Stress and Exhaustion

Life can be tough, and at times overwhelming. One of the main things that I hear Christians say is, “I am so stressed and exhausted.” There is no doubt the enemy has launched his attacks against Christians.

Some Christians are falling away from their faith because of the stresses of life that have crushed them. Then, there are Christians who are growing closer and deeper to God as the world around them ensues in chaos and turmoil.

There is a war, a spiritual war being waged against Christians in these last days. I believe the enemy is assaulting Christians with circumstances that are gut-wrenching. How many Christians do you know are battling with depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, troubled family and marriages, and financial difficulties?

Stress is caused by a perceived unmanageable set of circumstances that are out of our control.

Stress makes you physically tired, irritable, frustrated, can lead to depression, anger, anxiety, and a host of other mental health issues. Stress can lower your immune system, cause ulcers, gastrointestinal problems, high blood pressure, and insomnia. People who are under stress usually isolate themselves. If you are tired and sick the enemy is “setting you up,” as the enemy being the predator and you being the prey. As in the wild, a predator stalks its prey and watches until it gets alone, possibly injured or sick, and when the prey is tired; then the predator devours the prey. This is what the enemy does to us, he sets up difficult circumstances to weaken us, and at the right time he tries to destroy us.

To keep from succumbing to the stresses in life, we have to stay close to the Lord Jesus. We must spend regular time in the Word of God. We must quiet our minds to hear His voice, and listen to His instructions concerning our lives. Write and journal what the Lord speaks to you, and your inner pain. Talk it over with a mature-Christian friend. Let it out, don’t keep it bottled-up inside. You’re not alone, countless others have gone through and experienced stressful situations.

We cannot have our stability and security with people, possessions, or positions. The only sure stability in this world is Jesus Christ. I would encourage you to keep your faith and trust in God, even if you have lost much in this life, for it is nothing to the place God is preparing in eternity. Allow the Lord to comfort you in all your distress. Work out your pain with God, cry out to Him, and tell Him how you feel. Don’t hold anything back, tell God exactly how you feel.

“When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought joy to my soul.” Psalm 94:19

He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock, when a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built. Luke 6:48

Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall. Psalm 55:22

Stress Less by Don Colbert, M.D., a book on stress written by a Christian doctor.

Hope in Times of Discouragement

KJV dictionary definition of discouragement is to extinguish the courage of; depress of spirits; to deject; to deprive of confidence or hope; to attempt to repress or prevent; to dissuade from.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines discouragement as a feeling of having lost hope or confidence; something (such as failure or difficulty) that discourages someone.

Discouragement refers to a sense of being overwhelmed, weary, and losing hope over circumstances. Other times, discouragement can overtake us when we have just had a spiritual victory, or making progress in our spiritual walk. In any case, discouragement will cause you to feel hopeless, lose heart, and lose confidence.

Discouragement Synonyms: Hopelessness, despair, dishearten, loss of hope, depression

Discouragement Antonyms: Encouragement, hope, and hopeful confidence.

Discouragement is a weapon to prevent our progress, derail us from moving forward, and prevent our destiny and purposes being fulfilled. Rest assured, if you have been discouraged, the enemy wants to stop something from happening in your life. Usually during this attack, your weaknesses get exposed and the enemy bombards your mind with negative thoughts about yourself. If you listen too long to the enemy’s voice, you will end up feeling hopeless, depressed, and feeling like a failure. You will also lose your confidence to move ahead in what God has planned for you. This is where a lot of Christians are derailed; when discouragement invades them. During discouragement you can experience “old issues” coming up again. You may even think,” Didn’t I deal with that issue before? Or Was I not delivered (healed) from this?” The enemy is a master illusionist, so he can make you think you are truly dealing with old issues again, and you were not healed or delivered.

Signs to look for when Discouragement comes:

1.       Fatigue: Your defenses are lower when you are fatigued, and you may not feel as spiritually strong.

2.       Sickness/Illness: When you are not feeling well it is easy to become discouraged, especially if you have been healed from a certain illness, and it appears like it is coming back, or you are still waiting on healing.

3.       Women’s monthly cycle: Hormones change, and so does your emotions. Women are more prone to being sensitive during this time, and discouragement can easily seep in.

4.       Failure: You perceive that mistake you made has doomed you, or you can never get passed it. You may feel like you can’t do anything right during this time.

5.       Spiritual victory/progress: You have determined to go forward with the things that God has called you to do; you have made progress in your spiritual walk with God. The enemy does not like progress.

