Overcoming the Problem! 10 easy steps!

[CRAZY_4_JESUS]

Hi.... This my 10 step guide how to overcome problems in your life! These may vary with individual cases, but this is more or less the algorithm i used to overcome my own and so I feel if it matches with your own you can use it.

Before i even begin, lets make something clear. This is strictly from my own experiances so please always double check with your pastor or counsellor.

1) Prayer: Many problems develop into bigger problems if this stage is missed. On the onset of the problem ( when it's so close you can feel it even before it occurs) remember to pray! There is no substitute to prayer and its mainly this step that will help you through the others and eventually to your victory. Pray and ask God for forgiveness of any sins, ask Him to strengthen you and prepare you. Pray for all things!

Bible Verse: 1 Thes 5 :17-- Pray without ceasing!!

2) Look to Jesus! Calm youself and maintain a cool mind: Ever heard of the saying " its not deep water that drowns us, its the panicking we do". This saying applies to all problems and challenges facing us. If you panick you're going down!. Look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Looking unto Jesus maintain a cool posture and dont over-react to the problem and never panick. Peter when walking on the water failed to look at Jesus and instead panicked when he saw the sea of problems around him. What happened? he started drowning thats what! So remember, after prayer. leave your room with a cool mind ready to tackle the challange!

3): Analyse the situation: Once you've properly prayed and have cooled yourself down. Analyse the situation, take time to fully and deeply understand exactly what's going on and its a good idea at this stage to pick out who's your friend and who's not. In India its common practice for people who you feel you can trust betraying you in time of need. Also, try to understand the cause of the problem. Was it something you did? Is it a satanic attack? Is it a challange from God? what is it?. This really helps because many people go around beating the daylights out of satan in prayer when infact it is actually a challange from God to strengthen their faith, or sometimes its a mistake we made for which God wishes to correct us.

4) Find someone trustworthy to speak to: No matter how big or small a problem unless you have a proper support system to advise you and encourage you, you're gonna have hard time doing anything.

I remember a case while I was chatting on Worthy, that a sister came to the room with a problem. While everyone tried their level best to help her, I believe God chose me to carry some part of her burden. During this time, the sister added me on her messenger and told me many things and i kept encouraging her to keep talking, because in times of trouble its best to let it all out. I cannot explain the pain and burden I've been going through even now for her, i dont know her, she lives on the other side of the world, but God entrusted me to be praying for her even from here and she many times expressed how this was helping her. Now i'm not trying to praise myself here, but the point im putting across is that if you have someone trustworthy ( take your time to find out who is). They can advise you and encourage you even through the worst of times, and like me and that sister, even sharing a prayer burden.

" As iron sharpens Iron, so does a man sharpen the countence of another man"--

5) Dont ever lose hope: -- This is a very important rule. Sometimes when in the thick of it we feel " has God rejected me?" " will i ever see an end to this? " I've had enough!". My brother or my sister, i tell you these are thoughts directly from the pit of hell to pull you down and destroy you! Never listen to them. If you are a Christian, you have to understand the common fact that GOD HAS NOT LEFT YOU AND NEITHER IS PLANNING TO DO SO! Our God is an awesome God and He loves us more than our parents, husbands, children, brothers or sisters could ever love us.

Psalms 27: 5-10 " 5For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; in the secret place of His tent will He hide me; He will set me high upon a rock.

6And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me; in His tent I will offer sacrifices and shouting of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. 7Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud; have mercy and be gracious to me and answer me! 8You have said, Seek My face [inquire for and require My presence as your vital need]. My heart says to You, Your face (Your presence), Lord, will I seek, inquire for, and require [of necessity and on the authority of Your Word]. 9Hide not Your face from me; turn not Your servant away in anger, You Who have been my help! Cast me not off, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation! 10Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child].(B)" source: The Amplified Bible, Bible.com resources

God Further says in the book of Jermiah 29 : 11 " for i know the thoughts I think for you, thoughts of good and not evil, to give you a future and a hope"

Understand the simple fact that no matter how bad the storm, no matter how strong the winds, so long as you hold on to that Rock called Jesus you will not be blown away! Amen!

6) Do something! Praying is excellent! you cant win without prayer, but understand something here, prayer alone wont save you. Many people mistakenly spend hours and even days in prayer, but never make any concrete steps to solve the problem. Imagine you're in a problem of debt and you continue praying but never take steps to repay that debt, will you ever get out of that problem? Never. When you pray God opens doors for you, He will make a road in the wilderness for you but it is you who must enter that door and walk on that road. So remember carefully, ask God for guidance and whatever God says do it. Lane, my Worthy sister whom i mentioned earlier, is praying and has people praying for her too, but that woman is taking concret steps to solve her problem. She's asking God, taking advice and doing it. So remember James 1: 22--- " Be yee doers on the word and not just listeners only, for by doing so you only deceive youself" Do what God says, dont just listen and sit down.

