Evangelicals

A religious wikizine for and about conservative Protestant Christians.

Stress Buster!

Written by Shnide on

I'm sitting beside my computer, studying the book of Hebrews, as I prepare my heart and plead with God for His anointing on my ministry in the year to come. I'm listening to some wonderful chorale music that is soothing my soul as I envision God sitting on His throne, with the Son at His right hand, and the choirs of heaven rejoicing at every glimpse.

And in this, there is rest!

Friends, God's desire is for you to be at peace and rest! At His direction I've been teaching my church the importance of spiritual formation -- taking time out of our busy days to find silence and solitude. Are you making time to do that too?

The Holy Spirit says:

"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart; they have not known My ways.' Therefore, as I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest." (Heb. 3:7-11)

"Take care brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today', that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Heb. 3:12,13)

Friends, it's so easy to let the world and all its demands pull us away from the heart of God. If you're experiencing head-banging stress, God's remedy is right here in these verses: exhort each other as Christians EVERY DAY to follow Christ; guard your heart from unbelief by feeding yourself spiritually EVERY DAY!

And then, when you hear -- OBEY!

"For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And to whom did He swear that they would NOT ENTER HIS REST, but to those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter because of their unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." (Heb 3:16-4:1)

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. If you have not entered the rest of God it is because you have heard God but not obeyed; you have hardened your heart to His inner promptings; you simply DON'T BELIEVE. You don't believe He can give you rest, and you don't believe you can ever find it.

This is the cause of your stress! It's not your busyness -- it's your barrenness. Jesus was busy too -- in fact, much busier than you! But He had peace and rest because He believed and obeyed, and because He often withdrew from His crowded schedule to find silence and solitude with God.

You need to do this too!

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