6.       When you take your eyes off Jesus: You look to your circumstances, and you start to magnify them, ponder them, analyze them, and try and figure them out.

Steps to overcoming discouragement:

1.       Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to overcome your discouragement. Command, in the name of Jesus that discouragement flee from you if you discern it is a spiritual attack.

2.       Count your blessings daily and out loud.

3.       Be still and know that God will get you through. Keep a good attitude during this time, and watch what you speak. Don’t allow your words to agree with the enemy’s.

4.       Rest, pull back, and take time away from the “crowds.” Renew your time with God and Let His word refresh and restore you. Limit your schedule during this time, and who you are around. Don’t surround yourself when you are discouraged with negative, faith-less, discouraging people.

5.       Praise and worship God. Listen to some praise music to lift your spirits.

6.       Understand discouragement will pass, don’t give into the lies. Do not repeat, dwell or accept the lies of the enemy. Speak what God says not what the enemy is trying to tell you.

7.       During times of discouragement, don’t follow your feelings; wait until the discouragement has passed before making decisions.

Reflect on these scriptures…                                

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their trouble. The Lord is near the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:17-19

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved. Psalm 55:22

But they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

Everyone will face discouragement at some point, but we don’t have to entertain or accept discouragement. Don’t give into self-pity, and don’t talk down to yourself. Recognize discouragement comes to all at some point, but we must not let the “seed” of discouragement take root.

Encouragement as you Wait on the Lord

So many of God’s people have grown weary and are tired of waiting for answered prayers and promises to be fulfilled. You may have experienced trial after trial in your life and you are exhausted; maybe even lost your faith. Perhaps you have begun to doubt God and His promises and plans for your life. Let’s get honest, we all go through those times. We may wonder where God is in all of this and if He has heard my prayers.

There is a battle raging like never before, and the enemy would love you to believe all his lies and deceptions. The war is on and a sifting is occurring among God’s people. Remain steadfast and remain faithful even if you can’t see what is ahead. God is coming; He has not forgotten His people.

Renew your commitment to Christ today. Though you may be wondering what is going on, don’t despair; help is coming! Remove any and all distractions that are keeping you from your relationship with Christ. Seek Him once again and expect that He will act on your behalf. If you have been waiting months or even years for something; keep waiting! But wait in expectation of God’s promises. Your only other choice to is step subtlety in the enemy’s camp. Once the enemy pulls you in he will destroy everything you know and believe about Christ. Do not be deceived there is a battle going on, and it is to take the people of God out of the Kingdom of light.

The enemy will use your circumstances, trials, and times of waiting to destroy what you believe about Christ.

God has not forgotten you. He knows you intimately and He is passionate about you. He sees your desires and even knows your deepest longings. God does love you and wants nothing more than for you to trust Him. When you trust Him the wait gets easier. Waiting on the Lord is expecting that the promises of strength will help you rise above life’s circumstances. Be patient people of the Most High God; Jesus is coming. God is not here to fulfill every desire and longing we have but to reconcile us to Him and to bring others into His glorious reign. Our lives are not our own; but His.

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints or grows weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the weak,

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

Even the youths shall faint and grow weary,

And the young men shall utterly fall,

But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with the wings of eagles,

They shall run and not grow weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:28-31

Reflection: What do you need to lay down today (unmet expectations, desires) and then ask God to renew your strength. Ask God to prepare you to align your desires with His desires and to want what He wants for your life. It is His desire to bring you good gifts, but not to fulfill all our desires of the flesh.

New Beginnings-Change is on the Horizon

For many, you are sensing a change coming, but not sure exactly what that change is. Some things in your life that has not produced fruit and life are being cut away now. This can be a bit scary, removing the comforts in your life, but it is only to make room for what lies ahead. Some things in your life no longer serve a purpose like they once did. Be obedient to what God is showing you to let go of. Do not fear the unknown, and do not try and figure out what will come next. God has many of His people in a season where He is saying, “Be still before me and not doing before me.” So many are running from one thing to the next, but missing God along the way. God’s deepest desire for you now, is to rest in Him and rebuild your relationship with Him. Nothing else is more important than sitting at the feet of Jesus. Many have become wearied and worn-out in the last couple of years and need time to be with the Father to regain strength and new perspectives.

