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

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

of Pastor Rick Warren. Today we begin a series called

Strategies for Stressful Times. In these lessons, Rick shares biblical

wisdom for navigating difficult and stressful times so that you

can experience God's peace and thrive in any situation. In

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If you want, you can just text the word hope

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more information. That's the word hope to eight hundred six

hundred five thousand and four. Wow. Here's Pastor Rick Warren

with part one of a message called finding the Strength

to keep going when I'm emotionally worn out.

You know, because Daily Hope has heard on hundreds of

radio stations around the world and on podcasts, I get

a lot of letters every day. I want to read

just one of them to start us off. In today's message,

it said, Dear Pastor Rick, I listen to your message

every day on Daily Hope program, so I thought i'd

write and ask you to pray for me. With all

that our world has been going through in the last

year and a half, it seems that everybody I meet

has run out of gas emotionally and relationally. Everybody seems

to be going through the motions, but you can tell

that their heart is not really in it. Everybody is

tired and worn out. For me, personally, I don't know

how much longer I can keep up with the new demands.

I try to look energetic and I try to be positive,

but honestly, I'm I'm ready to throw in the towel.

I'm ready to give up on my career, my dreams,

and even my marriage. What can I do to get

my spark back? You know, you may or may not

identify with that letter, But today I want us to

look in God's word at finding the strength to keep going.

Finding the strength to keep going when I'm emotionally worn out. Now,

notice I'm not talking about when you're physically worn out.

When you're physically tired, that's a much easier problem actually

to solve. When you're physically tired, you just need rest

and relaxation. You just get some time off and get

some sleep. But sleep and rest alone will not cure

the emotional fatigue, the spiritual fatigue, the relational fatigue that

many people are feeling after the last year and a

half of massive change in our lives. What you need

is a strategy to recharge your spiritual and emotional battery.

You know there's going to be many times in life

when you need to keep going when your mind and

your emotions have already shut down. They've shut down from

emotional overload or from fatigue and just working too long

and putting out too much time and helping too many people. Today,

I want us to look at four solutions from God's

word about how to keep on going when you feel

like giving up. The Bible has a lot to say

about developing the qualities of resilience and endurance and determination.

But before we actually look at some secret steps or

keys or principles, I want to give you two examples

in Scripture of determination to keep going. One is Jesus

and the other is the Apostle Paul. Let me just

show you these two. They're there at the top of

your outline if you're taking notes. The first is the

determination of Jesus to keep going in spite of opposition.

Jesus faced constant opposition in his ministry. Both the religious

leaders and the political leaders were constantly trying to stop

Jesus from teaching and ministering. They didn't want him doing this.

He was too popular, and at one point they tried

to intimidate Jesus to stop his ministry by telling him quote,

King Herod wants to kill you. End quote. Now in

Luke chapter thirteen, verse thirty two and thirty three, we

find Jesus' response when they came and they're trying to

intimidate Jesus and get him to stop doing, to stop

keeping on keeping on. And here's what Jesus said. He said,

I want you to go back to Herod. He called

him that old fox, and he said, I want you

to tell King Herod this. This is the verse on

your outline. Quote I'm willing. I will keep on driving

out demons. I will keep on driving out demons and

healing people today and tomorrow and on the next day,

and then I'll reach my goal in any case, Jesus says,

I must keep going. Do you hear that I must

keep going today and tomorrow and the next day. Jesus said,

nothing's going to stop me, least of all a fear

of somebody else or some kind of criticism or opposition.

So Jesus had the quality of resilience and endurance and

determination to keep on keeping on. The second example we

have is the determination of Paul. And Paul was determined

to keep going in spite of pain. We find that

in Second Corinthians, chapter four, verses eight and nine. It's

there on your outline, Paul says there in the New

Living translation, we are hard pressed on every side by troubles.

Does that sound familiar? Maybe you feel right now you're

hard pressed on every side by troubles. In other words,

it's coming at you from in any different directions. Paul says,

we're hard pressed on many sides, every side by troubles,

but we're not crushed and broken. And then he says

we're perplexed. In other words, sometimes we're confused. We don't

know which way to go. But he says, we don't

give up and quit. That's determination. We don't give up

and quit and then he says, we're hunted down, but

God never abandons us. And he says, yes, we get

knocked down, but we get up again and we keep going.

