 But the doctor's actual in the statistics says the stress is a factor in five out of six leading causes of death, heart disease, cancer, stroke, lower respiratory disease and accidents. Estimated 75% to 90% of all doctor visits are stress related. A lot of people are battling with that. As Christians who understand that this world is more spiritual than physical, we understand that behind the anxiety and behind the stress, there are spiritual powers they seek to dominate people's lives. Amen. The Bible says that there is spirit of heaviness, there is a spirit of fear, there is a spirit of jealousy, spirit of pride. And sometimes things that we feel are actually have their roots in the spiritual realm. Also we live in a very stressful world. In America today we live also in a place where there is a lot of demand that is placed upon us. I like what one preacher, one pastor said, he says, stress is the gap between the demands placed upon us and the strength we have to meet those demands. Let me say that again. Stress is the gap between the demands that are placed upon us and the strength we have to meet those demands. When you were young, the demands upon your life were small. You were simply in charge of brushing your teeth and then when you got older you had to tie your own shoelaces. You got a little bit older, the demands increased. You always wanted to grow up and then you grew up, you realized you were trapped. You realized this is not as good as I thought because now you're responsible to get a job. Now you're responsible to pay your own bills. And then you want to get married, you get married and you realize your own emotions are all over the place. The other person's emotions is total mystery. It adds stress to your life. And then you get children, that's like, multiplies that. You get your own business that multiplies it. You go into ministry and if you become effective, you get more accusation. You get more misunderstanding and more judgment and craziness. You join the church, you think this is the perfect place. My family is dysfunctional, but the church is so perfect until you get to know people in the church. And you realize the whole world is a mess. And it starts with us. And so what I would like to share with you today is a few practical principles that will not deal mainly with the demonic part of anxiety and stress, but more with the practical one. I'm going to note, I like to preach with points. So if you're taking notes, I would encourage you to do so. All the notes are available on your version Bible app and as well as those online have a link below where you can download them. If you're taking notes, I want you to write the first thing down. That is, God will not give you more than what he can handle. Have you noticed I didn't say you can handle? The common misconception is this, God will not give you more than you can handle. It's actually not in the Bible. The Bible says that God will not give you more than you can handle when it comes to temptation. In fact, let me quote it. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you such as common to men. God is faithful. Somebody say God is faithful. Drop that in the chat. Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able? It does not say God will not give you more than you can handle. The Bible says God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. And how does God alleviate our temptation? The next part is says, but with the temptation he will provide the way of escape. You being tempted with the computer, what is the way of escape? Turn off the computer. Portifer's wife is getting on you. What is the way of escape? There is three exit doors. You choose one of them. What is the way of escape? Don't reply to that person. What is the way of escape? Shut your mouth. Do not speak anymore because you're making things worse. What is the way of escape? It's pretty much God will let you escape that temptation. Have you noticed that God will not give you the strength to fight temptation? Well, run from it. See, some of us are fighting the things God is empowering us to flee. But see, the Bible does not say that God will not let you have trouble you can handle. He says he won't let you have temptation that you cannot or you will not be able to handle. God will always give you more trouble than you can handle. Why? Because he expects you to do your life with him. That's why what I wanted to say is this. God will not let you have more than what he can handle. Have you felt like life? Have you felt like the challenges, maybe breaking generational curses, setting a new standard in your family? Perhaps it's losing weight. For some people, maybe it's getting out of debt. For some people, it's raising your family. For others, maybe it's honestly fulfilling that calling that God has given you has become harder, more challenging than you thought. Maybe you feel like life has dealt you a lemon and man, like I'm having more than I can handle. You're not alone. Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 8, he says, for we do not want you to be unaware, meaning guys, I want you to know, brothers and old sisters of the affliction we experienced in Asia, Pasco, America, whatever country you are in, for we were so utterly burdened. This is Apostle Paul. This is the guy who wrote two thirds of New Testament. This is the guy who took trips to heaven. And no, he was not imagining things and he was not under influence of drugs. This is Apostle Paul who was used mightily of God to raise the dead and who have revelations from God so big, God had to put a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble. This is Paul who says the following, we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we have received sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God. It's not just God who gives me strength and I can do all things through him. But Paul says God who raises the dead, meaning sometimes you get to a place where things are not bad, they're dead, and you're like I can't take it anymore. I can't live another day. I can't put up with this anymore and Paul says I was burdened beyond my ability to bear. I wanted to die. I thought my life will end. I carried a sentence meaning a sentence was written that I will die, but he says all of this taught me not that God will not let me have more that I can handle, but that if I rely on him, he's the great I am, he is the resurrection and life. He will see me through, he will show the way where there is no way, he will heal the sick, he will break down every stronghold, he will pull me out every valley. My God raises the dead, somebody dropped it in the chat, my God raises the dead. I want to encourage you this morning, if you are burdened beyond your ability to bear. That's not because you've done something wrong, perhaps God allows things to come into our life, not something that we can bear, but something he can bear. Number two, when God does not remove the struggle, he renews our strength. