We all have things that we struggle with from time to time. Some of them struggles may be on a daily basis. Some struggles may be small and others may be huge. Some may call their struggle sin, some may call them bad habits, and some may call them weaknesses, but no doubt that they are a struggle. For some of us they may cause us to harbor some guilt or shame that in return causes us to feel really bad about ourselves. They may cause us to feel as if we have let God down in some way. And if the enemy is using our struggle to try to defeat us we will feel like God is mad at us for our struggle. But there is hope for us.

We are not alone in our struggles because Jesus faced the same things that we face from day to day. He totally understands what it is like to be faced with temptations, trials, troubles, and all of the other things that we face. He knew that if it were not for God being within him that he would not be able to have victory over his struggles. And because we have Jesus within us we can also have victory. There is nothing that is impossible because we have the strength of Jesus within us. It may not feel like it in the moment but we are able to defeat our struggle and come out on the other side of it victorious. I am not saying that it will be easy by no means but I am saying that it is possible.

Maybe that is the real problem that we have with some of our struggles. We want it to be easy. We want to be able to get threw it with a breeze and not have to put much effort in it. We want the temptations to go away so that we do not have to tell ourselves no and deny ourselves something that we want. But most of the time that is not how it works. We have to fight for ourselves against ourselves for the better of ourselves. Now not all of our struggles are self made but the same concept applies. We have to go threw the hard part to get to the better part. And in some cases it is the outlook that we have about our struggle that makes it even harder to endure.

We can make our struggle harder by the way that we perceive it. If your struggle is a bad habit it is not going to do you any favors to think of it as something that is going to very hard to stop. It is not going to make it easier to think of the way that it is going to feel to stop the habit. But thinking about the freedom and the good that will come from stopping the bad habit will encourage you to do it. Thinking about something good that you can replace that habit with can give you the drive to do the good habit instead of the bad. If your struggle is a physical disability it will not help you cope with it if you think of the disadvantage that you have. It will not help you to deal with the disability if you always think about the things that you can not do. Instead think something like, “I may not be able to __________ but at least I am able to _______ and ______ and _______.”

God equipped us with what we need to be able to do hard things. He built us to be able to endure whatever life throws our way. He sent Jesus to walk this earth as a human, just like us, so that He would know what it is like to have to face hard things so that He can empathize with us. Because he knows the depth of the pressure and the pain that we face at times he is able to comfort us in the way that will be most comforting. Our feelings towards our struggle is no surprise to him either because he felt the same emotions. So even if you feel as if no one can understand what you are going threw know that God understands. If you feel as if you are all alone in your struggle know that He is with you. And if you feel like you will never be able to overcome your struggle know that with Jesus nothing is impossible. Never give up on your struggle because God will never give up on you.