I feel stressed quite often. In fact, no word of a lie; there are times I get stressed about how stressed I am. It’s distressing. Connie tells me that when I’m stressed out it’s like talking to that dog from the movie UP. Anyone seen that? We’ll be talking and I’ll see something shiny and it’s like, “Squirrel!” Ok, that’s not entirely true, she says I’m always like that.
We all feel stress but it seems like in the last few generations we get buried with it. Stress affects every avenue of our lives. Stress, worry, fear, concern, hesitation, anxiety, building and self-perpetuating until we don’t even know how to live without it. If there was a moment in our lives where we didn’t feel stressed, we’d probably get stressed out trying to figure out why we weren’t stressed.
Have you ever had a day that was going so good you were watching and waiting for the other shoe to drop? Waiting to see what was going to pop up and bite you in the butt? We are so use to living with stress we are consciously aware when it’s not present.
I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that stress kills. Stress is the heart killer.
Stress kills our passion. Not just romantic passion, have you ever tried to be passionate about something when you’re stressed? You can but it’s really hard when you keep thinking about that bill that’s overdue, or the squeak in your brakes that you know is getting more expensive by the kilometer. Connie and I dealt with this the week before last. Our car had been squeaking for a while and because of various circumstances we hadn’t been able to get it in. All the time we were in the car, every time we moved an inch it was like having a band around my chest and with each squeak that band would tighten. That band of stress made it very hard to concentrate on work, on our relationship. It caused us both to be cranky. It tried to kill our passion.
Not only does stress kill our passion but it also kills our desire. It makes it hard to even want to do anything. What’s the point? We expend so much energy trying to manage our stress, that we have little energy and little desire to do anything else. The impact stress has on our desire can even go further and lead to depression and/or anxiety disorders.
But stress isn’t happy with killing our passion and our desires; putting us into emotional tailspins; stress also kills our health. High blood pressure, lack of sleep, you don’t eat right, and if you’re stressed enough it can even cause you to start getting sick. How many times in a year do you think you get sick because stress has made you susceptible? I wouldn’t even try to hazard a guess. Stress kills in a very real very physical way.
Stress also kills our minds and hearts. It impedes our ability to make rational decisions. It becomes so hard to concentrate and you start forgetting things. Have you ever talked with someone who is under a lot of stress and they don’t handle it well? The conversation is like herding cats. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about here. Maybe you can relate to this. You know what you need to take with you when you go to work in the morning, but if you wake up late and you have like 15 minutes to get up get dressed, and get everything you need, do everything you need to do; I don’t know about you but it seems like I always forget something.
Stress does this on a global scale in your life. Stress is a masterpiece of Satan made to destroy every part of us. Stress can infect every area of our lives like a virus and multiply. It’s a burden that weighs on us and tries to drag us down and keep us from receiving the blessings God has for our lives. It wears us down.
Wow this message went kind of dark side didn’t it?
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Stress kills, but Christ restores.
Stress kills our passions but Christ is the restorer of passion. He is the Bride-Groom. He comes to us with open arms to breathe new life into us, to bring us a new fire a new passion for Him.
Stress is the killer of our desires, but Christ is the restorer of our desires. He is trustworthy and has promised us the desires of our hearts. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we find our energy revitalized, we are not helpless against our enemy; because of Immanuel, ‘God is with us.’
Stress might well kill the body but Christ restores us by giving us a new body, a new flesh. And as re-born men and women of God we can rest under the covering of His divine and holy protection.
Stress may try to kill our hearts but Christ has given us a new heart for Him. *No matter how much stress tries to be the killer of our dreams Christ; God made flesh, has given us a new dream that is so much better than any other, that’s my King, that’s your King that’s our redeemer. Our burdens may be heavy but His burden is light.
Connie mentioned a story a couple of weeks ago about how her friend carried her burdens for a day. Jesus wants to carry the burden of our stress not just for a day, but until the end of days; and trust me, He can take it.
Jesus has dealt with stress He knows what stress is all about. In the garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion.
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” (I have to stop here. Let’s take a moment and put this scene into context. I can’t even imagine how Jesus was feeling that night. The disciples had no real idea what was going to happen. Jesus had hinted to them but only He knew in full detail what was coming. If He had told them they would probably freaked out. We as human beings do not handle stress that well.) He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36-38) Sorrow to the point of death! Overwhelmed with sorrow. Sorrowful and troubled.
In the Gospel of Luke, Luke describes the prayers Jesus made in the garden: He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44)
Jesus in the garden. Under so much stress He sweat blood. So Jesus knew what it was like to undergo stress. He experienced levels of stress that night that would have flat out killed most of us. Sweating blood is called hematohidrosis; it means to undergo so much stress that it causes you to hemorrhage through your sweat glands.
Jesus trusted in God’s vision and didn’t give up. He gave His burdens and stress over to God and trusted Him. Jesus exchanged a heavy near unliftable burden for God’s promise. This did not take the source of the stress away, releasing His burdens to God didn’t remove the situation; but it did free Him from the crushing weight of His circumstances.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
After the garden all throughout Christ’s ordeal being arrested, tried, lashed, mocked, humiliated, and eventually crucified; do you notice the one thing missing? Stress. He conquered death on the cross, but He conquered stress in the garden, and showed us exactly how to do it. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Whenever you feel your burdens are weighting you down you can pray and give them over to God because though stress kills, Christ restores. The situation may remain, the reason you were stressed might still be there. But we no longer have to be stressed because we know it is now in the hands of God. We will still be responsible for our decisions and we will still have to take on consequences of our actions, but we know that God is with us, and we have nothing to fear because stress kills, Christ restores.
