Try as we might, there is no way for us to avoid the struggles of this life. Family issues, financial stressors, problems at work, and any other number of things can leave us feeling like we’re in a perpetual state of struggle. While the struggle is real, the struggle is not permanent. If you feel like you’re living your life in a perpetual state of taking three steps forward and four steps back, you can discover how to break out of your cycle of struggle today.
You’ve probably heard or seen the phrase, “the struggle is real” at some point. The statement has been popular enough to appear in song lyrics, on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and internet memes. Why do you think that statement is so popular? It is likely because everyone can relate to the truth behind it. All of us face some level of struggle. It’s easy to assume that people who have what you perceive as a better life than you don’t face struggles, but that’s simply not true.
If you live your life in a perpetual state of worry about money, it’s easy to assume that people who have a lot of money don’t have struggles. While they may not be able to relate with your struggle, those people have their own set of struggles. If you’re facing struggles in your family, you may find yourself comparing yourself to people around you who seem to have the “dream family.” If your marriage is struggling, or you’re having issues with your children, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that people who appear to be members of a happy family aren’t struggling.
Ultimately, none of us truly know the intricacies of someone else’s struggle. This is partly because we can only see our own struggles up close. No matter how well you know someone, it’s impossible for you to completely understand their struggle. Additionally, we often compare our struggles to other people’s successes.
In the social media generation, most people only feel comfortable sharing their successes with their friends and followers. You may find yourself feeling inadequate when you compare your life to the lives of people you’re following on social media. While they’re taking expensive vacations, you’re wondering how you’re going to pay the bills this month. While they’re celebrating anniversaries, you may be wondering what happened to derail your marriage. If the temptation to compare yourself to others is what’s holding you back, remember, those people aren’t sharing their struggles. Instead, they’re only posting about their successes. They have their own set of issues that they deal with every day.
Today, your struggle is real. No one is trying to minimize the stress and the pain that you’re dealing with. However, your struggle is not permanent. When you place your trust in Christ, you can stand on the promise that you are stronger than the struggle.
Flip the Script
Psalm 149:3-6 (TPT)
Break forth with dancing! Make music and sing God’s praises with the rhythm of drums! For he enjoys his faithful lovers. He adorns the humble with his beauty, and he loves to give them victory. His godly lovers triumph in the glory of God, and their joyful praises will rise even while others sleep. God’s high and holy praises fill their mouths, for their shouted praises are their weapons of war!
When facing the hardship of struggles, it’s easy to let the struggle be the only thing that you think about. When things are going wrong, the fear, stress, and anxiety associated with those issues have a tendency to rush to the forefront our minds. When those things are at the forefront of our minds, they’re also usually on the tip of our tongues.
Take a moment and evaluate how much time you spend talking about what you’re struggling against. Even if you don’t spend a lot of time talking to other people about it, take an inventory of your internal dialogue. The things we talk about don’t only include the things that we say to our friends and family. Instead, what kind of words are you speaking to yourself about yourself?
Allow the Holy Spirit to change the script that you’re going over in your life. When you flip the script, your focus shifts from the struggle to the Savior. This doesn’t mean that your struggle isn’t real, nor does it make everything suddenly go away. However, the Psalmist said that when we allow our mouths to be filled with praise, we are arming ourselves with weapons of war.
The struggles in your life are certainly warring against you. You cannot overcome them without the kinds of weapons that God wants to equip you with.
Choosing Abundance Over Lack
John 10:10 (TPT)
A thief has only one thing in mind-he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect-life in its fullness until you overflow!
Most of us don’t like to fight. Being a nonconfrontational person is not a bad trait, but when you’re dealing with the struggles in your own life, it’s imperative that you learn some fighting skills. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul wrote that the battle that we’re engaged in is not one that is fought against flesh and blood. That is wonderful news, especially to those of us who wouldn’t know what to do in hand-to-hand combat.
The second principle of confronting the struggle builds on the first one that we discussed. We know that the words that we speak, whether they are internal or external, are our weapons. When we know our enemy, we can better understand how to use those words.
If you knew that someone who lives near you was a thief, would you leave your doors unlocked when you’re not home? Of course not! You would be inviting the thief into your home so he or she could take everything that you have worked for. Unfortunately, we often leave ourselves open to the devices of Satan, who wants nothing more than to “steal, slaughter, and destroy.”
The second phase of overcoming the struggle is making a choice that you’re going to protect what you have. In the same way that you wouldn’t leave the doors to your home unlocked, you can’t leave the door to your heart unlocked. When Satan sees an unlocked door, he can steal your joy, your strength, your praise, and everything else that God wants to equip you with.
Today, choose the abundance of God over the chaos that is brought about by the enemy. When you choose overflow, it’s easy to see that the things that are causing you to struggle aren’t that powerful after all.
Remember What You Have
1 Timothy 6:12 (TPT)
So fight with faith for the winner’s prize! Lay your hands upon eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made the good confession before the multitude of witnesses!
Focusing on the struggle is an admission that you’re losing sight of the good things that you have. To better understand this point, look at it in the natural realm. If you spend all your time focusing on the material things that you don’t have, it’s easy to forget about what you do have. Even if your car isn’t the newest, does it get you where you need to go? If your home isn’t the biggest, does it provide you and your family with the shelter you need?
In the spiritual realm, Satan wants us to focus on our lack instead of our abundance. Paul wrote that if we hold onto the eternal life that we have through our profession of faith. Spend more time remembering what you have and less time focusing on what you’re missing. You’ll quickly find that you have more than you need.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, today I want to flip the script in my life. Instead of talking about the struggle, I will spend my time talking about Your goodness in my life. Help me to silence my own doubts and fears in the name of praising You in everything I do. In Christ’s name, Amen.