The Stress Of Life

The Alarm goes off…

You grab a cup of coffee…

In a few minutes, you realize what day it is…

Then you realize what’s going on in your busy schedule today…

Then you realize what’s going on in the world around you…

Then you realize what’s going on in YOUR life…

Then you wonder why you even got out of bed – But you press on…

Your brain is now FULL of all sorts of stressful components…

How Do You focus on one thing at a time when there are so many things going on?

This is a typical day for many people… The calmness of sleep (sometimes), followed by the onslaught of life – of stress – of bewilderment…


Honestly there are days when we just DON’T want to get out of bed…  We DON’T want to endure another day of “Craziness”,,, We DON’T want to fight the madness that has become our world…


How did we get here?


Man has always had responsibilities, but as our world progressed – so did the responsibilities…


Sometimes more than we can handle…  Why?


We have become a nation of wanting more, more, more… which take more money, more time, more of our lives… 


My grandfather was a farmer…  Was it stressful?  Yes I imagine – just as it is today… But if the crops weren’t coming in, the bills still were!  So he took on a job as a coal miner…  Then he wanted his kids to go to college, so he took on another job of working as a janitor and maintenance person for the local school… 


Many would say that he wanted the nest for his kids – AS I DO, but it took more and more time away from his family and less and less was learned from him as a parent.  No my grandfather was very good at balancing his time, but many of us are not…  It would have been very easy for him to come back from his jobs and prop up in a chair and say “leave me alone – I’ve had a tough day”, but he didn’t…  So he tried (along with my Grandmother) to teach the kids right from wrong… 


I know you can hear it today… we try to teach our kids and hear “But Sally does it this way” or “Jimmy’s dad lets him do this or that”… 


2 points:        #1 – Even then… look where the kids learned from… Their parents (IF they were lucky) – but they got the “Left-Over” time…


                        #2 – All of a sudden between the stress of jobs and then home with the kids – the day has just become PACKED… 


Why?  All because we wanted more, more, more…  we use the excuse that it’s “Progress” or that we have to “Keep Up” with whoever and whatever.  All at the risk of filling our lives so completely that we have not time for Our Faith, Our Family or Our Friends…


It’s a compounding issue – the more we try to provide more, more, more – the more it takes out of us…  No I am NOT saying we should abandon our responsibilities – just manage them better…


This morning, I have so many thing I THINK I have to do, that I didn’t think I had time to sit down and write this…  BUT I took the time… in hopes that it might help someone realize what I have to tell myself everyday – “Relax – Concentrate on what’s REALLY Important and Manage my time well”.   I admit, I am not always the best at it – but I try…  Do I still like “stuff” – yes, but I am realizing that if it all disappeared tomorrow – I Might be better off!


If we ALL concentrated on God, our Family, and our Friends instead of our “stuff” – think how different our world would be…


Kids would be talking instead of texting, mom & dad would be talking instead of watching TV, our jobs would be getting done easier, our government would be running more efficiently, our taxes would not be out of this world, our laws would be protected, wars would be few and far between (not 10 going on constantly at the same time)…


All because we left God, Family and Friends out of the equation and wanted for more “Stuff”.
I know it’s not all that simple – BUT it’s a big hunk of our problems – our stress.


When people get so “overwhelmed” by life – they “give-in” or “give-up”…


Because we don’t keep God first it is easy for Satan to step in and cause us to “Give-In” to his temptations…  The chaos that Satan creates can cause us to just “Give-Up” – to not care… to take our issues out on others… to sometimes even turn to another “world”… Hiding in a dream word, hiding in a world of drugs, just plain physically hiding from life or feeling there is no way out and taking our ouw life (and often taking lives of those around us). 


