How to Gain Strength in Stress

January 30, 2011

Matthew 11:28

“Come to Me all you that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

Ever have one of those…a bad day? It seems the longer I live, and net number of “bad days” accumulate, it gets easier to become discouraged. William Ward, a British pioneer and Baptist missionary of the 18^th century, wrote:

Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future.

Discouragement is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today,and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow.

Discouragement is unawareness of the presence of beauty, unconcerned for the needs of our [neighbors], and unbelief in the promises of old.

Discouragement is impatience with time, immaturity of thought,and impoliteness to God. -

When we are over-stressed, over-worked, over-taxed and over-run, we fall to the attitudes William Ward depicts; we basically burnout. Moving from burnout to balance involves shifting our orientation of thought. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me all you that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest.”

Three characteristics of God Jesus is pointing us to in this morning passage.

1) It’s Invitational 2) It’s Personal 3) It’s Mutual

1) It’s Invitational

This is an invitation; a polite invitation. No one is coercing any of us into a relationship with Jesus. The days of the Inquisition and heresy trials were blind to this key character of God . We lost Joan of Arc. We suppressed Galileo Galilei. We beheaded Thomas Moore among countless innocence tortured in the name of orthodoxy and in direct contradiction to Scripture.

My understanding of this characteristic emerged from, off all places, Ephesians 5 during a pre-marriage class. Ephesians 5 deals with marital relationships. For the husband, Paul tells us, “Husbands, love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Hence, men, we need to ask ourselves what was it that Christ gave up? Nothing less than life itself, and as such our role is sacrificial for the wife.

But then Paul turns to the wife and says, “Wives, love your husbands and submit to them for the husband is head of the wife and Christ is head of the church.” The brakes go on here when ever this is raise. It contradicts our modern family structure.

I mentioned to the class that I didn’t have a clear understanding of this. But a young bride, not schooled in church life or raised in church school, interjected,

“Well wait a minute. I’m wondering if we women need to ask the same question you poised to the men, ‘How is it that Christ is head of the church?’

“It seems to me that Christ is a voluntary association. I choice Christ,because He chose me and in Christ I see all the goodness that I seek to aspire to. So, shouldn’t I also be seeking a husband in whom I see such goodness reflected that I too willingly accept him?”

So it is with Christ. He waits for us in expectation that in Him we will see all such goodness so as all I want to do is voluntarily submit myself to Him. No one coerces me. It is a free invitation. I don’t have to join a club, attend a motivational conference, pass a test, win any election or prove anything. It’s just an invitation.

Just come.

2) It’s Personal

In the Bible people came to Jesus for many different reasons. Some came for forgiveness. Some came for answers. Some people came for healing. Some came for salvation. Some came for eternal life. And too all these Jesus adds, You could come to Me for rest. Rest from the stress, rest from overload.

Jesus says, “Are you weary? Overloaded? Come to Me.” He says “I will give you rest for your souls.” We’ve overloaded in our mind. We’ve overloaded in our emotions. We’ve overloaded in our spirit. We need soul-rest. Release from worry. Release from tension. Release from stress, from guilt, from fear, from bitterness, from anxiety. Soul-rest.

And Jesus says, “If you’re worn out, if you’re tired, overloaded, come to Me and I will give you soul-rest.” Jesus doesn’t say, “Come to my seminar. Come to my house. Come to the movies. Come to Key West.” It isn’t a call, a place, an activity or vacation. It’s personal.

In our Tuesday study we reviewed meditation passages in the bible. The Old Testament is full of the business of meditating. It discusses meditation as the practice of consciously detaching oneself from the daily grind and going about the business of reflecting upon God.

But we also noticed that when we get to the New Testament, the idea of meditation takes a backseat to another activity: prayer. Jesus prays. Peter prays. Paul prayers. We are taught how to pray. Rather than just meditate on the precepts of God, in the New Testament, we are invited to actually talk with God. “It’s not business, Sonny. It’s personal.”

3) It’s Mutual

Oxen work in a team. They are yoked together to share the load. It is a shared burden. Feeling overwhelmed? Orienting your thoughts and priorities to things holy invites a shared distribution of the burden. We don’t have to go at it alone.