Both Jesus and Paul use this phrase, how to keep going?

How do you keep going? So? Where do I get

the strength to keep going when I feel like I'm tired,

I'm worn out, I don't have the emotional energy to

keep doing. The answer is, you get the power and

the strength to keep going the same place Jesus and

Paul got it. You get it for God.

You're listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope Rip will be

back in just a moment with the rest of today's lesson.

You can sign up for Pastor Rick's free email devotional

at pastorick dot com. That's pastorick dot com.

Pastor Rick says it's vitally important for children to understand

that even before the universe was created, God had them

in mind and that he has a special plan and

purpose for their life. That's why he created The Purpose

Driven Life devotional book for children. This inspirational resource uses

the principles found in Pastor ricks life changing bestseller The

Purpose Driven Life, but delivers them as one hundred devotions

that speak directly to the daily challenges kids face and

gives real world applications to help them discover their purpose.

Paired with powerful scripture passages and engaging illustrations, young readers

will thrive on the biblical wisdom that has helped millions

of people throughout the world. We'll send you the Purpose

Driven Life one hundred illustrated Devotions for Children today as

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Now.

Back to more from God's word with pastor Reis Waring.

So where do I get the strength to keep going

when I feel like I'm tired, I'm worn out, I

don't have the emotional energy to keep doing the answer is,

you get the power and the strength to keep going,

the same place Jesus and Paul got it. You get

it from God. But that's just the simple answer. There

are actually some key actions for four key actions and

attitudes that you're going to need to make it to

your finish line to have the strength to keep on

keeping on in the things you know God wants you

to do when you feel like giving up. Now, let's

get right into it. The first key to daily strength,

the daily strength that you're going to need to keep

going in a time of crisis or conflict or chronic stress.

The first key to daily strength that you need to

keep going is this, write it down. Honestly tell God

what I'm feeling. That's the starting point. You start with

just being honest to God. Honestly tell God what I'm

feeling right now. I'm running out of energy, I'm running

out of gas. You don't tell him what you think

you ought to feel. You admit what you're really feeling so,

are you feeling frustrated? Then tell God? Are you feeling exhausted?

Then tell that to him. Do you feel like you

can't go on like this? Tell him you feel like

you're under attack. Tell God you feel like you're discouraged.

Tell God you feel overwhelmed. Tell God you just go

ahead and dump everything you're feeling right now on the Lord.

He said, Can I actually do that? Well? The Bible

says it one Peter five seven, New Jerusalem Translation says this,

unload all your burdens on him, since he is concerned

about you. I love that. Unload. Unload That word In

the Greek, which the Bible is originally written in the

word unload means literally drop it. That's what it means,

you let it go. It's not like you're throwing at

a long distance. It's like if you're carrying a big boulder.

You just let it go, You dump it, You unburden yourself.

The Bible says that when you feel like you're overstressed,

you're over worried, you're overburdened, you just let it go.

Now he's how does that? How do you do that?

By being honest to God? Now? Sometimes it's intimidating being

honest to God. We kind of pretend like we God

doesn't really know everything in our lives. If you're going

to be truly honest to God, you need to remember

three facts. Okay. Number one, God already knows every emotion

I feel. Write that down. God already knows every emotion

I feel. The Bible says in Proverbs thirty three excuse me,

Psalm thirty three, verse, the Lord gave each of us

our mind, so nothing we can do can be hidden

from him. Well, of course, since God created your mind,

obviously he can read it, so nothing can be hidden

from God. So you're not ever going to surprise him.

And when you start telling God exactly how you feel

right now, he's never going to say, Wow, I didn't

know that. I didn't know you felt that way. That's

a surprise to me. Golly. Now get this, When I

confess my feelings to God, it's not for God's benefit.

