Sermons on Struggles With God:

Our Great Struggle With Pride Series

Contributed by Russ Barksdale on Nov 14, 2017

Pride is an inaccurate and malformed understanding of one’s self-image and self-worth. It places our perspective above God, believes we know better than God, and propels us toward tragic consequences.

June 18 Our Great Struggle with Pride The lower we bend, the higher we fly. Pride is an inaccurate and malformed understanding of one’s self-image and self-worth. 1. Pride places our perspective above God’s. 2. Pride believes we know better for ourselves than God Critical connections: ...read more

Denomination: Baptist

How God Can Use Struggles For Good

Contributed by Paul Fritz on Oct 18, 2000

God works all things together for His good and our good - even the worst struggles in life.

HELPING THE WOUNDED TO SEE HOW GOD CAN USE THEIR STRUGGLES FOR GOOD Illustration; When I hear my friends say they hope their children don’t have to experience the hardships they went through--I don’t agree. Those hardships made us what we are. You can be disadvantaged in many ways, and one way may ...read more

Scripture: James 1:1-5

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

How God Grows Us Through Struggles Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on Nov 7, 2018

This difficult passage points us toward who we are in Christ and how He grows us.

HOW GOD GROWS US THROUGH STRUGGLES: 1. AN EASY LIFE? God does not take away our struggles, though He does ensure they don’t overwhelm us. - 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. - In verses 8-9, Paul shares four statements that we’d rather not hear. They speak clearly to an uncomfortable truth: God’s goal is ...read more

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:8-11

Denomination: Baptist

Struggle Of Love With The Powers Of Darkness Series

Contributed by W Pat Cunningham on Dec 28, 2012

In the world we struggle with darkness, but we have the power of God's love, expressed in the Incarnate Word, on our side, and the victory is already won.

Monday in the Octave of Christmas 2012 Gaudium et Spes “The Word became flesh, and pitched his tent among us.” This literal translation of the words of John’s hymn to the Logos, the Word of God, sums up the Good News we celebrated this year as we celebrate it in every year. As ...read more

Scripture: John 1:1-18

Denomination: Catholic

Struggles Of Life Can Bring Peace.

Contributed by Roy Fowler on Oct 25, 2020

It's not always the struggles that causes the problems. It's how we receive them.

Acts 9:43 NLT And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides. ILLUSTRATION: A daughter was constantly complaining to her father about her problems. He, being a chief, took her to the kitchen and picked out 3 pots. He put water in all three of them and turn the ...read more

Scripture: Acts 9:43, Matthew 14:22-33, John 18:15-27

Denomination: Independent/Bible

God’s Goal In Bringing Hardship Series

Contributed by Jim Butcher on May 20, 2020

It's shocking to many that God sometimes is the cause of hardship in our lives. When that happens, what is He hoping to accomplish?

“HE SAID WHAT?!”: Sometimes hardship is from God. - Amos 4:6-12. - This passage might have been shocking to you. “What do you mean God did all these things?” Today we sometimes think of Him exclusively as a kindly grandfather who would never say a cross word to anyone. That, however, is not ...read more

Scripture: Amos 4:6-13

Denomination: Baptist

Jacob Wrestles With God Series

Contributed by Brad Beaman on Jun 8, 2022

Peniel was a place where Jacob reached brokenness. He lost all self-sufficiency and depended completely on God. This was a time for Jacob of genuine soul searching and spiritual struggle. It was also a significant time of knowing God’s grace.

A profession of faith in Christ is not an end in itself. It is the beginning of a pilgrimage. Along the way there will be defining moments and spiritual highlights. For Jacob his defining moment was at Peniel. The meaning of Peniel is the face of God. Peniel was a place where Jacob reached ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 32:22-32

Denomination: Baptist

Our Struggle Against Evil

Contributed by Melvin Newland on Jul 28, 2015

Observe 4 things: The Overwhelming Army, A Trembling Servant, The Invisible Protectors, & The Courageous Man of God. Then I want to draw 3 conclusions from these observations.

MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK ILL. Before Allied forces invaded Iraq Saddam Hussein boasted that if Iraq was attacked the world would see "The Mother of All Battles." But he was wrong. Instead, let me suggest a scripture that describes what I believe could be ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:12, 2 Kings 6:8-23

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

The Presence Of God

Contributed by Randy Stephenson on Aug 4, 2015

God has been revealing His Holy Presence to humankind. Why do we not see the evidence?

What happens when a person filled with the burdens of failures kneels down and with tears rolling down the face speaks? What happens when an addict to alcohol, drugs, sex abuse, or even bad choices in life, failed relationships. What happens when all of these people find theirselves on their knees, ...read more

Scripture: John 6:24-35

Denomination: United Methodist

The Goodness Of God

Contributed by Eric Hanson on Feb 15, 2023

Many people, including Christians, struggle greatly with the Goodness of God. They get their ideas about Him from circumstances and difficulties, rather than from the life of Jesus Christ. This message can help refocus people to the considering the proper evidence.

The Goodness of God Pastor Eric J. Hanson January 29, 2023 Read Matthew 19:16-17a. One of the first childhood prayers that many of us learned, went like this: “God is good. God is great. Let us thank Him for this food. Amen.” It is easy to smile, remembering the childlike simplicity of this little ...read more

Scripture: Matthew 19:16-17

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

Believers Wrestle With God

Contributed by Timm Meyer on Nov 19, 2009

Pentecost 21(C) - Believers wrestle with God both in troubles and also for blessings.

BELIEVERS WRESTLE WITH GOD (Outline) October 25, 2009 -- PENTECOST 21 -- Genesis 32:22-30 INTRO: Today’s text teaches about Jacob struggling. Our earthly lives are filled with various struggles that everyone wrestles with from time to time. At times people wrestle with problems, ...read more

Scripture: Genesis 32:22-30

Denomination: Lutheran

"Balm In Gilead"

Contributed by Ken Harris on Dec 14, 2003

The purpose of this sermon is to motivate the hearers to affirm to others that its okay to struggle with God’s Word.

BIG IDEA: GOD WELCOMES BELIEVERS THAT ARE SPIRITUALLY STRUGGLING WITH HIS WORD; BUT … still … EXPECTS THEM TO TRUST HIM, AND TO STAND ON HIS WORDS. REFERENCES: 2 Chronicles 34-35 (Historical Background); Jeremiah 1:1-16; Job 13:4 (… ye are all physicians of no value); James 5:14-15 ( Is there ...read more

Denomination: Pentecostal

Hope Amid Lifes Struggles Series

Contributed by Mark Aarssen on Sep 7, 2016

The life of a Christian just like the life of a non-Christian. The difference is that those who put their faith and hope in God have a Savior to lean upon, to guide them and comfort them as they walk through such events.

Hope amid life’s struggles Psalm 42 As we have watched this summer pass we have seen many difficult events break out across the world. Some were natural disasters while others were of cruel injustice and war perpetrated by our fellow human beings. Against all this we had the backdrop of the ...read more

Scripture: Psalm 42:1-11

Denomination: Presbyterian/Reformed

What Is Your Calling? (Part 3) Series

Contributed by Ajai Prakash on Mar 10, 2016

We also receive our call at just the right time. How often do we rush into something and end up failing because we ran ahead of God? How many times have we decided to go in a different direction because we did not have the patience to wait for him?

Opening Illustration: The struggle I had with my personal calling - • I knew I had a call upon my life since childhood but was running from it because I saw that there was nothing lucrative in it for me or my family … it meant the cross and suffering … I wasn’t ...read more

Scripture: Exodus 3:7-22

Denomination: Evangelical/Non-Denominational

When God Wrestles With Family Tensions

Contributed by Joseph Smith on Jan 16, 2009

We use avoidance, anger, anxiety, and aloneness to manage family tensions. We even use self-centered prayer. But when we let God wrestle with us, we are changed and we accept vulnerability in family life.

The most critical issue in family life is not anger or argument. It is avoidance. What plagues most families is not that they are embroiled in fighting or torn by argument. What destroys families is that people drift apart from one another; they avoid one another. You see, if you fight with ...read more

Denomination: Baptist