Develop a Quiet Confidence // Stress Busters, Part 7

Okay, so there are more than enough things “out there” in our lives, to cause us to stress pretty much 24/7. In fact a lot of people do just that. But what if we could live our lives with a quiet confidence that everything’s going to be okay. Wouldn't that be just brilliant?

Have a listen to this list of stress reduction techniques that one website puts forward, it boggles the mind. Chew a stick of gum, brew some black tea, try a DIY massage, put pen to paper and write it down, listen to some music you love, take a tech break, close your email down for an hour and finally clean the house.

The website - www.oprah.com. Pardon me for saying so but give me a break. Now that's like getting a couple of band aids to put on a gaping wound, that's a shallow, look good, feel great list of superficial things that might, MIGHT alleviate the symptoms of stress for a short time but stress, the underlying condition, the ongoing anxiety and fear that eats away at our thoughts and our emotions and ultimately our health, isn't going to be solved by having a cup of tea or listening to your favourite song while vacuuming the carpet. Do you think?

And can I say stress affects people far more broadly and much more deeply than we sometimes realise. We think that this whole stress thing belongs to other people. We imagine it's for that emotional weakling over there, not for me, I'm strong, I have it all together. But sometimes it's those very strong people who are driven forward by stress, the stress of being seen not to achieve, the stress of failure, the stress of keeping up appearances, the stress of having too many things to do, the stress of a marriage on the rocks that drives the workaholic deeper into his work, normally that's a he right?

We stress about our kids, about our jobs, about how we look, about what other people think, we stress about tomorrow, what will it bring? We stress about, well we stress about pretty much anything or everything. Let me ask you this, what are you stressed over right now? What's the thorn in your side that keeps on making you worry about this or that?

Pretty much everybody can name at least two or three things that are causing them stress right at this moment. Jesus hit the nail on the head, Luke chapter 6, verse 27 when He asked this rhetorical question:

Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to the span of your life?

Well that's pretty much it, that right there just shows us how utterly useless worry and stress are in our lives. They don't achieve anything positive, in fact quite the opposite is true. Stress and worry often immobilises us from doing the things we can do and indeed need to do to deal with a situation that caused the stress in the first place. We just kind of sit there on the sofa worrying about it when getting up and doing A or B would actually reduce the risk or fix the problem altogether.

Call me crazy but let me throw this out there for you to think about. This is absolutely no way for you to live your life and for me to live my life, would you agree? I mean it's totally nuts, it doesn't make any sense, it doesn't achieve anything good and yet countless people are caught up in chronic repetitive, day after day life long stress and for what?

So let me ask you, what if you could replace that with a quiet confidence? Not some false bravado, just a quiet sense of confidence on the inside that, you know, is going to be just fine. What if that was the overriding mindset in life in place of the person who worries about everything? Would that be a worthwhile thing to achieve?

Well that's what I'm aiming for in your life today, not because I happen to be particularly smart or insightful or bright because I'm not but because the Word of God has the power to transform your life completely and utterly and if you'll receive the mighty powerful Word of God into your heart today your life can be utterly transformed.

Hmm, I know what you're thinking, this guy hasn’t a clue what I'm going through, how can he possibly say that? In part you're right, I don't have a clue but God does. I don't have the wisdom but God does. I don't have the power to transform your heart and your mind, your thoughts and your emotions, your very life but God does.

Have a listen to this; it's about a guy called Joshua. For the last forty years or so he's been playing second fiddle to a guy called Moses, leading God’s people, probably over a million of them, through the wilderness relying on God for food and for water and for protection every step of the way.

Problem is Moses has just died, just at the point when they're about to cross from the wilderness over the Jordan River into the land that God’s promised them. Just at the point where they have to gear up for battle after battle because the Promised Land is full of other tribes and nations and they're going to have to take