Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – worry and stress want to devour my life, but there is a way to stand and overcome.
1 Peter 5:7-11 TPT
[7] Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you. [8] Be well-balanced and always alert, because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly, like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour. [9] Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith. For you know that your believing brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure. [10] And then, after your brief suffering, the God of all loving grace, who has called you to share in his eternal glory in Christ, will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up. [11] And he has all the power needed to do this forever!
Observation
It seems we are living in a time where stress and worry are becoming an epidemic. So what do we do when it comes and visits? We’ll Peter gives us a way forward. Firstly, know who authors it. Be alert for stress and worry coming from a dark place. We know that we can feel the darkness of them. They descend like a cloud and our demeanour becomes one of gloom and dread. Be alert and realise that your enemy is using your circumstances to write a dark story of stress and worry. When you know the where and the author, then you can stand against it. Secondly, this stand against is a stand of faith. You resist the author of worry through a stand of vigorous faith in God.
So what is the basis of this faith? Firstly, you are not alone in this journey. The suffering of worry and stress is being experienced everywhere. The enemy likes to isolate you and tell you that you are alone. You are not. Others have and are walking in your shoes, this cloud will rise when you stand. Secondly, by faith understand that your suffering is brief. When the cloud descends it always feels like it will never rise. It engulfs you in such a way that you can not see another future. Every time you consider your future you see dread, that is what clouds do, they tell you gloom is all that is on the horizon. But God says in the scheme of here life and eternal life my suffering is “brief.” And lastly, and most importantly, you don’t defeat the clouds, God “will personally and powerfully restore you and make you stronger than ever. Yes, he will set you firmly in place and build you up.” Do you think you can find a way through? You are right, you can’t, but God can.
This is what faith does to the clouds, it “pours out all your worries and stress upon him and leaves them there.” Faith declares the author is known, exposed, and resists the author, faith declares ‘I am not alone in my sufferings,’ Faith stands on the fact that this will be brief, and then faith relies on God to bring you through. What do you do with your worry and stress? Faith or get life robbed from you? Faith is not an easy stand, but it is available for you to stand. And your enemy, the author of worry and stress will always tell you that faith will not help you, for that is his MO, to always undermine who God is and remove you from His presence. The invitation from God is to Resist, for he guarantees you “he has all the power needed to do this.”
Application
Be aware, don’t be naive. Worry and stress are authored by darkness. There is a way through but as in all things, it is a choice I make to respond. Stand, declare, resist. I will not give my mind, my body, or my future to the story of stress and worry to author and shape, they are merciless in their treatment of me. I would rather wage war, despite how difficult it is and despite that I can’t see how faith will change things, I will not lay down and be a casualty.
Response
Thank you that you promise me a way through the dark clouds of worry and stress. Thank you that the way is you. You don’t point me elsewhere you invite me to your embrace. Thank you that you are my strength and that ultimately you make me stronger through all of life’s trials. I love that I can do life in and through you, what a blessing.
Meditation
Meditate – Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there.
Consider:
How am I handling my worries?
What hinders my stand of faith?
JOURNEY DEEPER