Jesus Culture's Kim Walker-Smith Shares Spiritual Warfare Tactic That Helped Her Overcome Depression
Kim Walker-Smith explains how she used worship as an act of spiritual warfare to help her through her intense battle with postpartum depression and the doubt that came after the loss of her father.
The longtime Jesus Culture frontwoman recently released a live EP with selections from her 2017 hit solo album, On My Side. The powerful album is laced with descriptions of the past four years of Walker-Smith's life that she says were filled with trial after trial.
"I think one of the greatest tactics of the enemy is to make us think that we're alone and isolated; and that no one could understand and that we're the only ones who feel that way. That's such a lie and I feel like that lie is exposed when we start talking about the things that we're going through," Walker-Smith told The Christian Post as she spoke openly about her struggles. "When we partner together and cling to each other to work through those things together, pray for each other ... that's how we come out of that isolation, defeat our enemy and pull out of those tough seasons."
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Walker-Smith just wrapped up performing on Chris Tomlin's "Worship Night in America" tour where she said she witnessed the power of worship. The Oregon native explained how instrumental it was for her to continue declaring God's goodness during her difficult battle with postpartum depression after her second child and her father's death.
"The sacrifice of praise is when you choose to worship even when you don't feel like it. Even when you may not be able to get your mind to a place that you fully believe, you're still making a choice to worship Jesus and there's so much power in that," she explained.
"He shows up and pours out His presence over us and meets us where we are," Walker-Smith continued. "God honors that sacrifice. Fire always falls on the sacrifice. You bring everything that you have to Jesus and you won't be disappointed, you won't be let down. You may not see everything you're hoping for in that moment but it brings your heart closer to Him and keeps you connected through the journey, through the process."
As one of the leading worship leaders for this generation, Walker-Smith gave insight into what happens in the spiritual realm when people engage in worship through hard times.
"It's powerful when you can declare who God is and sing out who He is in the middle of that storm. It's warfare against the enemy," she maintained. "The enemy comes and tries to fill your mind with lies, he wants you to believe the things that pull you down. But when you can speak that out and say, 'No. This is who God is. This is what God does.' even if you don't believe it, it's still powerful to speak it out and it's warfare against your enemy. It's the thing that chases him away and back to the pit."
The mom of three said it's important that people remember to worship during the low moments in life because not one moment goes unnoticed by God.
"One day I will live in the fruit of this moment, so right now I'm chasing to worship Him, despite how I feel or what I believe. There will come a time in my life that I will live in the fruit of this decision that I'm making right now to worship Him and press into Him despite what's going on," Walker-Smith recalled about what she did during her own battle.
When CP asked her to share advice for those who might be discouraged by the American church culture, Walker-Smith spoke to the importance of authenticity. She echoed Chris Tomlin who, during his shows, says: 'We live in a country, a nation that's very divided right now. But if there's ever a time, if there's ever a people that shouldn't be divided, it is the Church and it's right now.'"
"People may have been hurt by church culture. There are things that happen in the church that are not always right that's not always OK. No church is perfect. It's a group of people and because we're people, we're humans, we're gonna make mistakes, we're gonna have flaws," She said. "We're gonna have things that are wrong. But if we were to focus on becoming like Jesus, the unity [and] how Jesus loved everyone — Jesus was very clear about the greatest commandments: Love Him and love people and that says it all."
"I think that when you're committed to loving people, then you're also committed to working on relationship, and working for unity and working through having the tough conversations. We can't expect perfection out of each other but we can work through things together," she added. "We all have to keep our eyes on Jesus as the example of what the Church should look like and not create our own ideas of what we think a successful church is."
Jesus Culture planted a church in Sacramento, California, four years ago and Walker-Smith said her Pastor, Banning Liebscher, does a great job of being transparent with the congregation while learning the style of others.
"We want something that represents Jesus and we want something that connects with a lot of other people," she said.
Walker-Smith is gearing up to embark on the On My Side tour starting on July 19 and then the release of a new Jesus Culture album in the fall with an October tour to follow.
"Next year, I'm feeling like I might take some time [off] for me to be home with my kids. I don't know if I'll go out quite as much next year. I may take a little season to just be home. I feel in my heart a shift coming," Walker-Smith added. "I don't know what's ahead. I'm not thinking about quitting or anything like that, I'm just thinking I might take more time at home next year. I don't know what that looks like but I can feel some change happening."
To get a copy of her latest album On My Side or for more information on the upcoming tours, click here.
