Navigating Stress and Struggles: Finding Peace Through Faith
In the midst of life's storms and stress, understanding key principles can help us find peace and purpose. This reflection delves into identifying, dedicating, and prioritizing our mission, focusing on what truly matters, seeking help, and cultivating a habit of prayer and meditation for stress relief and spiritual growth.
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Storms, like stress, are created by competing forces or fronts . (Gal. 5:17-24; Eph.6:10-18)
Since Stress is a produce of this battle that seeks to choke God s word in our lives, We need to understand: 1) Identification: Whose side Am I on?2 Tim. 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself 2) Dedication: Who am I Trying To Please? 2 Tim. 2:4 That he may please Him who chose him (also Rev. 4:11) 3) Prioritization:What s my Mission? be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (Eph. 5:15-17)
4) Concentration: Focus On Whats Important. (Ph. 3:14) I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. In order to concentrate, we must learn: 5) Delegation: Let Other People Help Me. 1 Cor 12:27 Ye are the body of Christ and members in particular This enables us to have some time for: 6) Recreation: Mark 6:31-32 "Come apart , and rest (anapau : stop and refresh) a while This provides the quiet time necessary for
7. MEDITATION:I Must Make A Habit Of Prayer. Prayer is a great stress reliever! Ps 29:11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear! All because we do not carry, everything to God in Prayer! PastorJoseph Scriven 1855
MEDITATION:I Must Make A Habit Of Prayer. Meditation: To think deeply, muse . 1. Prayerful Mediation involves: A. A purposeful shift in our focus 1 Tim. 4:14 Mediate upon these things; Melatao : to revolve in the mind so as to take care of from melo: to be interested, concerned, careful. 1) We tend to move in the direction of our focus! give thyself wholly to them
A. A Purposeful Shift in our focus. 2) This involves a specific processPhil. 4:6 Be careful (merimnao: anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer (proseu ch : worship) From Pros: (shift) toward and euchomai: worship, seek God and supplication (de esis: petition) with thanksgiving (Eucharisti a: gratitude) let your requests be made known unto God.
1. Prayerful Meditation involves: B. A Powerful Promise. Phil. 4:7 And the peace (eir n : to join) of God, {remember Mt. 11:29: take my yoke upon you } which passeth all understanding, (nous: intellect) shall keep (phroure : mount a guard) your hearts (kardia: thoughts, feelings) and minds (no ema: perception, purpose) through Christ Jesus. See also Jer. 33:3
2. Gods word is soul food. A. The Bible (God s Word) word describes itself as: 1) Milk: 1 Peter 2:2; Heb 5:12,13 2) Bread: Deut. 8:3; Jn 6:35, 63; 1 Cor 5:8 3) Meat: Heb. 5:14 Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name
B. Mediation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. 1) Consumption without digestion produces heart burn. Luke 24:32-34 Did not our heart burn within us, while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed !
B. Mediation is to the soul what digestion is to the body. 2. Consumption + Digestion a) Meditation allows us to recognize God s Will, as well as how to respond to (apply) it. Ph .2:13 it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Nutrients & Energy!
C. Consumption + Digestion Nutrients & Energy! Josh. 1:8 this book of the law thou shalt meditate (H g : muse, ponder) therein day and night, that thou mayest observe (shamar: hedge about, protect) to do according to all that is written therein. Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous (s lah: push forward) And have good success. ( kal: understanding; prosperity)
MEDITATION:I Must Make A Habit Of Prayer. 3. Jesus modeled prayerful mediation. A. The busier he was, the more time he spent with God Luke 5:15-16 "But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed." Mk 1:35 in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out into a solitary place, and there prayed.
A. The Busier Jesus was, the more he Prayed. 1) Clarity produces confidence! Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense uneasily our failure to do what was really important as the winds of other people's demands, and our own inner compulsions, have driven us onto a reef of frustration. Tyranny of the Urgent
1) Clarity produces confidence! a) If Jesus needed this quiet time to deal with the stresses on him, b) The Disciples didn t ask Jesus to teach them to preach, But rather Lord, Teach us to Pray! (Luke 11:1) how much more do we?
2) Prayer kept Jesus Focused. John 6:38 I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 8:28-29 I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. arestos : agreeable or fit His plans.
B. How did He know what fit Gods plans? 1) Through PRAYER! a) This is how he got his Marching Orders . Is. 50:4,5 The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear , (God s Directions for the Day!)
B. How did He know what fit Gods plans? 2) Prayer is two way communication with God. a) In Prayer we talk to God. b) In Mediation, we listen to God talking to us! We digest God s Word and Will! 2 Tim. 2:15 study to show thyself approved (dokimos: acceptable, agreeable) unto God. 2 Tim. 3:16 All scripture is profitable that the man of God may be perfect, (arteos: fresh & complete) Thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Conclusion: Prayerful Mediation is the key to 1) Delighting in God (Ps. 37:3-6) Trust in the LORD and do Good Delight thyself nag: soft and pliable also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit (galal : roll on) thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and He shall bring it to pass.
Conclusion: Prayerful Mediation is the key to 1) Delighting in God Ps. 1:1-2 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the way of the ungodly But His delight (h pes : pleasure) is in the law of the LORD and in His law doth he mediate day and night H g : ponder in pleasure
Conclusion: Prayerful Mediation is the key to 1) Delighting in God (Ps. 37:3-6) 2) Being Directed by God. (Pr. 3:5,6) Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He shall direct thy paths.
Conclusion: Prayerful Mediation is the key to Delighting in and being Directed by God. (Zec 4:6) "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." 3) Power in Prayer is tied to God s will. 1 Jn 5:3, 15 this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous... This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
4) Gods Will is consistent with and revealed by His Word. John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Make much of God s Word and Will and God s Will and Word will Make much of you!
Application: be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds. i-rah'-nay: rest, quietness. From eiro to JOIN! When we worry or stress, who are we really joining ? When we Trust, pray and obey we re joining God. Is. 40:31 They that wait upon the LORD (kaw-vaw' bind together) shall renew their strength.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me and you ll find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Mt 11:28-30
Jesus Strategy for a stress-less life includes Prioritizing Prayerful Meditation. Mk 1:35 in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out into a solitary place, and there prayed.
I met God in the morning, When my day was at its best And His presence came like sunrise, Like a glory in my breast. All day long His Presence lingered; All day long He stayed with me; And we sailed in perfect calmness Over a very troubled sea. Other ships were blown and battered, Other ships were sore distressed, But the winds that seemed to drive them Brought to us a peace and rest.
Then I thought of other mornings, With a keen remorse of mind. When I too had loosed the moorings, With His Presence left behind. So, I think I know the secret, Learned from many a troubled way; You must seek Him in the morning If you want Him through the day. Ralph Spaulding Cushman
