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

Hey everybody, thank you so much for stopping by Pastor

Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. And today we're going

to begin a timely series called Strategies for Stressful Times.

In this series, Rick will share timeless truths from God's

Word that will help you manage stress, overcome worry, and

experience the peace and stability that only God can provide. Well,

what do you say we get started? Here is the

first part of a message called Finding the Strength to

Keep Going When I'm Emotionally Worn Out.

You know, because Daily Hope is 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 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 ministries. 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 13, verse 32 and 33, we find Jesus' response.

Luke 13:32

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 gonna stop me,

least of all, of 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 2 Corinthians 4, 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 many 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

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

actually some key actions, four, four key actions and attitudes

that you're gonna 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 gonna 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. You say,

can I actually do that? Well, the Bible says it.

1 Peter 5, 7, New Jerusalem translation says this, unload

all your burdens on him since he is concerned about you.

I love that. Unload, unload. You know, 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 it

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 overworried, you're overburdened, you just let it go. Now,

how do you do that? By being honest to God. Now,

sometimes it's intimidating being honest to God. We kind of

pretend like God doesn't really know everything in our lives.

If you're gonna 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 33,

excuse me, Psalm 33, verse 15, The Lord gave each

Psalms 33:15

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 gonna surprise him.

And when you start telling God exactly how you feel

right now, he's never gonna 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

1 Chronicles 28 · chapter mention

chapter 28, 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'd that come from? What does that mean? And 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 them 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 remember is this.

God loves to listen to me. Write that down. God

loves to listen to me. Did you know that? In

Psalm 116, 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 the 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. No, he doesn't have attention

deficit and go, 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.

You say, 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 55, verse 17, David says this, morning, noon,

Psalms 55:17

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 103 verse 13 says this,

Psalms 103:13

the Lord loves 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

wanna talk to me about anything, but I especially love

it when they wanna 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. Psalm 145 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 change, and he's always listening,

then God tells us to come quickly to him whenever

we're stressed, whenever we're at the end of our rope,

when we're ever ready to throw in the towel, as

that letter said. Whenever you're distressed, Lamentations 2, verse 19

Lamentations 2:19

says this, cry out to God. Cry out in the night,

pour out. Can you hear this? Cry out in the night,

pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord.

Have you been doing that? If you haven't, that's one

of the reasons why you may be emotionally dry and

drained and that. Do you hear the passion in that verse?

Do you hear the urgency in that verse that God

wants you to have? He says, cry out, not mumble

some memorized cliche prayer for the gift and the giver

and bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies

and on. No, he says, cry out. Say, God, help me.

Help me. I don't know if I can keep going

or not. It's just too hard. I'm about to lose it.

I'm at the end of my rope. I'm out of options.

I can't handle this. That's being honest to God. Now,

this is the first key to gaining daily strength, the

daily strength that you need in order to keep going

and make it to the finish line and finish well

in your life. And the first key is this, honestly

tell God what I'm feeling. Now, the second key to

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

is this, You don't just honestly tell God what you're feeling.

Number two, you humbly ask God for strength. I humbly

ask God for strength. There's an action step and there's

an attitude with each of these four keys. Psalm 105

verse four says this, look to the Lord and to

his strength. That's pretty clear. He says, you know, don't

look for any other source for emotional strength. Look to

the Lord. Who are you looking to for emotional strength

in your life? Look to the Lord for his strength.

Job chapter 12, verse 13 says this, God is the

Job 12:13

real source of wisdom and strength. God is the real source.

So why don't you keep, why do you keep asking

other people for support and for strength? God is the

real source. If God is the real source of strength

in your life, emotional, spiritual, mental, physical strength, why don't

you keep asking for strength literally throughout your day? Not

just once in the morning or once at night. Why

not throughout the day? God, I need strength as I'm

going into this meeting. God, I need strength as I'm

doing this doctor's appointment. God, I need strength as I'm

picking up the kids. God, I need strength as I'm

preparing this task or this meal or whatever. You know,

the Bible says you do not have it because you

don't ask God for it. You have not because you

ask not. Did you know that about 20 times in

the New Testament, we are commanded by God to ask.

We are commanded about 20 times to ask in prayer.

