36 Christian Ways to Reduce Stress

1. Pray

2. Learn to praise God wherever you are and whatever the circumstance.

3. Go to bed on time and get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.

4. Say “No,” to projects/activities that won’t fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.

5. Delegate tasks to capable others.

6. Simplify and un-clutter your life.

7. Less is more. (Although one is often not enough, two are often too many.)

8. Allow extra time to do things and to get to places.

9. Pace yourself. Spread out big changes and difficult projects over time; don’t lump the hard things all together.

10. Take one day at a time.

11. Separate worries from concerns. If a situation is a concern, find out what God would have you to do and let go of the anxiety. If you can’t do anything about a situation, forget it.

12. Live within your budget.

13. Have backups; an extra car key in your wallet, an extra house key buried in the garden, extra stamps, etc.

14. K. M. S. (Keep Mouth Shut.) This single piece of advice can prevent an enormous amount of trouble.

15. Do something for the Kid in You everyday.

16. Carry a Bible with you to read while waiting in line.

17. Get enough exercise.

18. Eat right.

19. Get organized so everything has its place.

20. Listen to a podcast while driving that can help improve your quality of life.

21. Write thoughts and inspirations down.

22. Everyday, find time to be alone.

23. Having problems? Talk to God on the spot. Try to nip small problems in the bud. Don’t wait until its time to go to bed to try and pray.

24. Make friends with Godly people.

25. Keep a folder of favorite scriptures on hand.

26. Remember that the shortest bridge between despair and hope is often a good “Thank you Jesus!”

27. Laugh.

28. Laugh some more!

29. Take your work seriously, but yourself not at all.

30. Develop a forgiving attitude (most people are doing the best they can).

31. Be kind to unkind people (they probably need it the most).

32. Sit on your ego.

33. Talk less; listen more.

34. Slow down.

35. Remind yourself that you are not the general manager of the universe.

36. Every night before bed, think of one thing you’re grateful for that you’ve never been grateful for before or that you always forget to thank God about.

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Original Post

5 Unanswerable Questions

(Romans 8:31-39)

1. “If God is for us, who is against us?” (v. 31)

Philippians 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” The LORD God is not going to stop until; He has conformed us to the image of His Son.

“God is for me.” He is not hostile. God is for sinners who come to Him and receive His abundant grace. Since “God plus me is a whole person” what does it matter who may be against me. Our text assumed that the Lord is on the side of His people. Our confidence is in God alone.

God is for us in a way that produces His highest “good” in our lives and accomplishes His eternal purpose. Since God is for us, all things work together for our good.

No foe can prevail against people who are supported by a God so committed to His people. Since God is for us, what difference does it make who is against us? Here is encouragement and assurance in our times of suffering. “God + Me = A Whole Person.”

2. If God graciously gave His Son for us, will He not freely give us all things? (v. 32).

How can we be certain God will meet all our needs? We are certain because of His supreme act of love.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (v. 32).

The cross proves the generosity of God. God gave up His most treasured possession in heaven for us (I Peter 1:18-19). Even though there exists a very special relationship between the Father and the Son the Father still “gave Him up for us all.” He graciously gave His Son as a free gift. Jesus reminds us in John chapter ten that this was also His volitional choice –– He gave Himself “for us.”

Since God has done the greatest thing in giving up His Son, how can He not now do the lesser things for us? This is the final guarantee that He loves us enough to supply all our needs. Is there anything He will not do for His church?

3. Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?” (v. 33)

Christ our Advocate pleads our case before the Father. Our conscience accuses us, the Devil never ceases, carnal Christians grumble, we blow it, etc. There has never been a shortage of enemies to make accusations against God’s people.

“Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies” (v. 33).

But God is the Judge and He has already acquitted me (v. 33). Since “God is the one who justifies” our justification can never be overthrown. He is completely satisfied in the righteousness of Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” God has taken us to court to show us that there is no condemnation for those who are “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). We now have peace with God (5:1-2).

And when we sin what should we do? God has provided a bar of soap for us and we should use it often! “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (1 John 1:9–10). As soon as we admit to Him that we deserve condemnation, He restores our fellowship with Him. Christ has already born our guilt and condemnation when He went to the cross and died for us. That is the only way to deal with sin. He is the friend of sinners –– saved sinners and lost sinners!

4. Who shall condemn us? (v. 34)

The only one who has the right to condemn us is Jesus Christ and He died for us!

A. T. Robertson well said, “Our Advocate paid the debt for our sins with His blood. The score is settled. We are free (8:1).”

5. Who will separate us from Christ’s love for us? (v. 35)

Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Paul gives a list of struggles in the Christian’s life. Can life at its worst remove us from Christ?

