STRESS RELIEF for Firefighters & Paramedics from Chaplain Skip

Too many times in our careers, we see people who have let their personal fears rob them of life. I am talking about people who allow their fear and depression consume them to the point where they take their own life.

Several years ago, the actor, Nicolas Cage, played the role of a burned-out Paramedic (hey there's none of those are there???) in the movie "Bringing Out The Dead."

Cage's character has a line - "All the bodies leave their mark. You cannot be near the newly dead without feeling it."

He was right. We make the scenes of just about every kind of suicide you can think of; jumpers, self-inflicted gunshots, overdoses, hangings, running cars in the garage, etc. I don't know about you, but I always think to myself, "What was going through their mind? What was so bad in their life that they felt the desire (let alone the completion of the act) to kill themselves?

I believe a lot of it has to do with fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the "what-ifs."

The dictionary defines fear this way: "...a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid."

Fear is one of Satan's most used weapons. If he can plant in your mind so much fear that you ability to function normally is impaired - he has won.

How do we combat this then? We fight it for what it is - a spiritual battle. We fight with prayer. We ask others to pray for us (this is called intercessional prayer). We ask our REAL CHIEF to fight for us. We ask HIM to provide an army of HIS angels to surround us.

Don't let fear build up inside you. Recognize it for what it is. Then attack it with prayer as you serve...

...On HIS Shift,

Now you can post Prayer Requests and much, much more by registering with the all new Emergency Ministries forum board.

Simply go to www.emergencychaplain.org/forum. Right under the EM banner, you will see a "Check Mark" that says "REGISTER". Click on that, get signed up and start posting on many topics.

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It is my prayer that the verses we discuss help each of you as it has helped me deal with the amount of stress we are all faced to deal with.

If you are not yet saved, I have Good News for you. Jesus loves you very much and His Holy Spirit is drawing you to Him. To learn more, click here.

Chaplain Skip writes STRESS RELIEF every week, usually on Sunday afternoon