Gregory Dickow - How To Stop Feeling Bad
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Well, I wanna welcome you to the "Power to Change Today," and today I wanna talk to you about how to stop feeling bad. God has set us free, and today we're going to demolish the devil's plan to keep you from realizing and experiencing the freedom, the joy that is a part of your salvation. Aren't you tired of feeling bad? We feel guilt, we feel negativity so often, it's time for us to experience the joy of our salvation. That's what today's teaching is all about. Share it with someone who needs it, and I'll be right back at the end to pray for you.
And so, I want to talk to you about "How to Stop Feeling Bad". How to Stop Feeling Bad. And it may sound like a very superficial kinda teaching. Feeling bad, like, why would God care about that? Because God cares about everything about your life. He cares about every detail of your life, and he cares about every one of us and how we feel, and what we're living, and what we're going through, and he wants us to learn how to master our emotions rather than our emotions mastering us. You know, everybody has emotions, but we just don't want our emotions to have us. We want to be in control of them rather than them being in control of us. And I'm going to show you how to stop feeling bad.
You know, I don't know if you realize this or not, but your chains are gone. Your chains to sin are gone. The things that have chained us to sin, and chained us to guilt, and chained us to addictions, and chained us to depression, the chains of oppression are gone. Jesus came and liberated us from all the chains that had been holding us down to a defeated life, to a fearful life, to a defeated life, a life of fear, a life of anxiety, a life of worry, a life of depression, a life of addiction. I experienced all of those things at a very young age, and I'll talk about that with you in just a moment, but I want you to realize your chains have been broken.
Every one of us have been set free, the problem is that the devil works overtime to try to stop us from realizing the freedom that we've been given. Jesus said if the Son has set you free, you shall be free indeed. And so, Jesus, when he died on the cross and said, "It is finished," he set us free from sin. He set us free from addictions. He set us free from the curse. He set us free from loneliness. He set us free from fear. He set us free from depression. He set us free from anger. He set us free from the fear of people, and the fear of torture, and the fear of punishment. He set us free from condemnation and guilt, but if you don't know it, you won't experience it. You could have freedom but not enjoy your freedom because you're ignorant of it. You could have healing but not enjoy your healing 'cause you're ignorant of it. You could have salvation but not enjoy your salvation 'cause you're ignorant of the joy of your salvation.
You remember David described the joy of his salvation. He said, "Restore to me, O Lord, the joy of my salvation". David didn't ask God to restore his salvation. In Psalm 51 verse 11 or 12, he said, "Restore to me, Lord, the joy," whoo, "The joy of my salvation". He didn't say restore to me my salvation, because God doesn't take it away. Let me ask you something. This is a topic that people stumble over, and I don't want to be all theological on you today, but I just want you to be at peace today, because God wants to restore to you and to me the joy and the enjoyment of our salvation, the joy and the enjoyment of our salvation.
And I want to show you how to stop feeling bad about your life, stop feeling bad about letting people down, stop feeling bad about not being able to do everything for your kids, stop feeling bad about all the mistakes you've made, stop feeling bad about where you've fallen short, stop feeling bad about what you didn't do, what you did do. We need to learn to stop feeling bad about our lives, because if we let ourselves, we would be condemned the rest of our lives because we don't pray enough, or I feel bad 'cause I'm not praying enough, and then we're praying, I feel bad 'cause I'm not reading the Bible enough, and we're reading the Bible, I feel bad I'm not sharing with others enough, and when we're sharing with others, I feel bad I'm not praying enough. I feel bad I'm not with my family enough, I feel bad I'm not workin' harder, I feel bad I'm not doin' this, I feel bad I'm not doin' that.
And the devil will obliterate your emotions and will obliterate your life with guilt and condemnation, accusing you day and night of all that you've fallen short of, and that's why Jesus took care of the stuff. He wiped it all away so that we don't have to suffer over our sins, we don't have to grieve over them anymore, we don't have to lament over them anymore. Jesus isn't asking us to beg for our salvation back 'cause he didn't take David's salvation away, and if he could've taken away from anybody, it would've been David with all the things he did wrong, but he didn't take David's salvation away, so why is he going to take yours away? He's not ever going to do that, because the Bible says in Romans 11:29, "The gifts of God are without repentance". They are irrevocable.
And the greatest gift of God is salvation, 'cause I didn't earn it, you didn't earn it. Can everybody agree that salvation is a gift? It's one of God's gifts. It's the best gift, right? Come on, talk to me now. It's the best gift, right? And what does it say about the gifts and calling of God, they're what? Irrevocable, irrevocable, he's not taking 'em back. Sorry, you smoked a cigarette, you're gone. Sorry, you had a bad thought, you're outta here. Sorry, you had lust in your eyes, I'm plucking one out. Jesus, when Jesus came, he fixed it all. He washed it all away. Everything was broken, everything was fragmented, everything was understood just in pieces, but when Jesus comes, he fulfills the picture and he gives us a total picture of what he is, and who he is, and why he came.
