Stress and the Christian

Stress and the Christian

Let’s take a look now at what God says our response to the storms in our lives should be.

 

Romans 8:28-31 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

2 Corinthians 5:7 We live by faith, not by sight.

I know we’ve all heard and read those words many many times, but today let’s see what they’re really saying to us.  There are really only two ways we can choose to react or respond to any situation in our lives.  We can respond with fear or we can respond with faith.  The problem lies in that until we really and truly know in our deepest being that God really does love us, care for us, and will provide for us no matter what, and that He would never ever do anything to cause us harm, then we will act out of fear.  For us humans, living in this world of sin, many of us didn’t have good earthly fathers or even a father figure to learn what paternal love really is, and so that also makes us fearful of the Lord.  It’s not the good kind of “fear of the Lord” that we are supposed to have though—it’s the bad kind because it’s saying, “I don’t trust you”.   All fear and worry have their roots in a lack of trust in the Lord and that lack of trust has it’s roots in not knowing Him very well.  Even stress is a form of fear. 

There are just so many things in our lives that are based on fear that it can be mind boggling when we begin to realize it.  For example, many relationships are based in fear—they are based in the fear of being alone, or the fear of not being able to make it financially alone.  Vanity is the fear of being unwanted or unloved, the fear of being alone because no one will look at us because we’re “ugly”.  Greed and/or hoarding things come from the fear of being poor or not having enough when you need it.  Even anger is often really just fear disguised—fear that the person doesn’t love us or trust us, fear that they will leave us and we’ll be alone; etc. On and on it goes.  Fear is not from God, we can know that for sure because He tells us so.

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

2 Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Fear is sin as are it’s complements- worry and stress.  They do not come from God, they come from our flesh, our sin nature and even sometimes attacks on us from Satan and his demons.  How can I say for sure that they are sins?  Simply because they do not come from God and also because they are the outward sign that we are not trusting God 100% and that my friends is a sin.  The Lord tells us though that when we know Him well we will know His love and His love will cast out that sin of fear.

Romans 8:12-17 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Do you see that He is saying that we have an obligation once we are saved to live each day, each moment, in the control and power of the Holy Spirit?  There is only one way we can do that, and that is to be in constant communication with the Lord all the time. (and to have time daily that we can study His Word)  It is our relationship with the Lord and knowing His Word that gives us the victory over fear, worry and stress.  It is knowing Him intimately. 

We all know that the difference in being a real Christian and a fake one is that the real Christian has a personal relationship with God while the fake Christian is just going through the motions of ritual, tradition and religion.  The difference then in someone who is born again and living their life in victory as opposed to one who is floundering is the depth of their relationship with Him.  It’s how much they trust Him.

 

Now when I say “living in victory”, I do not mean what the heretics say about living lives of wealth and ease, of always being healthy, having all you could want etc.  No.  What I mean by living in victory is living a life that places God as the most important thing in the entire world to them.  They consider their lives worth nothing without Him and they spend all their time with Him.  No, not with their noses buried in their bibles 24/7; but instead, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, they are with Him, talking to Him, experiencing their life through Him all the time.  Those who do that are able to go through their lives without fear, without worry and without stress.  So in reality the deeper, the closer your relationship with the Lord is, the less fear, worry and stress will be in your life and the more victory over sin you will have.  For when the sin of fear is stripped away all that is left is faith, hope and love just as our Lord says!

I haven’t reached that prize yet myself, but as Paul says,

Philippians 3:13-16 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

Join us at FH for this study on Stress!