Thursday, April 19, 2018

Stress. We all have it, we all deal with it, but some of us do not handle it well or deal with it healthily. Pastor Bruce just finished up a Sermon Series entitled "Too Blessed To Be Stressed". For most of us that is a true statement. How do we deal with stress though? Running, reading, smoking, drinking, ranting and raving, denial, and just not dealing with it. How does God want us to deal with stress? God in His infinite wisdom has given us direct instructions through His word, the Holy Bible.
 

The Creator knew us long before we were born. He knew we would have stress. He also gave us a way to deal with that stress. Here are a few things to draw from Philippians 4:6-7
  1. "Do NOT be worried about anything BUT in every situation, through prayer and petition"  We love to worry. We cannot help it. Look around your life and the world we live in. There are plenty of things to worry about. Here in Gods word, He tells us how to Biblically deal with stress, prayer, and petition. A prayer we all know about. That is when we connect with God and communicate with Him. The word "petition" here means: "to make or present a formal request to an authority with respect to a particular cause." Here in this sentence prayer and petition are verbs. A verb shows action. The action on our part is to pray and to petition. Petition here is meaning to talk about the very issues, openly and honestly with God. The details are what you must share with God, not for His benefit but for yours. It shows an action.
  2. "With Thanksgiving"  Here the scripture tells us that we are to give thanksgiving. What are we thankful for? Write it down and read that list out during your prayer time. It helps us to see or change our perspective on our causes of stress. Our first thing on top of the list should always be Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for us. 
  3. "Guard your hearts and minds"  The word in the Greek language used for "guard" is "phroureo" which means to protect by a military guard or to prevent a hostile invasion. Why protect the heart so much? Jeremiah 17:9 says "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?  Strong words but definitely a point to ponder.  Guard your hearts and minds against outside forces, pressures, and attacks. 
God promises us so many things and here in these verses God again promises us" a peace that transcends all understanding." That is a peace that we all want to experience. 

If you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, I invite you to contact Freedom Church. we would love to talk to you about how to have peace in life. 

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