Feeling Overwhelmed

Anger. Depression. Loneliness. Guilt. These are emotions that powerfully affect our lives.We find them hopelessly undesirable, and at times, they can completely overwhelm us.

But the good news is even when we feel we’re losing our emotional battles, God is actually winning the war! Though it might not feel like it, God has a positive message for us in our negative emotions—and can use those emotions for spiritual growth and maturity.

Unfortunately, as fallen human beings, living in a fallen world, we aren’t given the privilege to pick and choose which emotions we will experience in our lives. We appreciate and value all the joy, love, laughter, peace, and excitement we can wrap our arms around. But then, we also have to deal with the dark side of the emotional spectrum.

But those emotions—the darker and more difficult ones—are important. In fact, they reveal a great deal about who we are and where we are in life.

Facing Adversity

By Charles Stanley 

Hebrews 12:1-2

When a child hurts, our focus is to restore comfort quickly. We remove obstacles so that a toddler will have a clear path to walk. And many parents seek to minimize frustration for school-age children by helping with homework-sometimes offering more assistance than necessary. While wanting to ease children's discomfort is understandable, we may inadvertently convey a subtle message that obstacles and pain are to be eliminated at all costs. This viewpoint can get carried into adulthood, and unfortunately, it is a harmful one.

Difficulties are a part of life, and if we expect otherwise, we will be consistently disappointed. Then disappointment, if allowed to remain, can turn us away from the Lord. A lot of time can be wasted trying to avoid trials when we could be trusting God for the future. We also expend energy and prayer power seeking to get out of our tough situations instead of asking the Lord how He wants us to respond. Most importantly, God does not view adversity as the tragedy we interpret it to be. As a result, our thinking is in opposition to His.

Praise Brings Results

Written by Dr. Bill Bright


“And at the moment they began to sing and to praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir to begin fighting among themselves, and they destroyed each other!” 2 Chronicles 20:22

The armies of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir had declared war on King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah. So Jehoshaphat called the people together and prayed, “Oh, our God. Won’t you stop them. We have no way to protect ourselves against this mighty army. We don’t know what to do but we are looking to You.”

Then the Lord instructed the people, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be paralyzed by this mighty army for the battle is not yours, but God’s! Tomorrow, go down and attack them!…But you will not need to fight. Take your places; stand quietly and see the incredible rescue operation God will perform for you” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17).

Don't Panic! This is Only a Test

by Joyce Meyer

There's a scripture in the Bible that says, "In the world you have tribulation and trials" (John 16:33 AMP). I believe most people would agree with it. If you read the rest of that verse, you get to the encouraging part where Jesus says we can take heart because He has overcome the world. But the truth is, we all go through hard times and have to learn how to overcome them through Christ.

Sometimes God allows or even arranges for us to go through difficulties in this life because it's during those times that we grow in our faith and develop more of the character of Christ. Trials reveal what we really believe and what's really inside our hearts. They test us. And until we're in a situation where we have no choice but to face an issue we need to deal with, we don't really know what we would do.

James 1:2 (AMP) says we should "consider it wholly joyful" when we experience a trial or face a temptation. Verse 3 goes on to say that "the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience." That sounds lovely to have endurance, steadfastness and patience during trials, doesn't it?