Rick Warren - Finding the Strength to Keep Going When I'm Emotionally Worn Out—Part Three

This is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, the audio broadcast ministry

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we continue in our series

called Strategies for Stressful Times. In these lessons, Rick SHARE's

biblical wisdom for navigating difficult and stressful times so that

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and four. Now here's Pastor Rick Warren with the final

part of a message called finding the Strength to keep

going when I'm emotionally worn out.

Job had every reason to be angry and to be

bitter because nothing made sense. Here he is serving God,

doing the right things. He was a just man, the

Bible said, but nothing made sense. He literally lost everything

in his life, and one day, what did Job do?

He did this third point when he was in a

situation where he was going, I don't know if I've

got strength to go on. What he did is he

gratefully worshiped God when everything around him did not make sense. Obviously,

it's easy to worship God when everything's going your way,

but while how do you worship God when everything's not

going your way? Job Chapter one, verses twenty to twenty two.

It says this that in grief, Job tore his robe

and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground

and he worshiped God. Is that a strange thing to

do in the middle of having lost everything in your life?

He fell to the ground and worshiped God. And here's

what he said. Here's Job's perspective. I was born with nothing,

and I'm going to die with nothing. The Lord gave

and now the Lord is taken away. May the name

of the Lord be praised. That's gratitude in spite of

everything the Bible says that had happened. This is the

next verse. In spite of everything that had happened, Job

did not sin by blaming God. Now, if you're taking

notes right now on your outline, I want you to

circle the phrase praised in spite of everything. Circle that

phrase he praised in spite of everything. Do you do that,

or do you only thank God when things are going

good in your life? You see throughout this book, Job

expresses trust and praise and gratitude to God even when

he has no idea why all these problems and tragedies

are happening in his life, one right after another. And

when Job could not find anything, any circumstance that he

could be grateful for, he just couldn't fvite it. He'd

lost it all. What does he do? He expresses gratitude

for God's character. He expresses God for what he knew

God was really like. Now that is a lesson we

all need to learn when you're going through a time,

and he goes, I can't find anything in my life

to be thankful for. Well, I bet you could. Okay,

I bet you could. But if you were not able

to find anything you could be thankful for in your life,

you could still be thankful for who God is. And

Job shows us that in spite of how I feel,

I can always be grateful. I've listed just three or

four of the things he's grateful for in the book

of Job. They're about fifteen. But Job says, I can

always be grateful that God is loving and cares for me.

Job ten twelve. God is loving and cares for me,

and I know that even when things are going wrong

in my life, God is a loving God and he

cares for me. I can be grateful for that. Then

Job twenty three fourteen, I can be grateful that God

has a detailed plan for my future. I can't see it,

but because I know God's good God, and he has

a plan for my life, it's a good plan. He

has a detailed plan for my life. In job thirty

four thirteen, I can be grateful that God is in

control of what I don't understand. That's been comforting to

me so many times. God's in control of what I

don't understand. And then in job twenty three ten, I

can be grateful that God will reward me after I'm tested.

After I'm tested, there will be a reward for all

the problems that I'm going through right now. Now, let

me just say this to you. I don't know what

sapping your strength today, but I do know that one

of the antidotes to what's sapping your strength is personal worship.

That is one of the four antidotes to the things

that drain your emotions. Personal worship King. David modeled this

key also besides job. Psalm sixty three, verse two says this.

David says, so, here I am in the place of worship,

eyes open, drinking in your strength, drinking in your strength, Wow,

in God's glory. Worship is a time to drink in

God's strength. That's why worship is so essential to your life.

If you stop worshiping, you're gonna run out of emotional energy.

Here I am in the place of worship, eyes open,

drinking in your strength. Strength comes from worshiping God. And

Psal I'm sixty nine thirty two says this. It's on

the screen. Those who worship God will be encouraged. Why

because when I worship, I focus on God. And you

know what, I've discovered. The bigger God gets in my view,

the smaller all my problems did.

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Now back to more from God's Word with Pastor Rick Warren.

