How to resist complaining

How to Resist Complaining

A page of

Strategies, Inspiration, and Motivation.

Our Foundational Scripture

Do everything

without complaining

and

arguing.

Philippians 2:14

You are probably here

because you or someone in your life

is complaining

and

you are beginning to be bothered by it.

If

you have a complainer in your life,

go to the bottom of the page for strategies and prayer.

For me,

I began to focus on complaining because - 

I had a reoccuring thought,

"God has to listen to everything I say and think.

And God says he   hates   complaining." 

I realized

that I had fallen into

a habit

of often

complaining

about

the craziness of the world and the crazy things

I have to put up with

in this world.

And -

the new issues I have from getting older.

And - 

all the frustrations of everyday life

! ! !

I started thinking about God's reaction

to the

complaining

of the people with Moses in the wilderness. 

God's anger

rose up concerning their complaining.

That

is a sobering thought.

God told them

that because of their complaining,

they would not get

the blessings that

he wanted to give them.

That

is a sobering thought.

Complaining

may keep God from giving some great blessings.

And for sure -

he hates hearing it.

So here I am

giving myself - and you -

inspiration

and

motivation

to stop complaining.

This page is full of 

Inspiration

and

Tips on -  How to Defeat Complaining

This first video 

has both

Inspiration and Tips

Beth's Tips

Soon after I made a decision

to get serious about

resisting complaining,

I encountered

a situation

where I was

opening my mouth

to give way

to a lot of

complaining about my situation.

But - suddenly

I was reminded about my new decision to resist compaining.

Actually I am a lot older than the woman above! 

LOL

So -

I had to made a decision.

I feel irriatated......... Am I going to complain?

I stopped and began

trying

to think clearly.

I realized that

I could give God a delightful moment with me

or

a grieving moment with me.

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:30  - 

Do not grieve

the Holy Spirit of God,

by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

The Bible says we can grieve the Holy Spirit. 

 ( The Holy Spirit IS God.  See our Trinity page. )

And we also

can delight the Holy Spirit. 

You might prefer the phrase "please the Holy Spirit."

I can give God

a delightful / pleasing

experience or one of grieving. 

I made a decision -

"I am going to react in a way

that will result in God experiencing delight and pleasure."

Complaining sometimes comes

from feeling

Powerless.

When I feel powerless and am tempted to complain,

I now remind myself 

that...

Prayer is POWERFUL.

Prayer can change things.

God can do the impossible. 

God can change my situation  even if  it feels hopeless.

God can also choose

to

help me rise above it

so

I can walk through it 

and

have victory even in the midst of it. 

So,

I need to say to myself - 

" I am not Powerless.

I am Powerful as I pray and yield myself to God. "

Take Note:

I will give more of

my

personal

tips

that are giving me victory

after sharing

some Inspirational videos

Inspirational Videos

Help from

watching

Inspirational Youtube videos

about complaining

I do not know anything about the speakers of the videos on this page.

I am not endorsing any speaker - just these specific videos.

Absorbing good content about complaining

helps to motivate me.

It firms up my decision to stop complaining.

Sometimes complaining feels good

but it is actually bad for us. 

I like the fact that

these videos

are realistic about life.

They admit that it is hard to resist complaining.

I will share one of my challenges -

For me,

after all these years on earth,

I yearn to live in a perfect place called heaven.

But - it is not time for that yet.

I need to

yield to God

and

increase

my acceptance and peace

about the challenges on earth.

Reviewing His Points

"Cheerfulness is an excellent beautifier."

1. Intentionally Decide to make a change and complain less 2. Embrace life's imperfections 3. Discern criticism from complaint 4. Be mindful of your audience
5. Avoid starting a conversation with a complaint 6. Avoid complaining for validation
7. Identify triggers 8. Experiment

Complaining takes us in circles

instead of

moving us forward in spiritual growth and victories.

The frustrating issues of life

often result

in us

putting a basket over our light

which is supposed to shine for Jesus.

The world is difficult.

People are often sour.

I am getting older and there are challenges with that.

It is hard

to stop this habit of complaining.

But

God created us to be

VICTORIOUS!

We are called

to

experience victories and testify to the world

of our Great God!

