“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you …” John 14:27
I opened up my Bible word search app and typed in the word stress and what did I find? Hundreds of verse that had this word? No, not a single verse! So, since the Bible does not use this word, then it must not mean anything, right? Wrong!
Since the word stress is not found in the Bible, how do we know how to deal with stress in our lives … because stress is a very REAL thing? Well, there are some very REAL things (sins) that happen to us when we are under stress. So, let us start there.
PEACE: We have a loss of peace, when we are under stress. John 16:33
FEAR: As it affects us mentally and emotionally, we can experience fear and anxiety. Isaiah 41:10
ANGER: We can become irritable and angry very easily and quickly when we are under stress. Ephesians 4:26
WORRY: Since it comes with a lack of peace and increased fear, it will also cause us to worry more. Luke 12:22-23
I like to follow the holistic, natural, or functional medicine doctors. What are they saying today is the #1 key factor in our health … and no, it is not the gut, although it does play an important role? It is STRESS! Stress is defined as a constraining force or influence. It has many sub-definitions, one of which is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension which can play a major role in one’s health.
Stress, just like sin, if left unchecked, can cause almost insurmountable issues. If this is the case … and it is … then we need to find out what are the stressors in our lives and systematically remove them. My life, life in general and life in ministry, carries a heavy load of stress with it. We can be told to de-stress til we can repeat it in our sleep, but that is not going to take care of our stress. We are going to have to start searching for what the key stressors are in our lives.
So, this is what I did. I sat down and listed EVERYTHING that I could think of that was a stressor … external and internal (feelings, thoughts, health, etc). Here is some things that you may find in as your stressors also:
Physical illnesses, Lack of sleep, Overloaded schedule, Rushed from being unprepared, Rushed from being short on time, Not eating properly (enough small meals throughout day to keep blood sugars stable), Not getting any exercise, Listening to demands of others, Marital issues, Child issues, Debt/Financial, Job (boss/co-workers), etc.
Do you believe that Satan just loves to keep us in a stressed-filled and stressed-out state day in and day out? I do! Because it brings our health down … in God’s temple (abiding place), which leads to less effectiveness in ministering and serving our Savior.
Stress CAN be controlled! Now that we know what sins that stress brings into our lives and what the contributing factors are, we can definitely start working toward lowering stress in our lives. What a great weight can be lifted by eliminating stress in our lives!