STRESS RELIEF

When pastors across America ask their congregations what subject they would like to hear about, the overwhelming response is stress.   Jesus told us in John 16:33  “….in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “In the world, you may have some tribulation”.  He emphatically said, “In the world, you will have tribulation”.  The word “tribulation” means “stress, pressure”.  We are living in a fallen world with a fallen culture among fallen people.  All this adds up to living in a world where there will be stress and pressure for everyone to some degree.

God doesn’t promise us a lack of trouble.  Rather, He promises us an abundance of peace.  I experienced this firsthand in 2007 while spending 45 days in Intensive Care in the hospital with our daughter Sarah, who was fighting for her life.  Most of you have heard the story of her being attacked with a very rare auto-immune disease known as Takayasu arteritis.  It is basically, arthritis of the blood vessels.  She was fifteen years old when the disease reached a point where her larger blood vessels contracted in many places to the size of the lead in a pencil.  Her organs began shutting down, her heart was pounding out of her chest, and the doctors and specialists didn’t give us much hope that she would live. 

During this ordeal, Cheryl and I would drive to the hospital that she was in every morning.  Some nights, Cheryl would spend the night because of the extra dangers she was facing that day.  We endured three emergency surgeries in those 45 days, but we also witnessed God’s miraculous power bring back full function to two kidneys that were dead and half dead, to a liver that was down to 50% function, and to a heart that was damaged and worn out from trying to force blood through the veins.  What I can truly say is during this time of experiencing hell on earth, God’s supernatural peace was upon us.  His peace caused me to sleep soundly each night, to have an appetite and continue eating, and to carry on with pastoring our local church.  Only God could have brought this kind of peace to us.

We are told in I Corinthians 10:13- “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”  I have found that God is able to cause us to experience an increase in any area we have lack.  This includes peace.  Here are some of the ways this increase can come.

• ALLOW YOUR MIND AND BODY TO RECOVER.    Many of us have tremendous abilities but we are not slowing down enough to sharpen the blade of our soul.  A successful counselor of the depressed, named Johan Harl says, “We need to talk less about chemical imbalances and more about the imbalances in the way we live.”   This is one of the main reasons God instituted the Sabbath for us.  Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A are two highly successful businesses that are founded and run by strong Christians.  Both companies are closed every Sunday to give their employees the opportunity for a day of rest and recovery.  Exodus 20:9 tells us, “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God”.  These two successful businesses are living proof that God can bless the six obedient days of labor so much that abundance can come, even though Sunday they are closed.

• KNOW YOUR IDENTITY.  When we let others define who we are it is called peer pressure.  What we need is a thing called “selective ignorance”.  This is selecting what we are choosing to be ignorant about.  Galatians 6:4,5 tells us, “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.  For we are each responsible for our own conduct.”   The clearer we are about who God says we are, the better off we are.

• BE SUPPORTED BY OTHERS.  Another blessing of God to us is that where He guides, He will provide.  In my short life on earth, I have belonged to five local churches while living in Wichita, Kansas; Dallas, Durban, South Africa and Austin.   Each of these churches played a key role in shaping and supporting us during my Christian journey of 55 years.  The local church is called “the body, the flock, the gathering, and the congregation”.  The first thing the disciples who were trained by Jesus did after Pentecost was birth a local church in Jerusalem.  The church is God’s idea.  We are not meant to stand alone.  We are members of the body of Christ and need God and each other.

• OUR CAPACITY WILL INCREASE BECAUSE GOD IS HELPING US.  We need to remind ourselves that before God is our friend, He is our Lord.  This means that He is the one that is in charge.  Many of us want God’s help but are not willing to totally surrender our lives to Him.  The truth is, we cannot have peace unless He is Lord.   Psalm 4:8 tells us, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”  This is reinforced by Psalm 29:11 “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.”  God’s capacity to bring us His peace is unlimited. 

Cheryl and I endured the most stressful time in our lives for the 45 days that our daughter’s life was held in balance.  But it was during that season that God faithfully poured His peace into us.  This assures us for now and the future that God truly is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to His power that works in us.  (Ephesians 3:20)