And let me show you one of the reasons he came, 'cause he came to remove our sins, came to restore us to the Father, but let me show you what else he came to do. John chapter 10 verse 10, watch this. John chapter 10 verse 10, "For the thief," Jesus says the thief comes only for three reasons, what are they? The thief comes to steal, sounds reasonable for a thief, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. This is what the devil wants to do in your life. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus said, "But I have come," hey, I love that word "but". "But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly". Now, the Amplified Bible says it really great, and really brings out the fullness of this verse. It says, "The thief comes only in order to steal, to kill, and destroy," Jesus said, "But I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance to the full, 'til it overflows".
Now, if you look at your life right now, you'd probably have to admit you're not living in this life of enjoying life, abundance to the full, 'til it overflows. You wanna know something? Everybody's gonna overflow with something. You're either gonna overflow with bitterness, you're gonna overflow with a negative attitude, you're gonna overflow with complaining, you're gonna overflow with ingratitude, you're gonna overflow with pessimism, and you're gonna overflow with a victim mentality, or you're gonna overflow with love, and you're gonna overflow with joy, you're gonna overflow with peace, and you're gonna overflow with kindness, and you're gonna overflow with the life of God.
But I want you to see this, these are Jesus's words. He says, "The devil has come to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that you may have and enjoy life," and here was my point earlier. He said that you may have and enjoy life. We all have eternal life. When you are born again, when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you have eternal life, but he says he wants us to have it and enjoy it. He wants us to have it and enjoy it. Oh, if I could get this across to you that God wants us to have the life, and we all have it, but he wants us to enjoy it, too.
I used to wake up every day as a Christian after I got saved around 17 years old, I used to wake up every day sad, feeling bad about myself, feeling bad I hadn't done anything that night. It's like the guy that, you know, prays, "Oh, God, I just wanna thank you that, you know, I just want to thank you for all your goodness, I want to thank you that you've helped me, and you protected me from all the evil. I haven't done anything bad today, I haven't cussed yet, I haven't hurt anybody, I haven't stolen anything, I haven't lied, I haven't cheated all day, but Lord, I'm about to get out of bed this morning, and I'm gonna need your help then the rest of the day". Some of you will get that later.
Alright, so here's the thing, I used to wake up everyday feeling bad, like I don't pray enough, I'm not holy enough, I'm not pure enough, and God wants us to be delivered from all that bondage, and he wants you to know you're enough, and he's enough in you, and nothing can separate you from his love, nothing. Nothing can separate you from his love. And when you have that assurance, you're gonna stop beating yourself up. We beat ourselves up 'cause we don't do enough for everybody, we don't do enough for our kids, we don't do enough for our spouse, we don't do enough for our friends, we don't do enough at our job, we just never feel like we do enough, and God doesn't want you to feel that way anymore. Like, as far as you being productive at your job, that's not on me, I'm not here to get you to be productive on your job. Like, if you need to be motivated at your job, then hire a motivational person to help you at your job and your career, go to a seminar at your job.
I'm talking about at life. Every day, every breathing moment of your life, you can be happy, you can be fulfilled, you can be content. I mean, there are ups and downs for everybody, don't get me wrong, but what I'm saying is we've been robbed of the joy and the happiness of our salvation because we feel guilty all the time. When are we gonna stop feeling guilty? Look at Romans chapter 8, I gotta show you this in verse 31. "What shall we say then to these things"? So, we're gonna have to start sayin' some stuff. "What shall we say to these things"? Now, he just listed for us all these things, then he lists them after that, "Principalities, death, life, angels, things present, things to come, power, height, depth". He lists all these bad things that happen in our lives, and he says what shall we say to these things?
So, you know what? You're gonna have to start opening your mouth. You want to feel better about your life? You're gonna have to use your tongue, because your tongue is the steering wheel. Your tongue is the rudder of the ship. The whole ship, a whole boat, a cruise liner, the way that it turns is with a small rudder. The boat is two football fields long, but the rudder that turns the boat it's like a just a fraction of that. Anybody knows, if they've ever been on a boat, a little boat, a little boat that's, you know, "Row, row, row, your boat," you know, six-foot long boat, the thing that will turn that little motorboat is one little thing, one little piece of that motor called the rudder. And if you turn it this way, the whole boat turns that way. Our tongue, the Bible says, is the rudder of our ship. It controls the whole direction of our lives.
That's why the Bible says, "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth," why? Because when you're blessing Lord at all times, when his praise is continually in your mouth, your whole life is gonna go in that direction. Your whole life is gonna follow your tongue. He said, "What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us"? You'll stop feeling bad when you start saying things like this. Listen to me, it's really simple, you'll stop feeling bad when you start thinking and saying things like this. "If God is for us, who can be against us"?
