“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26. In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in terrors of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28. Beside those things, that are without, that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”
We think that we have stress. I don’t deny that we have stress, but I don’t know if we could equal Paul’s stress. On top of all of the problems mentioned above, there were people who wanted to kill Paul. Paul was under a death threat almost every day of his life. I want to share some texts that can explain how Paul handled his daily stress. Maybe we can learn from these texts about how to deal with our own stress. 2 Timothy 1:12: “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.” Paul had a deep faith in Jesus Christ. He believed that Jesus could help Him through anything. He didn’t ask Jesus to deliver him from everything; rather, he asked that Jesus be with him in what he went through. Paul did not have faith in faith that gave him great confidence. He had faith in Jesus. Paul’s faith was not a faith that he took out and exercised only when he was in one of his many crises. His faith was of the everyday variety. I think that Paul’s faith grew in times of crisis and his faith stayed strong because of the crises he faced. We need to think about this when we are stressing out about negative things that are going on in our lives. Believe me, I’m not pointing a finger at you, for I have to remind myself of this in times of stress. Paul learned from Jesus that His grace would help him prevail. He really believed Jesus when he took his “thorn in the flesh” to Him when he was told: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul’s response was: “Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for nothing: but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known unto God. 7. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Paul depended on prayer to keep him going. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17 he wrote:”Pray without ceasing.” He wrote this because He practiced it. Nothing can relieve stress like a good prayer session. With all that the great apostle faced, he “let his requests be made known unto God.” Because of this, he faced life in faith and poise, for he claimed the “peace of God which passes all understanding.” But Paul did not pray and walk off and go about his own business. Paul put feet to his prayers. Throughout the Book of Acts, we read about his many missionary trips. He faced crises in all of those trips, but he kept on going. This does not happen if a person does not spend time in prayer. As we meet the stresses of our lives, we need to take all of them to Jesus in prayer and let Him give us peace in whatever we have to face. This is not a psychological treatise about overcoming stress. It is a reminder that we have a God who is with us in all of our stresses, and we need to put our faith and trust in Him, pray daily and put feet to those prayers. There is no stress that we face that Christ is not aware of!!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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