A Heart Untroubled

I've begun sharing a little on how to deal with stress.  Last week we spoke about not focussing on ourselves as we cannot control or change many things.  We are not sufficient to manage our own lives however we try; we need to focus on Jesus. Today I want to speak about what and how we value things and how this can cause us stress.  In Luke 12:34 we are told our hearts are where our treasure is.  This means that our hearts go to where the thing we value is.  I like the way the Passion Translation puts it Where you deposit your treasure, that is where your thoughts will turn to—and your heart will long to be there also. Stress can be caused when we put too high a value or importance on something (treasure).  Things can easily be lost or damaged, often outside of our own control. Holding 'things' too tightly can cause us stress when we do not have them (or if God tells us to give them away!) Paul the Apostle says in Philippians 4:11 that he had learned to be content, whether

So, have you ever been stressed?  Everyone has the potential to get stressed; maybe over money, relationship challenges, others complicating simple matters, forgetting stuff, gossip, change and many, many other things.   However, stress is not mandatory and can be avoided it if we follow what the bible teaches: There's a few simple things that word tells us that will help us remain at peace in a stress-filled world and today I want to start a little series on how to avoid stress. The first, and probably one of the most challenging ways to avoid being stressed, is  "Don't be focussed on yourself!" That may seem strange but the bible teaches that pride is at the heart of all our trials.  Proverbs 13:10 says that " Only through pride comes contention " Only refers to ' no one or nothing more besides; solely.' Pride can be defined as  a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements Contention is the Hebrew word 'm

There are certain things that most Christians would say they want - things like peace, to hear God's voice, to feel loved,  and that sort of thing, but whatever it is, people seem to be waiting on God to provide these things in our lives for us.   This verse in 2 Peter 1:2 says "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord" We're not waiting for God to give us peace, but when we know  (learn, experience, recognize  and understand)  God the Father and Jesus then his grace, his love, his peace increase in our lives.  Our confident trust in his word, and our desire to love and serve him in return for his wonderful goodness and kindness increase too. Equally when we don't know God, these things are diminished in our lives.   The things like grace and peace that we desire to live in and experience on a daily basis, are not given in the sense that God is deciding when and how to pass them out to us, but they are wrapped up