That’s it! No more scriptures to unpack, break down, or discuss in the “Victory over Stress!” series. Yesterday we started our recap of what we have learned over the last few months and this morning we continue it.
Let’s review:
1. The battle is in your mind. If you submit to the process of mind renewal, allowing yourself to be deprogrammed and then reprogrammed through the Word of God, you can actually get to the stage where you are SO conditioned to think God’s way that it will be extremely difficult for the enemy to get a hold of your mind with his negative thoughts of fear, failure, and defeat. This is the stage I pray you desire to get to and I pray that you do. It won’t happen overnight, but if you submit to the process, little-by-little, it WILL happen! (see 2 Cor 10:3-5).
2. What will you allow? Just like you can ALLOW your heart to be troubled, you have the power to refuse it. Faith is a choice, just like fear is a choice. You cannot trust and worry at the same time, and you get to CHOOSE which one YOU will do. God will allow whatever you allow; He will not override YOUR choice! (see John 14:27).
3. Rule your emotions. Don’t let your feelings tell you how to feel. If you allow your emotions to rule you, you will live an unstable and possibly an unfruitful life. God has given you the power to rule over your emotions, but YOU must do so (see John 14:27).
4. You can have peace in the midst of storms. God is not always going to deliver you FROM challenges, but He will give you what you need to conquer them—delivering you IN it, rather than FROM it. The peace of God is not about the absence of conflict, but rather about the presence of God. When God is present you can have peace internally, even when everything externally seems to be going haywire (see John 14:27).
5. Stand firm! When we truly trust in the Lord we can be like Mount Zion, and one thing we know about Mount Zion is that it is not going anywhere! We too can get to the point where we CANNOT be moved! If we are fixed and focused in faith, and we also know that the Lord Himself is our protection, then we don’t have anything to stress-out about. The devil can try all he wants, but he will never be successful against us, because we are determined to remain in faith and trust (see Ps 125:1,2).
6. One encounter with God can change your life forever! I am not a big advocate of preaching “one touch” or “one encounter” type messages, because it draws people that only want to get something from God and not have a true relationship with God. But whether I am an advocate or not, the truth is that one encounter with God can change your life forever. The woman with the issue of blood tried everything else and it got here nowhere, but she believed that one encounter with Jesus could stop her bleeding and restore her to health. She had the audacity to believe in a God she could not see, through a man (Jesus) she did not know, and she received her breakthrough. What are you able to believe? If you can believe it you become a candidate to receive it (see Mark 5:25-29).
Closing Confession: Father, no matter how bad of a situation I find myself in, I know that one touch, one word, or one encounter with You can turn it around. There is nothing too hard for You! There is nothing that You cannot do! Your hands are not too short that You cannot reach me. You power is not too weak that You cannot provide a breakthrough and a breakout! I am never hopeless, because You have committed to be with me always… never to leave me or forsake me. Since You are always with me, I am never helpless. Since I am never helpless, I am never hopeless. My hope is in You and I believe You can meet me today, right where I am, and You can manifest Your glory in such a way that You will help me to get to where You want me to be! I know You can and I believe You will! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
