How to Prepare for Stress
Everyone experiences stress. An awareness of what goes on in the body when stressed is evidence of how fearfully and wonderfully God has made you.
He has designed your body with a coping system to deal with stress.
When stress begins, the tiny pituitary gland at the base of the brain — the repair-crew foreman — initiates protective response by secreting chemical messengers or hormones ACTH and STH. The blood system carries these agents to two small glands above the kidney and adrenal glands. The outside border of these glands, the cortex, then produces cortisone, and other messengers. The center of these glands produces adrenal hormones. These adrenal hormones instantly prepare the body to deal with the emergency. Proteins are drawn from the thymus and lymph glands which are broken down to form sugar necessary for quick energy. Blood sugar soars. Blood pressure rises; minerals are drawn from bones; fat is mobilized from storage deposits; an abnormal amount of salt is retained. Numerous other alert and standby precautions are made to equip the body for fight or flight.
Fortunately it is not necessary to understand the God designed miracle of all that. It is important to know a lot happens in your body when stressed.
God has provided an even more effective means of dealing with stress. William Wordsworth, the great English poet, descriptively spoke of the effect of solitude. “And I have felt the presence that disturbs me with joy of elevated thought.” Elevated thought is a therapeutic way of relieving stress.
Isaiah was familiar with stress resulting from the conflict with court and conditions. Out of his experience he wrote what was his and can be yours: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you. (Isaiah 26: 3)
The evening before His execution Jesus shared with His stressed disciples a truth that remains: “My peace I give to you: not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14: 27)
Embed these truths and others like them in your mind so they can be drawn out like a file and applied. Thus, His peace can be yours. Much is to be gained from Scripture memorization. You will be amazed at how much you can memorize if you take in bite sizes and let each passage marinate in your mind. Slowly take it in. Continue the process.
Many people are manipulated by emotions rather than being regulated by reason so “….let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another ….” (Col. 3: 15, 16)
Resolve to pre-program your mind to deal with stressful circumstances.
Thus, you can cope more effectively.
A New Renewed You
A short course in Christian behavior psychology is found in Col. 3: 1 – 15.
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth….
Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him….”
A reading of the things that should be put to death will leave most people feeling good about their conduct: “fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, covetousness.”
The second list is more personal: “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.” Then lying is added as the capstone. Oops!
Most will conceive of the first list as alpha evils, and rightly so. However, notice the second list which most people are inclined to think of as more acceptable is listed as though equal to those in the first list. That puts them in perspective.
Both lists note the things to be put off. Now comes the positive things to be “…put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him….”
Then follows the new man’s spiritual wardrobe: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3: 11 – 16)
Don’t leave these truths having given them a nominal reading. Instead pause and do two things. First, read them again and evaluate your lifestyle in light of them. Then pause and make a conscientious commitment to the Lord to live according to them. This will result in a spiritual renewal.
Sparkling Like a Fountain
Sigmund Freud gave this description of the conscious and subconscious mind. (Disclaimer: this is by no means an endorsement of all of Freud’s work. However, if you find a diamond in a pigpen, it is still a diamond.)
“The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean pool of subconscious from which it rises.”
Autosuggestion is the process of feeding the subconscious mind on thoughts. Constructive new and better ones produce higher ideals and better motives.
All that is modern speak of what the Bible means by meditation. There are several ways to meditate. Remember your object is to let your mind become absorbed with a specific text, topic, or subject. If you do not have the Scripture memorized, read it a couple of times, close your eyes and begin to repeat it over and over in your thoughts, Think about it and how it applies to you. This involves thinking deeply, pondering, and reflecting on the subject. That is good, very good, and though taught in scripture is not practiced by many Christians.
Meditation, autosuggestion, is the mind sending messages to the subconscious until the subconscious begins to send these messages to the body, and they become reflexive. When they become the standards of conduct they have not only been received, but agreed with. Habit is the body’s way of saying, “I got the message.”
When the Bible mentions meditation, it often mentions obedience in the next breath. An example is the Book of Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.”
