Herewith, are seven little nuggets on how to steady oneself for growth in God and in life when (not if) you get kicked in the teeth by some bad crap.

Stay objective. David said in

I don’t know if you caught this or not, but David is talking to David. David is taking an objective stance against his subjective self. Effectively, David is telling himself to quit being a whiny wuss. David’s talking himself up and out of his little slough of despond he’s mired in. Y’know … It’s great to have friends and family for encouragement but we’ve gotta learn to do this trick all by our lonesome or we could be screwed. Stay focused after getting pummeled. If you’re still breathing, there’s still hope.

Don’t freak out. When you act out of fear, that’s when you make some mondo mistakes (Deut. 20:8). Remember when fear tries to take you over that God would never give you a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind (2Tim. 1:7). Satan breeds fear, not Jehovah.

Be careful how you “see.” Can you see good in the bad? If you can, you’re a rare monkey in these days of mass delusional psychotics. When Saul and Israel saw Goliath, they saw a giant that was too big to kill. When teenage David saw Goliath, he saw a giant that was too big to miss (1Sam. 17:45-47). How do you “see” your obstacles? Too big? Too scary? Or do you view your setbacks as mere speed-bumps in light of your awesome God who’s even more big and scary than anything life and Satan can toss at you?

Nut up. (Deut. 23:1-6) Speaking of speed bumps, American Christians flip out when they go over mole hills in the Garden of Eden. Gritty, we’re not. We’re missing a tad bit of the plucky spirit that the early church had. Getting knocked down is par for the Christian course. Get up. Dust yourself off. Now, move forward in faith.

Be better than the godless. (Matt. 6:25-33) Jesus said in Matt. 6:25-33 that the Christian should be distinct from the godless in that they do not share the unwashed masses mass delusional psychosis over food, clothing, and shelter because the believer understands that if God feeds little birds and dresses up flowers with useless beauty then He’ll take care of His followers. Hello.

Say “whatever” when Satan spews fear, terror, dread, panic and “fake news” into your noggin about your future (1Pet. 5:8). Satan’s a liar who spawns fear and accuses Christians. Which means, duh, the Christian shouldn’t believe him. Declare God’s promises over your life and not Satan’s doom and gloom BS. Defy el Diablo. Defy your enemies. Prove everyone wrong.

Fix what you can fix. Say stuff in your life is way out of control in regard to what you can throttle. You can’t fix it. Mama can’t fix it. Your buddies can’t fix it, etc. If that’s true, you can always go to work on yourself. You always have an open door to God. There’s nothing keeping you from giving of your time, talent, and treasure. There’s nothing keeping you from loving more, caring more and being available for whatever the hand of God needs doing. Unless you’re dead, of course. Indeed, there’s a ton of stuff you can do in the midst of junk you currently can’t do anything about.

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Clash Ministries is here to do two things, namely, put brains and cojones on Christians. Yep, our holy job is renewing minds (Rom.12:1-2) and emboldening hearts (Prov.28:1). Your generosity helps us throttle the enemy by equipping God's people to live bold, wild and free in Him. You are a vital part of this ministry and we could not do this without you. Thank you for your faithful gifts and partnership and remember to always ... stay rowdy!

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Doug Giles is Pastor of Liberty Fellowship in Wimberley, TX, and is the founder of ClashDaily.com​

Follow Doug on Instagram and Twitter @TheArtOfDoug.

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