In today's society, stress is not only prevalent, it is a silent killer - affecting so many of our bodily functions. When I lay down for the night, my body is often unwilling to welcome sleep; so I toss and turn, pray for everyone that comes to mind and quote scripture or sing praises in my heart to the Lord.
The one
scripture that usually puts me right to sleep is Psalm 23. I often recite only
3-4 verses before I am snoring peacefully. This is one of the most comforting
and encouraging chapters in the Bible. Intimacy with God is proclaimed in
almost every verse.
When we rely
on human understanding and personal works to please the Lord, we may be very
busy, and we may accomplish many good deeds; however, we are only in the center
of God's will when we walk in His Spirit each moment of the day.
Remember the
parable that Jesus told about the ten virgins? Five were wise and walked in the
Spirit, and five were foolish and listened to their own human understanding.
The bridegroom refused the foolish women any admittance into the wedding feast
(Matthew 25:1-44).
Many people
know about God, and are busy in Kingdom work; however, they are not intimately
related to Him by trusting in Jesus for salvation (1 John 1:9). Full surrender
to the Trinity is one of the keys to living an authentic and fulfilled
Christian life.
As dynamic
Believers with authentic and spiritual veracity, we hunger and thirst after God
(Matthew 5:6). Nothing will ever separate us from the height, width, depth and
breadth of His amazing love (Romans 8:35-39).
In Christ, we
have no more shame or condemnation about our past, present and future choices
(Romans 8:1). The devil can no longer keep us in bondage to negative emotions or
to his lies about our character and our relationship with the Trinity.
Prayer:
Father God,
when we surrender our life to You, You teach us that our identity is in You,
and not in our works, our character or our family roots. We are now King's
Kids, Your beloved children, and heirs with Jesus of Your entire Kingdom.
These facts
thrill our soul and bolster our spirit. Our new identity in You makes us one
with You and reduces the stress in our life and the negative consequences of
poor choices, like we used to make. We walk in Your Spirit each moment of our
day and we live to serve at the pleasure of King Jesus.
Thought for
the Day:
Surrendering
the roots of stress in our life to God will give us an opening to walk in His
love, peace and joy all the days of our life, and to live in faith in His faithfulness.
