Pastor and 1st Lady Mims

Mims Chapel Church

Lesson 9 • Fourth Week

LIVING A STRESS-FREE LIFE

Background Reading Devotional Reading
Psalm 119:143; Proverbs Judges 1:1-36
16:3; Matthew 11:28; John
14:1, 27; Philippians 4:6

Central Verse
"The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivered them out of all their troubles."
Psalm 34:17, KJV

"The Lord hears His people when they call to Him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles."
Psalm 34:17, NLT

Key Terms
Joy—To experience great pleasure or delight; a feeling of great pleasure or happiness that comes from success, good fortune, or a sense of well-being.

Unfulfilled—Not carried out or brought to full completion; not having fully utilized one's ability or character.
Trauma—A disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury.

Introduction

It is not the will of God for the believer to be stressed out from day to day. Yes, there will be things that will cause stress if you allow it to. Stress is designed to keep a believer off focus and to prevent him from being able to see God in everything. Stress is motivated by the devil, and it keeps a believer from being productive. Jesus said go into His vineyard and work; for whatsoever is right, He will pay.

Stress means pressure or tension exerted on material objects. It means a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. It also can mean giving particular emphasis or importance to a point, statement, or idea made in speech or writing, or something subject to pressure or tension.

Discussion

Stress may be all around, for school, sports, extracurricular activities, social media, grades, expectations, many factors in the church world, relationships, and especially finances. The believer can overcome stress, whenever he gets it out of his head and into God's presence and learns to accept His joy. Stress has a way of sneaking up into a believer's life until they are not able to make quality decisions. The Word tells the believer that he was not created to be anxious to the point that he cannot enjoy all the blessings that God gave them. The enemy will cause a person to become so busy that he cannot enjoy the facts that God has made them significant, or that they were created for joy, peace and to have an eternal impact.

Everyone experiences stress and anxiety at some stage in life, but believers must maintain a Godly perspective on the subject and give others tools and scripture to encourage and strengthen them during their stressful times. Stress causes so many problems in this world's society, poor physical and mental health, broken relationships, and unfulfilled lives. Stress is an enormous problem and a vicious enemy, but God will help the believer live a stress-free life. He will give guidance to those who ask for how to overcome stress in His life-giving word.

Believers must remember that God has a perfect plan for their lives, but they must remember that Satan also has plans that he plots to cause doubt, distortion, discouragement, distraction, and division. But as the believer prays, God will give him practical strategies that will help them to experience more peace, happiness, and joy to step into the life that God has designed for them to live.

Doubt, distortion, discouragement, distraction, and division are not new; for they are powerful tools used by Satan, who is constantly pulling at the attention of believers. Satan wants believers' attention, time, emotions, and focus to prevent them from fulfilling their assignments.

Spiritual fitness through God's Word is the key to overcoming stress and trauma in the lives of believers. When believers get the Word imbedded into their lives, it will build strength in their souls. The Word of God will absolutely become a lamp unto the feet of the believer, and they will be able to see and avoid any obstacle. The Word of God will help the believer to find strength and peace in God to persevere in any situation.

Conclusion

The children of Israel had gone through many changes since they left Egypt. They had wandered in the wilderness for at least forty years. It had been a very stressful time for them. They had been involved in many tribal wars after they finally made it to the Promised Land. Joshua led them after Moses, whom God had used mightily. But now he was dead, and the people had become anxious about who would lead them against the Canaanites in battle.

God told them that Judah would go because He had given this land to them. The men of Judah told their brother Simeon to go with them and they went with them. "God gave them the Canaanites and the Perizzites. They defeated them at Bezek — ten military units" (MSG, Judges 1:4). Adoni-Bezek ran, but they chased him and caught him. They cut off his thumbs and big toes and took him to Jerusalem, where he died. The people of Judah attacked Jerusalem and subdued them. Every place they went in the hill country they were successful, but they could not oust the people on the plains because the plain people had iron chariots. It was a stressful time for Israel, but God helped them. They gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had directed but the people of Benjamin could not get rid of the Jebusites living in Jerusalem.

With the help of a man, the spies of Joseph found they were successful at Bethel, but Manasseh never managed to drive out Beth Shan, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, and Megiddo with their territories. They put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never got rid of them. The next four tribes did not fare well. They never got rid of the people; they put some into forced labor, but most of them just moved in beside them.

The Amorites pushed the people of Dan up into the hills and wouldn't allow them on the plains. The house of Joseph got the upper hand, but they were put into forced labor. God's Angel came to the Israelites and said unto them, "I led you out of Egypt to the land that I promised you. I kept my covenant, but you would not obey me. I need you to tear down their altars, but you haven't obeyed me." Israel has been stuck with these different people, ever since they went to claim their Promised Land, and even today they are frustrated and stressed because of these other heathen nations.

Questions

What causes people to be stressed?
What can they do to avoid a stressful life?
After Joshua's death, what did the children of Israel do?
Why couldn't they drive out all the tribes that occupied the Promised Land?
What was the result of their not getting rid of the people who occupied the land when they got there?

Essential Thought- "God keeps His word, but when His children fail to obey Him, they suffer and live stressful lives."