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

Hello everybody, thank you so much for joining us here

on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with Rick Warren. Well today

we're continuing in this timely series called Strategies for Stressful Times.

In this series, Pastor Rick shares 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,

let's get right to Rick. This will be the final

part of a message called Finding the Strength to Keep

Going When I'm Emotionally Worn Out.

So, how do I have the strength to keep going

when I wanna just do nothing? Number one, honestly tell

God what I'm feeling and humbly ask God for his strength. Now,

here's the third key that the Bible teaches us to

having the daily strength that you need to keep going

when you're under stress or in times of great change.

Here's the third key. Number three, gratefully thank God. Gratefully

thank God for all that's good despite all that's bad.

Let me say that again. The third key to having

the strength to keep going is to gratefully thank God

for all that's good despite all that's bad. It's a

matter of choosing what you think about, because the world

is filled with both good and bad. Now, here's the

principle in 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. The Bible says this,

give thanks in all circumstances. Hmm, what does that not include? None.

Give thanks in all. I looked up the word all,

it means all. Give thanks in all circumstances, For this

is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. People always say,

I want to know God's will. What's God's will for

my life? There it is. God's will for your life

is the attitude of gratitude. To give thanks in all situations,

in all circumstances. Now notice, don't misread that verse. It

doesn't say for all things give thanks. It says in

all things give thanks. Give thanks in all circumstances. It

doesn't say give thanks for all circumstances. You get cancer,

you don't have to be thankful for that. A little

child is molested, you don't have to be thankful for that.

Somebody gets in an accident, you have to be thankful. No,

that's actually ridiculous. I mean, that's evil. You don't have

to be thankful for evil. It doesn't say give thanks

for everything. There's a lot of things that we shouldn't

be thankful for. But it says in all circumstances, circle that,

in all. all circumstances. It is God's will for me

to develop the attitude of gratitude. And this is the

third key to keeping on. You know, I've been in

ministry now 52 years. How have I been able to

keep my joy? This is one of the principles, the

attitude of gratitude. A number of scientific studies have concluded

that the attitude of gratitude is the healthiest emotion that

humans can have. In fact, every time you take time

to express gratitude about anything to anyone, to God or

to anybody else, every time you take time to express gratitude,

it helps refill your empty emotional gas tank. For your

own good, you need to develop the attitude of gratitude.

It's one of the four keys to keeping on keeping on,

to having the strength to make it to the finish line.

One of the most practical yet powerful habits that you

can develop is to make a daily gratitude list. Just

sit down for five minutes each day and go, okay,

what am I grateful for? And you start making a

list of things that you're thankful for. That will strengthen

your soul, okay? This is the third key to having

the energy, emotional energy to keep on keeping on. Now,

it's easy to be grateful. obviously, when your emotional tank

is full and things are going great in your life

and you don't have any problems or just a few

of them. And it's much harder to find things to

be thankful for when you're in a crisis or when

you're facing a prolonged chronic stress. But when you're worn out, listen,

when you're worn out or when you're experiencing burnout, emotional burnout,

and you just got the blahs That's when you need

the tool of gratitude the most to help refill your

empty emotional gas tank. Now, the greatest example of gratitude

and this principle is found in the life of Job.

Remember the story of Job? Job was the wealthiest man

of his generation, very great, great man, very successful man,

but he lost everything in a single day and he

didn't know why. What happened in a single day with

Job was all of his children were murdered by terrorists.

All of his crops, all of his livestock, and his

home was completely destroyed in a single day. And on

that same day, Job contracted a painful, deadly disease. You

talk about having a bad day. His life literally collapsed overnight.

And 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 in 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 how do you worship God when everything's not going

your way? Job chapter one, verses 20 to 22, 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 gonna die with nothing. The Lord gave

and now the Lord has taken away. May the name

of the Lord be praised. That's gratitude. In spite of everything,

the Bible says, that it 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 find it. He 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 you go, 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. There are about 15,

but Job says, I can always be grateful that God

is loving and cares for me. Job 10, 12, 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 23, 14, I

can be grateful that God has a detailed plan for

my future. I can't see it. But because I know

God's a 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 34, 13, 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 23, 10, I can be grateful that God

will reward me after I'm tested, after testing. 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's 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 63 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 Psalm 69,

32 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 get. When God's not in my view, my problems

seem so big. But when I compare them 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,

a 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 humility, say, 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 12,

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

verse is chock 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 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. No, 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 gonna 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 wanna 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 you a 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 you're draining.

It's no wonder society is draining you and all the things,

if you're focused on all the problems and you can't

wait to the latest news, well, no wonder. Second Corinthians

chapter four, verse 16 to 18 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 going to look at,

choosing what you're going to focus on. For what is

seen is 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 minuscule 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 expect. 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 gonna be great and

it's gonna last for 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 wanna close with

a scripture that's gonna be my prayer for you all

this next week. It's Colossians chapter one, verse 11, 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 1.11,

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 glory 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'll 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

into 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 gonna 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. 2 Timothy chapter one, verse eight and 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 gotta

let God save you. He first saves you, 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 gonna pray a simple prayer. And I'd like to

ask you to just follow me in it. And if

you're sincere and you mean it in your heart, God's

gonna 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 giving

up in different areas of my life. But I want

your power in my life. And more 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. 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 PastorRick.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.

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