November 1999
November 27, 1999
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
- Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;"
- 1 Peter 1:13-15 (NIV)
Lots of verses this week, you say? Yep. I'll tell ya' why. I receive a fairly large amount of email (as you might imagine). One I received this week kinda struck me. The letter was from a firefighter/paramedic (what a shock, huh? hehehehe). This person was asking for help dealing with the deaths of innocent people (... why does God allow this kinda thing). Two things that the person wrote struck a chord with me. First, they mentioned that, while they believed in God, they weren't in a close, personal relationship with Him. Second, the person mentioned that he/she got off duty and turned to alcohol to cover the pain. The person went on to say that since everyone else did it, it must be harmless. Let me say this... alcohol is a depressant ... it increases stress ... it is a temporary mask for the pain. I can tell you all of that from experience; prior to my walk with Christ, I would get off shift and do the exact same thing ... drink the shift away.
So how do you take away the stress of the loss of an innocent life? First, let's look at the this firefighter's first statement... they believed in God, but weren't serving Him. We need to get down on our knees, ask for forgiveness and then ask to serve Him. You're involved with your work... now get involved in HIS work. If you don't belong to a church... FIND ONE. Find a ministry there.
Secondly, the person mentioned that it must be okay, because all the others did it. Our verses for this week tell us this; if you are a Christian, you are a new person in Christ. God's Word reminds us of this in the book of Romans and in 1 Peter... do not conform to the ways of this world (sinful ways). Remember, we Christian firefighters are few and far between. What if one of your fellow firefighters is thinking about asking you about Christianity, but then sees you "conforming to the ways of this world?" We are to set an example of a holy lifestyle.
Is it going to be tough? Sure it is. Jesus Himself said, "...in this world you will have trouble. But, fear not, I have overcome the world!" I think you will find that as you begin serve Him and you quit conforming to your "old ways" that your stress will be soothed. I don't know about you, my friend, but Jesus's words sure relieve my stress!
November 20, 1999
"Don't worry about a thing," David told him. "I'll take care of this Philistine!" "Don't be ridiculous!" Saul replied. "How can a kid like you fight with a man like him? You are only a boy, and he has been in the army since he was a boy!" But David persisted. "When I am taking care of my father's sheep," he said, "and a lion or a bear comes and grabs a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If it turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I'll do it to this heathen Philistine too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who saved me from the claws and teeth of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!" Saul finally consented, "All right, go ahead," he said, "and may the Lord be with you"
1 Samuel 17:32-37 (TLB)
Do you recognize the verses above? They are from the story of David and Goliath. Here was the situation; the whole Hebrew army, under the command of King Saul, was in a "face-off" with the Philistine army. It was a "face-off" because the Philistines had this giant warrior named Goliath, who would come out every day and stand before the whole Jewish army and taunt them. Goliath asked that the Jews send just one man and that man and Goliath would fight the battle, winner take all. David came to the front to visit his older brothers and saw what was happening and went to King Saul and told him "I can take this punk!"
Okay, your asking me "what does this have to do with stress?" EVERYTHING! Take a look...who was the one with stress in this story? King Saul. Why? Because he wasn't a believer. He didn't have God in his life. If anyone should have had stress at that point, it should have been David. BUT...David loved and trusted God and he knew in his heart that God would let him defeat the giant.
Give God your heart and trust Him. And guess what? You, too can kill the giants in your life that could be causing you stress. And after those giants fall, you will find that they weren't giants in God's eyes. With HIM you have the strength to defeat the enemy of stress.
November 13, 1999
Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day, and sat down under a broom bush and prayed that he might die. "I've had enough," he told the Lord. "Take away my life. I've got to die sometime, and it might as well be now." Then he lay down and slept beneath the broom bush. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him to get up and eat! He looked around and saw some bread baking on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, "Get up and eat some more, for there is a long journey ahead of you."
- 2 Kings 46:3-7 (TLB)
Have you ever reached a point in your life when the stress level is so high and the pit you're in seems so deep that you feel like "tossing in the towel"? You've just worked a shift full of lousy runs (seems like it was one of those days when every patient you carried tried to out-barf the previous one) and you get home exhausted. And, there it is... a "Dear John" letter...or a wrecked car in the driveway...or a pile of collection notices.
In this weeks' verse, guess who is asking God to kill him? The great prophet Elijah! Elijah had just spent a full shift killing off hundreds of false-god prophets and finds out that 'ole Queen Jezebel was gunning for him. He had reached his final stress point.
So, know what God said to Elijah? Lay down and take a nap!!! God let Elijah sleep and woke him up long enough to eat and drink something and then let him sleep some more! After those naps, Elijah got up and went out on another God assignment for forty days and nights!
I think this is some great advice...take a "holy" nap! Then you will be refreshed and ready to serve Him. Because, as you serve Him, He will relieve you of your stress.
November 6, 1999
Jesus said..."Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."
- John 14:1 (NIV)
Back in my paramedic days (yeah, about 100 years ago, SO? hehehe), I ran a call that had a very lasting impression on me. Of course, I didn't realize then that the call would bring back memories 20 sumthin' years later. You see, I wasn't a Christian back then. I might have known about God, but I sure didn't know God.
You've probably seen something similar, but at the time, I had not. My partner and I got a call on a possible drowning. Turned out, it was a 2 year old who was told to "go out and play" so his mom could have sex with her boyfriend. Well, the child fell into a pool that hadn't been cleaned in about 10 years. It was a greenish-black color. We went in, but you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face. The bottom was covered with junk. We had to call for a drag hook. The firefighter doing the dragging came up with the body on about the third toss. Then, it happened... the fireman screamed and tossed the hook, baby and all, into the bushes...and he ran.
In our verse this week, Jesus tells us not to be stressed. How? by trusting in HIM. Everyday, I am reminded of something that I must turn over to God...that I must turn over to Christ. Yep, even things that happened back before my own walk with Christ.
HE calms me today.
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.
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