The Bible says, ask and it shall be given. Seek

and you'll find. Knock and the door will be open.

Jesus said, if you ask for anything in my name,

I will do it. Jesus said, ask sometimes. that your

joy will be full. You know, this week I was

reading an article that said that one of the primary

symptoms of emotional fatigue and emotional stress is often sleeplessness.

It's insomnia. that when you are emotionally empty, when your

tank is empty, you have the inability to get to sleep. Now,

studies have confirmed this. Scientific studies have confirmed that the

more depleted you are emotionally, the harder it is for

you to get to sleep or to stay asleep. Now,

you may have never realized this, but did you know

that your relationship with God can affect your sleep? When

you're out of fellowship with God, when you are estranged

from God, when you're at war with God, he tells

you do something, I don't wanna do it. When you're

in rebellion against God, did you know that your body

recognizes that even if you aren't consciously aware of the conflict?

And your body takes it out. But when you're in

harmony with God, you get the peace and you get

the strength of God and the peace and the strength

of God Do you know what it does? It leads

to better sleep. You know, I give you an example

of this. When King David was a fugitive, he's running

for his life. People were trying to kill him and

he's running for his life and he's hiding in caves.

During that time, he wrote these words, Psalm chapter three,

verse five. He says, I can lay down, I can

lie down and go to sleep and I'll wake up

again because the Lord gives me strength. See the connection

between God giving you strength and you being able to sleep?

So here's the second way you can gain new strength,

to keep going when you feel like, I don't know

if I've got the energy to keep going. Keep asking

God for strength every day, over and over and over.

God will never get tired. You can ask him 50

times or 100 times a day. Psalm 138 verse three

says this, when I pray, you answer me. And you

encourage me by giving me the strength I need. How

do I get strength I need? By asking for it

in prayer. So I humbly ask God for strength, just

like I honestly tell God what I'm feeling. Now, I

told you that there's a corresponding attitude for each of

these four actions in developing resilience, in developing endurance, in

developing an attitude of continuing to keep on, keep on.

One of these attitudes is seen in the life of Daniel.

There on your outline in Daniel chapter 10, verses 11

Daniel 10:11

and 12, God told this to Daniel. Daniel was in

a situation where he was under enormous stress in his culture.

And God says this to Daniel, oh, Daniel, greatly loved

of God, By the way, you're greatly loved by God. Oh, Daniel,

greatly loved of God, listen carefully. Since the first day

you began to pray and humble yourself before your God,

your request has been heard in heaven. He said, you

know what? You've been praying for this for a long time.

I heard the request. We answered it, decided to answer

it instantly. But notice, he said, when you prayed, and

you humbled yourself before God. Circle that word humbled. And

then I want you to write down this next truth.

The attitude that moves God to answer your prayers. Are

you ready for this? Is humility. The attitude that moves

God to answer your prayers is humility. God, I'm depending

on you. I'm trusting in you. I can't do this

on my own. I don't have the wherewithal. I don't

have the emotional energy to keep on keeping on. That

admission is humility.

I don't know about you, but I am encouraged after

that message. And let's keep the encouragement going with a

letter from one of our listeners.

Here's Rick. Here's a note that I got from a

woman named Becky. She said, Pastor Rick, the Daily Hope

ministry has truly helped me in many ways. I attend

church on a regular basis. However, the Daily Hope broadcast

has taught me so much, and I can honestly say

that I never miss one of those Monday through Friday

morning quiet times listening to Pastor Rick's teaching, growing closer

to the Lord, and applying what he's taught me through

his messages. I am blessed beyond measure, and I absolutely

love the way the Lord is using Pastor Rick to

reach out and teach Christians and non-Christians as well. One day,

I believe I'm going to be able to increase my

monthly contribution. I also believe that in the not too

distant future, that will happen. Woo-hoo! Faithfully fit, Becky. I

love your heart, and I love your faith, and I

love this phrase, faithfully fit, Becky. That's great. I want

everybody to please pray with me that the Daily Hope

radio broadcast and all of our online resources will continue

to transform lives with the simple truth of hope through

Jesus Christ. And thanks for listening today. Let's all stay,

like Becky, faithfully fit. God bless you.

Be sure to join us next time as we look

into God's.

Word for our daily hope.

This program is sponsored by Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and

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