                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                 A Message for Christians Who Have Bad Days

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By David Wilkerson
August 3, 1998
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          The Christian life is not a life of clear sailing.
          Every believer is going to have bad days, no matter how
          holy he may be. In fact, I believe the more godly a
          person is, the more trying and excruciating his bad
          days will be.

          Fortunately, most Christians know Jesus isn't just a
          "good times only" savior. He's with us not only when
          things are going well, but during our bad days also.
          When hard times hit us, he doesn't disappear, saying,
          "I'll be back when you've got it all worked out." No
          he's faithful and caring through every kind of season.
          And he's touched by every feeling we endure during our
          hard times.

          The apostle Paul addresses this when he writes, "We
          have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
          excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us"
          (2 Corinthians 4:7). Imagine it! The treasure Paul
          refers to is the knowledge and presence of Jesus
          Christ. And we hold this precious treasure in our
          bodies!

          Yet the Greek word Paul uses for "earthen" is "frail
          clay" meaning, "weak, easily broken, easily tempted."
          He's saying, "Yes, we hold Jesus' presence in our very
          bodies. But our bodies are weak, easily tempted and
          easily broken!"

          The fact is, we all suffer what the Bible calls
          "infirmities." For many Christians, a common infirmity
          of life is a frail constitution or poor health. Paul
          spoke of Timothy's frequent illnesses, calling them
          "often infirmities" (1 Timothy 5:23). The Greek word
          "infirmity" here means "sickly, without strength,
          feeble of body or mind."

          Yet there are other kinds of infirmities besides
          physical ones, and they're just as difficult to handle.
          In my opinion, infirmities of the mind are probably the
          most widespread. I'm not talking about mental illness,
          but rather those unexplainable times when your feelings
          betray you and play tricks on your mind. Let me
          explain.

          It's possible to go to bed feeling contented, on top of
          the world, and yet wake up the next day with a heavy
          cloud of gloom hanging over your head. All day long you
          feel totally bound by your downcast state of mind. You
          don't know where it came from but the cloud of gloom
          just keeps hanging over you, and it won't go away.

          Guilt, fear and anxiety are all infirmities of the
          mind. Such things might haunt you because of your past,
          or because of some sin that still clings to your life.
          And these infirmities cannot but help affect your
          feelings.

          Now, you may say you don't live by your feelings but in
          a very real sense you do. For instance, you might not
          be able to shake off some harsh words someone spoke to
          you a few days before. Or, you may constantly battle
          feelings of rejection or unworthiness. Without
          question, these feelings have a direct effect on the
          way you live.

          For some people, Mothers Day or Fathers Day is one of
          the hardest days of the year. Perhaps their parents
          didn't offer much love, or were alcoholics, or simply
          weren't around. Many people can't remember a good day
          with their mother or father at all. And so Christmas
          and Thanksgiving become the most difficult times of the
          year for them.

          Ironically, my bad days come most often while I'm
          searching God's word. When I'm alone with the Lord and
          my Bible, I can be overwhelmed with feelings of
          ignorance. I sense there's a whole ocean of truth
          before me, but I can't possibly comprehend it because
          there's so much of it.

          I get even more frustrated when I read the great
          writings of preachers who lived 300 years ago. I end up
          crying out, "Oh, Lord I'm like a baby in my
          understanding compared to these spiritual giants! They
          lived in a supposedly unenlightened age and yet as
          young men they wrote about matters I have yet to grasp
          in my sixties. Why is it so hard for me to get it?"

          The only answer I receive is what I hear in Paul's
          words: "Not of works, lest any man should boast"
          (Ephesians 2:9). All power rests in God including the
          power to comprehend truth and maintain a godly life.
          This great treasure is contained in earthen vessels so
          that all glory may be to him!

                      -------------------------------

                          It Is Not Unspiritual to
                           Experience Bad Days!

                      -------------------------------

          If your bad day involves a demonic attack on your
          faith, you may be tempted to think you're being
          unspiritual just for undergoing it. Yet nothing could
          be further from the truth.

          Several weeks ago, a godly young man called me in
          tears. He blurted out, "I've just had the worst day of
          my life and I don't know what to do! A strange feeling
          came over me today, and I can't shake it. Brother Dave,
          I don't know if there is a God!"

          The young man had no idea where his feelings of doubt
          came from. And he was shocked and hurt by the terrible
          thoughts that entered his mind. He confessed, "I can't
          feel God's presence. And now I can't help doubting
          whether he exists at all. What am I going to do? I
          don't want to harbor these awful thoughts!"

          I told him, "Don't be afraid or discouraged. Believe
          me, this is an old trick of the devil. He loves to play
          it especially on young believers who are precious to
          God. Right now he's injecting these thoughts into your
          mind to try to strike at your faith. He wants to
          confuse you!"

