Stress II

(Phil 4:6,7 NLT) Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

This morning we continue in our new series we are looking at Biblical ways to handle and deal with negative stress. Yesterday I introduced you to this passage in Paul's letter to the church in Philippi and I started off with emphasizing the importance of prayer. The benefit of having direct access to the King of kings and the Lord of lords cannot be overstated. Jesus' death, burial and resurrection surely paid the penalty for sin and gave us access to eternal life, but it also restored us back to the position Adam originally had in the Garden of Eden, where He was able to literally walk with God and have direct fellowship with him. When Adam had this relationship with the Father there was no inkling of stress, struggle or strain in his world. Adam only knew peace, power, protection, provision, and purpose.

Adam's life, before the fall, was a perfect picture of everything we could ever hope for. But guess what? Jesus' death gave us access to that type of life. The sad reality is, however, that most of us don't understand that, so we don't pursue that type of life - by faith.

The Father wants His children to be settled in the fact that they will make it heaven - once we are covered by the Blood of Jesus, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and called according to His purpose - but He also wants us to enjoy our life in the earth BEFORE we make it there. The Father does not want us to be saved and miserably saved. No, He wants us to have and enjoy life in Him (see John 10:10).

So here we are, just days away from Christmas, and many believers all over the world, are living way beneath the picture I just painted for you in the Garden of Eden, because they have allowed the "cares of this world" to nullify (or choke) the power of the Word of God from operating in their lives (see Mark 4:19). Instead of casting the care over to the Father (see 1st Peter 5:7), they carry that care with them everywhere they go and the weight of the care burdens them down to the point where they can't enjoy God, themselves, or anyone/anything else.

Don't be a care-carrier, be a care-caster and allow the Father to free you from the overwhelming weight of the cares of this world, through the vehicle of prayer. If you do, then Paul tells us in our text that there is actually a supernatural peace available to us that will baffle any psychologist, psychiatrist, or any other mental health professional.

So what does this mean to you ? It means that once you have 'peace with God,' which comes only through accepting Jesus as Lord, then you must subsequently pursue the 'peace of God,' which comes only through the vehicle of prayer. Wouldn't it be a shame to have made peace with God decades ago, only to make it to heaven and realize that you spent most of your life without the peace of God? Without the peace of God you will invariably live your life way below the quality of life the Father desires for you to have. If you don't have the peace of God today, take a moment to pray and ask the Father for it; and after you do, make the following declaration over your life, out loud, in faith:

Closing prayer: Father, I thank You for hearing me in prayer. I have made peace with You by accepting Your Son Jesus as my Lord. And now, I have asked You for Your peace to manifest in my life, because I realize that I need it. Your peace will keep me internally stable, even when everything externally is going haywire. Your peace will enable me to sleep soundly in the midst of the storms of life. Your peace passes anything the world can study or understand. Your peace is supernatural and I declare, by faith, that it operates in my life NOW and it will continue to operate in my life every day I am in the land of the living. Your peace floods my heart and my mind and I am more than ready to face this day! In Jesus' name. Amen.

This is Today's Word! Apply it and Prosper!