0:06

Welcome to Vlad's Subject

0:08

Podcast. Our mission

0:10

at Vladimir's Subject Ministries is

0:12

to reach the world globally and

0:15

disciple them digitally. Let's

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dive into this episode. What

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I want to actually speak to you today

0:29

is I want to deal with the topic of discouragement,

0:33

burnout, personal

0:35

powerlessness, also

0:39

maybe a sense of extreme sadness.

0:42

Perhaps you are dealing with feeling

0:47

all alone, depressed,

0:53

hopelessness, helplessness,

0:56

despondent and

1:00

just even loss of meaning

1:03

and enthusiasm for life. Now for those of

1:05

us who are doing a fast forward challenge,

1:07

some of these feelings can come and go

1:10

especially when you're fasting. But

1:12

I want to deal with those that these things

1:15

didn't come just because you haven't been eating. But

1:18

it's been kind of the state of your mood, mental

1:21

state for some time.

1:25

This happened to a guy in the Bible named

1:27

Elijah. He experienced

1:30

very heavy, what some people would call

1:32

it today, actually depression.

1:35

He experienced feelings of

1:37

not wanting to live anymore. This

1:41

happened to Charles Spurgeon. He

1:44

was given to periods of depression. History tells

1:46

us that there were times that Spurgeon would

1:48

be so depressed he would refuse to leave

1:50

his own home to go to church. On

1:53

one occasion his deacons had to

1:55

come and physically carry the

1:57

pastor to the pulpit.

2:01

This issue is also Winston Churchill

2:04

said, depression followed me around like

2:06

a black dog all

2:09

of my life. A

2:11

young lawyer in the 1800s suffered

2:13

with such a deep depression that

2:15

his friends did everything they could

2:18

to keep all razors and knives

2:21

away from him. He

2:23

wrote these words, I

2:26

am now the most miserable man living.

2:29

Whether I shall be better I cannot tell.

2:32

I awfully for bore that

2:34

I should not. This

2:36

lawyer later became

2:38

the 16th president of

2:41

the United States. His name was

2:44

Abraham Lincoln. Now not

2:47

every depression is

2:49

bad. Depression is

2:52

body's natural reaction to

2:54

shock. When a

2:56

time of grief, stress, frustration

2:58

or illness occurs, the

3:00

brain will release chemicals that will

3:03

serve to numb the mind and

3:05

the body. It's

3:07

like a shock observer. However,

3:12

there are times when the brain and its chemicals

3:15

become so out of balance that

3:17

clinical depression may occur. Professionals

3:20

say that the period of depression lasts

3:22

over two weeks, anything

3:24

that lasts over two weeks should be

3:26

considered serious and need treatment.

3:29

I am not a doctor, psychiatrist or a counselor.

3:32

So I am not going to tell

3:34

you to do things that only professionals will tell you to do this.

3:36

I would encourage you to seek professional help. But

3:39

what I want to deal with today is with the

3:42

spiritual dimensions of these

3:44

things that happen in our life because

3:46

many times not always they

3:48

are more spiritual than physical.

3:51

Again, not always, but

3:53

many times they are more spiritual than physical. Elijah

3:56

experienced that. He

3:59

had an incredible experience. incredible career, incredible

4:01

calling as a prophet. He

4:03

killed a lot of the prophets

4:05

of Baal. There was a spiritual

4:07

warfare taking place. God answered

4:09

his prayers, sent the rain. It

4:12

was an incredible revival. And

4:14

then Jezebel sends a letter to

4:16

him or sends a messenger to him, an assassin.

4:19

Well, more of a messenger, not an assassin. And she

4:21

says, I will pretty much take

4:23

your head off. Now, if Jezebel

4:26

really wanted to kill him, she wouldn't send a

4:28

messenger. She would send an assassin. But

4:30

she sends a messenger, which tells me she

4:32

doesn't want to kill him. She

4:36

wants to scare him. And

4:38

something just grips this mighty man

4:40

of God. I mean, when I think of Elijah, I'm thinking

4:43

of the most crazy man,

4:46

most powerful man in the Old Testament. Probably

4:48

him and Moses are like two dudes. They're

4:50

just crazy. These

4:53

guys are just like unspiritual steroids.

4:56

Elijah just brought fire from heaven. Elijah,

4:59

I mean, the guy didn't even have a

5:01

funeral. He went to heaven in

5:03

the whirlwind. I mean,

5:05

we're talking about a man that just

5:09

insane crazy. Yet

5:11

something hits him, hits him hard. And

5:15

he becomes so overwhelmed, scared,

5:18

that he starts running for his life. And

5:22

I want to share with you just few practical

5:24

things that he did that we need to do.

5:26

I'm actually going to share with you six, excuse

5:28

me, five things that we need

5:31

to do when we hit that season. I do

5:33

believe these seasons, you don't have

5:35

to be Elijah to experience. You

5:37

can have a breakthrough and right

5:40

after that experience overwhelming,

5:44

overwhelming burnout.

5:47

You can also just experience

5:49

hell breaking loose and

5:52

mentally, emotionally, physically and

5:54

spiritually. You're beginning to

5:56

take a toll until you feel like you

5:58

can't do it anymore. And you

6:00

feel all alone. You

6:03

feel lost. You feel

6:05

like I can't go anymore. I

6:07

cannot move on, move anymore. I'm

6:09

stuck. And people usually

6:11

retreat to overeating.

6:14

They retreat. Some people go numb themselves with alcohol.

6:18

Others begin to numb themselves with entertainment.

6:20

Some people begin to numb themselves with

6:22

just actually sin. And

6:24

just almost this carelessness settles

6:26

in. Sensitivity gets dull and

6:30

fear is

6:32

now taking the place instead of faith. Instead

6:34

of having vision, we just remember the

6:36

good old days and we just lose

6:39

it. And I want to

6:41

deal with that today. The first thing that I

6:43

want to mention, if you're experiencing that or will

6:45

experience that in the future, you

6:48

have to make a decision to live a

6:51

physically disciplined life. Write

6:54

this down. Drop this in the chat.

