Off-Load Stress – Part 8: For Discussion And Reflection

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being best), evaluate how skilled you are at handling stress. Explain the reason for the number you chose.
2. What stressful situation is uppermost in your mind right now?
3. Do you plan to make use of the prayer in this chapter? Why or why not?
4. How does prayerfully asking God to show you steps you can take to off-load your stress differ from just thinking about what to do on your own?
5. Tell about a time you believe God answered your prayer and helped you during a time of stress.
6. Is it appropriate for you to think of learning to offload stress as a skill you need to survive? Why or why not?

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Off-Load Stress – Part 7: Stress throughout this Decade (continued…)

Don’t get too far ahead in your stress-related prayers. To pray too far into the future almost discourages faith. It’s like saying, “I assume little is going to change for the good in the next month, Lord.” Instead, focus your prayers more on the immediate, on the day at hand. “Right now the stress I feel most intensely is ______________________. Jesus, You said tomorrow will worry about itself. So I’m only talking to You about the ‘right now’ of my life.”

Then believe that God will give your “today prayer” the kind of attention you feel it deserves. After all, that’s the bottom line. You want to know if this works, right? Will this pill relieve my tension, take away the headache, soothe the nervous stomach? Are the commercials true? They claim all these products perform minor miracles. Do they really? Simply remembering my favorite things may sound good in a song, but in real life, when I’m shaking in fear, that advice leaves a lot to be desired.

Here we’re talking about “goods” from the religious counter. And you may be thinking, “To be honest, sometimes when I hear the ‘ad copy’ it’s as if the church doesn’t know that stress is tearing people up. We’re talking survival and you ministers often promote products as if nobody’s stressed out.”

Not so! I’m pushing this new Off-loading Stress Prayer because I know it works wonders!

 Father,
You are God, even in stress-filled times.

That’s true. Stress is not something new to Him. He experienced it firsthand when He came to earth in the person of His Son. Witnesses say Jesus felt tension so great that He sweat drops of blood.

 On my own I could feel overwhelmed, But Scripture tells me You care about every detail of my life.

That’s valid. He’s concerned about all our needs: for necessities, health, guidance, support, protection-you name it!

 Right now, the stress I feel most intensely is
___________________________ 
(complete the sentence).

Right now—that’s in line with what Jesus said about each day having enough trouble of its own. Don’t start worrying today about tomorrow. Instead, tell God the “right now” stress you feel most intensely. This is the off-loading part, when you tell the Lord what it is you want help with. “I need You today, God, to carry this load along with me.”

 Show me steps I can take, and give me the courage to take them.

“You don’t need to talk out loud, Lord. Just sort of whisper Your thoughts in my heart. Maybe I should take a step of faith. Perhaps I need to ask forgiveness of someone. Possibly I need to fast, or by faith to start acting as if You’ve lifted the burden already, even though at the moment circumstances don’t bear this out.”

 Calm my spirit, Lord, as I trust You to bring good in this situation.

Yes, it’s a good prayer product. It walks you down the path you’re supposed to follow if you want relief. It’s spiritual medicine to be taken every day, preferably in the morning. If this prayer becomes habit-forming, that’s only to your benefit, because all the side effects are good.

Then don’t forget to say Amen. That means, “I’m assuming You’re giving Your attention to this, Lord.”

Use this prayer for several weeks and the life change will be such that you’ll swear the ingredients are miraculous. And they are!

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Off-Load Stress – Part 6: Stress throughout this Decade

This decade could be years of stress for many of us. The changes in our culture have hardly been all for the good. And because stress can kill a person, a key survival skill is knowing how to successfully off-load it.

“Hold on. My worries are hardly on as grand a scale as you’ve been talking about. My kids aren’t into singing together von Trapp style, and we’re not trying to figure out how to escape over the Alps. The facts are that: (1) We don’t own a mansion for some enemy to hang his big flag on, and (2) I don’t look much like Julie Andrews (or Christopher Plummer). We’re just simple people trying to figure out how to buy the kids clothes for school and whether we’ll have enough cash for groceries next week. Can you relate to that? Our problems aren’t spectacular, but they’re very real to us.” My answer is that your stress and my stress are probably not the same. But apparently Jesus knew a lot of people in your position. He says in Matthew 6:

 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…. Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? [The implication is that obviously you are!] …Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (vv. 25-26, 34).

Our Lord is saying two things here. First, He is assuring us that God is concerned about matters as basic as food and clothing. In the model prayer Jesus taught His disciples, He instructed them to pray, “Lord, give us this day our daily bread.” Second, Christ is telling us we shouldn’t pick up tomorrow’s problems prematurely. So the off-loading of stress I’m talking about is not meant to be done on a weekly basis, but every day. That’s important.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?

Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?

David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.

We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

Share and Enjoy