Take control to reduce stress in your life.
Hello Friends and Members,
Pastor James here, coming to you again from our own little slice of paradise, Palm Bay, Florida! I trust and pray you’re having an amazing day.
Back when I was a kid, we had a huge wood burning furnace in our basement. My Dad would load it with solid chunks of firewood before we left for church, as no one would be home for hours. Sometimes he got it right and we’d come home from the subfreezing weather outside to a nice, toasty warm home. Other times, the furnace produced a little too good and we’d arrive to find it 90° inside the house. We’d have to go around yanking open windows to cool the place off! But then, along came progress, and one day the huge black furnace was replaced by a sleek, tan, gas appliance, complete with a programmable thermostat. And that was the end of our drama. The tiny thermostat on the wall completely and perfectly controlled the temperature of our entire house down to 1° of our choosing. I mean, just stop, and think about it! We literally had a monster burning in our basement, but we slept peacefully in our beds on the floors above. This same monster we call fire has devoured thousands of acres of forest across America, along with hundreds of homes, automobiles, animals and yes, people but with a couple of pieces of metal and a thermostat, this fire was all neatly contained and controlled inside our home. And that’s the secret sauce, Dear Ones, control!
To reduce stress and live a joyful life, you must control your mind. Now I know what you’re thinking. This is another message on thinking good stuff – not bad stuff. But I guarantee you it’s completely different! Look, we control our appetite; we don’t simply scarf down every fried and calorie laden food our taste buds crave. We control our hair growth, our speed on the highway and the money we spend. But for some reason, we think it’s okay for our minds to run wild. We worry what might happen, what did happen, what other people think about us and worry that we’re not worried enough about life’s biggest challenges. We respond to emails at midnight, send texts at traffic lights and have alerts going off on our phone 24/7. Is it any wonder we’re wound as tight as a steel trap?! What does the Bible say about this? 2 Corinthians 10:5 literally tells us to “Take every thought captive.” What?! One could think the Bible would be the last place to tell us to control our minds. Isn’t this kind of new age-y, motivational-affirmations- thinking, get-rich stuff?! No, the Holy Bible is literally loaded with mind discipline instructions. Let’s remember that Satan is the father of all lies. He wants control of your mind to bring discouragement, defeat, and despair. Then you’re no good to anybody around you.
How will you control your mind? By discipline. Can’t stop worrying about something? Pray! Then give yourself 15 minutes a day where you will do nothing except worry your brains out about the issue. With this technique, when the urge comes to worry midday, you can tell yourself, “No way, but I’ll indulge in worrying from 8:00 to 8:15 this evening!”
Secondly, declutter your mind by reducing alerts, alarms, emails, and texts. Do you really need to check your e-mail every hour and your texts immediately? No wonder your stressed and your mind is exhausted! Do you really need a push alert that PayPal just paid your monthly Netflix bill? If Jeff Bezos, with all his responsibilities, can take the time to carefully measure out ingredients and cook the most perfectly delicious pancakes every Sunday morning without interruptions, so you, my friend, can learn to slow down and take in life. Enjoy the present.
Thirdly, throw out the attitude of condemnation! We’re so used to seeing Christians publicly shame and condemn others that we forget that Jesus Christ said, “Neither do I condemn you!” That’s right, we have Christians protesting at abortion clinics, yelling or waving signs toward frightened, confused, young women, when Jesus would have met them elsewhere and befriended them. Read the story of The Woman at the Well (John 4) if you don’t believe me. And publicly praying in front of an abortion clinic? If one is so concerned about praying, read the Bible and discover that Jesus tells us to do it in private. He actually said to go into your room and close the door! (Matthew 6:5-8). And lastly, don’t condemn yourself! Why would you want to do the devil’s job? If you feel condemned, you’ll be depressed, discouraged and weak and very little good to others around you.
Finally, stop caring about what others think of you! Not that you should start robbing liquor stores, but if you know that you are doing what’s right, don’t try to prove yourself. Jesus modeled this perfectly in Matthew 27:14. When his enemies brought accusations against him, Jesus simply didn’t answer. He hadn’t done anything wrong, so he didn’t need to clear his name. An acquaintance of mine has a husband who used to tell her “I just don’t trust you!” Now mind you, this lady had enabled a tracking device on her phone so her husband could check on her whereabouts 24/7 in real time, and he had the passwords to her cell phone, laptop, and bank accounts. I told my friend to stop worrying about it. I said, “You have opened your life completely up. If your husband chooses not to trust you, there is little you can do, any excuses or trying to explain yourself just makes you look guilty. Go on, live life and be happy.”
What will you do this week, my friends? The devil is standing by to torment your mind and make it a living hell. The world is telling you to conform to its standards to be happy, but instead, what all that brings is stress. Will you take the easy path of letting your mind run wild, or will you seek to bring “Every thought captive?” The choice is yours!