          Little did this young man know, I'd been through a
          similar experience years before with my own son, Gary.
          As a teenager, Gary came home from school one day and
          went straight to his room without saying a word to
          anyone. I knew something was wrong so I knocked on his
          door and asked if we could talk.

          "I don't want to hurt you, Dad," Gary said and then he
          broke down in tears. "I'm having awful thoughts. I'm
          not sure there's a God anymore!"

          Those words broke my heart because I knew Gary had been
          called by God to preach his word. I wish I'd had the
          spiritual insight then that I have now about this
          problem. But all I could tell Gary at the time was:
          "Son, just trust Jesus the best you can. Ride it out,
          and don't give up. He'll see you through the storm in
          your mind."

          God did see Gary through his trial. And today my son
          pastors a church in Denver, after nearly two decades of
          pioneering innercity churches and overseas ministries.

          Now I was able to tell this young man the same thing
          I'd told Gary: "Just ride it out. Your heavenly father
          knows exactly what you're going through and he'll see
          you through it all. Remember, God has promised never to
          leave you. Just keep turning to him, by faith alone!"

          If you're undergoing this kind of trial, you must
          understand: You are not being unspiritual while
          enduring such attacks. You're still the child of your
          heavenly father, and he won't let you fight alone.
          He'll send the Holy Ghost to chase away all your
          doubts! So, don't try to argue with the devil. You
          can't prove anything to him. Instead, when the next
          attack comes, run to your heavenly father. Then stand
          still, with patience and hope!

          I once received a letter from a Pentecostal pastor's
          wife whose husband had died a few years before. She
          wrote that he had been a powerful preacher, a devoted
          shepherd to his flock and a loving, caring father. But
          he had a serious problem: He was bound by a spirit of
          adultery.

          This man had to resign from four different churches
          because of his many affairs with women. After each
          resignation, he would go straight for a few years but
          then his addiction would resurface, and he would start
          the pattern of adultery all over again.

          Fortunately, his wife was a student of God's word and a
          prayer warrior who remained close to the Lord through
          it all. Her friends told her she should leave her
          husband, saying it was foolish to stay with a man who
          continually abused her that way. But, she wrote, "I
          know God hates divorce. So I just decided to hold onto
          the Lord."

          Every time her husband cheated on her, she cried a
          river of tears, aching terribly. But she always felt
          the Lord telling her to stay with him, forgive him and
          try to help him. So she faithfully took all her pain to
          the Lord and each time he gave her the strength to go
          on.

          Beloved, this dear woman didn't just have bad days she
          had bad years! She wrote that she remembers only a few
          brief periods of happiness in all the years of her
          marriage. But she knew God had promised to bless and
          honor her in the end.

          And so he has. Today, her children are in love with the
          Lord and are married to godly Christians. And,
          amazingly, all of those adult children have good
          memories of their father, in spite of his many tragic
          failures.

          Moreover, this dear woman is blessed, revered and
          honored in her church. In fact, she is often invited to
          speak to young married women. She always advises them
          not to abandon their husbands at the slightest problem.
          Instead, she tells them, "Jesus has been allsufficient
          for me, through every storm. He has blessed me beyond
          anything I could hope for!"

          Then she wrote something in her letter that struck me
          powerfully: "There were awful, trying days when I felt
          like giving in to my emotions. I can't tell you how
          many times I wanted to quit. I thought, 'My husband
          preaches with fire and moves the hearts of everyone in
          this church. But he's an adulterer!'

          "I was haunted by the thought that all my efforts were
          in vain. But I knew I had a promise from God. And when
          I prayed, I reminded him of his promise to me and he
          always gave me strength to go on. Now I'm glad I didn't
          give up. I can say that God has shown me his goodness!"

                      -------------------------------

                           Even the Saintly Paul
                               Had Bad Days.

                      -------------------------------

          Paul was hit with a bad day while traveling in
          Macedonia. "When we were come into Macedonia, our flesh
          had no rest, but we were troubled on every side;
          without were fightings, within were fears" (2
          Corinthians 7:5). This godly man confessed that his
          inner man was plagued not just by one fear, but by many
          fears!

          Indeed, Paul was no superhuman. He was subject to the
          same human emotions we all face. At one point, all the
          believers in Asia turned against him; people he'd given
          his lifeblood for. He wrote, "...the more abundantly I
          love you, the less I be loved" (12:15).

          Yes, Paul had awful days. But he never gave in to his
          feelings and the temptations that accompanied them. He
          testified in his worst time: "...I am filled with
          comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation"
          (7:4). Then he added: "...God...comforteth those that
          are cast down..." (verse 6).

          Are you going through a bad day, a bad week, a long
          season of despondency? Are you cast down, discouraged,
          with thoughts of quitting? If this describes you, then
          how do you think God reacts to your trial? Does he
          rebuke you or chasten you? No, never! Paul states, "The
          Lord is never closer to you, never more ready to help
          you, than when you're down and hurting."