God wants to pour out His special anointing on you, but this can only be done in His presence and not trying to fix and solve everyone else’s problems. It is time to rest and be still. No more striving and figuring out what to do. Simple be with the Father. You may be thinking, “How can I just rest and be when there are people to help?” But how can you help with an empty cup? You know if your cup is empty because you are not giving out of the overflow but giving out of your strength, which leaves you tired and frustrated. When you operate in the overflow, there is abundance.

So God desires a new beginning for you. He has seen your struggles and He has seen you trying to minister to others while hurting. God says I do not desire you to give out of brokenness, but out of an overflow. This may be frightening to you, to not help, to not serve, but it is not forever. It is until you and the Father are one again. Somehow your relationship with Jesus, your first love, has become tainted, and you have believed that He just cared about how much you served Him. Yes, Jesus does want us to serve Him, but He also cares so much more about our relationship with Him. His desire is to see you whole again and on fire for the things of God. Sin, hardships, and difficult circumstances have entered your life causing you to be lukewarm with God. You still serve Christ in ministry, but your heart is far from it. God knows that, and wants to commune with you and bring you back to your first love, Jesus Christ.

His plans are good for you and your new beginning will be with Jesus at the center. You will have a renewed trust and faith in God, and you will be fit for what God has called you to do. So do not worry or fret of what next, just release anything God shows you, and embrace being with God. He does not want nor expect anything else from you now. You will know clearly when He has opened the door you are to walk through, it will not be by force or by your flesh; but by the flow of the Holy Spirit.

Reflections on Waiting on God

God understands our pain. It is good to share your heart with Him. Tell Him how you feel, and what you need. He is a friend to us, and is ready to listen to us.

Lord, how long will you keep me this way?  I am desperate for breakthrough. My heart has many desires that have gone unfulfilled. Lord, I have waited for you, let me not be ashamed for waiting on you.

Do you hear me Lord? Are you there? Don’t you see how my enemies have taunted me? I have seen my desires upon my enemies. Grief has struck me like a tidal wave, and my eyes have grown tired from crying. My heart aches for your promises to be fulfilled in my life. I am desperate for your touch. Lord, how much longer will you keep me this way?

God, I hurt so deeply at times, and feel misunderstood. I have been rejected by family and friends. Why are you so afar from me? Why has your presence left me? What have I done Lord, just show me so that I can make this right. Who on earth can I run to but you Lord?

Can you make this pain stop? Can you restore me God? Hope deferred makes the heart sick, God my heart is sick. My hope has vanished like the night air. I don’t have the strength nor the faith to even pick myself up again, but I know you can Lord. I believe you can make these dry bones live again.

Lord, have mercy on me. I have grown weary from the continued trials and testing of my faith. I have felt like Job at times, and have wondered will you restore the things that have been taken from me? I want to believe that I am waiting for restoration like Job and Ruth. I have waited for years for your promises to be fulfilled in my life. I have waited for you Lord. I have never lost hope in you Lord.

I am desperate. I am afflicted on every side. Troubles have come my way as I wait on you Lord. I have been broken, refined by the fire, taken into the wilderness, and pruned over and over again. Is it over yet Lord? Oh, Lord, I have waited patiently for you.

I feel alone and abandoned, but yet Lord, I know you have never left my side. Why does it feel like I have been forgotten at times, looked over? Do others know what I have been through, do they even care? Do they even ask if there is anything they can do, or offer to take me for a coffee? Or do they judge me for the things they do not know, and offer unsolicited “words from the Lord” to me? Does anyone truly see me but you Lord? And Lord if you fail me, where shall I turn?  God, what shall you have me to do? Please Father, not another day waiting in brokenness.

Father, I trust you, even though I don’t understand your ways for me most of the time. I have felt the stings of rejection since my youth, and I have felt I have lived more cursed than blessed at times. I have felt misplaced and misjudged, and have seen my enemies get the very things that I have been praying for. I have felt “slapped in the face” so many times, yet, I still hold onto to you Lord. I have lived with shame because my prayers go unanswered for a time, while my enemies get the desires of their hearts. I have waited in thanksgiving and waited in offering sacrifices of praise. But now Lord, my waiting is becoming like a vice grip to me, and it is strangling the life from me. The enemy has tried to get me to turn from you, and say, “Your ways are not good.” I know that is a lie.

Thank you Lord that I can come to you and share my heart. I know you have not forgotten me. I will wait for you. You alone are my hope.

I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and He heard my cry. Psalm 40:1

Cry out to the Lord in your desperation. He hears your cries. Talk to Him like your very best friend. He is waiting to hear from you today.