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35).

“Tribulation” is the strong pressures in life, like the treading of grapes in a winery. These are the pressures that burst and trouble us.

“Distress” is hardship, outward affliction plus inner stress, anguish. The word was used to describe being caught in a tight place between high rocks. Are you feeling like you have been caught in a tight place? Is life squeezing in on you? Do I write to someone who carries a heavy burden? Have you grown weary of life and feel beaten down by life? Have you come to the place where you feel like you cannot take it any more? Has life become an overwhelming burden to you? Jesus said, “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Literally, He says, “I will rest you.” As we exchange our burden He gives us His rest.

“Persecution” is to be hunted down like an animal and killed.

“Famine” and hunger are brought on because of draught or persecution. Like the people in Jesus’ day we worry over what we will eat, drink, or wear tomorrow. Jesus said God would take care of the basic necessities in our daily lives. We worry because of a sense of inadequacy. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). When we seek first the kingdom of God we become super–conquerors.

“Peril” is danger of any sort. “

“But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (v. 37).

We are “super–conquerors” (hypernikomen). He doesn’t say we are copers, but super–conquerors. The word comes from nikao, meaning “to conquer, to carry off the victory, come off victorious,” and huper which means “above.” These “super-conquerors” are more than victors; they gain a surpassing victory. We are “more than conquerors,” “we are super–conquerors!”

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv. 38–39).

It is always amazing to me how God turns defeat and disaster into victory. He uses what we would call defeat to produce His ultimate victory in our lives. He accomplishes His goal through our suffering. He makes us more than conquerors through the suffering of the saints.

Source: http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/rom8v31.html

Happy Birthday Billy Graham!

I got an email update for Kuya Kevin’s blog today and read the link to his latest post entitled “Billy Graham’s Last Wish”. I was like, “No, no, wait! Last wish? Is he gone?” So with my heart racing, I quickly clicked on the link and I was led to his post. There’s a video there of an interview with Franklin Graham, where he’s talking about his dad’s 90th birthday celebration. Quoting Kuya Kevin:

Pay close attention to Graham’s statement to his son: “Franklin, I wish I could preach one more time.”

I believe this quote will stay with me for a while. It says a lot about Billy Graham’s heart for evangelism.

I found myself close to tears after reading this. I just couldn’t let it out completely because I was in the middle of work. I suddenly remembered the story of Pastor Rick Warren’s cancer-stricken dad, Jimmy Warren, just before he passed away. He kept saying about a hundred times “gotta reach one more for Jesus” even when he was almost out of breath. This story was the inspiration for the song Reach One More, written by Alva Copeland.

Its a bit sad that despite that longing to preach one more time, Billy Graham doesn’t have the energy for it anymore. But despite that, I realize that there is really nothing to be sad about because he has fulfilled what God has called Him to do. And his life reminds us vividly of the message of Ecclesiastes 12:

1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”-

2 before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;

3 when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;

4 when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when men rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;

5 when men are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags himself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then man goes to his eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.

6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,

7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

It was Billy Graham’s birthday on November 7th and I wrote him a birthday greeting and a message of thanks through his website:

Dear Rev. Billy,

Thank you for your passionate love of God that has touched so many lives, including those who in turn touched mine so that I may know Him as well. Thank you for your compassion that has inspired me to keep sharing God’s love while I have the strength of my youth to do it and for showing me the beauty of a long and satisfied life because of His presence. Thank you because you never cease to inspire, encourage, and love. I will never stop thanking God for Billy Graham because if not for this one selfless life that is devoted entirely to make Christ known all over the world, I may not have come to know the wonderful God that I now serve. On behalf of my family, I wish you a blessed and glorious 90th birthday!

Fritzie Plamenco

I pray that there be more Billy Graham’s in this generation. I pray that I’d have the strength to be one.

Seeking God

It is a great good to seek God; in my opinion, the soul knows no greater blessing. It is the first of its gifts and the final stage in its progress. This gift is inferior to none and yields place to none. What could be superior to it, when nothing has a higher place? … What virtue can be attributed to anyone who does not seek God? What boundary can be set for anyone who DOES seek Him? The psalmist says: ‘Seek his face always.’ Nor, I think, will a soul cease to seek Him even when it has found Him.

It is not with steps of the feet that God is sought but with the desire of the heart; and when the soul happily finds him, its desire is not quenched but kindled… there will be a fullness of joy, but there will be no end to desire, and therefore no end to the search.

Think if you can, of this eagerness to see God as NOT caused by His absence, for He is always present; and think of the desire for God as without fear or failure, for grace is abundantly present. (St. Bernard of Clairvaux)