The #1 Step to Surviving Dark Thoughts & Emotional Triggers | Emotional Healing | John Giftah Sermon

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, wow, the world is a crazy place, and it just seems to get crazier and crazier? Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, bestselling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:46 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, welcome to this edition of the Fuel for the Soul with John Gifter podcast. All through this week, we're looking at the various steps to take with regard to dealing with pain revolving around 1 Samuel chapter 16. And we're entirely focusing on verse 1, the series, because I believe there's so much to take away from just this. Because I really challenge you that if you're dealing with pain, maybe somebody betrayed you, some hurt that you're dealing with and something that's just...

1:11 Speaker 2: coming and troubling you all the time and you're having sleepless nights. You know, sometimes I want to just challenge you that, you know, even when you approach scripture, don't just approach with the intention, oh, I need to finish the whole chapter because I believe that, you know, sometimes the Lord just... wants you to slow down wants you to just take it slow and breathe everything that the lord wants to share because i believe there is something very important that the lord is telling to prophet samuel who was just grieving whatever happened with regard to king saul and the lord is asking how long are you going to weep or mourn or grieve over saul you know i have rejected him as king over israel and he goes on to say fill your flask with anointing oil and get going Fill your flask with anointing oil and get going.

1:58 Speaker 2: See, yesterday I spoke about the importance of filling yourself with the anointing, which is in other words, in the New Testament way of paraphrasing it, it would be like allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and take control of you. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, right? There are different ways to do that. I really recommend you to hold on because I'm going to do another series on the Holy Spirit today. Again, very soon where I want to talk about how you can be filled with the Holy Spirit. There's another teaching already available.

2:28 Speaker 2: You can go out and check on how you can be filled with the Holy Spirit. But today I want to talk about something very important here, where the Lord is saying, get going, get going. See, I want you to understand a lot of times when we talk about people who are in those dark spaces, the biggest thing to do at that point is to get out of that place, to leave that place. Because as somebody who loves to be vocal about things that I deal with, because I want to be open. I don't want to be like someone who is here trying to preach down to people.

3:00 Speaker 2: I want to be someone who says, I can understand the pain. I understand how dark places can be. I want to tell you, there are so many times I battled very strong or severe suicidal depressions. There are times I would be walking on the road and I would feel like just jumping in front of a vehicle. There's a railway track near my home and I remember a couple of months ago when these dark thoughts were so strong, wanting me to just, you know, just jump in front of a train. I'm not kidding, okay?

3:30 Speaker 1: This is.

3:30 Speaker 2: strong attacks over my life. And at one point, I just noticed that without me realizing, like, you know, I was so filled with these thoughts that were troubling me so much that I realized that the next minute I knew I was actually by the railway track. I was like, I didn't plan on going there. But you see, at that point, you know, you see when you're in the moment of dark places, when I'm in that moment when, you know, these dark thoughts are coming and And you're in that pain when you're not even sure what is happening.

4:03 Speaker 2: You can't even put a finger and say, this is the reason I have this depression or this is the reason I want to live or I want to die or I want to end my life. I want to tell you something. In that moment, the message to us is very clear. Get out of that place. Get out. See, I want to challenge you. If you're in a place where you're being triggered, if you're in a position where something is affecting you, don't try to fight it. Get out. Because the Lord didn't tell Samuel to first sit and grieve.

4:39 Speaker 2: He said, get going. The Lord is telling you something very important. Get out of this place. Get going. And God was going to give him the next instruction. But here's the thing I wanted to understand. If something is affecting you, don't stay there. If you are in that place of dark thoughts, don't stay there. If you can identify that going to a certain place is going to tempt you or trigger you, don't go there. I remember when I was going through the season of layoff and I remember going to meet with some of my friends to the very same malls that I used to visit with them before the layoff.

5:16 Speaker 2: And I realized just entering the mall used to be such a big trigger because the mall had so much, not just talking about the conversations I had with the friends, but also about the smell in the mall, the perfumes in the mall, the background music in the mall used to trigger me. See, I want you to understand, I don't want to act over spiritual saying, oh, I'm in the Lord and nothing is going to affect me. No, the minute I realized that even the background music would trigger me or even the smell in the mall would trigger me and meeting or seeing other colleagues who are still part of work and you don't have a work that would trigger.

