Stress the Silent Killer

Philippians 4:6-7.  
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

If we truly have Faith why do we stress? Why do we doubt the word of God? You see I am not writing this from a place of judgement or condemnation I am writing this from a place of vulnerability and understanding, my life is filled with stress. To me stress is normal but I was taught that it shouldn't be. God didn't intend for us to be stressed instead, he wanted the complete opposite for us. He wanted us to experience a life filled with joy and peace. To be able to walk in his light and rest assure in his promises and his teachings. Yet sin entered the world and thus life is different. The enemy uses stress to create doubt and to draw us away from The Lord. So truly stress is the Silent Killer, not in the way of causing illness, which it does, but as a killer of faith. I think sometime people get caught up on the enemy trying to bring physical harm such as illness to them when they hear the verse "...kill,steal, and destroy," but I think that the death he is talking about isn't a physical thing but an emotional and spiritual one. The enemy doesn't want you physically dead. If he was to kill you while you still had faith in Jesus then what would be the point. He wants to kill your faith, to rip you from the comforting arms of God and drag you down to the pits of hell. Sorry for getting dark , but it's the truth. I wanted to write this to share a piece of me and my hope is that by being vulnerable I can help encourage you. You are not alone. Not only are you not alone because God is always with you. You are not alone in your struggles. You are in the best of company because every great man or women in the bible struggled. David broke a commandment and then lost a child because of it, yet God did not turn from him. Peter denied Jesus 3 times and still he is loved by the Lord. I mean if anyone struggled look at Paul. He was blinded just so he could truly see and then he gave his life to the Lord and found himself persecuted and put in prison, yet he is the main author of the New Testament and in my humble opinion a man, just like David, after God's own heart. If that's not enough, and I am not saying I am like those men I listed, but you can always think of me.  I'm just like you, an ordinary person called to do extraordinary things because we all are. The things is we all struggle no matter who we are; we are sinner and thus struggles will come our way. Like it says in the song One Thing Remains "scars and struggles on the way..." It doesn't say in the past or they will happen once in our life it says on the way because we will experience them through out our lives. However there is one thing that keeps me going. The thing I remember even if I'm crying while I eat a pint of ice Cream is: God is always good! God is always good, he is never Bad. Bad things do not come from him, NO they come from the enemy and don't ever forget that. Rest in his goodness and know that the reason you struggle is because your under attack and rejoice in that. I know you're thinking Rejoice are you crazy, but I'm not I'm telling you to rejoice because the enemy is attacking, I mean rejoice because the enemy like to attack when something amazing is about to happen. He attacks when God is moving in you life. So rejoice because the Lord is doing a work in you. I challenge you today to find time to simply ask the Lord what plans he has for you. Ask him how you can serve him and glorify his kingdom. You see he will speak to you and once you know his plan you can hide in you heart his promises. Once you know his promises you can then rejoice even when you're stressed because God is alive and well moving in you life and that is something to be excited about.