We all lead fast paced, time urgent, stress filled lives. From the time that we open our eyes in the morning until we go to sleep at night, we are either in a hurry or in a fog because we can’t keep up. We are on the phone, on line or on edge! It gets a little overwhelming at times. We are stressed out at home and stressed at work. We are trying to manage work and family responsibilities along with the hundreds of other “little” things that we all have to take care of. Life can be a little overwhelming at times.
We are all facing similar things but we are also all on a unique journey. No two stories are all the same but we can all identify with being at the end of the rope. Let me give you five things that you need to do today to relieve the stress in your life.

1 – Take a nap or get a good night’s sleep.
Probably not what you were expecting but very needed and true. You would be surprised how a nap or really good night’s sleep would change things.

2 – Take the Sabbath
I know this is a crazy concept and you wonder who would suggest such a thing. God did! God instituted the Sabbath He created human beings with a need for a day of rest. God rested, not because He needed to rest but because we do. He knew we would live crazy, busy lives so He set a day in place for us to refocus, restore and re energize.

Don’t refuse the gift of rest!

3 – Take a vacation
I know many people can’t afford to take a vacation. You may be at the place in your life where you can’t afford not to. Maybe you could just stay home, swim in the neighborhood pool, relax and rest.

4 – Take time alone with God
We all must slow down long enough to be with our father. Jesus did! Jesus made it a priority to get quiet and get alone with His father. You must do the same. Don’t get so busy that you don’t spend time with Jesus.

5 – Take time for yourself
It’s okay to take time for you. Go do something for you. Go do something that you like. Make an investment in yourself. You have been burning the midnight oil, working to provide, living for others. Take time for YOU!

In Luke 22, we have the story of Peter proclaiming to Jesus how everyone else might walk away from Him, leave Him or check out but he proceeds to boldly declare, “I will die for you Jesus.” Peter felt that he had it under control, he was strong enough, smart enough and could handle the pressure of the situation. If you know this story, Jesus told Peter that he would end up denying him before the rooster crowed three times. He did in fact deny Jesus and deny Him royally! He even went as far as to curse and emphatically say, “I don’t know this man!”

The Bible says when Peter saw Jesus afterwards and their eyes met that Peter went out and cried. He lost it. He knew he had failed. Do you think every time he heard a rooster crow from then on that he was reminded of his failure? I wonder how long it took him to get over that. I wonder how long it was before the gut wrenching sound of a rooster crowing turned into a beautiful reminder of the grace of God…the God of a second chance. If you focus all of your energy on your past failures, you will have no energy left to dream Kingdom dreams.

Author J.J. Packer said, “a moment of conscious triumph makes one feel that after this nothing will really matter. A moment of realized disaster makes one feel that this is the end of everything. But neither feeling is realistic, for neither event is really what it is felt to be.”

The devil has lied to you. You are hearing the voice of the evil one say, “your divorce, your debt, your disgrace, your doubt…you’re finished!”

You are not through, God has just begun to birth in you a new beginning. I remind you that Peter later preached at Pentecost and 3000 people were saved.

I like what James Long said, “one reason God created time was that there would be a place to bury the failures of the past.” God has buried your failures! Why are you digging them up?

I know from personal experience that it is hard to let go of past failures, sins, mistakes and crashes. Let it go, let your Heavenly Father who loves you so very much bear the pain (He did 2000 years ago on the cross).

Today is a new day, a new beginning and there is a new sound from heaven. Turn that old sound of failure into the sound of grace!

I don’t know if you have ever read the classic, “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis. It is an incredible book dealing with spiritual warfare and how the enemy works to discourage us. In one particular part of the book, the senior demon, Screwtape educates the junior demon, Wormwood on how to tempt a human “client.” Screwtape explains the tactic of using a human’s fatigue during a time of trial to persuade the man/woman to give up.

“Let his inner resolution be not to bear whatever comes to him, but to bear it ‘for a reasonable period’ – and let the reasonable period be shorter than the trial is likely to last. It need not be much shorter…the fun is to make the man yield just when It) relief was almost in sight.”

Did you get that last line? “Relief was almost in sight.” How many times have you been so frustrated and so depressed that you declared, “I’m done, I’ve had enough. I quit.” And you actually did! I’m not blaming you for giving up and I’m not blaming you for throwing in the towel or laying down your cross. I’m not immune to pain. I don’t have a self-righteous attitude and I’m not preaching to you to quit feeling sorry for yourself and move on.

I know and understand the pain is real and the problem is huge. I really do know what it is like to feel hopeless. Can I encourage you to hang in there a little longer? I know it is dark, I know you are thinking to yourself, “what’s the use?” There really is light at the end of the tunnel.

People in twelve step programs use this saying that we could learn a great deal from: “Don’t leave five minutes before the miracle happens.” They are encouraging people to hang on and not give up because relief is a moment away.l

Hang in there, your relief is five seconds or five minutes or five days or five months away! I know it’s difficult but hang on…your miracle is just a moment away!