Soar like an Eagle over Your Storms

Have you ever watched an eagle fly? They soar, they don’t flap their wings like the other birds, but they ride on the wind currents and soar. When storms or high winds come, the eagle rises above the storms, they don’t stay in the middle of the storms like the other birds; they go above.

God will protect you from the storms in life.
Soar like the eagle over your storms.

That is what we are to do when the “storms” come into our lives, we are to rise above them. If we stay focused on our situations and difficult circumstances we will get defeated and overwhelmed. But Jesus wants us to keep our eyes focused on Him, and not the difficulties in this life.

Tragedy, heartache, and difficult circumstances happen to everyone. Some people lose their focus during these times, and get stuck in the storms of life. When you get stuck in the storms of life, you will experience fear, worry, anxiousness, depression, and stress.

When the storms come be like the eagle who rises above the storms. An eagle never appears worried or upset when a storm is approaching, but the other birds seem distressed, panicky, and some even appear fearful. Jesus wants us to be like the eagle, and when problems come, surrender them. How do we soar above the storms? By not gazing at our problems, by not focusing solely on the problem, by not trying to fix, solve, or analyze the problem, and by completely trusting God that He is in control and has a plan.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

When we wait on the Lord to take care of our problems and fulfill His promises to us, we gain His strength to help us rise above life’s distractions and difficulties.

We are going to face a number of difficult circumstances in our lifetimes, such as prodigal children, dysfunctional families, sickness, death of a loved one, and rejection to name a few. When those hard times come, keep steady like the eagle and don’t incessantly focus on the problem. It is not easy to do, it will come with experience and lots of practice, but once you begin to rise above your circumstances you will enter in God’s true peace and rest for you.

Don’t Quit, Don’t Go Back, and Don’t Give Up!

The journey for many has been long, and tiring. Some want to give up and others want to quit, and some want to stay stuck in the past. A word of encouragement is needed in this season. So many are in hardships, trials, tribulations, and despair. Our nation is in a state of crisis, and the world is experiencing violence, persecution, famine, and wars. Our nation and the world are all seeing in increase in violence and natural disasters. It is not an easy time for many. Many Christians are falling away from their faith, and some Christians are trying to compromise with the culture’s beliefs. If we keep our eyes focused on the things in this world, we will surely want to give up; the world is not offering us much hope.

Don't quit, and Don't give up!

In the last days, the enemy will try and win as many souls to his kingdom. Some will get so weary in the last days that will fall prey to the enemy’s deception. Many will be deceived including Christians. Now is not the time to be a lukewarm Christian and compromise your beliefs. You may be experiencing trials and heartaches, and feel like giving up, even going back to your old ways. You may feel like giving up your faith because you are not seeing many of your prayers being answered, and you are wondering where God is at in all this. While the world seems out of control and maybe even your life, God is still in control.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Revelation 22:20

We don’t know the hour or the day of Christ return, but Jesus is coming soon and unexpectedly. Quickly, means at any moment. God is also trying to get as many people to His Kingdom before He comes, we are experiencing a spiritual battle like never before. There is a fight for your soul and for your loved ones. That is why you may be experiencing such battles in your life, the enemy hopes to defeat you in this last hour and that you would turn from your faith and denounce Christ. Did this not happen to Peter? Did he say he would never reject Christ and yet he did three times! The enemy is clever and he knows how to wear you down.

The book of Revelation ends with an urgent request, “Come, Lord Jesus!” In a world of problems, persecution, evil, and immortality, Christ calls us to endure in our faith. Revelation is a book about hope. It shows that no matter what happens on earth, God is in control. It promises that evil will not last forever, and it depicts the wonderful reward that is waiting for those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. There is a day coming of glorious wonder for all who have remained faithful to the end.

For you yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 1 Thessalonians 5:2

The day of the Lord is a future time when God will intervene directly and dramatically in world affairs. Christ will judge sin and set up His eternal Kingdom. This world is not all there is. There will be a time coming of a new heaven and earth. All of the pain and suffering will come to an end. Hold on to your faith and don’t give up, this will not go on forever. This home on earth is temporary and everything in it is temporary. We are spirit beings created to last until eternity with God the Father in our eternal homes. Don’t give up on God and don’t give up your faith. Remain faithful to the end. Don’t go back to your old life and don’t compromise your beliefs to fit the culture’s beliefs. The Lord will use all that you have been through to help others follow God. If you are feel like giving up and quitting, ask God for His strength and His rest for you. Ask Him to show you what you need to do in your life. There is a plan and a purpose for you, even if you don’t see it or feel like there is.