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harden. There is nothing worse than a hard heart; rejoicing softens
the arteries.
THE POWER OF PRAYER
Paul says to his readers “Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God” (v 6)
He then goes on to say there is a promise that follows this:-
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (v 7)
In other words prayer guards your mind from anxiety.
Talk about serving on the DPG guarding Mrs T. Talk about
when she was on holiday and the officer relaxing on the Mr T’s
chair. Mr T found him and he found himself directing traffic as
he lost his privileged post . Talk about how they went about
their lives knowing that the responsibility of security was not
on their shoulders but the team of Police Officers around them.
That is guarding – allowing us to live our lives not worrying
because the peace of God is guarding us 24/7. There is so
much going on in the heavenlies that we do not know about
making our way straight. When we pray there is an offloading
of the burden. If we do not pray that burden just gets heavier
and heavier.
THE ROUTINE OF RIGHT THINKING
Is there a way in which we can protect ourselves from stress and panic
attacks? What do you do when you feel it all coming on top?
Paul says “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if
anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (v 8)
This I believe is your protection plan
Before we become Christians our minds are full of rubbish and we give
little thought to what is on our minds. We are full of fear, guilt and
regret that weigh us down and affect our health.
Paul in the book of Romans tells us to renew our minds he says “Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will”
We need to train our minds to think in a Christ like way!
Casey Treat in his book called “Renewing the mind” says this:-
“The mind is an amazing and powerful creation of God. No animal has
a mind like ours, no machine or computer can match its abilities and
no human has tapped its full potential. It is the control centre of our
lives. It stores all the experiences and learned material. It reasons and
creates information; it chooses from a myriad of options every day. It
plans and sees into the future with an imagination that is unlimited. It
has been said that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and yet we waste
our minds daily. Even in the Christian world, we let our minds wander
and lead us into mediocrity and negativity”
The bottom line is that where you set your mind will control where
you go in life – Paul says very clearly where we need to set our minds
if we are going to succeed.
How do I control my mind – this is a process that needs to go on daily
and it starts with feeding the mind. The Word of God will renew your
mind:-
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or
stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight
is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. He
is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers”
Psalm 1 v 1 – 3
THE PURSUIT OF PUTTING INTO PRACTICE
Paul says “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me,
or seen in me – put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with
you”
We need to be people that listen to, watch and read the right things,
and be people that put things into practice.
If you are like me you probably have listened to many sermons or read
many books where God has spoken to you and you have said when I
get home or when I get up tomorrow that is one of the first things I am
going to do. Then when the time comes you forget and put it on the
back burner.
In order to combat stress we have to plan of action and move things
around in our lives to make a difference. It brings us back to the
question “What is your purpose?” We do not lack purpose but often
our priorities are wrong.
Paul also introduces another concept into this Stress Buster of the
“Pursuit of Putting into Practice” and it is the idea of having good role
models.
WHO IS YOUR MENTOR? WHO DO YOU COPY?
Have you ever been with people of a different nationality for so long
that you begin to copy their accent? Theresa does this after just a few
minutes. We are always copying others even when we do not realise
it.
If you surround yourself with positive people who you enjoy being
with it will do your stress levels a world of good.
THE CONDITION OF CONTENTMENT
A Quaker offered property to anyone who considered himself
contented. When a man came to claim the lot, he was asked, “If you’re
contented, why do you want my lot?”
Often we say we are contented but inside and our lives show that this
far from the truth.
The last Stress Buster that Paul gives us here is to live in that place of
contentment:-
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