Happy Monday! Ok, so some of you reading this may have immediately thought, “Really Jared? Happy and Monday, in the same statement, really?!” Listen, I know what you mean, the beginning of the week often means walking headfirst into a full life; a full schedule at work, a full task list at home with your family, life is full!. Trust me, I understand! But sometimes you’ve just got to speak joy into your world! So on this Monday, we are happy! (that’s a good place to say Amen!)
Choosing the Lord’s joy on a daily basis is one of the best ways to “take heart” in your life. I believe that choosing joy and taking heart is the best pre-emptive measure we can take against what I believe to be one of the enemies most subtle yet most effective tactics against us, that is, feeling overwhelmed.
overwhelm: to cause (someone) to have too many things to deal with; to defeat (someone or something) completely
The very definition of the word is staggering isn’t it? When we walk with a sense of overwhelm, we walk in such a way that we feel that we have too many things to deal with. This mindset can actually lead to a child of God living a life of defeat! See, when the enemy can get you to think thoughts of overwhelm, he can successfully attack your heart. Remember, your heart is where your hope and life flow from, your heart is where your enthusiastic expectations for life are birthed.
How does overwhelm attack our hearts? Well, let me phrase some mindsets of overwhelm that I’ve come across:
• “It just feels like the whole world is against me…”
• “Nothing ever works out for us…”
• “I’m not ___________ enough for ________” ( we’ve all filled in those blanks with our own personal version)
I’ll never pretend like I could ever possibly understand what challenges you might be facing, but I do know this, we’ve all faced major challenges and obstacles. What I want to share with you is that the moment that you focus on the size of the opposition, that’s when you’ve already begun to lose heart.
“Let no man’s heart fail because of him…” (1 Sam 17:32 NKJV)
This portion of scripture is when David found himself in the valley of Elah about to confront Goliath. What a powerful mindset to carry into what could arguably be the most significant battle of his life. David says, “Don’t lose your heart because of him,” (“him” referring to Goliath.) A few verses later David reveals the source of his confident heart:
“Moreover David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Sam 17:37 NKJV)
Let’s take heart, let’s stop looking at the size of the giant and look at our God! In Jesus we have not received a life of overwhelming circumstances. No, despite every circumstance, we have received a life of overwhelming victory!
“No, despite ALL these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:37 (NLT)
Today I dare you to take heart and speak to every giant trying to overwhelm you, and declare to it, “I am NOT overwhelmed! I have overwhelming victory, through Christ who loves me!”
Live Extraordinarily,
Jared