The bigger God gets in my view, the smaller all

my problems get. When God's did not. In my view,

my problem seems so big. But when I compare Him

to God, my problems shrink in size. I can't tell

you how many times I've had a problem that I

thought was overwhelming to me, and then I'd go to

church service, at worship service, and I would worship with

other believers, and all of a sudden, it just shrinks

the problem. It's not as big because I see the

greatness of God. All right, Now, let's just review. Four

keys and four attitudes to the power of recharging your

emotions so you can keep on and have the strength

to finish well. First key to keep going, honestly tell

God what I'm feeling. Don't hold it in, don't stuff it.

Second key to keep going, humbly ask God for strength

in humilities that God, I need you, I need your

strength today, and you say it over and over. Third

key to keeping on keeping on gratefully thank God for

all that's good despite all that's bad. There's a lot

of bad in the world, but if you look for it,

there's plenty of good too. And now we come to

the fourth and final key to having the strength to

keep on keeping on when you feel like giving up.

Number four, constantly keep God as my focus. Constantly keep

God as my focus. I'm humbly asking and I'm gratefully continuing,

and I'm honestly telling God how I feel. But now

I'm constantly keeping God as my central focus. What does

that mean? It means don't let yourself be distracted by

less important things. All the stuff that the cable news

and everybody else thinks is so important, It's not that important.

Now this is a powerful tool for having the strength

to keep going for the rest of your life, to

finishing well. Hebrews Chapter twelve, Verse two says this we

must focus on Jesus. This is the fourth key, the

fourth secret. We must focus on Jesus, the source and

goal of our faith. He Jesus saw the joy ahead

of him, so he endured death on the cross and

ignored the disgrace it brought him. Then he received the

highest position in heaven. Now that versus chalk full of

spiritual truth. But I just want to mention a couple

of things. The reason that Jesus was able to keep

going strong. Are you listening? The reason Jesus was able

to keep going strong even through the pain and the

shame of the cross was because what he focused on.

Did you say, see that he wasn't focusing on the

current pain, the current problems, the current stress, the current difficulties,

the current criticisms. He wasn't focused on all that. Now

he was focused on the future joy. He says. He

looked to the joy that was set before him. He

looks past the cross to the reward. He looks to

the future glory. He has an eternal perspective. Now listen,

if you only face life, your life with short term perspective,

You're not going to keep going strong. I don't give

you a snowball's chance in hell of finishing well if

you have a small short term focus, because you'll give up,

you'll quit. But if you want to be like Jesus,

you look past the pain to the promise. You look

past the cross to the joy in heaven. Let me

just ask your pointed question right now, what do you

think about the most these days? Think about that? Be honest.

What do you think about most these days? Is it

short term or long term? And what do you talk

about most these days? The reason I'm asking this question

is because whatever you think about the most, and whatever

you talk about the most, that's your life focus. And

if it's not Jesus, it's no wonder your draining. It's

no wonder society is draining you and all the things.

If you're focused on all the albums and you can't

wait till the latest news, well no wonder. Tewod Corinthians,

chapter four, verse sixteen to eighteen says this, this is

why we never give up. Are you listening? This is

the key, This is why we never give up Our

spirits are being renewed every day, and our present troubles

are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce

in us for us an immeasurably great glory that's gonna

last forever. The temporary problems are gonna produce everlasting glory

and reward forever. So he says, we fix our eyes.

That's focus not on what is seen, but on what

is unseen. It's choosing what you're gonna look at, choosing

what you're gonna focus on. For what is seen as temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal. Now, let's go back

on that verse, he says, first he said, you've got

to look. Here's why we never give up. He said,

we never give up because we're not focusing on the

short term. We're focusing on the long term. We're gonna

keep going. And he says, there's five ways in that

passage that I just read, Five ways to stay strong emotionally.

Are you listening? We never give up because number one,

our spirits are being renewed each day. You say, how

do I get my spirit renewed every day? Get in

this book. Thy word is truth. Sanctify them through thy truth.

The Bible says, this is food. Man shall not live

by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out

of the mouth of God. You wouldn't think of fasting

for a week, but some people they don't open their

Bible for an entire week. If you don't eat the

food this is soul food. The way you get your

spirit renewed is to get in this word every day,

his word, first word, his word, last word. Second reason,

we don't give up because we know that all the

troubles on earth are temporary. They don't last. You know what,

even if I had a problem that lasted my entire life,

and I have some problems in my life that have

lasted my entire life. I was born with some brain

disorders and things like that. But even if it lasts

all my life, that's miniscule compared to the trillions and

trillions of years we're going to have in heaven. So

we know the problems on earth are temporary. They have

a long term expected. Three, we know that God is

using everything in our lives to build our character. All

things work together for the good of those who love God.