6:56

Make a decision to live a

6:58

physically disciplined life. When

7:02

Elijah was running, the

7:04

Bible says in 1 Kings 19.5, he

7:08

slept, he arrived

7:11

and he ate. God

7:13

told him to arise and

7:16

eat through an angel. You

7:18

have to understand, if

7:21

you don't become in charge of your choices,

7:24

you will be controlled by your chemicals. Drop

7:28

this in the chat. If you do not

7:30

become in charge of your choices, you will be

7:32

controlled by your chemicals. Your

7:34

physical activities affect

7:37

your mental state. There

7:39

are so many studies that have been done that

7:42

tell us that there's a

7:45

study by Dr. Andrea Dunn that

7:48

was done. She found out

7:50

this, that patients who did an equivalent

7:52

of 35 minutes of

7:55

walking six days a week

7:57

experienced a reduction in

7:59

the level of depression. by 47%. This

8:03

study conducted by a Cooper Research

8:06

Institute in Dallas, Texas shows that

8:08

as little as three hours of

8:10

regular exercise a week reduces the

8:13

symptoms of mild to moderate depression

8:15

as effectively as

8:18

Prozac and other antidepressants.

8:21

In addition, the proven benefits of

8:23

exercise in treating and preventing depression

8:26

extend to even moderate physical

8:28

activities such as gardening, walking the dog

8:30

or cleaning the house. Now

8:35

this is not the same medicine as bad but

8:38

many of us we over

8:41

medicate ourselves especially in the

8:43

West and we

8:45

do not take the biblical medications such

8:47

as walking,

8:50

exercising and doing some basic physical

8:52

things. The Bible says He slept,

8:56

He woke up and He ate. Think

8:58

about three simple things that

9:01

could help to build a healthy

9:03

discipline, eat, sleep and exercise. Now

9:05

those of us who are fasting right now maybe

9:08

not the eating part, eat,

9:10

sleep and exercise. When

9:13

you don't make decisions to live a disciplined

9:15

life not only as a disciple of Jesus

9:17

Christ you are violating

9:20

your discipleship habit

9:23

which is to deny yourself pick up the cross

9:25

and follow Jesus. A

9:27

life that lacks discipline is

9:30

a life that is not bearing the fruit of the

9:32

spirit because the fruit

9:34

of the spirit is self-control. Over

9:37

eating, over sleeping, not

9:41

doing any sort of exercise in

9:43

your life you

9:46

will not develop the fruit of the spirit

9:48

and a lot of times when the attacks

9:50

come our bodies are too weak, our minds

9:52

are too weak and our emotions are too

9:55

all over the place and

9:57

we get swamped and we get controlled by

9:59

our cat. chemicals by our circumstances

10:01

instead of making decisions

10:03

that will help us to fight it and

10:06

sometimes even prevent it.

10:10

The second thing that we must do is

10:13

to fight this onslaught of demonic

10:15

attacks and also just

10:17

emotional mental flood of

10:19

discouragement, depression and burnout.

10:23

And that is number two, embrace community.

10:26

Elijah faced this alone.

10:30

In fact in 1st Kings 1822

10:32

he says, I am alone, I

10:35

alone am left. He

10:37

said that to the people. In

10:40

1st Kings 19.3 he said, left his

10:42

servant there, meaning Elijah just

10:44

went by himself. He left his servant alone

10:46

and went alone. I

10:50

alone am left. He said this to God

10:52

in 1st Kings 19.10. I

10:55

alone am left. He said this to God again

10:57

in 1st Kings 19.14. Alone,

11:02

alone, alone, alone, left. A

11:05

lot of miracles, a lot of power, bringing

11:07

fire, bringing all of

11:09

the rain from heaven, killing the priest, all of

11:11

that. But at the end of the day he's

11:14

alone. The Bible

11:16

says in Genesis 2.18, one

11:19

of the first things that God says is

11:21

not good in his perfect creation, it's

11:23

for a man to be alone. You

11:26

were created to live in a community. You

11:28

were created to have a family. When

11:31

you are isolated, when

11:34

you are alone, when nobody knows you're battling

11:36

with this, when nobody knows you're struggling with

11:38

this, when nobody knows you, you

11:40

don't let anybody enter your life. Whether

11:43

it's because you're super educated, you're

11:46

super rich or super spiritual,

11:48

whatever your reasons is, or maybe you've been hurt

11:50

by people before, so you say I don't trust

11:52

people anymore. If I share my

11:54

hurts and trials and difficulties, they're going to spread it and

11:57

they're going to gossip about me. So you know what? I'm

11:59

going to build walls. and I'm not going to

12:01

open my heart to anybody. If

12:03

you do that, you're an

12:06

easy target for depression, despondency,

12:08

discouragement, and burnout to literally sap life

12:10

out of you and the devil to

12:13

get a win and to hit you

12:16

and you can't fight back. Prioritize

12:18

your family gatherings. Attend

12:20

a small group. Don't skip your church

12:23

and please guard your heart against

12:25

offense. Embrace community

12:28

because without it, God says it's not good to be

12:30

alone because somebody dropped Amen

12:32

in the chat. So the first

12:34

thing, make a priority to live

12:36

a disciplined life. Number two,

12:39

embrace community. Be intentional

12:42

about staying connected to

12:45

other people. I sensed the Lord

12:47

putting on my heart this year for our church. Strong

12:50

connection with God and

12:52

strong community with others. It's

12:55

the first of the commandments, love God and love people.

12:58

We are relaunching a lot of life groups

13:00

this weekend and I

13:02

am, I'm a local pastor. I

13:05

love local church but I believe the

13:07

pastor is not the belly button of the church, meaning

13:09

it's not about him, through him, by him, and for

13:11

him. It's about the body. I

13:15

can't stand when people say this, I

13:17

am the church. You are not the church. We

13:20

are the church. The word church in

13:22

original language means an assembly, a gathering.