5:57 Speaker 2: I stopped going to that place. I said, you know what? I love you guys. I would love to meet you guys, but I need to take a step back. I need to take a step away because I need to process the pain. See, this is a message to some of you that if you feel some place is triggering you, if you feel going to a certain place might tempt you, if you feel that a company can actually deviate you from your calling, stay away from it. Because you know what? Staying in that place is the worst decision you can make.

6:35 Speaker 2: And I can tell you something. When I talk about or when we think about how people have the conversations about somebody ending their life. I know we're talking quite a bit about suicidal depression in this episode. But I want to talk about this. Because sometimes people say, oh, they were not strong enough. How could they be so weak? Or sometimes, oh, this person was in the church. Why did this person lose their life? This person was in ministry. Why did that person commit suicide? Can I tell you something, guys?

7:07 Speaker 2: I mean, there's a lot to talk about in that line, but there's something I want to tell you. That the person did not end their life because they were just weak. It was rather a series of events, including the fact That instead of... Like how the Lord gave him the word... To get out of that trigger point... If not for leaving those trigger points... I would not be alive today... I'm telling you... And one of the things it says is... Fill your flask with the anointing oil... And then get going... Okay...

7:41 Speaker 2: And then get going... In other words.

7:43 Speaker 1: See.

7:45 Speaker 2: This can happen... Only if the previous segment happens... You will have the strength to leave the trigger point... Only if you are already filled with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you cannot. And that is why many people at that point don't have the strength to come back and end up losing their life. See, that is why I want to challenge you. If you say, Oh, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But you know what? That is where it starts. Being filled with the Holy Spirit. And then you allow God God you allow the spirit to guide you out of those trigger points and then you will be able to see the difference where when you come out of it that's when you can hear God more clearly on the next instruction because see I want to tell you a lot of times people make mistakes because they're still under the influence of a wrong or a toxic relationship That's why they are not able to get clarity in life.

8:52 Speaker 2: I remember this person. She was constantly going into this toxic relationship. We were telling stay away from it or anything. She was not listening. And again and again made bad choices. Till at one point she finally decided to take a step back and took a break. And in just about a week or two, she said, you know what, John, you are actually right. I'm able to get more clarity in my life about so many things right after saying no to this person. See, sometimes just leaving that relationship, just coming out of that place, just changing your environment can make such a huge difference.

9:33 Speaker 2: So today you don't know, you know, how much changing your environment at that point coming out of that trigger point can actually make a huge difference in your life so whatever your pain is take that time to get out get going to the next thing and i want to just close with this example because we talk about different things right betrayal we talk about the pain we talk about dark thoughts and dark places. We talk about, you know, toxic relationships. I want to close with this example where when my previous pet dog died, My grandma and I, we were just here watching him die in front of us.

10:16 Speaker 2: And it affected us so much. I was actually about to go for a recording. This was way back in 2019, if I'm not wrong. Yeah, it was in 2019. And, um, I loved him. His name was also Scooby. So I was like, you know, in front of me, he just like died. Like, you know, like it that affected both of us so much that we couldn't eat. Like we couldn't we were crying so badly that the very next day, my parents decided to take both of us. from that place and go for, you know, actually like a field trip or something where we were accustomed to different animals and everything.

10:59 Speaker 2: And I'm telling you, that helped us so much at that point of time. You know, like looking at other animals, being fascinated by all of that was helping us deal with the pain. Otherwise, we would be dealing with if we were sitting there and just imagining, oh, he used to be here yesterday. He was here having my food and where is he now? So that, the change of environment helped us so much. So this is a message to you that if there is something that needs to, that is affecting you, it's a reminder to get going.

11:38 Speaker 2: Get out of that place. Get out of the trigger spot. Change your environment. And maybe that's the first step in seeing a different result in your life. I really challenge you to leave a comment if you're checking this out on YouTube or Facebook, and I will see you back next time. Share this with someone. God bless you.

11:57 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you. Make sure to subscribe to the John Gifta YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews, and more. Follow John Gifta on Instagram for regular inspirational posts. and don't forget to check out the best-selling books written by John Gifta, Who Am I?, which will help you understand your identity, and the latest number one bestseller, Unveil Your Purpose, helping you discover your purpose and to start walking in it.

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