God is using even the bad stuff to build our character. Four.

The Bible says in that passage, we know the reward's

going to be great and it's going to last eternity.

And number five, we're keeping our eyes on God. We're focused,

we fix our attention. We're focused on God, not on

the problems. So let me ask you, what are you

focused on today? All the mess in the world. Stop

looking at your problems, start looking at Jesus again. Now,

I want to close with a scripture that's going to

be my prayer for you all this next week. It's

Colossians chapter one, verse eleven, because I want you to

make it to the finish line. My job as your

pastor is a spiritual coach to help you keep on,

keeping on and to not get sidelined in this marathon

of life, to not run off in the ditch, to

not finish the race. Colossians one to eleven. Living Bible

says this, and I'm praying this for you. We're praying

that you will be filled with all his that's God's

mighty glorious strength. I'm praying for God to fill you

with his mighty glorious strength so you don't feel weak,

so that you can keep going. This is what we're

talking about. This weekend so that you can keep going.

You need the strength to keep going. We're praying that

God's mighty, glorious strength will fill you so that you

can keep going no matter what happens, always full of

the joy of the Lord. That's my prayer for you.

You know why. It not only make you happier, but

the world desperately needs you to be that kind of

person full of joy in the Lord. You're able to

keep going because you're filled with the mighty strength of

God's Spirit in you, and that makes you joyful. Even

in the most depressing times and in the most discouraging situations,

it still makes you joyful. It's not false optimism. It's

the joy that comes from a deep trust in Jesus.

That's my prayer for you. I hope you'll put these

than to practice this next week. Before we close, let

me say a word to those of you who may

not be sure that you've been saved by Jesus. The

only way you're going to finish well in life is

by letting Jesus give you his presence in your heart,

his power in your life to enable you to fulfill

his promise that he has for your soul and your

whole life. You need to be saved. Notice the last

verse on your outline two Timothy Chapter one, verse eightan nine,

and I love the message translation says this. We can

only keep on going. We can only keep on going

after all by the power of God, the power of

God who first saved us. Now, before you can have

the power of God in your daily life, you've got

to let God save you. He first saved and then

he gives you the power for daily living. Now, if

you're not sure whether you've been saved or not, it

would be my honor right now to lead you in

a prayer of salvation. If you're not sure, let's just

settle this issue for once and for all your eternal destiny.

All right, So let's all bow our heads together, and

I'm going to pray a simple prayer, and I'd like

to ask you to just follow me in it. And

if you're sincere and you meet it in your heart,

God's going to hear you and he will save you.

The Bible says whoever calls on the name of the

Lord will be saved. So let's bow our heads and

just say something like this, Dear God, you know I'm

tired and you know how many times I feel empty

and I feel out of gas, and I don't feel

like I've got what it takes to keep on going,

and I feel like sometimes given up in different areas

of my life. But I want your power in my

life life, and more that than that, I want you

in my life. Thank you for loving me, Just say that.

Thank you for loving me, Thank you for sending Jesus

to die for me. Help me to understand what that's

all about. And as much as I know how, today

I ask you, Jesus Christ, to put your spirit of

love inside me, Come inside me and fill me with

new energy, with new strength, the strength that comes from

trusting in you. I can't do this on my own.

I need your help. So as much as I know how,

today I'm saying yes, God, Yes, I want you in

my life. And I want to spend the rest of

my life getting to know you as a friend and

filling the purpose that you created me for. I humbly

ask you to accept me into your family by your grace,

and I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi, everybody,

this is Rick and I hope you enjoyed today's broadcast.

You know, if you just prayed that prayer for the

very first time, or you just recommitted your life to

Jesus again today. Would you let me know about it.

There's something real about sharing your commitment. So write me

Rick at Pastorick dot com and say, Rick, I prayed

that prayer of commitment, I gave my life to Christ.

And I'll send you some material that will help you

on your journey with Jesus. And I'll also pray for you.

God bless you.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We're so happy

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