13:25

So you are

13:27

not the church. You are part

13:29

of the church. I'm not the church. So

13:33

don't go around saying those things because

13:35

they're not theologically, scripturally, and biblically correct.

13:39

It's kind of like my fingers saying I am Vlad.

13:41

My finger is not Vlad. My finger

13:44

is part of the Vlad. Or

13:46

it's like me saying, you know, I'm part

13:48

of a family. We have four

13:50

siblings, mom and dad, and

13:52

me saying I am, you know,

13:54

I am the family. I'm not the family. I

13:56

am part of the family. says

14:00

that we as Christians are organs in the body,

14:02

we're members of the body. Now think about it.

14:05

If you take an organ and

14:08

freeze it in a bank, they have organ

14:10

banks, where you can put organs and actually

14:12

freeze them there and

14:15

they stay there. It's

14:18

a difference between an organ in the bank and

14:21

organ in the body. See

14:23

you're not supposed to be an organ in

14:25

the bank, you're supposed to be an organ

14:27

in the body. And what happened to Elijah, I don't know if

14:29

it's because he was super anointed. I don't

14:31

know if he thought that he couldn't trust anybody.

14:34

Maybe he thought he couldn't have friends because

14:36

he's super connected to God. Whatever his reason was,

14:39

it wasn't good. Because God responded

14:41

back to him and he says, Elijah you're not the only one.

14:43

I've got like 7,000 people that serve me

14:46

as well and they love me. So

14:48

never elevate yourself above your brothers and sisters that

14:50

you say, I don't need a small group, I

14:53

don't need a church, I don't need them. I

14:55

know better. You

14:57

might know better some things but

15:00

lack of community is gonna put you in

15:02

such a vulnerable spot where

15:04

on a good day you're gonna be okay. On

15:06

the bad day the enemy will wipe you out,

15:08

wipe you out. And

15:12

there will be nobody to

15:14

stop him because the Bible says three-fold

15:16

cord is not easily broken. If you don't

15:18

have some two people with you, two or

15:20

three who pray in my name, Jesus says,

15:22

I am there among them. When

15:25

Peter got locked in jail, the church was praying

15:27

for him because they knew he was in jail.

15:30

If you hit the roughest season in your

15:32

life, who knows that, that you're going through

15:35

that? Who is praying for you?

15:37

Who's hurting? Who's visiting you in the hospital? It

15:41

cannot be your YouTube pastor and it cannot be

15:43

your YouTube or your Facebook prophet. It

15:46

has to be some somebody that knows you. I

15:49

know this is simple but you have no idea how powerful

15:51

this is what I'm sharing with you. Me

15:54

being a pastor for the last 20 years,

15:56

working with people, being with people, I've seen

15:58

those people that lean on the community

16:00

when things get hard when they're discouraged

16:03

the Lord pulls them through and

16:05

no longer it's their strength it's the strength of

16:07

the body that pulls them through you know

16:10

that's what happens in my body in your body when

16:12

one part part gets hurt the whole body

16:14

begins to push the blood and everything to

16:17

help it heal but

16:19

if your finger is cut off and put in

16:21

the bank and it's frozen in the organ bank

16:25

your finger is not receiving nutrients blood support

16:27

and strength from the rest of the body

16:30

it's in cold eyes may

16:32

this year not be a year where you live

16:34

in cold eyes as an organ in the bank

16:37

does your church have small groups what

16:40

is the real reason you don't attend them smash

16:44

that excuse oh I'm too busy then

16:46

you are too busy cut some things off make

16:49

it a priority I don't need to go there

16:51

I don't need community

16:53

but what if somebody needs your community

16:55

have you thought about that it's not just about

16:57

you but there will be days you're

17:00

gonna need someone to lean on there's

17:03

gonna be days you're gonna need somebody to go to and

17:05

cry on the shoulder and say help me I'm

17:08

hurting and

17:11

it's hard you need those people and

17:14

those people should not be some preachers forgive

17:16

me please an Instagram

17:18

and Facebook that you copy and paste

17:20

your frustrations your hurts and your pain

17:22

and I see this right now

17:25

since covered every

17:27

day hundreds of them has

17:29

to pray for me I just

17:31

committed sin with my girlfriend has to pray for

17:33

me I just watched porn and I'm

17:35

thinking why in the world are

17:37

you messaging me that where

17:40

is your small group where is

17:42

your pastor where

17:44

is your group of brothers that hold

17:47

you accountable and a lot

17:49

of people will say I don't have it and

17:51

you're correct some of you you don't have it because

17:54

there's no local church there but some of you there

17:56

is a local church you're just too lazy too

17:58

proud and too busy to be

18:00

a part of that. Think about

18:02

it, our Lord Jesus Christ. He

18:05

went to John the Baptist meeting and got

18:07

Baptist in John the Baptist crusade.

18:11

He didn't think that I'm better

18:13

than John, I do miracles. John doesn't do

18:15

miracles so I don't need to go. John,

18:17

he's a Baptist. I'm

18:19

a son of God. I don't need

18:22

John. He didn't have that attitude.

18:24

He goes in and says John, baptize me

18:27

and John baptized Christ. The

18:30

Holy Spirit came upon Jesus. The

18:33

dove was descended. The voice from heaven

18:35

came. So let's remove these excuses. Let's

18:37

remove this pride and let's remove this

18:39

and let's not be like Elijah because

18:42

in this area I love Elijah. But

18:45

the whole idea of being a lone

18:47

ranger, the whole idea of being a

18:49

Superman, the whole idea of being this

18:51

superhero and you don't need anybody, you

18:53

don't belong anywhere. You know,

18:56

every place you go you burn bridges,

18:58

you offended everybody, every church is wrong

19:00

and you're exposing every church

19:02

and every pastor and I'm alone,

19:04

I'm alone. It's not

19:06

because God made you to be alone and

19:10

then when depression comes, I

19:12

mean the devil just paints a target on you

19:14

and takes you

19:16

out. You know, I go

19:18

through difficult things like a lot of

19:21

people but I have a team

19:23

that I lean on. I have

19:25

men of God in my

19:27

life that I lean on, that

19:29

I unburden myself, tell them my burdens.

