Three Warning Signs

The doctor takes a blood test, which informs him of our health issues. We have the choice to heed his advice, or to ignore it and reap the consequences. We often look in a mirror and see the stress in our soul reflected in our face; yet we do nothing about it. There are spiritual signs in our life too, which let us know that our spirit is dead in Adam’s sin (Romans 5:15).

If we ignore these three warning signs, we will perish (John 3:18). We fail to believe the blood test, the signs of stress in our face or the spiritual death of our spirit within, and we continue to live life after our own plans and goals. We struggle to find true happiness, and we neglect what is important in life to pursue the trappings of this world.

God calls everyone to come to Christ for His redeeming life. The Word of God will alert Believers in this same way. It informs us that our spirit is sick from our sin. If we surrender to God, He gives us an entirely new life. We will stop pursuing fleshly desires and worldly gain, which make us spiritually unhealthy. People see a difference in our life and they want that same blessed lifestyle, which we found in Christ.

Connected to the Vine of Christ, we produce the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We magnify the Lord in our thoughts, words and behavior, and God blesses us for our faithfulness to Him (Psalm 35:27). He wants us to come to Him with our needs and to ask Him to meet them. When we do, we receive His overwhelming love and His generous provision (John 16:24; Matthew 6:33).

Prayer:

Father God, until we completely surrender to You, we do not realize that Your plan for our life is absolutely perfect (Ephesians 2:10; Psalm 139). True significance, peace, satisfaction and success are ours, even if none of our humanistic goals are ever achieved. We feel Your Fatherly pleasure in us, and this love and acceptance mean more to us than anything this world can offer. We never have to wonder if You have a minute to listen to us, because You have a whole lifetime full of them.

Thought for the Day: 

If we pay attention to the guidance of Your Spirit within us, and walk away from our sinful lifestyle, we find spiritual life as well as physical energy, joy and clarity in our soul. - 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Warning Signs

 

Stress, anxiety, fear and anger are warning signs that someone is forcing us to do something that disturbs our peace in some way. They indicate that our soul – our thoughts, will and emotions – feels insecure, overwhelmed or abused in some way. In short amounts, stress helps us to perform under pressure and to motivate us to do our best. However, continual stress is unhealthy.

If we ignore the signs of stress, we end with:

• cognitive problems such as lapses in memory and concentration, worry or poor judgment;
• emotional indications such as moodiness, agitation, isolation and depression;
• physical issues such as aches, pains, bowel issues, chest pain, frequent colds and sexual dysfunction;
• behavioral symptoms such as loss of appetite, sleeplessness, procrastination, addictions and nervous habits.

At the core of these reactions is fear: fear of failure, rejection, another’s opinion and the unknown.

The Bible offers many remedies for stress. For instance, James encourages us to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger (James 1:19-20). Normally, we speak before we think. We say the first thing that comes to our mind. We often take pride in the fact that we “speak our mind”. We fail to use good judgment prior to expressing our opinions. That is why it is important to be slow to speak and to think before speaking. If we are quick to hear and slow to speak, then we will also be slow to express anger.

When we allow our negative emotions to erupt in rage, profanity or sulking, they ruin our testimony as a Believer, increase the stress in our life and cause others to have a very bad day. Sometimes, we feel negatively because we do not hear what the other person is really saying: either because they chose the wrong words to convey their thoughts and feelings, or we misunderstood the intent of their words or took them out of context. Some people have selective hearing and filter out parts of a conversation they do not want to hear. We also often fail to hear the unspoken meaning attached to someone’s words. That is why God uses James to caution us to be quick to hear.

We do, however, need to honestly feel all of our emotions in order to stay healthy. Journaling our feelings to understand where they are coming from is a healthy option. It allows us to express those pent up negative emotions without hurting anyone else or presenting to the public a poor example of a Believer. God gave us anger to protect us. It causes us to fight or to take flight to defend our self. If we use anger for any other reason, all we ever accomplished is to hurt the ones we love (Proverbs 29:11).

Past and current circumstances affect our feelings, and expose our deepest fears. Although our workplace, home or community can be pressure-packed and the demands on our life unrealistic, we can choose how we react. We cannot blame anyone else for making us feel the way we do. That is why James cautions us to listen carefully, to premeditate before speaking and then to use anger sparingly. This will diminish the amount of stress in our life.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, help us to learn to control our reactions, to listen carefully, to pray before we speak and to use anger only when the circumstances really warrant that intense reaction to protect us. Anger is the signal that something else is going on in or around us, just like the warning light on our car signals impending issues and dangers in our engine. Help us not to allow unmet expectations or feelings of entitlement to drive our reactions towards other people. Help us to take responsibility for our actions and to always live as an example of Jesus Christ in every circumstance of our life (1 Timothy 4:12).

Thought for the Day:

Ask God to reveal the inner root of your negative emotions and to heal you with His truth.




Thank you, Zoe Novak, for the use of your lovely photo.