You Asked For It | How do I manage stress?

Relate Community Church

(John 16:33) I have told you these things, so that in me you may have
peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have
overcome the world.

(Psalm 34:19 NKJV) Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the
LORD delivers him out of them all.

Two Main Culprits

(Psalm 62:5-10) Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes
from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will
not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my
mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out
your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah. Lowborn men are but a
breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are
nothing; together they are only a breath. Do not trust in extortion or
take pride in stolen goods; though your riches increase, do not set your
heart on them.

Time.

(Daniel 5:25-28) “This is the inscription that was written: MENE,
MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. Here is what these words mean: Mene: God
has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and
Persians.”

Money

(1 Timothy 6:6-10) But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing
out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with
that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and
into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin
and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and
pierced themselves with many griefs.

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Find Rest

(Jeremiah 6:16) This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads
and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk
in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk
in it.’”

1. Live with a sense of purpose and urgency.

(Psalm 39:4-5 NLT) LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth
will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is
fleeing away. My life is no longer than the width of my hand. An
entire lifetime is just a moment to you; human existence is but a
breath.

(Matthew 13:44) “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in
a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy
went and sold all he had and bought that field.”

2. Put first things first.

(Psalm 90:12 TLB) Teach us to number our days and recognize
how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.

(Matthew 6:33) But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.

3. Keep my heart set on heaven.

(2 Corinthians 4:16-18) Therefore we do not lose heart. Though
outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being
renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we
fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

(John 14:1-2) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God;
trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not
so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for
you.”

Jesus offers more than a better now.
He offers a better place.