-

God created us to focus on 

walking with him

in praise and thanksgiving

and

ministering to the world.

God parts

the Red Sea

for them.

And yet

they focused on

complaining.

God wants to use that story

to inspire us.

Why do the wicked prosper?

Complaining is just

contributing to the problem.

Let's stop

making excuses for complaining.

Let us be

solution -  minded   not   problem - minded.

Shift from

being reactive to being intentional.

One friend of mine used to say,

" You can be in react mode or plan mode. "

Instead of being at the mercy of reaction,

let us plan

to focus on the good.

Rising above complaining

matures us 

and

helps prepare us

for the next thing God has for us.

Awareness

is the first goal.

THEN

Practice brings Great Progress!

The video below

may be helpful for you.

Do not

tie your

emotions

to being able

to succeed in " not complaining " for an entire week.

Consider

challenging yourself

to a

smaller time period 

such as an afternoon or full day of

no complaining.

More Beth Tips

Expectations

I have come to realize

that I need to work on my expectations about life.

For example,

I expect

to drive to my destination without hindrance -
and
when it does not happen - I get irritated and complain.

I expect

for my family members to be in a good mood - 

when they are not -

I get irritated and complain

to myself.

I expect

my body to work as it always has

- and when it does not -

I get irritated and complain.

I expect

people in this world to use common sense and be logical
and
when they do not - I get irritated and complain.

I expect

my   air conditioning   to work properly
so
when it does not -
I get irritated and complain. 

I expect

for a holiday event to go smoothly
so 
when it does not - I get irritated and complain.

I expect

my desk-top computer to work properly
so
when it does not - I get irritated and complain.

When

e x p e c t a t i o n s are high - 

satisfaction

is often low.

My New Strategy

I try to hinder expectations in my mind.

And - 

When things are going wrong -

I try to remember to think -

" This situation is God telling me,

'Time to work on Patience. "

So many people think that

   if  

they ignore the topic of patience,

then God will not require it of them.

Wrong...

I have lived a long time and I have come to understand -

whether you ignore working on your patience or not -

God is still requiring it of us.

I am working on

reminding myself that God wants us to respond to 

ruined expectations

with patience

and with

finding something to be thankful for. 

Next Beth Tip

One day I was feeling very tempted to complain.

The thought came to me,

"Ride the waves."

I viewed

my irritations

like

waves of the ocean

that are

knocking me down

and

hindering me

from my goals.

Even being hindered from my small goals lead me to irritation.

I now remind myself

that God's goal

for me in this situation

is to respond more like Jesus 

by growing in the Galations chapter 5

Fruit of the Spirit.

So....

I picture myself riding the waves

and therefore

I view myself as making progress

forward

in God's goals

and even in my goals.

Here I am

 - in my mind - 

riding the waves

of a Mighty River 

or you might say - whitewater rafting.

So

as I was walking around my house - 

I took my right hand

and started

making hand gestures

like my hand was riding waves.

I said out-loud,

"I am riding the waves."

I did that about two separate irritations

and found that

miraculously -

that concept was working for me!

I now often

do those hand gestures and say,

"I am riding the waves." 

Extra motivation I have found

for

riding the waves.

Explanation for

the above

video.

Next Beth Tip

Another surprising tip I created

was saying,

"HUH."

There are multitudes of ways to say

"HUH"  or  "HUH ? " 

Someone even made a game out of it.

This method has become a good response for me

when

my

expectations

have been ruined.

How it works for me -

When a frustrating event happens

that I did not expect to happen

I say,

"Huh,"

in a curious way.

In doing this new strategy -

I am now choosing to react with curiousity

instead of irritation.

That Means -

I did not expect that to happen.

And so

the way

I say "Huh" is

associated with being

puzzled,

flabbergasted, dumbfounded, and surprised.

In this strategy,

instead of irritation,

I am choosing to react to the situation

with 

curious puzzlement.

When I see a potential  - irritating situation

as

bringing 

astonishly different

results and outcomes 

than I expected -

I gasp in astonished surprise.

I have heard the term

"like a young calf looking at a new gate in puzzlement"

and not knowing what to make of it.

I act in a

puzzlement response instead of a negative response.