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 29 says the following, he gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength, come on somebody say increase my strength Lord, for even youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fall. You would think the Gen Z, the young generation, the millennials, they have all the vitality within them, they're so young, they're so passionate, but the scripture makes it clear, even the youths will faint and will get weary. The young man shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. I want you to notice God does not say those who wait on me shall have their struggles removed. The Bible does not say those who seek me will have their problems eliminated. There are times and seasons where the miracle is pending, where the breakthrough is on its way, and you just can't take it anymore. And when God does not eliminate the struggle, he renews your strength. Instead of reducing the problem, he increases the strength. A lot of times when we hit times in our life where it's difficult to deal with a child that is having a mental illness, maybe it's difficult when you are in the marriage right now, you're not seeing eye to eye. Maybe this pandemic has caused a huge problem for your finances and you really are concerned for your future. And maybe your prayer or my prayer in this situation would be God remove the struggle, but I want to share something with you. If God removes every struggle, you'll never be successful, because every success requires stress. Every blessing carries a burden. If our prayer is God eliminate stress, God eliminate my problems, then you will actually eliminate yourself from going to the promised land, because promised land has giants. I want you to shift your prayer instead of saying God take the struggle, say Lord increase my strength. I'm not saying for God to give you strength to deal with cancer. I'm not talking about for God to give you strength to deal with pornography. There are things we have to have God remove completely. But there are things that honestly they're just not being removed and you're like God if you could just take this away and God's like if I could just make you stronger, you will conquer it. You will outlast it, tough times last, but tougher people last longer and they will conquer these times. Come on somebody. Somebody dropped it in the chat, increase my strength. God doesn't ask you to use your strength. He asks you to discover his. From Philippians chapter 4 verse 13 it says, for I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Second Corinthians 12 9 Paul says, and he said to me, my grace is sufficient for my strength is made perfect in your weakness. Therefore gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ my rest in me. First Samuel chapter 15 verse 29 it says also the strength of Israel will not lie or relent for he is not a man that he shall relent. In Genesis chapter 15 verse 2 it says the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. This is my God and I will praise him. My father's God and I will extol him. Proverbs 24 verse 10 it says if you fail under pressure, it doesn't say your struggle was too big. It says your strength was too small. We don't fail because problems are big. We fail because our strength ran its course. The strength of a young man failed. It's not enough to reach his destiny. The strength of a young woman ran its course and then it failed. You may say that's not fair. Why would God let me have more than I can handle so that when your natural comes to an end you can wait upon the Lord, have renewed, revived strength and move now not with feet but with wings. Move into supernatural peace that passes understanding. Move into I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and I fear no evil. Move into if I go through the water I will not drown. If I go through the fire I will not be scorched. My God is the God of the valleys and my God is the God of the mountains. He will see me through. Come on touch your neighbor say he wants to give you more strength. Those of you on zoom turn to the person next on your screen and say God let it increase your strength. The third thing I want to share the first thing we mentioned is that God will not give you more than he can handle. Number two when he does not remove the struggle he wants to renew increase our strength. And number three God's strategy is in God's strength. The challenge of stressful times is they seem not to end. The challenge of stressful times depressing and anxiety is when you feel like your future is gone. It feels like you don't know if you'll ever get out of this. And then people tend to in these moments look for a way out. Look for what should I do? Should I quit this marriage? Should I change my job? Should I move to another city? Should I honestly just disown my children? Okay pretty sure nobody thinks that. Said somebody who doesn't have children. Should I foreclose or should I fight for my mortgage? Should I go through a chemo or should I continue to believe God for healing? What should I do? Pastors or leaders who feel like the church is decreasing and it's not growing. Should I just go and do something else or should I move forward? The challenge with stressful times is they cloud your judgment. You can't think clear in those times. There was a man in the Bible his name was David. In first Samuel chapter 20 verse 6 it says moreover David was greatly distressed because people spoke of stoning him for all the people were embittered. Each one because of his sons and his daughters. Now read the later portion in just a second. The story is like this David is a fugitive for many years. David's life doesn't get better it only gets worse. And one day honestly he just had it enough. He actually turns himself over to the Philistines king for protection. The very king he fought against and if you watched the Bible carefully read the Bible carefully you will see from that point on it was about a year. You