19:32

I have a pastor that I go to.

19:34

I remember this one particular time I felt

19:37

like Elijah, not in any way

19:39

that I do anything close to what Elijah

19:42

did. Absolutely not. I'm a small

19:44

little boy from a small village. And

19:47

live in a very small city. But

19:50

I felt extremely discouraged and I felt like giving up.

19:54

I felt like, what's the point

19:56

of all this? It's emotionally so drained

19:58

and so burned out. So

20:00

I went to my uncle, he's my pastor and

20:03

I said I'm tired and

20:06

I'm like 16 years of age or 16 or 17.

20:09

And he's like, what?

20:11

You're tired? He

20:14

saw that I need encouragement, not

20:16

a rebuke. You know my pastor

20:18

planted over 10 churches in Russia. He

20:20

went as a missionary. Even

20:23

during the most difficult times. He

20:27

knows the real difficulty, persecution

20:29

and all of that. And

20:33

I remember this conversation, I still see this, even as I'm

20:35

talking to you, I'm seeing this conversation. I'm sitting on the

20:37

couch, he's sitting on the other side in shorts. He's

20:39

my pastor, I love to wear shorts in his house. And

20:43

he tells me about two horses. And

20:46

he said, Vlad, there's a young horse and there's an old horse. He

20:50

said, when they start the race, now I don't know if this

20:52

story is true or not, if he came up with it, but

20:54

it definitely helped me. He

20:57

said, when they start the race, a

20:59

young horse jumps really, really fast and runs

21:01

really, really fast. And then the young horse

21:03

runs out of breath and

21:06

wants to quit. He said,

21:08

an old horse starts slow. It

21:11

develops a rhythm and a pace and

21:14

it will finish the race. And

21:16

he said, Vlad, you're the young horse.

21:19

You run out of breath. He

21:22

said, ministry is not a sprint, it's a marathon. And

21:27

he said, if you fail on the day of adversity, your strength

21:29

is weak. He

21:32

said, lean on God. He said, there

21:35

will be good days, there will be bad days in ministry. He

21:37

said, you didn't sign

21:40

up only for the good days, you

21:42

signed up to please Jesus. He said,

21:44

please him, not only when

21:46

it's good and you feel great, but

21:48

also when it's hard and you don't feel so good. I

21:50

don't know,

21:52

just him speaking

21:56

to me at that time, I don't think he even prayed for me. I

22:00

left energy. I thought

22:02

somebody put it like energy

22:04

bunny, you know, like those batteries that you see

22:06

this energy, like somebody put a stack on them

22:08

in my soul. I was like, yeah, I

22:12

got this. Let's do this. I

22:14

can do it. I'm

22:16

so grateful for that, for

22:18

my local church community. That's

22:21

why I bleed local church. I love local church. That's

22:24

why I support the cause of a local church. That's

22:26

why I volunteer at the local church. Not

22:30

because of what I can get out of it, but because of how

22:33

much it means to the world and to

22:35

Jesus, and it means to believers. So

22:38

if you're dealing with that onslaught, maybe you're

22:40

a pastor and you're watching this and you're

22:42

like, I can't trust anybody. There are

22:44

people in your church you can go to. There

22:47

are people outside of your church that you can lean on,

22:50

develop those friendships. I

22:53

specifically love taking our guys.

22:55

I have a group of guys that we go

22:57

to sauna regularly, and

22:59

unwind, and we share. And

23:02

a lot of times, the spiritual topics,

23:04

sometimes it's casual things, and building that

23:06

bond. Some of our

23:08

guys, they go hunting, fishing, and other

23:10

things, and they develop these communities within

23:12

the local church. We need that, because

23:16

it's a huge protection against

23:21

when Jezebel decides to throw its

23:23

best arrow

23:27

at you, threats against you. You

23:29

can win. The

23:33

third thing I want to mention is escape

23:35

to extended fasting. Now,

23:39

the first one, make your priority to

23:42

live a disciplined life. Number two, embrace

23:44

community. Number three,

23:48

escape to extended fasting.