          "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
          Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all
          comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation..."
          (1:34). The Greek word for "comforteth" here means "to
          call close." What an amazing thing! When we experience
          bad days, our heavenly father takes advantage of them
          to draw us close to himself!

                      -------------------------------

                           Although Bad Days Are
                          Inevitable, They Should
                           Become Fewer and Less
                           Disturbing to Us as We
                           Grow In Our Knowledge
                          Of Who We Are in Christ

                      -------------------------------

          As we continue in our walk with the Lord, our bad days
          should grow less intense. And we should become more
          aware in our bad times that we have all the resources
          needed to deal with the enemy.

          I believe our bad days are often meant to bring us into
          maturity and out of childish bondages. Think about it:
          Most of our bad days are caused by our childish
          reactions to life situations. And consider the way
          children react to life: One minute they're laughing,
          and the next they're screaming. They pout. They're a
          bundle of fears. They're easily hurt, and they cry a
          lot. They have short attention spans, and they demand
          instant gratification.

          Yet, in spite of all this, godly parents love and
          comfort their children through all of life's
          experiences. No tantrum could ever cause a loving
          parent to disown or reject his child.

          Likewise, as Christians, we sometimes pout or throw
          fleshly tantrums when we face difficult times. We cry,
          "Okay, God, if that's the way you're going to treat me
          if you're going to keep letting bad things happen then
          why should I even pray to you?"

          Yet our heavenly father loves and comforts us through
          every tantrum through our burdens, our screaming, our
          childish ups and downs. You see, his great desire is
          that in the midst of our trials we'll begin to grasp
          the knowledge of who we are and what we possess as his
          children. He knows that whenever we're tossed about by
          the winds and waves of our emotions, we forget we're
          his children and we begin living far beneath our
          privileges. Yet his word tells us we're his heirs and
          joint heirs with our older brother, Jesus!

          "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child,
          differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of
          all" (Galatians 4:1). Paul is talking here about a
          Roman custom of the day. A child would be adopted by a
          rich man and then placed with a tutor until he turned
          eight years old. Then, from age eight to twentyfive,
          the child would be put under the authority of a
          guardian. Through all these years, the child remained
          heir to a fortune yet he had virtually no control or
          power over his life.

          Paul says such a child illustrates those who are under
          the law. The law is the tutor that instructs us in
          God's commands. But a time comes when our schooling
          ends and we're to take our places as heirs of God's
          riches through the grace of Christ. Yet, many
          Christians never lay hold of this knowledge. They still
          live according to good works and "do's and don'ts",
          never comprehending their position as sons of God.
          "...we, when we were children, were in bondage..."
          (verse 3). They're still serving God as slaves, bound
          by fear, guilt and despair because they don't
          understand their adoption!

          Paul says to such believers, "You're still childish in
          your thinking, laboring under the bondage of laws you
          established for yourself. You don't see that you're now
          lord over all things, able to partake in everything
          your father owns. He adopted you, loved you and put you
          in school to prepare you for something. And the cross
          was your graduation day!"

                      -------------------------------

                        Our Heavenly Father Comforts
                         Us on Our Bad Days Yet He
                         Desires Something More for
                             Us In Such Times!

                      -------------------------------

          Imagine an adopted son whose time has been fulfilled.
          His training is now complete, and he has inherited
          lordship over all his father's wealth. Yet this son
          continues to eke out an existence with the servants,
          living under the terms of enslavement.

          I ask you: Is it right for this young man's father to
          comfort him in his bondage, assuring him he's loved and
          that everything will be all right? No! Any father who
          loves his son would want him to claim his inheritance
          and leave his poverty. He would urge him to appropriate
          the riches that are his!

          Likewise, God doesn't merely comfort us in our bondage.
          Rather, he comes to us saying, "Son, daughter, when are
          you going to take your place at my side? When will you
          come into my house and lay hold of all the resources
          that are now rightfully yours?"

          "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of
          his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
          Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if
          a son, then an heir of God through Christ" (Galatians
          4:67). "For ye are all the children of God by faith in
          Christ Jesus" (3:26).

          If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, then you're a child
          of God. And because you are his child, you are
          automatically an heir a joint heir with Christ to all
          the riches of the father!

          Of course, our position as heirs has nothing to do with
          material wealth. To say that Christ died to make us
          rich in gold or silver is blasphemy. The Bible states,
          "In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
          bodily" (Colossians 2:9). This means God has given
          Jesus all riches in glory. Therefore, he has every
          resource needed to bring us out of every bad day we
          might face!

          Yet, you ask, "Isn't God interested in our physical
          wellbeing? All my bad days have to do with my bills, my
          debts, my lack of finances. I constantly worry about my
          family's living conditions, having enough to live on,
          making ends meet."