don't see a song written by David. You don't hear God speaking to David. David actually goes and starts killing people attacking mercilessly. David becomes the man you don't recognize. And guess what happens Philistines gave him a little city to live in that's where he's living at. And David is running and he's lying to Philistines saying he's attacking Judah but he's actually attacking Amalekites attacking other. David is literally becoming like this gangster type of a guy with his guys because he's tired of running as a fugitive from Saul. He's hiding in the Philistines territory. He's tired of hiding in the caves because Saul keeps finding him yet God keeps protecting him and he's like I'm done Saul will find me and he says I'm just going to go to my enemy and live there. And guess what happens at one of those times his family his children all of his possessions got burned and his family got captured. And all of his decisions caught up to him and the Bible says in this case David was not just stressful he was distressedful. And everybody blamed David for all of this. Man Todd said we need to kill David so David has a threat on his life. He lost everything. There is a sense of disconnection to God because he abandoned trusting in God to see him through and went to the safe place called the Philistines and that's where some of you are here today. The struggle was too hard so you decided to settle in your complacency. Maybe you just decided to settle in living in sin because it's easier than fighting against that sin. Maybe the culture has lied to you and said that that's the way you were born. That's just the way you are son stop fighting those urges stop fighting that thing that's just who you are and maybe everything got caught up to you today. And the Bible says this is what David does. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. When he was stressed he didn't ask God for direction. He got devoted to his God and went to his God for strength. And I want to encourage you today no matter what you're going through no matter what you've been and no matter what you've done. You came to this service today you are watching us right now or you are re-listening to this. Your God is waiting for you. Your God is your song and he is your strength. Come all who are weary and heavy-led and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon yourself and learn from me for I am meek and gentle and hard and you shall find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. God is inviting you right now. If you lost your marriage, if you lost your house, if you lost your business maybe you're losing your identity. Maybe you feel like you're losing your mind. I want you to run to God. I want you to get him as your strength. When you strengthen yourself in God, he will give you a strategy. He will give you a supernatural solution. He will give you the next step. He will tell you what you need to do. All you need to do is find your strength back. Your strength is not in Eastern meditation. Your strength is not in your political connections. Your strength is not in your education. Your strength is in your God. If God is your strength, somebody give God some praise in this house right now. Hallelujah. But those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. I want to encourage you today to get your strength back. Maybe you're asking, what should I do? That's not the question you should be asking when you are under stress. You should first get your strength back because every strategy from God is always hidden in the strength. Once you get your strength, you will see clearly what the next step is. Once you get your strength back, your mind will think clearly and the Holy Spirit will lead you. The moment you are confused, the moment you are mad, the moment you are frustrated, the moment you are moody, cranky, snappy, the moment you are like walking on eggshells. Everything is just like irritating you. This is not a moment to make a permanent decision based on temporary feelings. You gotta run to your strength and the Bible says, when David found his strength, then he inquired of the Lord. Watch this. He did not ask God what to do until he went to God to become his source and then he went to God to get a strategy. We do the opposite. We go to God and we say, God what should I do? And God says, listen, I want you to wait upon me till I renew your strength. Then you will spread your wings like eagle. Then you will run and not get tired. I want you to notice three things toward the end. Number one is you will soar with wings. When you wait upon God, when you make God your strength, the first thing that will happen, if the storm doesn't stop, you'll rise above it. You will find wings you did not know you had. You will find peace you did not know it's even possible. You will find joy that's unspeakable and full of glory. You will find peace that passes understanding. And this peace will guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus. And God will cause you to rise above the storm. You're not going to be like a chicken that is just in the barn hiding from the storm. You will spread your wings. You're not just going to try, you're going to trust in God. And it's not that the storm is going to be gone, you will be looking at it from a different vantage point. Number two, the Bible says is that you will run like an athlete. So the first one is we will soar like an eagle. Number two is we will surge like an athlete. And this speaks of emergencies in our life. Emergencies when you run usually you run because there's something happening and you need to quickly get there. Maybe a child is in the hospital, maybe your spouse got a flat tire, you got to drop everything that you're doing and you got to go help them. Maybe something happened with the house, you got to run quickly. Maybe your loved one is in the hospital and maybe they're living in a different city and they fell ill and you're stopping your work and you're getting a first flight and you're going there because it's an emergency you're running. When you and I are serving God, it does not mean we never have emergencies. It hit me one time when I was reading the Old Testament where God told Israel, when you go to the promised land, I want you to have six cities of refuge. And then he explains why you need to have six cities of refuge. He says if an accident, you kill somebody. I'm thinking how could it be an accident if you're in a promised land? You're in a land