It's always for my benefit because God already knows. So

why does God want me to unburden? Why does he

want me to unload? Why does he want me to

confess to admit to just tell him the stress that

I'm under it's for my benefit when you talk it

out to God. When you tell God it relieves a

lot of unconscious tension and a lot of internal conflict

and stress in your life. Now, that's just the first

thing you have to remember. God not only knows everything

I'm feeling before I even mention it. The second thing

is God understands my feelings better than I do. Yeah,

you have the feelings, but God understands them better than

you do. First Chronicles, chapter twenty eight, verse nine says

this in the New Century version, the Lord knows what's

in everybody's mind, and he understands circle that He understands

everything you think. Now, I certainly don't understand everything I think.

I doubt you understand everything you think. A lot of

times we have thoughts, We go, where did that come from?

What does that mean? Why did I think it? When

you have an emotion, a lot of times you go,

where did that come from? Why do I feel this way?

We don't always understand, but God always understands your emotions.

Why well, because He gave to you. You See, the

only reason you have emotions is because you're made in

God's image. God is an emotional God. The Bible says,

God gets jealous, he gets angry, he gets sad. The

Bible said, God laughs. All these emotions are appropriate in

their right place. God is an emotional God, and the

only reason you have emotions is because you're made in

God's image. Horses don't get jealous, ants don't get sad.

Every emotion you have is God given. Now, as I said,

they can be misused. Your emotions can be abused. Your

emotions can be used inappropriately to hurt people and to

harm people, like every other gift of God. But your

ability to feel emotions is actually part of being human.

So your reticence to tell God what you're feeling really

is kind of dumb, because number one, God already knows

what you're feeling, and number two, he understands you're feeling

better than you do. Third fact, you need to realize

and remembers this. God loves to listen to me. Write

that down. God loves to listen to me. Did you

know that? In Psalm one sixteen, verses one and two

today's English version, David says this, I love the Lord.

He says, I love the Lord because he listens. He

listens to my prayers. He listens to me every time

I call to him. God is a listening God. And

that's a third reason why you should tell God exactly

what you're feeling every day. God is never too busy

for a conversation with you. You get too busy for a

conversation with him, but He is never too busy for

a conversation with you. God has an unlimited data plan. Okay,

he doesn't have call waiting, he doesn't have a recording.

Say push two if you want the Holy Spirit, push

three if you want to talk to Jesus Now. He

doesn't have attention deficit and go what was what were

you talking about? Can you say that again? God is

always attentive and he's always ready to have a conversation.

You see. The truth is God is always waiting on

you to talk. God is never gonna say not now,

I can't talk about it. I'm busy. Can you talk

to me a little bit later about this? No, God

is waiting to talk to you. He said, Well, what

about when I'm just complaining? He still listens. Did you

know that the Bible says that God listens to your

complaint when you complain? He says, God is listening that's

a prayer. Can a prayer be a complaint? Yeah? A

lot of the psalms are complaints of David. In Psalm

fifty five, verse seventeen, David says, this morning, noon, and night,

I complain of my distress, and still the Lord hears

my voice. Now listen to me. God can handle your complaints.

He can handle your frustrations. He can handle your doubts. God,

I doubt this. He can handle your fears. He's not

going to be upset with you on that. He can

handle your questions. He can handle your grief. He can

handle your discouragement. He can handle your struggles, your depression. Why,

because He made you to love you. You can't make

God stop loving you. You can try, but you'll fail

because God's love is based on who he is. Psalm

one three, verse thirteen says this the Lord is like

a father to his children, tender and compassionate. I love

that verse. You know why, because as a father, I

love it when my kids, who are now adults. I

love it when my kids want to talk to me

about anything. But I especially love it when they want

to talk to me about their feelings and telling me

what's going on in their heart, and God loves that too.

When you are honestly free with telling God how you

really feel, you tell God what's really on your heart.

Someone forty five, verse nine says this on the screen.

The Lord is good to everyone, and he shows compassion

to all he has made. Did you get that? The

Lord is good to everyone. He shows good things to everybody,

even those who are atheists who don't believe in him,

or whatever, who are rejecting him, who are mad at him.

