I'm Not Doing Well // Sunday, September 6, 2020

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Sunday, September 6, 2020

I’m Not Doing Well

A Healthy Perspective

  • Emotional / mental issues WILL occur because we live in a broken world.

  • We should apply the same medical approach to these issues as we do physical issues.

  • Divine healing is available to people with both physical and emotional issues.

  • How should the church respond?  With Mercy and Grace

Elijah’s situation: 1 Kings 19: 3 & 4 (NLT) Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

God’s response:  1 Kings 19: 5 & 6 (NLT)  5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” 6 He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

The result:  1 Kings 19: 19: 7 (NLT) 7 Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

The outcome:  A new assignment…

   8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God. 9 There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

Practical applications:

1. We choose to dwell on things that distort or edify.

Philippians 4: 8 & 9 (NLT) Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

2. Embrace human limitations:

Psalm 116: Search me, O God, and know my heart;  test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you,  and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

3. Know that God can work through brokenness and weakness:

2 Corinthians 2: 9 (ESV) …”My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.