TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY APRIL 16, 2015.
STRESS
A strain, mental pressure, anxiety.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28.
We live in a stressful world and it is fair to say that we all have stress in our lives. Stress is a serious problem to many individuals and families today. Stress can come from so many sources like our jobs, our family relationships, our health, our friends, our enemies, just to name a few. Thousands of people have recently been put under dire stress as a result of attacks on Christians in countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria and so many others. Many people have lost everything. It would be impossible for these suffering people not to feel stress.
The opposite of stress is peace and a sense of well being. How can we find peace when we seem to be overwhelmed with stress? God knows all about us, so He knows all about the stresses in our life and He wants us to turn to Him when the going gets tough.
In Matthew 11:28, Jesus invites us to come to Him saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” He is saying to us that He will give us rest from our stress if we will trust Him and not try to rely on our own strength and abilities.
The promise is given to us in Psalm 29:11 that “The Lord gives strength to His people (those who have their faith in Him) and blesses them with His peace.” There can be no more powerful source of strength available to handle our stress than God almighty who is all powerful and the creator of all things.
Isaiah describes the peace that comes from God as perfect. Isaiah 26:3. “God will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in God.” The key word here is trust. The part we must do is trust in God and He will do the rest.
Paul experienced stress in his life like very few others have. In Philippians 4:4-7 he tells us how he coped with stress and anguish in his life. He said to “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, REJOICE. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
In times of stress Paul recommends that we rejoice. No matter how much stress we are suffering, if we know the Lord we have reason to rejoice. Then he tells us to stop worrying and turn our worries into prayers and ask God to help us with the situations that are causing our stress.
When we are really willing to turn our problems over to God, we will receive a peace that only God can give and that is beyond our own understanding.
Our memory verse for this week is found in Jeremiah 33:3.
Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
Help me to rejoice because I have You in my life. It is my prayer today that You would eliminate stress from my life and give me your peace. Help me to always put my trust in You to help me with the stress and frustrations in my life.
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