flowing with milk and honey and God knows that you can be in the center of God's will and accidents can still happen. And God didn't say I will prevent accidents. He says I just want you to have a place to run to. I want to already have three cities on one side of Jordan, three cities on the other. He said accidents will happen. Bones will break. Tires will go flat. You can get COVID. Somebody will die. We live in a broken world. Even in the blessing, we can have certain emergencies and certain accidents. And it's not a sign that the devil is attacking. Now if you're accident prone, meaning accidents happen to you all the time. And your second name is accidents. That's a different story. We have a prayer line for that. But I'm talking about people today who live a normal Christian life and experience occasional emergencies and occasional accidents. And God says in that moment, I will give you feet of a deer. You will surge like an athlete, and you will not get tired. Meaning that you will still go to that place and things will be resolved. And that these things will not define you, but these things will refine you. Number three is he says, not only you will soar, you will surge. But he says you will also stick like a soldier. And this is the hardest one. Because for most of us, we know what to do during trouble. And some of us are more likely to call on God when emergency happens. But most of us get really thrown off by the everyday routine, maintain very boring life. It's when you're not running because there's something bad happening. You're not soaring because something really bad is happening. When you have to walk, and God says I will give you strength. Not only for the emergencies, I want to give you strength. Not only for the troubles of life, I will also give you strength for the everyday nothing exciting is happening in my life. To stick like a soldier. See, the presence of God doesn't just give me wings in the storm. The presence of God doesn't just give you strength in your legs when you have to respond to emergencies, run to the actual emergency when your child is in the emergency. But the presence of God also gives you courage to stick every single day, come every single weekend, read your Bible every single day. Love your spouse every single day. A lot of people get complacent when life gets predictable. And the only time they're burning for God is if something is burning in their life. The only time they're underneath, if something is broken. But God says, I listen, not every day is gonna be a trouble. But when trouble comes and you wait upon me, I'll give you wings. When something unexpected happens, I will give you legs. And he says, if your life gets predictable, if your life seems main day, I will give you the strength of a soldier. You will keep on marching forward. You will keep on marching forward. You will not be an emotional drama that constantly needs a little high, a little push. Oh, switching churches every single week, why? Because I don't get fed anymore. I'll help you to be a soldier. You're not moved by your feelings. You're moved by your devotion. You are moved by your faith. You are walking with God. Righteous man lives by faith. Righteous man walks by faith. It's not always a run. Sometimes it's just a normal, every day walk. When you read your Bible, walk. When you bring your tithe, walk. When you take care of your home, walk. When you pay your taxes, walk. When you go to your small group, walk. When you keep on meeting with people, walk. When you are fasting, walk. And you're not seeing much changes, but you are faithful to that walk. Come on, somebody, somebody drop that in the chat, faithful. You gotta be consistent and faithful. What to do when I can't take it anymore? I must remember God only allows troubles he can handle. Therefore, I must rely on him. I must remember sometimes he removes the struggle. Other times he increases my strength. And I also must remember when I find his strength, I will find his strategy. And that strategy will become clear. And sometimes that strategy is simply spreading my wings. And knowing these two shall pass. Sometimes the strategy is I actually have to run right now to this situation. I can't just get on my knees when my child is in an emergency because they're broke, they're leg. I can't just turn on a worship song and say, I'm just gonna worship. You actually need to go to the hospital. Okay, you're flat tire. You can just simply stand in the car and just Lord, I praise you. You actually have to take a spare child and replace us. There are emergencies that you have to run to. But even in that place, we run to the city of refuge, Jesus Christ, in our emergencies. But the most dangerous place for most of us in here will be when everything is good and we stop instead of stick like a soldier. Keep on pressing in, keep on walking. And this is what differentiates the soulless Christians from spiritual Christians. Christians that are led by the spirit and to Christians who are constantly to be kicked, pushed and pinned so that they can run after God. I don't wanna run after God only because something is hurting, something is broken and somebody's attacking me. I wanna run after God because I love God. This doesn't mean that things will always be good, but when things are good, I wanna fast and pray. At the same time, I fasted and prayed when things were difficult. I don't want pain to drive me to God. I want my decisions to drive me to God. And the Lord says, if you wait upon me, I'll give you, I'll add power to your will. I will add my supernatural strength so that you will not lead, let your boredom lead you back to bondage. So you will not let the main day that every day kind of a boring, I need a little excitement thing so you will not let that cause you to drift away from God, but be faithful. Like a clock, constantly keep on ticking. Like a soldier constantly keep on sticking to the routine that the Lord has given you. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video. It cost you nothing, but it can go a long way to help with the algorithm. As well as if you're not subscribed to our channel, hit subscribe, click on the bell so that you can be reminded each time that we upload videos. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you're interested in learning more about Hungry Jen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance and so many other things, go to HungryJen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.