Are most of your thoughts clouded by negative thinking?
Surrounded by storm clouds of defeat, is what this biblical Old Testament young man thought. When this servant of Elisha pulled back his tent door as the sun rose he saw they were surrounded by a large enemy army. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha.“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. II Kings 6:14 – 17
I have been through a few ‘gloom and doom’ days. In 2001 a heart attack seized my chest with severe tight threating pain. Was my life over? At the hospital, the surgeons placed two stents in my arteries and I was good to go. But, I must admit, at least for some moments gloom tried its best to grip my soul. However, my faith in God and my family surrounding me opened my eyes to a brighter future.
When surrounded by storm clouds of defeat, it is easy to fall prey to negative thinking patterns.
The young servant in the biblical story saw they were surrounded by defeat, but the man of God saw defeat surrounded by victory. Three ‘takeaways’ we can deposit in our lives today from this biblical account. When surrounded by defeat, anxiety builds in our mind and gloom purveys our thoughts, instead let us sharpen our focus on these three insights from this story.
- We should always be open to the supernatural. God still cares about us today.
- When defeat circles our space, look for the rim of victory beyond the doubt clouding our mind.
- The enemy in this story was blinded to what God had in store for His prophet. First blinded spiritually, then later blinded physically. See beyond the negativity into God’s positive hand directing us to victory.
Additionally, let us keep hope alive, working towards our success. Read my post on hope here.
For some real encouragement in overcoming adversity, Read Bill’s blog at Unshakable Hope
Queen Victoria, the second longest reigning Queen of England said:
“We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.”
Winston Churchill had this to say about defeat:
“There is only one answer to defeat and that is victory.”
The possibilities of overcoming storm clouds of defeat are tremendous when we focus on God’s word. Here are two of the many scriptures on overcoming defeat and negativity in our lives:
“I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him.” Psalms 62:1
“… despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” Romans 8:37
Are you surrounded by storm clouds of defeat?
Is your life driven by negative thoughts?
Take heart today, since God has given us eyes to see His victorious armies surrounding the enemies of defeat.
Blessings to you today,
Richard
I invite you to leave a comment, question or insights you have on this post in the comment section of this post. Thank you.
Victory photo: Jepheth Mast – Unsplash
THank you for this insightful post, Pastor Richard! I love #2, look for the rim of victory beyond that cloud of defeat trying to close in. This spoke to my heart and reenergized me!
Thank You, Dee. I’m glad it ministered to you. Hopefully, it will touch others as well. We always should expect the Lord to bring us to victory. Say Hi, to that great pastor husband of yours, Pastor Art. You both continue to be a blessing to me. Richard
well spoken, we were down to the last wk. for us to find a place to live and in the last week God opened up many doors, moved yesterday.
Thank you, Tina, Where did you move to? God answers prayer. Praise the Lord
Storms, fog, rain,…we got them all at the Jersey shore Richard! Thanks for your practical stories and insightful Biblical principals loaded into a compact blog that encourages us! God Bless you as you continue to serve Him! Deb
Thank you, Deb, for the kind words. My hope is to always be an encourager. Richard