That’s it, if there was one thing to take away from today. If there was one jewel of knowledge I would want you to glean from your morning in God’s house today that would be it. No matter how much the enemy tries to use stress to kill us, Christ can and will restore you to wholeness and restore 10 fold what the enemy tries to take from you.
We all feel stress but it seems like in the last few generations we get buried with it. Stress affects every avenue of our lives. Stress, worry, fear, concern, hesitation, anxiety, building and self-perpetuating until we don’t even know how to live without it. If there was a moment in our lives where we didn’t feel stressed, we’d probably get stressed out trying to figure out why we weren’t stressed.
Have you ever had a day that was going so good you were watching and waiting for the other shoe to drop? Waiting to see what was going to pop up and bite you in the butt? We are so use to living with stress we are consciously aware when it’s not present.
I’m sure it’s no surprise to you that stress kills. Stress is the heart killer.
Stress kills our passion. Not just romantic passion, have you ever tried to be passionate about something when you’re stressed? You can but it’s really hard when you keep thinking about that bill that’s overdue, or the squeak in your brakes that you know is getting more expensive by the kilometer. Connie and I dealt with this the week before last. Our car had been squeaking for a while and because of various circumstances we hadn’t been able to get it in. All the time we were in the car, every time we moved an inch it was like having a band around my chest and with each squeak that band would tighten. That band of stress made it very hard to concentrate on work, on our relationship. It caused us both to be cranky. It tried to kill our passion.
Not only does stress kill our passion but it also kills our desire. It makes it hard to even want to do anything. What’s the point? We expend so much energy trying to manage our stress, that we have little energy and little desire to do anything else. The impact stress has on our desire can even go further and lead to depression and/or anxiety disorders.
But stress isn’t happy with killing our passion and our desires; putting us into emotional tailspins; stress also kills our health. High blood pressure, lack of sleep, you don’t eat right, and if you’re stressed enough it can even cause you to start getting sick. How many times in a year do you think you get sick because stress has made you susceptible? I wouldn’t even try to hazard a guess. Stress kills in a very real very physical way.
Stress also kills our minds and hearts. It impedes our ability to make rational decisions. It becomes so hard to concentrate and you start forgetting things. Have you ever talked with someone who is under a lot of stress and they don’t handle it well? The conversation is like herding cats. I’ll give you an example of what I’m talking about here. Maybe you can relate to this. You know what you need to take with you when you go to work in the morning, but if you wake up late and you have like 15 minutes to get up get dressed, and get everything you need, do everything you need to do; I don’t know about you but it seems like I always forget something.
Stress does this on a global scale in your life. Stress is a masterpiece of Satan made to destroy every part of us. Stress can infect every area of our lives like a virus and multiply. It’s a burden that weighs on us and tries to drag us down and keep us from receiving the blessings God has for our lives. It wears us down.
Wow this message went kind of dark side didn’t it?
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Stress kills, but Christ restores.
Stress kills our passions but Christ is the restorer of passion. He is the Bride-Groom. He comes to us with open arms to breathe new life into us, to bring us a new fire a new passion for Him.
Stress is the killer of our desires, but Christ is the restorer of our desires. He is trustworthy and has promised us the desires of our hearts. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we find our energy revitalized, we are not helpless against our enemy; because of Immanuel, ‘God is with us.’
Stress might well kill the body but Christ restores us by giving us a new body, a new flesh. And as re-born men and women of God we can rest under the covering of His divine and holy protection.
Stress may try to kill our hearts but Christ has given us a new heart for Him. *No matter how much stress tries to be the killer of our dreams Christ; God made flesh, has given us a new dream that is so much better than any other, that’s my King, that’s your King that’s our redeemer. Our burdens may be heavy but His burden is light.
Connie mentioned a story a couple of weeks ago about how her friend carried her burdens for a day. Jesus wants to carry the burden of our stress not just for a day, but until the end of days; and trust me, He can take it.
Jesus has dealt with stress He knows what stress is all about. In the garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion.
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” (I have to stop here. Let’s take a moment and put this scene into context. I can’t even imagine how Jesus was feeling that night. The disciples had no real idea what was going to happen. Jesus had hinted to them but only He knew in full detail what was coming. If He had told them they would probably freaked out. We as human beings do not handle stress that well.) He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:36-38) Sorrow to the point of death! Overwhelmed with sorrow. Sorrowful and troubled.
In the Gospel of Luke, Luke describes the prayers Jesus made in the garden: He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44)
Jesus in the garden. Under so much stress He sweat blood. So Jesus knew what it was like to undergo stress. He experienced levels of stress that night that would have flat out killed most of us. Sweating blood is called hematohidrosis; it means to undergo so much stress that it causes you to hemorrhage through your sweat glands.
Jesus trusted in God’s vision and didn’t give up. He gave His burdens and stress over to God and trusted Him. Jesus exchanged a heavy near unliftable burden for God’s promise. This did not take the source of the stress away, releasing His burdens to God didn’t remove the situation; but it did free Him from the crushing weight of His circumstances.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
After the garden all throughout Christ’s ordeal being arrested, tried, lashed, mocked, humiliated, and eventually crucified; do you notice the one thing missing? Stress. He conquered death on the cross, but He conquered stress in the garden, and showed us exactly how to do it. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Whenever you feel your burdens are weighting you down you can pray and give them over to God because though stress kills, Christ restores. The situation may remain, the reason you were stressed might still be there. But we no longer have to be stressed because we know it is now in the hands of God. We will still be responsible for our decisions and we will still have to take on consequences of our actions, but we know that God is with us, and we have nothing to fear because stress kills, Christ restores.
That’s it, if there was one thing to take away from today. If there was one jewel of knowledge I would want you to glean from your morning in God’s house today that would be it. No matter how much the enemy tries to use stress to kill us, Christ can and will restore you to wholeness and restore 10 fold what the enemy tries to take from you.