The Lord is good to everyone, and he shows compassion

to all he has made. By the way, if God

is good to everybody and he shows compassion to all

he's made, shouldn't you and I do the same with

people we disagree with? Do you show compassion to people

you disagree with? Are you good to people who you

think are an enemy? God is good to everyone and

compassionate with everyone. Now, because God knows every feeling you

already have. And God understands every feeling, and he knows

better than you do. And God loves to listen to

us and even our complaints about stress and everything else

and change, and he's always listening. Then God tells us

to come quickly to him.

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

you've chosen to study along with us today. You know

you can get hope and encouragement from Pastor Rick delivered

to your inbox every day. Just go to Pastorick dot

com and sign up for his free daily devotional. Rick

will be right back to close out our time today.

But first, Pastor Rick says it's vitally important for children

to understand that even before the universe was created, God

had them in mind, and that he has a special

plan and purpose for their life. That's why he created

The Purpose Driven Life devote book for children. This inspirational

resource uses the principles found in Pastor Rick's life changing

bestseller The Purpose Driven Life, but delivers them as one

hundred devotions that speak directly to the daily challenges kids

face and gives real world applications to help them discover

their purpose. Paired with powerful scripture passages and engaging illustrations,

young readers will thrive on the biblical wisdom that has

helped millions of people throughout the world. We'll send you

The Purpose Driven Life one hundred illustrated Devotions for Children

today as our way of saying thanks for your gift

to help Daily Hope take the Hope of Jesus to

people around the world. Be sure to get a copy

for all the children God has placed in your life, kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews,

and the kids in your neighborhood. They'll all be blessed

by this amazing resourced Pastorick dot com. Right now to

get your copy, that's Pastorick dot com, or you can

call eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. That's

eight hundred six hundred five thousand and four. Today is

the last day to get this great resource, so don't wait.

Thank you so much for your support, and don't forget

to tell us you listen to Daily Hope on the radio.

Here's Pastor Rick with a letter from one of our listeners.

Friends, here's an incredible testimony from a woman named Amy

in Indiana about how she used a Daily Hope devotional

to lead her own son to Christ. You could do

this too. Here's what she wrote. Dear Pastor Rick, I've

been carrying a burden this past month for my fifteen

year old son who had not accepted Christ. But last

night was the night I finally went into his room,

and I asked him and he told me no, that

he hadn't accepted Christ as as Lord and Savior. So

then I asked if he would like to and he

said yes. Well, I had him read the Prayer of

a Salvation attached to the Daily Hope devotional, and then

I prayed with him and I prayed for him. Wow, Amy,

what an incredible, precious moment that you were able to

lead your son to Jesus. It's the most important thing

you'll ever do as a parent. And I'm so blessed

to hear your testimony, and I hope it encourages every

other parent to be faithful like that. I want to

just pray for you and your son right now. You're Jesus.

I want to thank you for caring so much that

you made a way for us to become a part

of your family so that we can join you in

heaven one day. And thank you for giving Amy the

courage to ask the question. Thank you for giving her

the courage to talk to her son about you. And

we're so grateful that he's accepted you into his heart.

Now we ask you to give him a receptive heart

and help them to get into God's word on a

daily basis. We know that's the way he's going to grow.

So thank you Lord for Amy's obedience and Jesus. Right now,

I'm praying for more and more people to do what

Amy did, to have the courage to step out and

share their faith with a friend, a neighbor, a loved

one who doesn't know you yet. I'm praying that you

will give them just the right words and just the

right time to share just the right message of your

salvation in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, my friends, there is

nothing more important you can do than lead somebody to

Jesus Christ. Your life can never be considered a failure.

If somebody is going to be in heaven because of you, youths,

help them settle their eternal destiny. Fact, that's why Daily

Hope exists. It's simply one more method to help you

tell more and more people about the forgiveness and the

hope and the salvation and the love and the joy

that's found in Jesus Christ. Through Daily Hope, we can

work together to help other moms and dads like Amy

and others reach their sons and their daughters for Jesus Christ. Now,

I'm always grateful for your prayers, and I'm always grateful

for your financial support. But you may ask how important

is your donation to Daily Hope Ministry. Just ask Amy,

She's got a son who's going to be in heaven

because you gave. Thank you, everybody.

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