"The population of this country is 200 million. 84 million are retired. That leaves 116 million to do the work. There are 75 million in school, which leaves 41 million to do the work. Of this total, there are 22 million employed by the federal government.
"That leaves 19 million to do the work. 4 million are in the armed forces, which leaves 15 million to do the work. Take from that total the 14.8 million who work for state and city governments and that leaves 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 people in the hospital at any given time, leaving 12,000 to do the work. Currently, there are 11,998 people in jail. That leaves just two people to do the work - you and me. And you’re just sitting there listening. No wonder I’m stressed!"
Some times you can get stressed out trying to de-stress. Andrew and I went to see a good blow’em up car chasing action movie the other day and before the movie they showed some horror movie previews those things were creepy. I was all stressed out before we even started our action movie by the horror movie previews.
The three major stresses that everybody faces are:
1. RELATIONAL STESS – family, friends, neighbors
2. FINANCIAL STRESS - #1 cause of divorce
3. OCCUPATIONAL STRESS – the people you work with, benefits – security
Paul wrote to the Philippians who were stressed out.
Phil 4:6
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
NIV
To be anxious speaks of being pulling in different directions (like the stretch Armstrong doll) and that’s how many of you feel this morning. Like life has got a grasp on you instead of you having a grasp on life. This out of control feeling can lead to major stress, and stress is unhealthy. When we try and ignore our stress it will work it’s way out in some negative form or fashion.
CONDITIONS WE MUST MEET IF WE’RE GOING TO DEAL WITH STRESS.
1. WE MUST PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING!
If stress strikes strike up a conversation with God. The night before Jesus was crucified he went to the Garden of Gethsemane loaded down with stress…and what did He do? He prayed! Jesus accepted the Father’s will for Him at Gethsemane. At some moment during that midnight hour an angel of mercy comes over the weary body of the man in the garden. As He stands, the anguish is gone from his eyes. His fist will clench no more. His heart will fight no more. The battle is won. You may have thought it was won on Golgotha. It wasn’t. You may have thought the sign of victory is the empty tomb. It isn’t. The final battle was won in Gethsemane. And the sign of conquest is Jesus at peace in the olive trees. For it was in the garden that He made his decision. He would rather die for you than live without you.
Illustration: Little children like to show everything they have and everything that fascinates them. Regardless of how big or small they want to show you. We should be the same way with our heavenly Father we should want to take everything to Him in prayer, show Him every part of our life and every decision we make.
2. WE MUST BE THANKFUL ABOUT EVERYTHING
Do you thank God for everything in your life? Your family, friends, church, job, body, house? Andrew expresses gratitude when we do things for him that makes me feel good as a dad to hear him express his gratitude to Julie and me. It just makes sense that God likes to hear us express our gratitude to Him.
V7 THE PEACE OF GOD
The peace of God is not something you can manufacture, buy, or earn. It is a result of a heart that is totally surrendered to Him. When we bring our lives under God’s authority by turning away from sin and seeking Him with our whole heart we receive something priceless…THE PEACE OF GOD. The only way you can have THE peace of God is to be AT peace with God.
GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS
When this text reefers to your heart it is speaking of the core of your being, the central part of your life were all emotion and feeling is derived. Our emotions have a powerful influence over us, they’re so strong that they can effect not only our spiritual and mental life but also our physical life as well. To be at peace with God doesn’t mean you will always have control of your emotions and they will never have control of you, but it does mean that when they do get control you will have someone to turn to that can get you back under control.
Illustration: Yesterday afternoon I was driving to my office from my house and was coming down 857 and a truck pulled right out in front of me I had to swerve off the road to avoid a head on collision. When my car got off the pavement I started sliding out of control and it wasn’t until I got back on the pavement that I got control again. That’s a lot like life isn’t, you’re going along fine then all the sudden something pops up and boom your whole life seems to be out of control. Thank God that our nothing is ever out of control for Him. He has always got everything under control and in our emotional spin outs we can look to Him for help.
The enemy doesn’t want you to feel the peace of God and he certainly doesn’t want you praying for help from God. That’s why it’s got to be a decision that you make right now, because in your moments of weakness you will be making decisions based on your feelings. But if you decide right now that the next time stress strikes you’re going to strike up a conversation with God, the decision will already be made and you will be more likely to follow through with the right thing.
V 8 STRESS IS MOSTLY A MENTAL THING
The Holy Spirit is constantly whispering truth, but the enemy is constantly whispering lies to us. So who are listening to? Your prayer life will determine which one you listen to. At one time I thought right living all started with right thinking but now I see from these verses that right living starts with right praying. What are you filling your mind with? Are you filling it with prayer, and the Word of God? What kind of magazines, books, web sites, music and movies are you into? Everything we put into our mind affects the way we think. So what has the largest influence on you right now, prayer or other things?
RIGHT PRAYING LEADS TO RIGHT THINKING, WHICH LEADS TO RIGHT LIVING.
What if everyone at Sand Flat Baptist church prayed like you pray, thought like you thought, live like you live…what kind of church would we have?
ASK GOD FOR HELP
Ps 139:23
23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Are you struggling with your RELATIONSHIPS, your FINANCES, or your OCCUPATION…have you prayed over it? Have you asked God for help? What are we to pray about? EVERYTHING!