Yes we see that almost every day now../chaos created by Satan’s will being pushed upon us for more, more, more.  Leading to chaos… Leading to a departure from God’s reality.
We see DAILY reports of Rape, of Murder, of Drug overdoses, of Theft, or Suicide …


This is NOT what God wanted for us…
It’s easy to say that it’s here – deal with it… but if we do not TRY to get back to God, to our families, to our friends then the world WILL continue to spiral downhill… In today’s world we look at our situations and say “it’s too hard to change things”.  That is so defeatist and EXACTLY what Satan wants…  Give in to the sins of Satan… Give in to Chaos… Give in to the Stress of Life…


Protect yourself – protect your family – take Stress out of your life – Renew the Spirit within you – Don’t let Satan win this battle… Many will lose this battle – Don’t be one of them!


 A lot of people do not believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God – but they also can’t deny that more and more proof comes about showing that the “Historical” part of the Bible is true…  The Bible tells not only our past, but our present and our future…  It is NOT a fictional book… it is our lifeline…


YES, it even tells us HOW TO PROTECT OURSELVES… 


Ephesians 6:10-18
New Living Translation (NLT)

The Whole Armor of God

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[b] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[c] 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.[d]


The first element of our armor is truth (verse 14). This is easy to understand, since Satan is said to be the “father of lies” (John 8:44). Deception is high on the list of things God considers to be an abomination. A “lying tongue” is one of the things He describes as “detestable to Him” (Proverbs 6:16-17). We are therefore exhorted to put on truth for our own sanctification and deliverance, as well as for the benefit of those to whom we witness.

Also in verse 14, we are told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate shielded a warrior’s vital organs from blows that would otherwise be fatal. This righteousness is not works of righteousness done by men. Rather, this is the righteousness of Christ, imputed by God and received by faith, which guards our hearts against the accusations and charges of Satan and secures our innermost being from his attacks.

Verse 15 speaks of the preparation of the feet for spiritual conflict. In warfare, sometimes an enemy places dangerous obstacles in the path of advancing soldiers. The idea of the preparation of the gospel of peace as footwear suggests what we need to advance into Satan's territory, aware that there will be traps, with the message of grace so essential to winning souls to Christ. Satan has many obstacles placed in the path to halt the propagation of the gospel.

The shield of faith spoken of in verse 16 makes Satan's sowing of doubt about the faithfulness of God and His Word ineffective. Our faith—of which Christ is “the author and perfecter” (
Hebrews 12:2)— is like a golden shield, precious, solid, and substantial.

The helmet of salvation in verse 17 is protection for the head, keeping viable a critical part of the body. We could say that our way of thinking needs preservation. The head is the seat of the mind, which, when it has laid hold of the sure gospel hope of eternal life, will not receive false doctrine or give way to Satan’s temptations. The unsaved person has no hope of warding off the blows of false doctrine because he is without the helmet of salvation and his mind is incapable of discerning between spiritual truth and spiritual deception.

Verse 17 interprets itself as to the meaning of the sword of the Spirit—it is the Word of God. While all the other pieces of spiritual armor are defensive in nature, the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon in the armor of God. It speaks of the holiness and power of the Word of God. A greater spiritual weapon is not conceivable. In Jesus' temptations in the desert, the Word of God was always His overpowering response to Satan. What a blessing that the same Word is available to us!

In verse 18, we are told to pray in the Spirit (that is, with the mind of Christ, with His heart and His priorities) in addition to wearing the full armor of God. We cannot neglect prayer, as it is the means by which we draw spiritual strength from God. Without prayer, without reliance upon God, our efforts at spiritual warfare are empty and futile. The full armor of God—truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer—are the tools God has given us, through which we can be spiritually victorious, overcoming Satan’s attacks and temptations.

Read more:
http://www.gotquestions.org/full-armor-of-God.html#ixzz2gZA4o7Zk


So let’s see… Being Truthful & Righteous – Being prepared to walk into situations where God’s word is needed – Being able to hold our shield of faith up in belief that God’s word is true and Satan’s lies are wrong – Being able to protect our mind with our helmet from false things thrown at our mind – Being able to trust in the Bible as our sword to help fight off evil – and Being able to Pray…


Seems pretty easy…  IF WE TAKE THE TIME!


 Who would have thought we could fight the Stress of Life so easily…

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