You may turn to food when you’re exhausted. You may turn to video games, or prop your feet up and go numb in front of the TV. You may turn to a drink or a pill. But none of these things can help pull the burden, but Jesus can!

It is as if Jesus is declaring the fulfillment of Isaiah has arrived. (Isaiah 40:31 (New King James Version)

³¹ Those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

How?

If you don’t know how, turn to Matthew 6, or Luke 11

⁵ “And when you pray, ...⁶ ... go into your room, ... and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. .. ⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. ¹³ And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

That’s all it is. Accept the invitation, know that it’s personal, talk to God and God will share the burden.

Meditation and Good Health

DAVID WAS RIGHT!

Psalm 1

¹ Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on God's law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Did you know the more we meditate on God, the better we are physically and emotionally? I’m not talking about some anecdotal story from some pop-psychologists, but hard, verifiable science.

Brief prayer, those short shout-outs to God, has not shown to have a direct effect upon our well-being, and may actually increase depression, as reported in American Journal of Geriatric Psychology (Apr. 15, 2007; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17384312).

However, longer, intense meditation and prayer practiced within the context of weekly religious activities effectively treats, as reported in Complimentary Therapies in Clinical Practice (Aug. 12 2006):

• hypertension,
• cardiac arrhythmia,
• chronic pan,
• PMS, insomnia,
• anxiety,
• depression,
• hostility,
• infertility,
• side effects of cancer treatment and AIDS” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16835029).

So, if you are feeling out of sorts, depressed, weak, ill… well, don’t be a stranger to the very disciplines God has given us to keep us as whole as possible. Be part of the practices that (get this) even improve mortality! (International Journal of Psychiatry Medicine; 2006).

David was right; but then for the religiously focused soul who is already active in a religious life, this is common knowledge.

Praying about our Problems

How to Pray about Problems
January 16, 2011

James 5:13-15

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.

Here’s a little story about prayer ... (from the Hampshire Gazette).

Travelers along the eastbound stretch of the Massachusetts Turnpike between Palmer and Sturbridge may have seen a shrine that stands watch from a wooded glen. When it is illuminated at night, it appears in a clearing as if coming out of nowhere.

The statue attracts a lot of attention. Travelers will call the police, or a local church, to inquire about it. Some have been known to even stop on the turnpike to leave prayer notes, flowers or Catholic rosaries.

The little shine is known to some as “the Madonna of the Turnpike,” or “the Lady of the Highway.” It’s a two-foot statue of the Virgin Mary on a pedestal of field stones. It has stood there for 47 years since Alfred Brodeur erected it.

It was Alfred’s mission to give glory to God that his wife, Eldora, diagnosed with breast cancer, and had recovered in part, he believes, because of their faith and their prayers.

As Alfred’s daughter, Diane, says, “[My Dad] was just a little old farmer man who loved and believed in God very much. He put the statue here to thank [God] for my mother’s [recovery] and to inspire faith and prayer in others who drove by. They would think of Jesus and to think of God.”

I have no doubt that God answers prayers. I have no doubt the prayer impacts the outcome of illness. I have no doubt that God can and does suspend the ordinary to present the extraordinary.

But I also know that what we want, or what we expect from our prayers is not necessarily what God does. And here is where I find the thoughts of James particularly helpful.

James mentions two specific times when we really need to pray:
1.Prayer when I’m in trouble (maybe sick, emotionally or physically, spiritually hurting)-
2.Prayer when I’m happy

The two go hand-in-hand just as life is loaded with the vicissitudes between ups and downs, health and illness, prosperity and austerity, joy and sorrow.

You may also notice that James mentions praying when you are sick. This might be a third category, but he is using this more as an illustration of the first two categories (trouble and happiness) than as a third category.

Here’s why... It seems that by the time we get to the New Testament (and we have been brought into a one-on-one relationship with God), the word we have come to translate as “sick,” or “ill,” carries a connotation of “weakness.” The word literally means literally, “to be without strength,” ... when you are totally wasted, fatigued, bedridden, unable to work. It's the word describing Lazarus in John 11. It is the word to describing Dorcas in Act 9. It is the same word describing the man at the pool of Bethesda in John 5, who sat there for years and years without enough energy to get up and get into the pool.