7) Never accept defeat!: Have you ever heard the saying that " you should learn to accept failure and move on"? This saying maybe true. FOR UNBELIEVERS! Remember this, we as Christians are winners not losers! Defeat is a word that should never appear in our mental dictionary. Never take a failure lightly. In the course of your problem if you do something and it goes wrong, take time to study what you did and try to correct it. i'm not saying sulk over it, I'm saying dont accept it, and make a resolution never to make that mistake again. The devil may keep telling you " you're going down!" you cant do anything now" " it can only get worse". You have to fight it! Keep telling yourself " I am a winner! I will not lose! I will overcome! I will win this challange! I will not let this situation take me! I have won the victory at the cross! I will not lose!" this is what i did, trust me it works. During a race its not he who comes last that loses, but he who gives up midway.

I remember I went mountain climbing on Mt. Sinai, that mountain is dry, no food or water anywhere and its pretty hard to climb without proper climbing gear. It was me and some friends, we climbed and we climbed, but midway one of friends decided to give up and take the easier camel route instead. We tried to encourage him but he left and hopped on a passing camel train taking tourists up to the peak. Obviously he reached before we did, but does that mean he won? Nope! He accepted defeat and gave up, while me and my friends struggled and struggled and climbed up. Our joy was more than his because we know what we went through to get there. Later this would prove very helpful to me when i climbled the Swiss Mount Jungfru which is a more hostile and higher mountain.

So you see, you gotta stick it out! dont accept defeat and have an attitude to win, because when bigger challanges come you'll be prepared!

" For God will not allow any temptation or hardship to come upon you that you cannot bear"

8) Be a tower of strength for others: Here is a very important point. Oftentimes when problem comes though it may directly affect one individual, it always affects many individuals who love the particular individual with the problem. For example, last year my mom fell sick with TB ( toubercolosis) and nearly died. During this time everyone was hurt. So was I, but situation demanded that I remain strong and be there to encourage everyone during this time although i was probably the most depressed. In the same way, you too need to be strong from within so you can be that stronghold for others. I know sometimes we feel as if we're the only ones suffering and sometimes we are, but we need to be strong for others. Jesus when he was dieing proclaimed " Father forgive them for they know not what they do!" " Mother behold thy son, and son behold thy mother" Consider this, this is a man who's suffering for no fault of His, but still he expresses concern for others. Jesus despite His suffering became that strong pillar and tower for all the suffering people. So I encourage you my brother or sister, take courage from this, be strong and be an example to others, let them know that you are still standing and all is not lost. Let people take courage in you as you take courage in Jesus.

9) Never underestimate the problem. Yes we have won the victory! Jesus has won it for us, but I do want to advise something here. Never feel satisfied with one single blessing to solve the problem and never underestimate the problem. Often I've seen Christians stop praying and stop being vigilant at the first sign of the problem being solved. This is very dangerous because although God might give you the smell of victory to encourage you, you should never take it as victory itself. You need to take courage from what God gives you and keep praying and working further to win the challange. Also another thing I learned while climbing mountains was Murphy's Law, " if something can go wrong, it most likely will go wrong". This means that you should always prepare yourself for the worst that can hit you and be flexible according to the demands of the situation.

10) Share your testimony! Once you have victory be sure to share your experiances among others who can take comfort and gain faith from your testimony. Learn from this experiance and Praise God for giving you a challange worth taking! Also be ready as ever to take on anything else life might throw at you!

Well, this is it, its not conclusive but I pray it helps.

Here's a prayer

" Dear Jesus, I pray for my brother or sister reading this. I pray Lord that you touch all that is written, and I pray it helps out my brother or sister. Father give them strenght to overcome the difficulties in life, and I pray dear Jesus for total healing and deliverance. I worship you Lord and may your love continue to abound in your sons and yours daughter's lives! In Jesus name Amen!"

God Bless

Mike

[EricH]

Moved from Worthy Welcome to General Discussion

[Guest]

Amen Brother Mike, Amen!

[~candice~]

Not all problems are going to be solved this side of heaven. Sometimes we just need to bear it and go on with our lives.

[JCISGD]

thanks for sharing that mike, sometimes i just need to hear things again this was one of them, blessings.

[CRAZY_4_JESUS]

Not all problems are going to be solved this side of heaven. Sometimes we just need to bear it and go on with our lives.

lol ur right about that. One of my eyes is lower than the other one- just a bit so my glasses are actually in a ----O o---- shape. Also I'm desperatly trying to lose weight-- im around 160 Lbs or whatever (90 kilos translates to) which i dont think i'll be able to reduce before the rapture. So yeah that and some more... i'm waiting my transfer outta this place to solve.

Edited October 10, 2009 by CRAZY_4_JESUS

[2Joyful]

Thank you for providing these 10 steps....jot