properly.”
The thoughts come into your mind: “You’re a failure, you never do anything right; Everything you do is wrong; How could you be so stupid?” When those thoughts come into your mind and you dwell on them, you begin to feel that you are a failure. Not only do you think it; you feel it until it overcomes you.
Soon you are in the pits of depression. You say, “It just came over me. I don’t know what happened.”
Because your mind had already been programmed, it accepted those thoughts as being true, and eventually depression was produced. If you had been guarding your thoughts, your decision-making process would have been exercised, and it would have rejected those thoughts.
Use It Or Lose It
We need to monitor and guard the decision-making process diligently. Otherwise, it will become flabby, just like a muscle that’s not used, and it will begin to deteriorate. And soon it will lose its power to decide, “No, I reject that thought.”
And not only do you now have a hole in your wall, but the walls are beginning to crumble. One thought…one statement, “You’re a failure,” and the next thing that happens, everything that is said to you seems to be negative and causes your depression to become deeper.
So guard your walls! Keep a check on your mind. What is happening in the soul realm? Keep a check on your decision-making process. Satan knows if he can get past those walls and get to your inner man, he can destroy you!
Excerpt permission granted by Annette Capps Ministries
Annette Capps is the President and CEO of Capps Ministries, an ordained minister, businesswoman, and licensed airplane pilot. A diversity of experiences created her unique and practical approach to ministry. She brings a balanced message of the supernatural and the natural. This combination of the practical and the prophetic stirs faith in the hearts of audiences.
A lifelong student of the Bible, she has ministered across the nation and has authored seven books, "Reverse the Curse in Your Body and Emotions", Removing the Roadblocks to Health and Healing", Overcoming Persecution", "Angels", "God's Creative Power for Finances", her best seller "Quantum Faith" and newest release "The Spirit of Prophecy".
Along with continuing the radio ministry of her father, Charles Capps, she is now the host of the Concepts of Faith television program which broadcasts on many independent stations and networks including Daystar, TCT Network, and The Victory Channel.
Coming from a long family history of farming, Annette maintains this close connection with the land by managing her family's farmland in Arkansas. She and her husband live in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma where the ministry is now located.