23:51

It's so untimed

23:54

right now because we're doing that. Now,

23:57

Elijah, 1 Kings 19, 8. He

24:00

arose and ate and drunk and

24:03

He went in the strength of that food 40

24:05

days and 49

24:08

as far as Horeb the mountain of God So

24:12

we're talking about a 40 day fast for

24:15

40 days and nights He

24:17

was walking now. We don't know if he slept. I'm

24:19

pretty sure he slept But

24:22

the fact that he walked in the wilderness

24:24

if you ever go to Israel you will see

24:27

that area. It's a desert He

24:29

goes for 40 days He

24:32

escapes to a fast You

24:36

know Moses fasted 40 days Elijah fasted 40

24:38

days and Jesus fasted 40 days There's

24:43

something about a fast and you guys know

24:45

that it's almost like it adds Intentional

24:50

stress to

24:52

your body Even to

24:54

your mind you know life can

24:56

add stress and sometimes that stress

24:58

is extremely toxic and negative When

25:02

you do an exercise you add stress to your

25:04

body, but it's a good stress When

25:07

you go for a run If

25:09

you add stress to your body, but it's a good

25:12

stress When

25:14

you fast you

25:16

add healthy stress to

25:18

your life The

25:21

challenge that I found is

25:24

people who live always stressed out

25:27

burned out and wanting

25:30

to quit They

25:32

have too much of stress

25:36

they didn't Make

25:39

or started Didn't

25:42

choose they have external

25:44

stress from life the enemy people

25:48

their work responsibilities and They

25:51

almost have zero Stress

25:54

they created I Want

25:59

you to catch what? saying right now this

26:01

is a golden nugget there

26:05

are days when I feel extremely

26:07

overwhelmed and

26:10

I feel like life is just caving in I

26:13

go to I go for a run physically

26:15

why I fight

26:18

bad stress with

26:20

good one I put

26:23

stress in my body I do that

26:26

not life life put stress

26:28

on my mind I'm gonna put some stress in

26:30

my body and then when I finish that run

26:33

I take a shower that's

26:36

it I come out of that the

26:39

fast does the similar thing there's

26:41

something about a healthy stress that

26:43

gets added that actually is

26:46

good for you and

26:48

this stress causes things to just be revived

26:52

it makes keeps gives you resilience

26:54

in your heart and your spirit now

26:58

you do have to you have to fast to be

27:00

in good health and you have to be

27:03

in good health to fast it's true Elijah

27:05

had to eat heavily food and

27:08

then he fasted so 21 day

27:12

fast could be a good thing to

27:15

start this habit and

27:20

it is stressful don't get me wrong if you

27:22

think that a fast is piece of

27:24

cake you probably haven't fasted

27:27

it is challenging but

27:30

I'd rather choose my challenges than

27:33

have it be imposed on me by life

27:37

and one of the reasons you will become more than

27:40

a conqueror it's not

27:42

because God removes your stress it's

27:45

because you choose your stress that's

27:48

healthy that actually gives you strength to

27:52

be resilient and to fight

27:55

and to win and so this

27:57

year don't live a life where

27:59

you escape stress, live a

28:01

life where you embrace

28:04

healthy stress, like

28:07

exercise, like

28:09

fasting, like doing things

28:12

that at first seemed slightly painful,

28:16

but they're good in the long run to

28:18

help you combat, fight

28:21

the stress that life will bring,

28:24

problems in the family will bring, and

28:27

the bigger your ministry, the bigger your company,

28:30

the bigger your family, the more

28:32

responsibilities, the more stress it

28:34

will bring. I

28:37

don't wake up early in the morning because I

28:39

always like to do that. It

28:42

creates a little bit of stress on my body, and

28:46

I try to catch up with sleeping enough. I don't

28:48

believe in sleep deprivation. I think it's really bad for

28:50

your body in the long term. But

28:54

putting my body under discipline, like Paul said,

28:57

practicing exercising in godliness,

29:00

it adds a little bit of stress to me, but it's

29:02

a good stress that helps me to fight the bad one.

29:06

Anytime a pastor comes to me and he said, Vlad, I'm

29:08

overwhelmed. I can't

29:10

do this. Sometimes I ask him a

29:12

very simple question. Do

29:15

you exercise? They're like, they thought I'm going to ask them,

29:17

do you read the Bible? I said, do

29:19

you exercise? What? I

29:22

said, yeah, do you exercise? Second

29:25

question, do you fast? How

29:28

often? Once

29:30

a year, not enough. Why

29:33

not enough? Because you got

29:35

to put some spiritual stress, physical

29:38

stress on a

29:40

routine level. Why? Because

29:42

stress, bad one, will hit you all the time.

29:45

You got to build that immune system,

29:47

resilient spirit, resilient heart, because you're not

29:49

just a spirit, you're also a body.

29:53

If your body is weak, if your immune

29:55

system is weak, if you're

29:57

picking up extra weight, to

30:00

be up to a challenge and

30:02

when life, when the devil, when

30:04

people, when responsibilities hits you with

30:07

its best you're gonna crumble

30:10

and it's not because the calling of God on your

30:12

life isn't real and God wasn't backing you up it's

30:14

just you're not disciplined, you're

30:17

lazy, you didn't allow the Holy

30:19

Spirit to develop the fruit and

30:22

then you're gonna attract sicknesses and diseases that

30:25

God didn't send and we're like oh

30:27

God sent this, God didn't, God

30:29

didn't make you eat six burgers, you

30:32

did it, so we

30:34

do that, God didn't make you smoke, if God wanted you

30:36

to smoke he'll put a chimney on the top of your

30:39

head, people smoke then

30:41

they have problems with lungs then they die

30:43

early oh God took him, God didn't take

30:45

him, cigarettes dead, we

30:48

are responsible for a lot of problems

30:50

because we don't live a discipline under

30:55

not subjected life to the rule, the principle

30:57

and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we

30:59

take the easy way out and

31:02

then that easy way out leads

31:04

to nothing but death, destruction, disappointment,

31:06

burnout, despondency, sometimes even depression, anxiety

31:10

and of course let's blame

31:12

God for everything or some of you if

31:15

you know spiritual warfare you just blame the devil for everything but

31:18

the devil is not responsible for why you

31:20

drink six bottles of Pepsi every single day,

31:23

he's not responsible for that, you are

31:27

and you have to humble yourself before God, treat

31:30

your body as a temple not a trash can and

31:33

discipline your flesh, discipline

31:36

your body and also

31:38

discipline your spirit and also discipline your

31:40

soul, live a disciplined life, Elijah

31:44

arose eight and

31:46

then slept, walked that's

31:49

an exercise, you can't

31:52

go to the gym walk, a

31:54

biblical exercise is walking, practice

31:57

walking more, Elijah

31:59

also Didn't

32:01

embrace community. We gotta embrace community.

32:05

Thirdly Elijah escaped into

32:08

a prolonged fast. We gotta practice

32:10

fasting. Come on guys, you don't

32:12

have to be a pastor or a leader,

32:14

but especially if you're a pastor and a

32:16

leader. Sometimes I'm amazed how pastors do the

32:18

ministry and they don't fast and they

32:20

don't pray. I'm like, what do you do? You

32:24

gotta fast if you want to last. You

32:26

gotta do that. Jesus fasted. And

32:28

He says, when you fast? Early church fasted two

32:30

days out of the week. Why

32:33

is that the world is

32:36

prioritizing fasting, not Christians? Why

32:39

is almost every video on YouTube about

32:41

fasting comes from either

32:43

new agers or the

32:45

fitness fanatics? It barely

32:47

comes from Christians. And the opposite.

32:49

We declare a fast and Christians... He's

32:52

doing this because He wants to be famous.

32:55

He's doing this we shouldn't be doing it. We're not

32:58

under the law. And

33:00

you literally forgive me. A couch

33:02

potato. Over eating gluttony.

33:04

That's not nothing wrong with that.

