“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep….”
I used the two verses above to illustrate some of the stress that Paul was under every day of his life. (To really appreciate it read verses 23-33.) Living under a death threat is not our idea of the good life. In fact, it takes much less than what Paul encountered to stress us out. Yet in his letters Paul wrote about joy and rejoicing. We can learn from Paul how to overcome stress by some of the things that he wrote. From 2 Timothy 1:12 we discover that Paul really believed: “For the which cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” He believed in Christ who can do anything. If we really believe what we read in the New Testament, we can also know that. In Philippians 4:13 Paul wrote: “I Can do all things through Him (Christ) who strengthens me.” He was “persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” Paul’s faith was strong, and helped him deal with stress, because he exercised his faith every day. His was not a faith exercised only in crisis, but it was exercised in all of life. Just as we have to exercise to develop strength physically, we need to exercise faith in order to develop strength spiritually. From Philippians 4:6-7 we discover that Paul really prayed: “Be careful for nothing (do not be anxious about anything); but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Paul wrote: “Pray without ceasing.” The man really believed in the power of prayer, because He really believed in the power of Jesus. Nothing can help us overcome stress like prayers of faith. When we pray in faith we can have great peace with God that will help us through any kind of stress that we might face. From what we read about Paul in Acts, we discover that he really served. He traveled all over his part of the world telling people about Jesus. The great faith that Paul had and a great prayer life helped him to be a profound servant of God. Paul was not a self-serving person. His view of life was not “what’s in it for me?" He reached out to others and through his writings taught us to do the same. Nothing can help us overcome stress like serving Jesus. Why? Because we know that we are doing the right thing when we serve Him and because we are not doing anything wrong when we serve Him. (It’s a great way to stay out of trouble.) All Christians should consider themselves servants of God. Try these three things from Paul’s life to help you overcome stress in your life: faith, prayer and service. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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