          Beloved, your father begins by meeting all your
          physical needs! His word promises, "My God shall supply
          all your need according to his riches in glory by
          Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). The Greek word for
          "need" here is from a root word meaning, "to handle all
          business, all that is lacking or necessary."

          Paul is saying, "God is faithful to take care of all
          your concerns business, financial and otherwise. That
          covers your employment, your food, your clothes and
          your home. Yet there are also the riches of his
          goodness, strength, wisdom and grace, as well as the
          riches of his full assurance of salvation. And, beyond
          even these, there are his unsearchable riches!"

          Note that Paul says, "God shall supply all your need"
          using the singular. In short, he's saying, "You need
          only one thing Jesus! All your needs are wrapped up in
          him. You need only to seek him and he will provide all
          for you!"

                      -------------------------------

                        You Must Be Wholly Convinced
                         Your Father in Heaven Has
                         Great Affection for You!

                      -------------------------------

          Even though you may question God's love for you, he
          does not condemn you. On the contrary, he feels your
          pain and despair. And he wants you to know his
          storehouse is full of everything you need and it's all
          available to you!

          But, he says, "You can't use or enjoy any of it unless
          you lay hold of it by faith. You must realize who you
          are my child, my heir and rest in my promise to take
          care of all your needs and affairs. Show me you trust
          me by coming into my rest!"

          I want to close this message with a letter our ministry
          received recently. I believe it speaks powerfully to
          this subject of having bad days:

          "Dear Pastor David, a few years ago my husband lost a
          job that was very important to him. In fact, it was
          tragic for him. He lost all his selfesteem, as well as
          his good income, and he has never recovered. Even
          though he's employed, his present salary is less than
          half of what he was making.

          "Now the responsibility is falling on me to be the
          primary breadwinner. A few weeks ago, I planned to go
          to a Christian meeting one Friday evening after work,
          and I had about fortyfive minutes beforehand to lie
          down and rest. I was looking for something to read when
          the Lord led me to a box of papers I'd kept.

          "I pulled out one of your old sermons: 'A Place Called
          Wit's End.' As I read this message, God's Spirit
          ministered to me that that's exactly where I am at my
          wit's end! Soon I'm going to retire, and my worries
          keep piling up. We're drowning in financial
          difficulties, with no end in sight.

          "Yet God showed me through your message that I've
          turned in anger against my husband. I've been depending
          on him that is, on the flesh. I need to turn to Jesus
          alone as my hope, as the only one who can provide for
          me and bring me out of these problems. I know now my
          husband can never bring me out. Yet as I read your
          message, I received assurance that God is with me at my
          wit's end.

          "Later that evening I went to the meeting, where one of
          the speakers is a friend of mine. She spoke of how God
          brought her out of a financial difficulty that she and
          her husband had gone through. She didn't hold anything
          back, including all the embarrassing experiences she
          faced. God meant for me to hear it all.

          "Afterward, I shared with my friend how I'd read your
          message about being at wit's end, and I told her how
          God had used it to minister to me. Then, the following
          week, I received a package from her. Inside was a copy
          of your message, 'Right Song, Wrong Side.' How awesome!
          I called my friend to thank her, and she told me she
          would send other messages.

          "I'm not through my trial yet. It's still very hard.
          Sometimes when I look down the road, I see potential
          disasters hemming us in like the children of Israel.
          Yet God has shown me I have doubted his love for me and
          his faithfulness to provide for me.

          "I've also realized, as you've taught, that I've been
          good at suppressing my fears and have never dealt a
          deathblow to my doubts. Now I want to put an end to all
          that. I want to choose to praise God for loving me and
          providing for me, even though I haven't seen the
          provision yet.

          "My prayer is that Jesus, the author and perfecter of
          my faith, will heal my doubt and give me the gift of
          faith to trust him completely. I pray he'll give me a
          song to sing on this side of the victory. I so want to
          pass this test! I want to sing the right song on the
          right side, as a testimony to God's grace and
          faithfulness."

          Our ministry receives many letters like this one, from
          people around the country whose faith is growing. They
          believe as I do that hard times are coming upon this
          nation but they know the Lord is going to see them
          through. And they've proven him faithful!

          Dear saint, you may have more bad days coming. But you
          must come to the place where you can say, "Jesus, I
          cast all my cares upon you now. I'm an heir to the
          riches of God in Christ Jesus. And I know those riches
          include full supply of all my physical needs." You can
          believe God for that!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
          be posted publicly on other web pages. The Lorain
          County Free-Net Chapel holds exclusive rights from
          World Challenge, Inc. to publicly post these messages
          on its web page. You are free to download, copy, print
          and distribute this material, so long as you do not
          post it on a different Internet site. You may, however,
          link this site to reference these messages.

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