33:08

Alco, drinking alco is bad. There's drugs

33:10

is bad. Over eating is bad too.

33:12

Gluttony is a sin. Making

33:15

a stomach into a God is wrong. It's

33:18

a sin. And we

33:20

live in that generation. And this is in the West.

33:22

Mainly in the West because in other parts of the

33:24

world people are like that. People

33:27

in the West where we live, we die

33:29

from overeating. People

33:31

in other nations die from lack of food. And

33:35

so we gotta embrace that. If

33:39

you're dealing with those things, if you're

33:41

dealing with those attacks, the jestable is coming

33:43

against you. Discipline

33:46

yourself physically. Be

33:49

intentional about staying in the community

33:53

and prioritize fasting. I'm

33:56

not a doctor, therapist or a professional. Some

33:59

people will need professional therapy. help. But

34:01

before you go to professional help, check

34:04

mark these things first. And some

34:06

of you, once you get those

34:08

things in order, you

34:10

will see that those symptoms will disappear. Number

34:14

four, experience God

34:16

in His Word. Elijah,

34:20

you know, he didn't have community. Elijah

34:22

8 slept and walked. Elijah

34:25

fasted. And

34:27

then Elijah goes to this

34:29

cave, spends a night in

34:31

that cave, and behold God's

34:33

Word, the Word of the Lord came. The Word of

34:35

the Lord came. I love how it says that. You

34:39

know, God's Word can

34:43

walk to you. That's so incredible. So

34:45

God's Word is not just like an old book. You

34:48

know, a lot of times the Word of the Lord, it

34:50

actually speaks of Jesus in the Old Testament. But

34:53

I love the fact that the Word

34:55

of the Lord came. God

34:58

comes through

35:00

His Word. Now

35:03

this part is also amazing because

35:06

Elijah spent

35:08

a night in the cave. This wasn't

35:10

his home. It wasn't his bed. I love

35:15

this experience and I

35:18

practice this not as regularly as I want

35:20

to. And

35:23

this year my goal, so I'm just

35:25

gonna throw my goal right there. I'm

35:27

gonna make myself accountable. This

35:30

year my goal is

35:32

to do every quarter to

35:35

escape to the cave,

35:37

to the mountain, to escape from my home,

35:41

get away from home for

35:43

a night or two nights, rent

35:46

an Airbnb. We have this in America

35:48

or hotel or just to

35:50

find some other place and

35:53

spend, you know, one night or two nights

35:56

with God so that the

35:58

Word of the Lord can come. so

36:01

that I can silence myself so I can

36:03

hear his voice better. Now

36:06

that's been very beneficial personally for me

36:09

before. I

36:12

can tell you the

36:14

cities in around where

36:17

I live, hotels that

36:19

I stayed in, where God spoke to

36:21

me, where God visited me,

36:23

where God refreshed me, where God renewed me. I

36:26

used to do that with fasting. It

36:29

was a lot harder to do that. So

36:31

when you kind of have a getaway with Jesus,

36:34

it's a lot harder to do that with

36:36

fasting, but you can still do that. First three days,

36:38

I remember I went to this, I

36:40

think it was Sunnyside or Prosser, rented

36:43

this hotel for three days, brought like, you

36:46

know, 24 bottles of water and

36:48

you know, and I decided I'm gonna

36:50

pray eight hours a day. So

36:53

I would pray four hours or three hours,

36:55

read, pray another three hours, read and then

36:57

go outside, walk for a little bit and

36:59

you know, and then the head starts hurting.

37:01

Oh man, it was so painful. And

37:03

then the problem is that

37:05

hotel just repainted the room and the whole hotel is

37:07

repainted. So the paint was just, you know, like when

37:09

you're fasting first few days, you're so

37:12

sensitive. It just hurt my head

37:15

and man, I just suffered

37:17

three days, but the Lord still spoke to me. He gave

37:19

me a word. I

37:21

still preached that thought since

37:25

then and the word he

37:27

gave me was from Ezekiel where

37:30

the prophet went to the Dead Sea and

37:33

the water got higher

37:35

and the river got deeper and

37:38

wider as he went

37:40

further and the word of

37:42

the Lord came to me and he said, as

37:45

you go further, my river

37:50

will go deeper in

37:53

your life. Further toward the

37:55

lost, that marked me

37:57

because my prayer that three days was God

37:59

increased your grace in my life and God says I will

38:02

increase it gradually. Always

38:05

remember where you are

38:08

headed and that is the lost

38:10

people. It

38:12

was incredible. It was it was amazing. I remember

38:14

when I went to Walla Walla when

38:18

the worship leader that was with us for seven years,

38:21

I knew that he is going to be transitioning and

38:24

I knew another worship leader is going to

38:26

be transitioning as well and and

38:28

it was a bit disappointing. It was a year ago

38:31

and as I went there I

38:34

felt this comfort from the Lord. That

38:37

I'm gonna bring somebody better, somebody different,

38:39

for somebody different that's somebody better, somebody

38:42

different and I'm

38:44

going to bring somebody. This

38:46

is not going to be a loss. It's

38:49

going to be almost like a replacement and

38:51

six months later that's exactly or four months later

38:53

that's exactly what happened. I

38:56

can tell you when I went to one time in

38:58

by mountain hood I rented

39:00

this little small cabin. It's pretty

39:02

scary because I drove 20 minutes into nowhere

39:04

during like midnight and

39:06

like the sounds in the forest were pretty

39:09

freaky and

39:11

on the way from there the

39:14

word of the Lord came and

39:17

he said this time next

39:19

year you will have a son.