Examples

"Huh, I never thought he would say that." 

"Huh, I never thought the traffic would be this bad today."

And a suggestion

for the man in the picture below -

"Huh, I never thought my briefcase would fall open."

My situation

may negatively say to me - 

"Surprise, Surprise, Surprise"

but

I will not be shaken and respond negatively.

When things are pressing on my nerves,

time for some

Champion

MUSIC.

I will walk like one of the 

Giants of our Faith!

We 

were made

to 

Rise Above!

Another Tip

Being around people

who are

cheerful

instead of complaining

inspires us

toward

cheerfulness.

A Sermon Inspiration

Here is a

sermon

about complaining and murmuring

from a 

Messianic congregation.

That means

they are Jewish yet they believe in Jesus as their Messiah. 

Sermon starts at

1 hour 10 minutes

May 22, 2026 sermon

Dealing with Complainers

This section has

strategies

and

inspiration

to help you 

with a complainer.

We begin with

Prayer

for the complainer.

Prayer

for people who complain too much

Heavenly Father,

I lift up _________  and _________to you.

Their complaining is getting on my nerves - and bothering you as well. 

Their complaining is not good for them or the people around them. 

I ask that you would bless them

and all of us

by making them more aware

of their complaining

and

what it is doing to them and others. 

Father, I ask that you stir them up with desire to become an overcomer instead of a complainer. 

Help them and help me, to always see your conviction as a blessing.

Help us to welcome your guidance. 

I pray in the name of my Savior and Shepherd, Jesus Christ,

Amen 

Copyright © 2026 Beth McLendon of Inspirational – Prayers.com

Strategy Section

Sometimes people need listeners not problem solvers.

But -

a continual complainer

is irritating

and 

might be helped by the method below.

This method will show you

(and the complainer)

if

the complainer truly wants solutions.

This video has...

Tips

for

when someone you love

is complaining

Next -

I present my method

and then

an Amazing video Testimony.

Beth's Method

Note:
Prayer is always a good response to problems.

I often pray with my friends concerning their problems.

Beth says -

My method for stopping a person in my life

who is a continual complainer - 

is that

I listen for a minute or two

and then say -

" Let's pray about this."

And I quickly start praying

a sincere prayer

concerning the person's situation.

A sample prayer

for a woman

"Lord, I lift up _____ to you.
You see all these difficulties. You have compassion.
You love her so very much. 
I pray that she will clearly hear your guidance as you point her toward solutions.
And while you are working on her situations,
show her how to rise up and be a strong and mighty woman
in her difficult times.
Encourage her
and inspire her
to rise up to meet every challenge
with
your overcoming power. 
Help her lift her emotions up.
Strengthen her
to give you
thanks and praise for the good things in her life.
Thank you
for all your blessings in her life. 
Amen"

After

the prayer

if

the person start with more complaints,

I then say

( about their new complaints )

"Oh, let's pray about that." 

And

I start praying a new sincere prayer.

"Heavenly Father,
I lift up these problems that ____ is having with her children.  Lord, bring new fresh ideas for these situations.
Bring her
new, fresh power to stay uplifted when her children are difficult. Bring more of more of your peace and harmony
into these relationships.
Thank you that you remind us that prayer is powerful.
We give you thanks and praise for all your blessings.
In Jesus' name we pray
Amen."

I have never had anyone keep complaining after that,

but

if the person did,

I would say,

"Wow, you have a lot on your plate to deal with.

Let's give God time to work on your situations 

and

let's stop right now

and

thank him for our blessings.

In fact, I will give thanks to him

by telling you about a miracle he did for me."

People who are continual complainers do not want to pray.

They want someone

to listen to them continually complain.

This has worked for me.

Continual complainers stay away from me.

I N S P I R A T I O N

Testimony

next

GREAT testimony

of

a former

Complainer.

For some situations,

a complainer might be helped by watching this video.

Disclaimer NOTE:

The wife considered divorce.

Divorce is NOT the answer.

Note - Meditation is not Biblical meditation.

See our page on

Freedom from Anger

Consider our page  Psalm 131 - Learning to yield to God

Consider our page Abba - Father

How to resist complaining was posted in August 2026.