Day 1 - Help I'm Lonely

Psalms 68:6:  6"God places the lonely in familes; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy. But he makes the rebillous live in a sun-scorched land." 

Ephesians 1:3-5   3"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." 

What are some of my thoughts or actions that lead to loneliness? Is it habits, thoughts, actions, things you look at, or maybe even some things you see? Pause and think;  what could be causing loneliness in my life? 

Who is a person or a group in my life that I know I can be honest with when the lies of loneliness creep into my mind? 

Who is a person you can be honest to when thoughts or actions of loneliness try to creep into your life? Who can you go talk to? How could you ask them for help or advice? How can you apply these verses to your situations when you feel lonely?

Day 2 - Help I'm Overwhelmed

It's often said that young people “don't have real problems”. This is simply not true. It doesn't take bills, adult responsibilities or long term relationships for life to get overwhelming! Oftentimes it can be something as simple as one subject at school that just seems too tough. Other times it's the relationship of others, such as parents or friends that causes a young person to begin to feel overwhelmed. 

Thankfully, Jesus knew that there would be times that life seemed to be too much for us. He knew and he already had the solution. The following verse gives us perspective. 

Matthew 11:28-30 

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

Notice Jesus said “all of you”, indicating that he knew that the feeling of being overwhelmed would not be a rare occurrence. He also, similar to many other times, pointed to himself as the solution. Jesus empowers us to live a life of freedom. Though life at times feels like it's spinning out of control, he invites us to lay the burden on him because it is never more than HE can bear. He changes our perspective and places our attention on him. Once our eyes, mind, and heart are set on him we will no longer look at life through the scope of the challenges. He is our victory and he is the reason we can live a life where our souls are truly at rest. 

Day 3 - Help I'm Hurt

There's an old phrase that says “the only thing promised in life is death and taxes”. We all know this isn’t true, but the phrase stems from the idea that unfortunately, we’ll have some hard times in this life. When it comes to those hard times, there are few things that affect us more than being hurt by someone we love. Realistically, there are different levels to this. There are some hurts that get resolved over short periods of time or through some intentional ways of recovery, but other times we as people can get hurt extremely deeply. When this happens, it leads to wondering if we’ll ever bounce back. The bible gives us an example in the book of Genesis of a young man who was literally hurt by the people closest to him. 

Joseph was the youngest of all of his brothers growing and following a series of events, those brothers put him in a position where he ended up in slavery. During that season of time working for his owner, Potiphar, he was accused of something that was highly punishable. Despite the accusation being a lie, Joseph was sent to prison. Even in the prison, he used his God-given gifts and abilities to be a help to others, even when his life didn't seem to be benefitting. 

Fast forward a few years, Joseph found favor with Pharoah and was eventually made 2nd in command of the entire nation. 

Even though this was a quick walk through this story, we must recognize an important detail that remained accurate throughout the entire narrative. No matter how bad things got, Joseph continued to serve with excellence. He could have allowed his hurts to make him angry, selfish, and bitter but instead, he continued to honor the Lord with his life. Most importantly, Joseph had an understanding that through the Lord, we always have the victory. This was never more evident than when he faced his brothers years later. 

Joseph's brothers were suffering in a famine and he had the opportunity to “pay them back” for what they did to him. Instead, he didn't hold on to the hurts from the previous years, he kept a perspective that was from the Lord and he made sure to help his brothers understand this. 

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.” Genesis 50:20 

When we are hurt we have a choice, we can hold on to those hurts or we can hold on to the promises of the Lord. God can bring purpose to our pain! As we cast our cares upon him, he will wrap us in his love and heal us in the places that only he can reach. 

One final verse that addresses what the enemy intends but what the Lord always does: 

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Day 4 - Help I'm Confused

Confusion is one of the most awful feelings. We can be confused when it comes to navigating a set of directions or speaking to someone who doesn't speak your same language or even confused when it comes to a decision. 

In those times of confusion, it's easy to become frustrated, especially when this confusion is regarding decisions and scenarios that can be life-altering. At times, we have to choose between what we see as “tough options”  because neither is appealing and other times we have to choose between a number of things that all seem to be good. Examples include choosing a sport, picking a college, picking a job to work at, or even deciding which “group” to hang out with at school. 

No matter what decision we ever have to make, we must remember that the Lord does not leave us alone in moments or even seasons of confusion. Proverbs 3:5-6 says

“ Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight”

Oftentimes, our confusion is based on the fact that we are trying to figure things out on our own. This verse clearly indicates that the Lord is waiting and willing to navigate us through life's challenging junctures but we have to put it all in his hands.  This is what we call faith. Our natural minds would much rather trust someone AFTER they've given us the answer or completed the task but the scripture makes it clear that he clears the way as we trust and look to him. So let's live a life completely surrendered to him. Let him take our times of confusion and turn them into moments of confidence and clarity through HIS power alone. 

Day 5- Help I'm Anxious

Anxiety is a word that you can hardly go a day without hearing these days. In this pandemic and social media-driven society, it's honestly no surprise that people are more admittedly anxious than ever before. There is a constant search for answers, such as counseling, social media breaks, increased working out, outdoor activities, living a minimalist lifestyle and the list goes on! All of the previously listed things can be good but those of us that live a life in Christ understand that HE is the only true answer to it all. 

The Apostle Paul made a radical statement in the book of Philippians when he said “Be anxious for NOTHING”. Can you imagine him saying this in front of a crowd in the summer of 2020 when it felt like the whole world was on pause?? We could fool ourselves into thinking that Paul's words are not “fair” considering the pressures and troubles that young people face today, but truthfully, Paul faced PLENTY of reasons to be anxious. This is the same man that was stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, whipped, and even snake bit! So how is it that he believed that we can be anxious for nothing? This is what he said in the passage:

Philippians 4:4-9

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Paul gave us a word that is available to us in place of anxiety: PEACE. There are 3 specific directives he gave when it comes to living in this peace. 

The first is prayer. Not only did Paul instruct us to pray but he also gave us guidance on how to pray. He discussed approaching the Lord with thanksgiving in our hearts. Prayer is our first resort, not our last! 

The second is to take our thoughts captive. Oftentimes we allow our thoughts to control us even though the Bible makes it clear that we can actually control THEM. There are times that our minds can be bombarded with harmful and overwhelming thoughts but as the bible says, we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Paul even lists things that we can focus on. Yes, other thoughts will enter, but they will not take our focus. 

The third is to live a life of holy devotion to the Lord. Plain and simple. Paul makes it clear, if you want to live a life of peace, it's important to live in pursuit of the one who gives us peace. Peace and a sinful lifestyle cannot co-exist. 

So no matter what the statistics say about anxiety, we know that we can have PEACE!

We hope this devotional by Pastor Tyrone helped you. To see more from him, be sure to follow in Instagram @tyronedjones or his youth ministry @cityyouthyuma.