39:24

This was September not last

39:26

year, the year before and

39:29

September last year we

39:32

already were pregnant and

39:34

so I can point you to those

39:37

times in those places. I

39:39

don't make it a rule you know

39:41

every month to leave town and it's

39:43

not practical person for me and I

39:45

understand many of you watching you're busy you have

39:48

your school family and this

39:51

idea myself just like oh it's kind of a lot

39:53

loud and don't stress out

39:55

okay but this year

39:57

what if you just make a goal maybe

40:00

one time you

40:02

plan your vacation with

40:04

Jesus. Don't make it longer than

40:07

two days, maybe three

40:09

days. Don't make it super, super long. I

40:12

would encourage you not to fast during those times. Also

40:15

not to stuff yourself. Rent

40:18

something maybe an hour away from your

40:20

city, somewhere close to nature because

40:22

it's better that you go in there and then you bring your

40:25

Bible, you bring your notebook, you

40:27

got my soaking music and instrumental music you could

40:29

lay in the background, you worship,

40:32

you be there with God, you

40:35

repent, you just spend

40:37

time with God. What

40:40

is the agenda? No agenda. God

40:43

is the agenda and

40:45

as you make Him your agenda, He'll

40:47

speak. Elijah went into the cave, spends

40:51

a night there. What's

40:53

the agenda? There's

40:55

no agenda and

40:57

the Word of the Lord came

40:59

to Elijah and

41:01

you'll experience God in a new way. Maybe

41:03

you've never done this before. Could

41:07

you practice that one time? Try

41:10

that. If

41:12

you're a pastor, I

41:15

want to implore you and

41:17

beseech you by the mercies of God to

41:20

make it a practice maybe

41:23

twice a year or once a year where

41:26

you get away for a

41:28

few days to spend time with

41:31

your leader, Jesus Christ.

41:35

Your ministry should be better because of it. There

41:37

are times I'll come back and when

41:40

I was still coming to church for

41:42

the staff every single day, I would

41:44

come back straight from that time to

41:46

the staff meeting and even my staff

41:49

would recognize back my hand, his face

41:51

is shining, he's like more peaceful, more

41:53

calm and so it does

41:56

make a difference in your life and

41:59

the last thing I want to share And

42:02

this one is this live

42:06

for a cause in

42:09

the midst of the chaos the

42:12

word the word of the Lord came to Elijah and

42:15

the Lord said Elijah go

42:18

back to

42:21

the wilderness of Damascus and

42:24

God told him I

42:26

want you to anoint another prophet anoint

42:29

another king he gave him

42:31

I think four assignments so

42:36

God didn't give him retirement

42:41

he refired him he

42:44

renewed his purpose and

42:48

Elijah retired the

42:51

day he went to heaven

42:55

I'm not against retirement I

42:58

think it's okay to retire from your nine to

43:01

five job never retire from

43:03

your purpose because

43:07

when God renews your purpose and

43:10

you don't need to do it for money and you don't

43:12

need to do it for being

43:14

famous but to please the Lord it

43:17

gives you this fuel joy you

43:22

know what God did to Elijah he gave

43:25

him a job he gave him

43:27

new work new assignment

43:30

fresh task according

43:35

to Victor Frank and Victor

43:37

Frank is a person

43:40

who was in

43:42

the concentration camps and he

43:45

wrote a very interesting it's not a Christian

43:47

book but it has a very good

43:50

focus I read this book really

43:52

touched me he said

43:54

this in his book we

43:57

discover meaning in life by

43:59

creating a or doing

44:01

a deed by experiencing

44:03

something or encountering

44:05

someone by the

44:07

attitude we take toward unavoidable

44:09

suffering so we

44:12

discover meaning in life by

44:15

doing work experiencing

44:17

something or by

44:19

taking an attitude toward unavoidable

44:21

suffering discover meaning

44:25

people seek pleasure if

44:28

you lack purpose you

44:31

will be distracted by pleasure pleasure

44:36

is a side effect for

44:38

Christians there's pleasure in the presence of God

44:41

but we don't seek pleasure we

44:44

seek purpose we

44:46

seek meaning and that

44:48

purpose is found what Jesus

44:50

tells us to do your

44:53

life will lack

44:56

that joy even

44:59

if you fast pray and do all of

45:01

that if you don't embrace purpose

45:04

and Jesus made the purpose very clear when

45:07

souls make disciples heal

45:09

a cast of demons do something

45:11

for other people meaning

45:15

is not always found in

45:17

the job that you do where you get paid sometimes

45:20

it's found outside of it find

45:22

that meaning and

45:25

do that meaning because

45:27

it gives you joy fulfillment

45:31

in your life amen

45:35

let's review this you're feeling all alone depressed

45:38

overwhelmed distracted lost

45:41

despondent discouraged

45:45

burned out wanting to

45:47

throw the towel here

45:49

are five things

45:51

you need to consider one of them is

45:54

make a priority to live physically

45:56

disciplined life exercise

46:00

Eat good and

46:03

sleep good. Secondly,

46:06

embrace community. Thirdly,

46:10

practice extended time of fasting.

46:15

Fourthly, experience

46:18

God's God in His word by

46:21

separating yourself or withdrawing occasionally

46:26

outside of your normal life, stopping

46:28

everything that you're doing and spending

46:30

time with God. And

46:33

number five, live for a

46:35

cause. Don't seek

46:37

pleasure. Seek purpose. In

46:41

the conclusion, I want

46:44

to speak to people who

46:47

maybe are contemplating to

46:50

end their life. You

46:53

don't have to die to end your pain.

46:57

Suicide is

46:59

a permanent, irreversible attempt

47:03

to solve a temporary

47:05

problem. Solomon

47:09

hated his life. Ecclesiastes

47:12

2.17, though he was wise and

47:14

rich. Elijah wanted to

47:16

die. 1 Kings 19.4, Jonah

47:19

wished to die. Jonah

47:22

4.8, Paul despaired of

47:25

life itself. 2

47:27

Corinthians 1.8, Elijah

47:30

prayed that he would die, but

47:33

God didn't want him to die.