The Book of Psalm opens with this concise commentary of meditation. “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.” (Psalm 1: 1 – 6)
Make certain those thoughts of the conscious mind cascade into the subterranean pool of your subconscious that you may develop new Bible based habits.
Consider making this resolution. “I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways.” (Psalm 119: 15)
Compromise No More
Daddy Mack was the personification of un-productivity. His life was characterized by disappointment and failure. Inability and indifference resulted in him drifting from job to job. He landed the job of door-to-door collecting of delinquent bills in the community. Soon his lack of productivity showed. One of his employees decided to follow him and see why. About noon time he was found sleeping in a boxcar.
He promptly lost that job. Shocked and embarrassed, he began to consider his plight. He had a dear wife and children to support. Reality awakened him to reality. Inspired dissatisfaction awakened him from his state of lethargy and inefficiency. The shroud of apathy was removed, and a new, motivated person was awakened.
He became one of the most productive and best loved entrepreneurs in the area. Dedication and diversification enabled him to be highly successful.
Like him, your individual analysis can enable anyone to become a different and better person. It may not lead to business success, but it can lead to a more content and fulfilled person. It may come about as a result of a crisis, tragedy, loss, or other unsettling thing. However, it may simply be because of a renewed desire to be a better person.
Daddy Mack had a positive plus in his life to motivate the new man to use his God given abilities and instincts to emerge. He had a background of faith in the Lord. Any person having such has a matchless attribute.
Procrastination, putting things off, was the principle short circuit that kept the generator of genius from working. Hang the slogan, “Do it now,” on the peg board of your mind.
The Earl of Chesterfield is credited with saying,
“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no delay, no procrastination; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”
It might be added, never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. You might enjoy it so much today you will want to do it again tomorrow.
Resolve to be a self-starter. Commit this to memory and ask it of yourself when prone to procrastinate: “If not me, who? “If not now, when?” “If not here, where?”
To stem the tide that opposes you drop your anchor on this:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4: 16)
What Does Your Nature Demand?
Centuries ago an Italian duke was strolling through his rose garden. A rustle amid the roses disturbed his reverie. Turning aside he discovered a young man cutting roses and gently placing them in a lavish ornamental box. Harshly he demanded as to what the young man was doing. In calm tones the young man explained he was cutting the roses for the duke’s palace. Observing the ornate box the gruff voice of the duke demanded why such an ornate box should be used for such a menial task. Respectfully the young man explained he made the box for such a purpose. Curtly the duke probed, “You made that box for this purpose with all those intricate carvings, unique designs, and all the finite fittings for such a menial task as this? Does such a task demand such craftsmanship?” “No,” said he, “but my spirit does.” Irately the duke responded, “Your spirit does. What is your name — you shall be flogged for such impudence!” “My name, sir,” came the courteous craftsman, “is Michelangelo.”
Like Michelangelo most of us do what our spirit demands. The problem arises out of our spirit’s being so poorly programmed. Many persons have a menial, morbid, or mundanely programmed spirit.
The good news is you can change, and change — and change for the better. Change is not likely to occur until there becomes a wholesome discontent with the status quo. Desire for change must always be preceded by change.
Do a little internal engineering. First, evaluate what about your nature you would like to change. Next, ask yourself if you really want to change. Follow this by asking yourself what you are willing to do to achieve that change. Be specific.
Appoint a time, perhaps presently, when you are willing to begin the transformation.
If it is a worthy change, commit yourself to the Lord to make the change and ask His help in doing so. If it is worthy of your effort to make it, it is worth asking the Lord’s help in making it.
Only when you are turned inside out can you turn your world upside down. It is an inside job. You can’t successfully make a lifestyle change without first having a change of heart. God can inwardly transform us, empower, and renew us.
Romans 12: 1, 2 is often considered regarding salvation, and appropriately so, but it also has application regarding a believer’s spiritual renewal.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Do it so God can inwardly transform, empower, and renew you.