5 Steps Overcomers Take in Overwhelming TimesSample

Step #5 for Overcomers: Look Up

Not only should we look out for others as the end approaches; we must also look "up". Yes, bad times are striking with more frequency in these last days. Yes, enemy attacks are worsening the closer we get to the Second Coming of Jesus. When we see these things, we have a natural human tendency to look down. Stress weighs heavy on us and slumps our shoulders forward. Yet Jesus’ last words on this topic of the end times were not words of doom and gloom. In effect, He told His disciples, “I don’t want you to walk around depressed and defeated. You are not victims. Look up. Lift up your heads!”

He is telling us the same thing today. It might seem like a strange thing for Him to say—that amid tumult and uncertainty we need to keep looking up. But He wants us to stay watchful and hopeful. He wants us to maintain a look-up spirit!

Jesus told us in this world we would have trouble, and troubles come our way both large and small—from huge issues like wars and rumors of wars to little everyday issues we face as imperfect people living in an imperfect world. Whatever is trying to overwhelm us on any given day, one of the key steps to overcoming is to refocus our gaze and look "up".

The troubles we face are just signs that we can look up and see God’s Word coming to pass. His plan will not be frustrated—not by what we read in the headlines, not by a shortage of gas or toilet paper, not by an injustice that was done to us. We will succeed because God has already determined our destiny, now and for eternity. Dark days don’t last forever. God sets limitations on trouble. Always in control, He determines the end from the beginning. He will get you and me to our expected end.

In the meantime, we have a job to do. Our job is to show ourselves alive. That’s what Jesus did after facing the worst that all the powers of hell could throw against Him. He walked out of the tomb and showed Himself alive. Because He made it, you and I can make it, too! So keep taking steps to be an overcomer. Look within. Look to Him. Look ahead. Look out. Look up, and live!

We adapted this plan from another resource. Learn more at http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/overcoming-when-you-feel-overwhelmed/402860