47:37

Suicide cannot remove

47:39

your sin. Only

47:41

the Savior can. Maybe

47:44

you're dealing with guilt, with

47:46

shame, and you say, if

47:48

I just leave, if I just kill

47:50

myself, I'll end my pain. Suicide

47:52

is a sin. It's

47:54

a murder. But

47:58

it won't solve your problem. If

48:00

it's a sin problem, only the

48:02

Savior can. His name is Jesus. Judas

48:06

betrayed Jesus, dealt with overwhelming shame

48:08

and guilt. He

48:11

hanged himself. That

48:13

didn't save him. Peter

48:15

denied Jesus three times. He

48:18

returned to Christ and

48:20

Jesus forgave him. Gave him

48:22

a second chance. Seek

48:25

help. Go to

48:27

church, go to God. Get some professional

48:29

help. If

48:32

there is a breath in your nostrils, there

48:35

is hope for you. The

48:37

only place where there is no hope is

48:40

in the lake of fire. You

48:43

may feel like you're in hell. You

48:47

don't know what hell is yet. And

48:51

I hope you'll never know that place. Give

48:54

your life to Jesus. Bring

48:56

back to Jesus. If

48:59

mental attacks are heavy and you feel like I want

49:01

to take my life, surrender

49:06

your life instead. Get

49:08

professional help. Taking

49:16

medicine is not a

49:18

weakness of faith. The

49:20

Bible refers to leaves from medicine,

49:23

Ecclesiastes 47, 12. Revelation

49:26

12, 2. There

49:30

were figs used to help Hezekiah recover,

49:32

Isaiah 38, 21. Paul

49:36

advised Timothy to drink alcohol or

49:38

wine to help with stomach issues, 1 Timothy

49:41

5, 23. Lucas

49:44

was a beloved doctor. The

49:48

early church not only endorsed medicine but

49:50

actually championed the care for the sick.

49:54

The Saint Basil of Casteriah,

49:56

he founded the first hospital by

49:59

the mid-fifties. 1500s there were

50:01

37,000 monasteries alone

50:04

that cared for the sick. It

50:07

was not until the fourth centuries

50:09

after St. Basil's Hospital that Arab

50:11

Muslims began to build hospitals.

50:16

Seeking professional help, seeking

50:19

medical help, taking pills

50:22

when it's absolutely necessary.

50:25

It's not a sign you

50:27

lack faith because

50:29

God can use supernatural means,

50:33

He can use natural means, and

50:36

He can use medical means. And

50:40

lastly, depression

50:43

is not a pet to

50:46

be entertained. It's

50:48

a pest to be exterminated.

50:54

There is such a thing as a spirit of heaviness. Isaiah

50:56

61.3, a spirit of

50:59

fear. 2nd Timothy 1.7, a

51:02

distressing spirit for Samuel 64. Elijah

51:06

was running and depressed

51:09

because of a jezebel. While

51:12

there could be physical, emotional, circumstantial

51:16

issues, there

51:18

could also be a

51:20

spirit of

51:22

heaviness, of fear, distress,

51:27

a jezebel that's trying

51:29

to run you out of

51:31

your calling, threaten

51:33

you, silence you,

51:38

castrate you, completely

51:41

wipe you out. Don't

51:44

treat depression as

51:46

a pet. Exterminate

51:50

it, fight it, declare

51:53

war. Christ

51:55

is on your side and you

51:57

will win. Lord,

52:01

I pray right now for every person that is

52:03

watching this and will be rewatching this down the

52:05

road, listening to this and

52:08

re-listening down the road. I

52:12

speak your freedom from spirit of

52:14

heaviness. I speak your freedom from

52:17

spirit of death, spirit of

52:19

fear. Every

52:22

jestable threat, every jestable attack

52:28

to stop their calling, destroy their life,

52:33

to tie a

52:36

news around their neck, to

52:39

squeeze the life out of them like

52:42

a python. Lord, we come against that

52:44

right now in the name of Jesus Christ. I break

52:46

the grip of that right now in Jesus name. I

52:49

speak your healing to the mind and the soul and

52:51

the body of those people that are battling with

52:54

overwhelming feelings of

52:56

hopelessness, helplessness, despair in

53:00

the name of Jesus. I

53:02

pray that you will begin to build within them a lifestyle

53:06

of discipline, that they

53:08

will embrace community, that as

53:10

they fast you break

53:12

strongholds. I ask you

53:14

in the name of Jesus that they will begin

53:17

to experience you in your word as

53:19

they would draw to be with you that you be

53:21

with them in the name of

53:23

Jesus Christ. Come

53:26

Holy Spirit. We

53:29

lay our life down. We break every spirit

53:31

of souls and we cancel the souls I know.

53:35

I declare they will live and not die and

53:37

declare the works of God. The

53:40

enemy will not have the last word. He

53:43

will be defeated. In the name of

53:45

Jesus. Amen. If

53:54

you received this warrant, drop number

53:56

one in the chat. I

54:00

want to say thank you for joining us today. If

54:04

you have received this word and

54:06

you were blessed by this word

54:08

today, I want to ask you

54:11

to take a moment right now and to

54:13

sow into this ministry. I

54:16

want to ask you today also to,

54:18

if the Lord has used

54:20

this ministry, to bless you, to

54:24

strengthen your faith, would you consider

54:26

becoming a partner with this ministry? Or

54:30

perhaps sow your best seed, a sacrificial

54:33

seed, to help us release

54:35

more books, courses, reading

54:38

plans, PDFs, audios,

54:42

instrumental music, reach

54:44

the world with the cause of Christ.

54:47

We do the Draw a Russian YouTube

54:49

channel, Spanish YouTube channel, which translates books

54:51

into many languages, like break free is

54:53

translated into 10 languages, and they're

54:56

all offered free of charge. We're

54:58

giving no stop. Thank

55:01

you. Thank

55:04

you for listening to this episode. I

55:07

believe that you were encouraged, strengthened,

55:09

and convicted. If this

55:11

was a blessing to you, would you help

55:14

and share with your friends as well as

55:16

maybe on social media and

55:18

leave a review on the podcast

55:20

where you are consuming this content? It will

55:22

help us a lot. If God puts on

55:25

your heart to become a partner of this

55:27

ministry, go to pastoflab.org and you

55:30

can become a partner there. God

55:32

bless and remember you will raise

55:34

to deliver.