For those who are into numbers:25 percent of workers have taken a day off from work to cope with stress.
54 percent of Americans are concerned about the level of stress in their everyday lives.
62 percent of Americans say work has a significant impact on stress levels.
66 percent of Americans say they are likely to seek help for stress.
73 percent of Americans name money as the number one factor that affects their stress level.
Increasing numbers of children, teenagers and college students report feeling under stress. Highly stressed teenagers are twice as likely to smoke, drink, get drunk and use illegal drugs. Stress contributes to such life-threatening problems as heart attack, stroke, depression and infection, as well as to chronic aches and pains
Sources: American Psychological Association 2004 survey, American Institute of Stress, National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse
Wow! This was 4 years ago. Can you imagine what it is today? Now more than ever, due to the concerns of the economy, one can only imagine the percentage of Americans which are under stress. Many questions have been raised in regards to reducing stress. How do we get to this stress level stage?
First, we have to look at long term. This is getting harder in a fast paced and short term culture here in America. Too many want the here and now and not patient enough for the long term goal.
Second, God has to be ranked first in our life. I don’t mean you believe in God. You have to have a relationship with Him. Finally, we have to have a goal and an objective or a vision in our lives. If there are no goals or a vision then things go down the drain.
Don’t believe me? Read the news lately? Seen the big car makers? Ford, GM Chrysler going in their company owned jets to Congress? They all came to Congress to plea for help. Senator Obama was "surprised" executives didn't have a better vision when the Big Three came before Congress last week. You have to live by example. If you are struggling on income then you don’t take a jet to cause more debt. You must live within your means. No wonder these companies are failing. There is no clear cut direction. No vision. No plans. They seem to live in the here and now in a complacent world. Things must change. In order for things to change there has to be a rough period in order to come out better.
I love this story. 1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to his young armor-bearer, "Come, let's go over to the outpost of those uncircumcised fellows. Perhaps the LORD will act in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." 7 "Do all that you have in mind," his armor-bearer said. "Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul." 8 Jonathan said, "Come, then; we will cross over toward the men and let them see us. 9 If they say to us, 'Wait there until we come to you,' we will stay where we are and not go up to them. 10 But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we will climb up, because that will be our sign that the LORD has given them into our hands."
Ok. You are asking how this fits into stress. Here is how to lessen stress:
First read 1 Samuel 14, too get the bigger picture.
Second, Jonathan already had a plan. He had a vision. He had a support person. He gave it to God. He trusted in God for deliverance.
Have a plan and a direction in a long term you would like to see happen in five years for your family. For your life.
Share it with a support person. They can hold you accountable. Help when you need help.
Do what you plan on doing but always look for signs that God has opened the door for the direction to take.
Build a relationship with God. Praise and thank Him. Seek wisdom from Him first. Thank Him, afterwards. Praise Him during troubled times.
Third, read these passages:
a. If the LORD delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; Psalms 37:23 (NAS)
1. Notice: IF…. The Lord delights. Your plan has to be in the direction of a God spirit filled
heart.
2. IF your plans are spirit filled and with the right intentions God will make sure your plans are firm.
b. In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9
1. In our heart we make plans for the direction and vision we want to go. Just like Jonathan had a plan. Yet, Jonathan sought out God for direction.
2. When we make a plan and carefully prayed then act on the plan. God will let you know if your course is right. This is where building a relationship with Him comes into play.
3. A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? Proverbs 20:24 (NAS)
a. We can’t understand our direction. We get stressed out when we do things on the fly.
b. God directs our steps in the way He desires for us to go. When we don’t go that way, God is like a parent and guides us into that action. Stress is induced when it doesn’t go OUR way. Remember it is His way and sometimes we have to have patience.
Finally, realize the following: "seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" 2 Peter 1:3 (NAS). God provides everything. It is up to us to determine how we live.
Make choices to live within your means so you don’t bring on financial stress. Remember, Eve who wanted it now by the deception of the serpent. Curve the appetite to do it now. Have a vision and a direction you would like to go and walk it. Allow God to be the beacon in the night of your life so you know where to carefully step. Sometimes, we are like Abraham and going somewhere we have never been before, but always trusting in God’s deliverance to the destination.
For nine years I have had three mortgages on my home, due to an unwilling and unforgiving ex-spouse who was constantly taking me into court over trivial things. I also kept refusing the signs God in what He was showing me. God wanted me to do something in my life of counseling others and helping others. I thought I don’t have the money, or the time to devote to something different. This year is amazing, because I sat down and wrote out a vision for my life in the next 5 years. I planned to go back to school and work on my Master’s degree in counseling. I paid for the first course and built my relationship with God. Sure, I had a relationship with Him, but it wasn’t the best it could have been. Today, receiving A’s in my courses. I have one mortgage with less payment. Have the funds to finish school. Why didn’t I learn this lesson nine years ago; stress which could have been avoided a long time ago?
You have five fingers. Sometimes we put a bow around our fingers to remind us of something to do.
Here are the five bows to remember how to reduce stress:
1. Plan, your goals and visions 5 years out. (once you complete do another five years and make
them realistically obtainable). (In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9)
2. Prepare, by looking for ways to get your vision and goals accomplished. Bring in support
people to help or to support you. (2 Timothy 2:21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.)
3. Pray, constantly and build the trust and faith in God that He will delight in your ways or show you a better way to accomplish it and if not ask for directions. . (Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.)
4. Proactive, in looking for opportunities to present itself. Hard to look when you see the shadow on the ground, while the big picture is looking up in the sky. (Philippians 4:13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead)
5. Practice. What you believe in. Live your life like you are living your vision. (Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, 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. 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.)
May you have a blessed day with less stress and don’t forget to pray to build that relationship with Him. What a blessed Savior!