This is key, for to assume that we don’t get sick and die is irrational. My mother was sick. My sister had cancer. My uncle suffered with polio. I battled Gianne Barre. We are not immune from getting sick, nor from death.

But to recognize that in our sicknesses and grief and sorrow and pain and death that there is a deeper issue of “weakness”... ... this is keen.

I sense that James is reminding us that when we are in trouble, the big concern is our spiritual health.

Scan down to verse 15. James notes that the affects of prayer are not necessarily physical health (although physical health is never beyond the power of God), but – catch this word – to rise!

“And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person [ or the weak person, or the person without any strength] well; the Lord will ... raise them up!”

What is this “raise them up” associated with in the New Testament? Resurrection!

Connect this verse from James with Paul’s discussion of “rising” that he conveys in his letter to the Christians in the Greek port city of Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes,
The body that is sown is perishable,
[but] it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor,
[but] it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness,
[but] it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body,
[but] it is raised a spiritual body.

The hope of the Gospel is not only the power of God to heal our infirmities, but – more importantly – to raise our souls to glory in their weakness. Spiritual wholeness!

How do we pray about our problems? For health? Okay, ... but not on the presumption that prayer is a magic bullet to manipulate the laws of nature. But... prayer for health and recovery of our weakened soul in the midst of trouble! That’s the key. And that makes us happy.

My mother took ill, and died. My sister was stricken with cancer, and died. My uncle fought the residual effects of polio, and died. But, I know that by prayer, their weakness did not overcome them.

By prayer, they were strong. In fact, they were, dare I say, they were happy: They could still give God the glory. They could still smile.

Did you realize that "Praise" is used 550 times in the Bible. It is a lifestyle of the Christian: to be joyful. So in the ICU, I give thanks for the nurses. I give thanks for the hospital. I give thanks for the morphine. And yes, I pray for to recovery. So, when the family is falling apart, I give thanks for my wife. I give thanks for my kids. I give thanks for the honesty. And yes, I pray for reconciliation. So when there are more bills than income, I give thank that the house is still warm. I give thanks that for the love between the family. And yes, I pray for wisdom to handle the deficit.

I continue to be touched by Carrie Ten Boom, held by the Nazi’s for harboring Jews. Affectingly, her life was over, and yet her soul soared.

Even in the lice infected barracks of Ravensbrück (through which an estimated 90,000 women and children died), Carrie Ten Boom sang hymns, recited the Psalms and gave thanks to God.

Why? Because, and as James pointed out, in her weakness, God constantly raised her up her soul to a greater glory.

Haiti is Personal

Today a friend of ours, Walt, is unaccounted for in Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquake. He was doing his own assistance work installing solar panels in rural areas. We haven’t heard from him for 36 hours now. Someone saw him on the street a few minutes for the earthquake, but nothing since then. Knowing someone caught in a disaster keeps the imposing magnitude of a mass tragedy on a human level. Please keep Walt and his family in your prayers.

Forty years ago our family was in Deschapelles, Haiti at the Hospital Albert Schweitzer, about 40 miles outside Port-au-Prince. Mom would give me a buck to rent horse for the day from a guy down the street. I would rent Edgar and ride around the trails with some other kids, stopping at Bazaars for fruit, or a river to water Edgar.

At a village about a mile out of town people would grab hollowed out tree limbs and bamboo shoots, and start jamming a calypso folk improvisation. It didn’t matter that us boys didn’t have a gratuity to offer for the entertainment, the folks just loved playing, and we loved the music.

For all the poverty and crime and disease of Haiti, it hurts to think that they are suffering the plight of a natural catastrophe on top of all else. It becomes more painful when you have seen their eyes and felt the soul that wants to soar like any other; or when you know someone personally caught in the disaster. Please remember the many families suffering in Haiti in your prayers as well.

It isn’t the grandiose number of people hurt that moves the heart; it’s the heart that has come to know the soul of another that makes things real. "If one suffers, all suffers; and if one is honored, all rejoices with it," 1 Corinthians 12:26. We are so interconnected, aren't we?