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Photo by David Willard Jr.
Lately there has been a lot going on in my life. Some things have been really awesome, some things have been really stressful, and some things have been downright painful. I have experienced times like this in the past but this season of my life is different and I think it comes down to focus. Not just any focus however, focus on our Lord and Savior.
When your focus is on Christ, He helps to keep everything else in your life manageable. When your focus is on Him, he makes all things clear. Does this mean that you won’t find yourself stressed out at times? No, we are of course human, but the more we rely on Him, the more He will comfort us and give us peace. Then when you find yourself becoming stressed you can remember that He is with you and you can cast your problems upon Him and He will carry your burden for you.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
God wants to provide for our every need. He wants us to trust and rely on Him, and the best part is that we don’t have to DO anything for it. In fact, there’s nothing we CAN do for it. It’s free; it’s His gift to those who trust in Him.
“Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” Psalms 55:22
The biggest problem most of us face is the fact we TRY too hard. There is an old saying, “If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me!”. There are even pastors out there teaching that God has pretty much done everything he is going to for us and it’s now up to us to go out and make the best of the life He has created for us. The fact is this is completely unbiblical. God wants us to surrender our lives to Him and allow Him to change our lives from the inside out and the more we trust in Him to direct our paths, the less negatively we are affected by the things of this world when they begin to pile up.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Have you experienced a change in the way everyday life’s stresses effect you because of your own walk with Christ? Please comment below.
Yes, I have experienced a change in how I deal with stress thanks to Jesus! I would say (and continue to hope) that every day I get better at handling stress because of the work Jesus is doing in and through me.
Great post David!
Thank you Dustin. Indeed it’s not about just the here and now but about letting Him working in you every day.
Wow! Great stuff!
Thank you Brandon 🙂
Hey David, just found your Blog and love it!
I love all 3 passages you mentioned. I’ve experienced huge breakthrough in the area of stress this year. I’m this sort of guy, who’s extremely driven my goals and vision. For example one of my biggest goals this year was to see revival happen in my neighborhood in Redding, California. It was the only thing on my mind at day and night – seriously. And although we’ve seen incredible breakthrough (over 40 people came to Jesus within 2 months), I was just to serious and stressed about it. At some point God started speaking to me about what I call “effortless fruitfulness”. We can get so much more done in one minute in His presence, than in hours outside of it. I started stepping back from stressful daily outreaches and simply enjoyed his presence more, thanking him for everything he’s already doing. One day into it people started knocking on my door (so far I was going around to knock on their’s) and ask me to pray for them or lead them to jesus. It doesn’t get much more easy haha
He is so good and living, working, ministering from His presence (not for his presence) completely changed my life!
WOW!! That is awesome Daniel! Indeed we do greater work for the Kingdom when we work within His will and the key is to find it.
A pastor who does the devotionals at the food share ministry I volunteer at recently passed on a story from a his youth about a man he once asked, “How do you stay within God’s will daily.” The man, I believe he told us his name was Doug “Tremendous” Jones, told him that he started to see the work of God in his life more when he stopped TRYING to do God’s will but instead looked back at the end of the day and asked himself did I do everything I COULD! I imagine when you look back at your day it’s less about what you did good and more about what you did that you maybe could have done better or should not have done and you learn from it. Then each day you grow and eventually you look back and find that you can say Yes, I had a good day and I did what God wanted me to do today.
Thank you for commenting, I hope you find some of my other posts helpful.
I like the approach from that story!
What helps me a lot as well is to start the day by really finding this place in His presence. I align myself with His thoughts over me by declaring specific scriptures. It totally changes your perspective on the day. It’s so good to start into the day feeling “filled up” and ready to simply “overflow” with His goodness to bless others. I think in many situations we can only give away to others, if we filled and blessed ourselves. You know what I mean?
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Stress is usually just me putting my faith in everything and everyone but Jesus.
It’s when my belief becomes focused on the temporal and not the eternal that stress takes the throne. 2 Cor 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
I once wrote down all the things that are not seen and realized that’s what I need to focus on. It was revolutionary for me.
And hey, keep writing! I want to see another post.
That’s a great way to put things in perspective. We often forget what God is doing for us because we don’t SEE it, but if you write it down you might think you’ve been thinking rather short sighted. Thank you for the comment and I intend to pick up the posting after the new year. God Bless.