     I have been in church now for almost 26 years. I have seen and heard just about everything! I have seen people argue over the color of the carpet in the auditorium; I have seen people throw their Bibles at people; I have heard people curse and get belligerent.

      “I don’t like that kind of music”; “I don’t like that version of the Bible”; “I think the piano should sit on the left side of the stage”; “People should be more reverent in church”…I could list a hundred more statements that I have heard muttered over the years in church. I bet you can too if you have been in church longer than six months!

        Where did we begin to think that church is all about us? How did we develop such a “consumer mentality”? When did we start thinking that church is a Day Spa where you come to get pampered?

      Every church at some point will fall into the deadliest of all traps – the trap of focusing inward. “It’s all about me, what I want, how I want it and if you don’t cater to my whims and wishes, I will withhold my tithe or even leave.”

     One time I was preaching at a church that did not have a Pastor. It was a Wednesday night service and I had my wife with me. A man who was in charge of the service told me that they were going to have a brief business meeting before I preached. I knew that “brief” and “business meeting” did not fit together but I certainly never expected to witness what happened next.

     The church needed a new vacuum cleaner so of course, they formed a Committee. (Aren’t you grateful that God so loved the world that He did not send a Committee!) A 15 minute demonstration of a certain type of vacuum cleaner was presented by the chairwoman of the Committee that included dumping dirt on the stage and vacuuming it up. Another lady stood to her feet and began stating why the church should not purchase that particular brand of vacuum cleaner. Voices were raised, people got excited and this debate continued with no sign of letting up. 30 minutes later, the moderator of the business meeting made a motion to table the discussion until the next month. We sang a song and I was told that I only had ten minutes to preach my sermon because it had grown late and the people liked to be out by 8:00 pm sharp. I won’t give you the details of what I said exactly but I did mention that God really didn’t care what brand vacuum cleaner they bought and we did not finish by 8:00 pm! I was never invited back to preach at that church!

     Let me remind you…the church is about Jesus! It is about what HE is about – seeking and saving that which is lost. It is about bringing glory to the one who alone is worthy.

Let’s put our personal preferences aside and be the church in which Jesus died for.
Let’s pick up and carry the cross…not the vacuum cleaner!

Revelation, chapter two, verses 4 and 5 says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place – unless you repent.”

Wow, what a challenge from the Lord Jesus. You’ve lost your passion. You’re not on fire anymore. You used to be a burning inferno and now you barely have a pilot light flickering. There was a time in your life when you had a genuine hot heart for Jesus. Your prayer life was powerful, God’s word spoke to you clearly, you told others about Christ and you loved His bride, the church. But now, something has happened…something has changed. You are not the person, you are not the Christian that you once were. What happened? How do you get that fire back?

#1 – Remember

Jesus tells us in order to recapture the passion, you have to remember what it was like when you first got saved. Remember what it felt like to know that your sins were forgiven. Remember the joy and peace and how you experienced such freedom? Have you forgotten that? Remember!

#2 – Repent

Ask for forgiveness; turn from your apathy and indifference. Make a “u-turn” in your life. Turn around and head the opposite way from where you have been traveling. You have been heading in the wrong direction for too long. Repent!

#3 –Return

Go back and do the things you did when you were on fire for Christ. What three or four things were you engaged in when you were on fire? What friends did you hang out with? What habits were you engaged in? What attitude did you possess? GO back and do those things again. Identify them and start doing them again. Return!

Do you want the fire back? Take those three simple steps and watch God reignite the fire. At first, it will be an act of your will and then the emotion will catch up. Don’t hesitate another moment. Fall at the feet of Jesus and remember, repent and return.

The pilot light is flickering…Fan the Flame!

Last Sunday in our church, we sang a song with the lyrics, “I’m running to your arms, oh Jesus, I’m running to your arms.”

That’s exactly where we need to run. Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower;The righteous run to it and are safe.” Let me encourage you today to run to Jesus, to throw yourself at Jesus. Run to His healing power, run to His grace and mercy, run to His forgiveness and restoration, run to His arms. His arms are wide open!

God has created us to be emotional beings and when we are hurting, we begin to create outlets or emotional escapes. When you are sad, mad, stressed out or really depressed, you begin to feel hopeless and grow frustrated with your current situation. When that happens – when you get to that place, where do you run? Do you run to alcohol or some other type of drug? Do you engage in unhealthy relationships with people other than your spouse or if you are single, do you sleep around? What about that pornography that you have to watch or the issue you face with spending money out of control? You fill in the blank – where do you run?

Do you run to these things or others that only cover up your pain, something that allows you to hide? Or do you run to the only one who can actually ease your pain and bring healing?

Today, choose to stop looking for that instant “quick fix” and choose instead to run into the arms of the one who is madly in love with you. Run to the one whose arms were opened wide 2000 years ago on a cross and are still open, waiting for you to take the plunge. Run and jump into His arms. Your Daddy is waiting to reclaim you so go ahead...run – run into His arms!