Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

Pastor Rick Warren: 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 want to 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 First Thessalonians 5:18. The Bible says this, "Give thanks in all circumstances." 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 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, do not misread that verse. It does not say for all things give thanks. It says in all things give thanks. Give thanks in all circumstances. It does not say give thanks for all circumstances. You get cancer, you do not have to be thankful for that. A little child is molested, you do not have to be thankful for that. Somebody gets in an accident, you have to be thankful. No, that's actually ridiculous. I mean that that's that's evil.

You do not have to be thankful for evil. It does not say give thanks for everything. There's a lot of things that we should not be thankful for, but it says in all circumstances. Circle that in 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 have 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 are 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 do not have any problems, or just a few of them. And it's much harder to find things to be thankful for when you are in a crisis or when you are facing a prolonged chronic stress. But when you are worn out, listen, when you are worn out, or when you are experiencing burnout, emotional burnout and you have just got the blues. 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, a very great, great man, very successful man, but he lost everything in a single day and he did not 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.

But what did Job do? He did this third point when he was in a situation where he was going, I do not know if I have got the strength to go on. What he did is he gratefully worshipped God when everything around him did not make sense. Obviously, it's easy to worship God when everything is going your way, but how do you worship God when everything is 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 worshipped God. Is that a strange thing to do in the middle of having lost everything in your life? He fell to the ground and worshipped God. And here is what he said, here is Job's perspective. I was born with nothing and I am going to 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 had happened, this is the next verse, in spite of everything that had happened, Job did not sin by blaming God. Now, if you are 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 could not find it. He lost it all. What did 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 are going through a time and you go, I cannot 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 have listed just three or four of the things he is 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 cannot see it, but because I know God is 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 do not understand. That's been comforting to me so many times. God is in control of what I do not understand.

And then in Job 23:10, I can be grateful that God will reward me after I am tested. After I am tested. There will be a reward for all the problems that I am going through right now. Now let me just say this to you, I do not know what is sapping your strength today. But I do know that one of the antidotes to what is 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 2 says this, David says, "So here I am in the place of worship. Eyes open, drinking in Your strength. Drinking in Your strength." Wow. "And 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 worshipping, you are going to run out of emotional energy. Here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, drinking in Your strength. Strength comes from worshipping 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 have discovered? The bigger God gets in my view, the smaller all my problems get. When God is not in my view, my problems seem so big, but when I compare them to God, my problems shrink in size. I cannot tell you how many times I have had a problem that I thought was overwhelming to me, and then I would 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 am feeling. Do not hold it in. Do not 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 am humbly asking and I am gratefully continuing, and I am honestly telling God how I feel, but now I am constantly keeping God as my central focus. What does that mean? It means do not 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 chapter 12, verse 2 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 I just want to mention a couple things. The reason that Jesus was able to keep going strong, listen to it, 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 was not focusing on the current pain, the current problems, the current stress, the current difficulties, the current criticisms. He was not 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 are not going to keep going strong. I I do not give you a a snowball's chance in hell of finishing well if you have a smaller short-term focus because you will give up. You will quit. But if you want to 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 am 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 are draining. It's no wonder society is draining you and all the things, if you are focusing on all the problems and you cannot wait to the latest news, well, no wonder.

Second Corinthians chapter 4, verses 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 will not last very long." Yet, "they produce in us for us an immeasurably great glory that's going to last forever." The temporary problems are going to produce an 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 are going to look at, choosing what you are 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 have got to look, here's why we never give up. He said, "We never give up because we are not focusing on the short-term, we are focusing on the long-term." We are going to keep going. And he says there are 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 would not think of fasting for a week, but some people they do not open their Bible for an entire week. If you do not 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 do not give up, because we know that all the troubles on Earth are temporary. They do not 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 are going to have in Heaven. So we know the problems on Earth are temporary. Have a long-term perspective.

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 is going to be great and it's going to last for eternity. And number five, we are keeping our eyes on God. We are focused, we fix our attention. We are 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, and start looking at Jesus again. Now I want to close with a scripture that's going to be my prayer for you all this next week. It's Colossians chapter 1, 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 am praying this for you, "We are praying that you will be filled with all His, that's God's, mighty, glorious strength." I am praying for God to fill you with His mighty, glorious strength, so you do not feel weak. "So that you can keep going." This is what we are talking about this weekend. So that you can keep going. You need the strength to keep going. We are praying that God's mighty, glorious 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 will not only make you happier, but the world desperately needs you to be that kind of person, full of joy in the Lord.

You are able to keep going because you are filled with the mighty strength of God's spirit in you, and that makes you joyful even in the most oppressing 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 will put these into practice this next week.

But before we close, let me say a word to those of you who may not be sure that you have been saved by Jesus. The only way you are going to 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, Second Timothy chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. And I love the message translation. It 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 your God of God in your daily life, you have got to let God save you. He first saves you and then He gives you the power for daily living. Now if you are not sure whether you have been saved or not, it would be my honor right now to lead you in a prayer of salvation. If you are not sure, let's just settle this issue for once and for all.