I'm just reading the Bible for you right now. If God is for me, who can be... personalize it. If God is for me, who can be against me? "He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up over for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things"? "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one that condemns?" Verse 34 says. "Christ Jesus is the one who has died and rather is raised from the dead who is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ"?
He's saying these are the things that we need to be saying. What shall we say to these things? What shall we say to our guilt? What shall we say to our condemnation? What shall we say to when we feel bad about ourselves? We shall say if God be for me, who can be against me? That's what we should say. God didn't withhold his own Son, why would he withhold anything from me? Go over with me to 1 Timothy chapter 6 now, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17. "Instruct those that are rich in this present world," to stop being rich. That's not what he says. He says instruct them not to be conceited.
Pride is the problem. Money is not a problem, pride is the problem. Trusting in your riches, that's a problem. Trusting in money is the problem. Trusting in God, it's funny how on our money it says, "In God We Trust," but we trust the money more than we trust God. "Instruct those that are rich in this present world not to be conceited, and do not fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God". What is he saying? Fix your hope on God, who what? Richly supplies us. Let's read this together. Don't fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches, everybody read together, "But on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy".
You know what? Let me tell you somethin.' Most Christians are shocked this is even in the Bible. Most Christians don't even know this is in here, and once they see it, a lot of people right now, maybe not a lot of you here, maybe somebody watching, or maybe a couple people here, you want to fight me about it. I don't want to fight you about it, it's in the Bible. I'm takin' it. I receive it. Healing is in the Bible. I'm taking it. You wanna argue about it, you argue, I'm speaking in tongues. You wanna argue about it, I'm walking in healing. You wanna argue about it, I'm going to be generous. You want to argue about it, I'm going to teach people about Jesus. You wanna argue about stuff?
You go ahead and argue about stuff, but I'm taking the Bible word for word. The way it's written is the way he meant it, we just need to understand. We need to understand the context of it. God richly supplies us with what? All things to what? Enjoy, enjoy, really he's more interested in us enjoying life than us having the things that cause us to enjoy life. The goal is not the things, the goal is the enjoyment of the things. Like, God wants us to enjoy our families. He wants us to enjoy our day. He wants us to enjoy our jobs. He wants us, you're not gonna enjoy it if you think that God doesn't want you to. If you believed a mystical, mythical belief in that you're meant to suffer and you're meant to be miserable, that's a lie. Jesus bore our grief and he bore our sorrows so that we could be healed, not so that we could remain in grief and in sorrow, but so that we could discover happiness and joy.
Jesus said in John chapter 16:24, he said, "Ask and you shall receive, that your joy would be made full". The goal is not even, look, he said up until now you've asked nothing, "But ask and ye shall receive so that your joy may be made full". Look at his goal. God's goal, Jesus's goal for us is the point of having the joy, the fullness of joy, "That your joy may be full". So often we focused on I gotta ask and receive, I need this thing, I need this thing, I need this thing. God's just using that thing to bring you to a place of joy. God's goal is for you to have joy. "In his presence there's fullness of joy, and his right hand are pleasures forevermore".
Boy, if we could just get ahold of this, that the point that Jesus is getting to here is the fullness of joy, not asking and receiving. Asking and receiving is a mechanism. Asking and receiving is a method to get us to live in the joy that God intended, to enjoy our lives, to enjoy God. We need to be enjoying our relationship with God, and I'm gonna tell you why most people aren't enjoying their relationship with God. It's because we labor under the guilt of how we've let God down. We've let ourselves down. We have failed.
And the reason people do not enjoy their relationship with God is because they base their relationship with God on the promises that they've made to God. I promise you, God, now that I'm saved, I promise you, God, I'm going to be good. I promise you I'm going to pray. I promise you I'm gonna read more. I promise you I'm gonna do better. I promise you I'm gonna be holier. And we make all these promises to God that guess what? We can't keep, and then we're disappointed in ourselves. But Christianity is not built upon the promises that we make to God, no, Christianity is built upon the promises that he makes to us. Your Christian life must be built around God's promises, not your promises. It's God's promises toward us, not our promises towards God.
Now, if you just focused on God's promises in the Bible, and you just prayed God's promises, spoke God's promises, thought about God's promises, expected God's promises, you would have peace and you would have fullness of joy. But when you're full, and you would enjoy your relationship with God. There are times where I'm just talkin' to God, "O Lord, I just love you so much, and thank you for being my Father, thank you for loving me, thank you for your love". Like, that may not sound spiritual to you, but it sure as heck is spiritual to me. It's real to me. I enjoy my relationship with God because it's no longer built around my failure, it's all built around what he did for me.