God’s Power Will Conquer Our Problems

By Rick Warren

God’s power is also the power to conquer our problems. Everyone has problems. They come with living in a fallen world. If you don’t think you have any problems, check your pulse. The only people who don’t have problems are in cemeteries.

The real problem is what we do with our problems. Inevitably, we try to solve them with our own power. How do we know when we are trying to solve all our problems with our own strength? We are tired all the time! A man who was frustrated with his lack of power to conquer his problems summed it up when he said, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” We get this way when we try to solve our problems on our own. God wants us to stop trying and start trusting him with our problems.

I have met hundreds of people who feel as if their lives are out of control. They tell me, “My life is out of control; I’m a victim of my circumstances. What can I do? I’m powerless. Just about the time I make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.” When I ask them, “How are you doing?” they responded, “I’m doing okay, under the circumstances.” Well, what are they doing under them? Someone has said that circumstances are like a mattress: if you’re on top, you rest easy, but if you get underneath, you suffocate! A lot of us are under our circumstances. Although we cannot always control them, we can control how we respond to them.

You might be saying, “But, Rick, you don’t know all the problems I’m going through. I’m having a tough time.” If so, i encourage you to take your focus off your problems and focus instead on God’s promises.

Paul asks in Romans 8:35, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” he answers his question in verse 37: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Do you know what a conqueror is? A conqueror is “one who overcomes by gaining control.” And Paul says that we are “more than” conquerors. The Greek word declares that we are super conquerors and that we can have overwhelming victory. If we put our lives in God’s hands and rely on the power of Christ’s resurrection, nothing can devastate us. Nothing can swallow us up or destroy us. That’s the message of the resurrection and the heart of the Good News.

No matter how dark a situation may be, God can turn it around. No matter how hopeless life seems, God brings hope. The same power that enabled Jesus Christ to rise from the dead allows us to rise above our problems.