Our New Normal
In our society, we are so conditioned to live in a perpetual state of stress that even as Christians we consider it absolutely normal to be stressed; we accept it, and I'm sad to say, actually embrace it.
Stress, worry and anxiety - and their root, fear - are actually sin. If my Father who loves me commands me to not do something and I go ahead and do it, I sin.
He commands me 365 times, "Do not fear";
He commands me, "Cast your cares [worries] on Me..." (1 Pet. 5:7);
He commands me, "Do not worry" (Phil. 4:6) and
"Do not allow your heart to be troubled [agitated]" (John 14:27).
I do not share this to heap condemnation and guilt on your head, dear friend, but to give you the same HOPE these verses have given me! God, my loving Heavenly Father, commands me NOT to worry. The wonder and the hope behind this command is this:
It would be unjust for Him to give me this command if it wasn't possible for me to do!
So the mere fact that He tells me NOT to be in stress and anxiety and worry, is my PROMISE that it is actually possible to not live in a perpetual state of stress; that worry and anxiety do not belong to me. We are so conditioned to accept and live in stress - in the same way the world does - that we completely forget we are NOT like the rest of the world!
I heard your mental protest, "hang on, it's only human that we stress!"
But think about it, my dear friend, if we have trusted in Jesus and have the Holy Spirit - the Third Person of the Godhead!!! - living on the inside of us, we are not only human!!!
We have the almighty, all-powerful, Creator of the known and unknown Universe, living IN us! We have a power and enabling and victory over stress INSIDE us, and at our disposal if we'll draw on it by faith! We are supernatural, born-again creations, with God Himself living on the inside of us; it is therefore not natural or normal for us to be in stress!
Most of the time though, we forget who we really are now as new creations and live according to who we used to be before we were united with Christ.
I've jumped into the "deep end" of this issue and haven't taken the time to carefully explain all the truths God has helped me to understand as I've been learning about my true identity. So, if you have questions or are struggling to accept what I write, please, please, please take the time to check out this incredible teaching by Andrew Wommack. The truths I learnt through this series, when I first heard it back in 2011, literally transformed my relationship with God and my understanding of the Word!
For now, I want you to hear the most wonderful news you will hear all year: Jesus has given you His supernatural, perfect peace - His peace, not some second-rate peace.
Just before He died, Jesus promised:
The thing with an inheritance is that it becomes ours when the Person who willed it to us dies. The moment Jesus died on the Christ, His perfect peace which He bequeathed to us, became ours. Like any inheritance, we have to believe the contents of the Will and choose to receive it, for it to actually come into our hands! Someone could bequeath to me a house, but unless I believe what the Executor of their Will tells me, and actively receive what they left for me, it will sit there untouched.
So too with Jesus's incredible peace! How many times I used to pray, in a stressful situation, "Father, please give me peace!" thinking that was what I was supposed to pray, when all along, He had already GIVEN me His peace and was waiting for me to discover my inheritance (Ephesians 1) and receive it!
I still catch myself living according to who I used to be before God gave me a new spirit and came to live inside me... But little by little, I am experiencing what I now know is our new normal as His darling children. :)
If you battle with stress, anxiety or worry, I am praying for you my dear friend! I pray you'll receive what He's already given you: supernatural peace even in the midst of stressful situations; pressures at home and at work.
Never forget you are not "only human"! He has a wonderful "new normal" for each of us! :)
Love Laur
Stress, worry and anxiety - and their root, fear - are actually sin. If my Father who loves me commands me to not do something and I go ahead and do it, I sin.
He commands me 365 times, "Do not fear";
He commands me, "Cast your cares [worries] on Me..." (1 Pet. 5:7);
He commands me, "Do not worry" (Phil. 4:6) and
"Do not allow your heart to be troubled [agitated]" (John 14:27).
I do not share this to heap condemnation and guilt on your head, dear friend, but to give you the same HOPE these verses have given me! God, my loving Heavenly Father, commands me NOT to worry. The wonder and the hope behind this command is this:
It would be unjust for Him to give me this command if it wasn't possible for me to do!
So the mere fact that He tells me NOT to be in stress and anxiety and worry, is my PROMISE that it is actually possible to not live in a perpetual state of stress; that worry and anxiety do not belong to me. We are so conditioned to accept and live in stress - in the same way the world does - that we completely forget we are NOT like the rest of the world!
I heard your mental protest, "hang on, it's only human that we stress!"
But think about it, my dear friend, if we have trusted in Jesus and have the Holy Spirit - the Third Person of the Godhead!!! - living on the inside of us, we are not only human!!!
We have the almighty, all-powerful, Creator of the known and unknown Universe, living IN us! We have a power and enabling and victory over stress INSIDE us, and at our disposal if we'll draw on it by faith! We are supernatural, born-again creations, with God Himself living on the inside of us; it is therefore not natural or normal for us to be in stress!
Most of the time though, we forget who we really are now as new creations and live according to who we used to be before we were united with Christ.
I've jumped into the "deep end" of this issue and haven't taken the time to carefully explain all the truths God has helped me to understand as I've been learning about my true identity. So, if you have questions or are struggling to accept what I write, please, please, please take the time to check out this incredible teaching by Andrew Wommack. The truths I learnt through this series, when I first heard it back in 2011, literally transformed my relationship with God and my understanding of the Word!
For now, I want you to hear the most wonderful news you will hear all year: Jesus has given you His supernatural, perfect peace - His peace, not some second-rate peace. Just before He died, Jesus promised:
"Peace I am leaving behind for you. Peace which is mine I am giving to you... Let not your heart continue to be agitated, neither let it continue to be fearful."
John 14:27 (K.S. Wuest translation)
The thing with an inheritance is that it becomes ours when the Person who willed it to us dies. The moment Jesus died on the Christ, His perfect peace which He bequeathed to us, became ours. Like any inheritance, we have to believe the contents of the Will and choose to receive it, for it to actually come into our hands! Someone could bequeath to me a house, but unless I believe what the Executor of their Will tells me, and actively receive what they left for me, it will sit there untouched.
So too with Jesus's incredible peace! How many times I used to pray, in a stressful situation, "Father, please give me peace!" thinking that was what I was supposed to pray, when all along, He had already GIVEN me His peace and was waiting for me to discover my inheritance (Ephesians 1) and receive it!
I still catch myself living according to who I used to be before God gave me a new spirit and came to live inside me... But little by little, I am experiencing what I now know is our new normal as His darling children. :)If you battle with stress, anxiety or worry, I am praying for you my dear friend! I pray you'll receive what He's already given you: supernatural peace even in the midst of stressful situations; pressures at home and at work.
Never forget you are not "only human"! He has a wonderful "new normal" for each of us! :)
Love Laur
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