PASTOR JOHN COLLINS DAILY DEVOTIONAL: DESPAIR

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS, LOVE THAT CROSS DAILY THOUGHT: COPING WITH DESPAIR

How many of us have not felt despair?  Things happen in this life we live here that are sad, dark, scary, ugly and leave us feeling like we want to curl into a fetal position and just stay there.  That darkness is of Satan and it is meant for us to become separated from God who loves us.  It gives that evil being pleasure to know he can torture God’s creations.  We know pain because it’s part of this world.  So many of us do not know how to handle the pain because society has driven God from church, family, and home.  There is an epidemic of narcotic and opioid use that is out of control.  Alcoholism destroys families and individuals.  The agony of this life is overwhelming at times and we simply are at a loss to understand how to cope.  The answer is faith.  Believing in something that we cannot see is discouraging if we don’t have immediate positive feedback.  The false hope that is often preached by those who only want to line their own pockets through snake oil style methods is sadly the most prevalent voices we hear from the pulpit and the media.  Faith in God, faith in Jesus is what will pull us through the shadows of fear and darkness.  It is the only way. 

“We need to choose to not allow pain to overwhelm us when we will be confronted with pain every day, whether or not that pain is our own personally or collectively. You see, when there is hurt in this world we need to make an even greater effort to love more. The more that we can genuinely love, beginning with loving God, who in turn allows us to love ourselves, not selfishly but with compassion and the ability to forgive ourselves so that we don’t go on punishing ourselves for past mistakes, bad choices or tragedies that we internalize and take on guilt for and that allows us to be able to love others with sincerity and truth.” Pastor John Collins (January, 2018).

Pastor John Collins, evangelist and head pastor of Love That Cross Ministries and John Collins Ministries, does not and never has preached false hope.  Pastor John Collins preaches truth.  It has gotten to the point that the Gospel of Jesus Christ now needs to be redeemed because those in the pulpit over the past two thousand plus years have watered it down and turned it into something to serve man, not God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  Pastor John Collins redeems that Gospel, telling it like it is so that we can learn what each of us needs to do to get back to God.  Hope will come from faith, and as Pastor John Collins continues to preach, faith as small as mustard seed can move mountains.  God will take that tiny bit of faith in us and teach us lovingly to become strong and overcome the agony that we endure here in this world. 

Pastor John Collins writes:

“Cursed be the day in which I was born! Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me!” Jeremiah 20:14 (NKJV).

Who has not felt despair pulling on their world that seems to outweigh any hope that may exist? This life is full of ugly truths and disappointing days that will rip your heart out if you let it. There are valleys and shadows of a darkness that is uncompromising. People who find themselves at low points may turn to substances, whether prescription or illegal or over the counter in order to dull their pain and put off the agony of reality. It is at these low times when you feel as though you have nothing to hang on to, nothing to live for and nothing to pull you out of the darkness that faith is most important. For some, it is these dark spaces that create faith and for others it is the place that creates the doubt that challenges one’s faith. Sometimes it is hard to hold on to what you cannot see.

The human spirit is amazingly resilient. We are tougher than we realize. The truth is that there will come a time or many times in a person’s life that will leave you low and wanting to curse not only the world but your place in it. We are created with a great capacity to feel great emotions both high and low and we are capable of great compassion for each other and need to find the ability to have compassion for ourselves, not in any superficial or selfish way but in a way that allows us to let God into our hearts in order to be healed by Him. We need to choose to not allow pain to overwhelm us when we will be confronted with pain every day, whether or not that pain is our own personally or collectively. You see, when there is hurt in this world we need to make an even greater effort to love more. The more that we can genuinely love, beginning with loving God, who in turn allows us to love ourselves, not selfishly but with compassion and the ability to forgive ourselves so that we don’t go on punishing ourselves for past mistakes, bad choices or tragedies that we internalize and take on guilt for and that allows us to be able to love others with sincerity and truth. We have to be able to see the big picture as well as the little picture at the same time. Not only do we need to realize that God does have a plan and that He has not forgotten us nor forsaken us but know your life matters, what you do and who you love matters and that love needs to allow for forgiveness, acceptance and hope to shine through the darkness.

If you have not experienced pain of the soul that sucks the breath right out of you then you have not lived. If you have not stood back and felt awe for the world we live in then you have not awakened to the truth of God. The entire human experience will bring both despair and joy beyond imagination and knowing both allows you to be a better person and a person of compassion and truth. God is good and will not leave you alone. Do not grow bitter for having known the darkness because without it you could not appreciate the light.

“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassion's fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!’” Lamentations 3:22-24 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS PASTOR JOHN COLLINS

Pastor John Collins is a nationally and world known evangelist.  You can listen to Pastor John Collins live, Sunday mornings on Heaven’s Country radio, broadcast on www.heavenscountry.com,  at 1000 a.m. Mountain Time, with Marty Smith.  Pastor John Collins’ messages are to the point and compel us to examine ourselves and our hearts to draw us closer to God who loves us.  The answers we are looking for can be found by looking up, not looking in.  God sent Jesus Christ to teach us and then save us from ourselves, Pastor John Collins preaches that Word live every Sunday.  You can also find other sermons, broadcasts, blogs, articles and other media by Pastor John Collins through links found within this post.  Pastor John Collins is also available for personal contact for prayer, encouragement and hope through his personal email jc65777@yahoo.com. Pastor John Collins is in it to win it for God:  it is time for a change.