Stress Relief

The greatest stress that any human will ever have to endure will be in the Lake of Fire. There will be no stress in Heaven. Here on earth we all have stress. For unbelievers, the stress comes from being enemies of God. The stress relief they get from Satan is false and temporary. Drugs, alcohol and a seared conscience come to mind. Satan is a major cause of the stress they will endure in Hell.

For believers the stress comes from three sources, the world, the flesh and the Devil. I believe the worst of the stress comes from our own flesh. We are closer to our own flesh than we are to the world and the Devil. The world and the Devil are external. It is somewhat easier to keep them at arms* length than to keep our flesh out there. The stress we get from our flesh is instantaneous and more personal. Our flesh is the enemy that we are most likely to make truces with. Our flesh is the part of us that wants to cooperate with the world and with Satan. If and when we win the victory over our flesh we defeat Satan and the world too.

When I was in my twenties I had a doctor that was very wise. I didn*t know nor care if he was a Christian. At the time I was not a Christian. A person was causing me stress. I was having some stomach problems and was on tranquilizers for a few weeks. The doctor told me that the person is not the problem, how YOU react to the person is the problem.

I have a greater enemy than the world, the flesh and the Devil. Unbelief is my greatest enemy. Unbelief is promoted by Satan and the world but it happens in our flesh.

1 John 5:4: For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

When I am not trusting my Lord I have stress. If I can just trust Him more I can get rid of more stress. If could trust Him completely I could get rid of all my stress. Many believers are way ahead of me in this. Some believers in Jesus time on earth asked Him to help and increase their faith. I believe He answered their prayers and eliminated the stress they were feeling.

Mark 9:24: And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Luke 17:5: And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

The greatest sin of Adam and Eve was not that they ate the forbidden fruit, their greatest sin was unbelief in God. That has been the greatest sin of all men ever since. Unbelievers don*t have enough faith in God to surrender to Him. Believers have had enough faith to surrender to Him but their faith still needs to increase. It should be 24/7 but no one*s ever is. Often when I ask the Lord what He wants me to do, I have a sense of what He wants me to do, I do it and have wonderful peace. We need to be very careful that what we sense is Biblical. If we don*t know the Bible our senses will often be wrong.

There is an expression that says: Don*t worry, be happy. It should be: Trust the Lord, do His will, then you won*t have to worry and you can be happy.

In this inner struggle it might seem to be one-against-one. It might seem to be our flesh against our spirit. But when we seek the Lord*s help, it is two-against-one. His help is promised and guarantees that our flesh will lose.

1 John 4:4: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Ephesians 3:16: That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

Want to be free of stress? Surrender to the Lord Jesus and then surrender to Him every waking moment of every day.

Care to discuss Stress Relief with Ron?

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