Holiday Stress Beginning Already Learn Ways to Be Calm Purity 887

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the unnatural wonder of a mammoth artificial Christmas tree decorated to remind people of the need to go Christmas shopping and possibly to encourage people to remember the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ comes to us from yours truly, as I stopped long enough to capture it before running out the door of the Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo yesterday. Okay, I have a confession to make. While it may— will be yesterday when I release this message, I am actually writing this message moments after leaving the mall and before the David Jeremiah event I will be prayerfully serving at in just an hour's time. Yep, you see, I'm going back home tomorrow and I want to hit the road— I want to hit the ground running. As in, no, do not collect $200, do not even go directly to jail, go directly home because we out of here. Um, I have enjoyed my trip immensely thus far, but tomorrow morning I'll be raring to go. And right now, can't imagine writing and recording the podcast at the hostel again. Hey guys, it's been real. Later. As if any of the hostel guests would know or care. It's, it's that laid back and fluid in hostel world. Anyway, my ill-conceived choice to go into the mall to kill some time caused me to stress in general about the holidays and specifically about my exodus tomorrow. And as I was checking my email, I saw an appropriate message to share from, the Freedom in Christ blog about the coming holiday season and anxiety, and I figured that I should share that than rather come up with some wisdom from the parking lot. Uh, so I'm sharing a message from Freedom in Christ Ministries National Director of Prayer, Sue Jantz, entitled Calm Part 1, that was released on FICM's blog yesterday, or actually today, or yeah, on the 11th. To give us all some helpful advice about how to be able to handle any social anxiety that may make a visit this holiday season. Sue Jantz writes, we have officially entered the holiday season. Do the activities surrounding the holidays make you giddy with excitement, scouting the stores for all things Grinch, or somewhere wavering in the middle? Interestingly, psychology day Psychology Today reports that studies show that approximately 40% of all adults are riddled with social anxiety around the holidays. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines anxiety as its symptom— and its symptoms— care, concern, and worry this way: a troubled or engrossed state of mind, or the thing that causes this. The Greek word for anxiety means divided, with the implication that what is divided is our mind. When we live in anxiety, we can become a double-minded person who is unstable in all his ways, as James says in 1 Peter 5:6-8. Well, as James says, sorry, unstable in all his ways, as James says, my bad. Peter links anxiety with the roaring lion, our adversary. Satan, who prides— prowls around seeking who he may devour. He writes that in 1 Peter 5:6-8. So let's take a moment to identify where we are facing anguished uncertainty, uncertain goals this holiday season. It may be family relationships, work environment and relationships, physical health, the financial expenditures and expectations The world gives us helpful or not so helpful advice to calm our anxious hearts. It says, "Really? Calm down! Suck it up! Get it together!" Yeah, that's the helpful advice the world gives us. Anyway, Sue writes, "Since our body, soul, and spirit are connected, our anxious emotions trigger a physical response both for good and for ill. Scripture speaks directly to this. Isaiah 13:7 says, "Every arm is paralyzed with fear, every heart melts." Jeremiah 50:43 says, "The king of Babylon heard the report of them and his hands fell helpless. Anguish seized him, pain as a woman in labor." Ezekiel 7:17 in The Message says, "Every hand hangs limp, every knee turns to rubber in view of God's coming judgment upon His people. In a frightening scenario painted in Psalm 46 of both physical upheaval and political turmoil, God gives a command: "Be still and know that I am God," from Psalm 46:10. But how can we know that He is God if we are in anxious turmoil? Let's start with some simple physical practices to counter anxiety. Some of these we do subconsciously and don't even realize they are calming, such as massaging our arms or rubbing our face. But small practices done over time can make a significant difference. The first is belly breathing, slow and low. This is a breathing taught to U.S. Navy SEALs which helps deactivate the fight-or-flight response. The instructions are to inhale a count of 4, letting your diaphragm expand. Hold to count of 4, then exhale to the count of 4 and say a verse of scripture. My, uh, Sue's favorite is Psalm 56:3, which says, "When I am afraid, I will trust in you, O Lord." 'then pause and count to 4. Repeat 3 times.' 'She loves to do this stronghold buster as she lays down to sleep.' 'Others say a name of God like Lord Jesus on the inhale and a scripture prayer on the exhale like help me to be still and know that you are God.' You know, it's pretty good practices right there. Anyway, Sue continues to write, 'The next is quiet.' through, through participating physically in worship. The scripture is replete with commands: Let us sing to the Lord, let us shout to the God of our salvation, let us worship and bow down, let us exalt his name together. Dr. Rich— Richard Smith of the Oklahoma Neuroscience Institute found participatory worship causes a decrease in blood pressure, pulse, and breath breathing— and breathing slows, hand temperatures increase, and there is a reduction in anger and depression because of increased dopamine and serotonin. If David's harp music calmed the angry King Saul, it can bring peace to our soul. And if you've— I've always said, you know, praise the Lord, it's got great benefits. Anyway, Sue writes, writes on, as I mentioned in the beginning, it's almost impossible to tell someone else or yourself to relax and then be instantly relaxed. But what is helpful is tensing and releasing various muscle groups of your hand, of your, from your head to your toes. This is something you can do discreetly, like when you're on a flight, when they announced there was a mal, there's a malfunction with the ventilation systems and they, there could, would be no air circulating from the time they touched down, uh, when they, till they, we got to the gate. Basically, that was Sue's experience in a plane. Sorry about that, sort of Killed it. Uh, another— I'll just read. Another practice is yawning. Yawning signals to your body that it is time to quiet and rest. Turn your head to the left, yawn, and then to the opposite way and yawn. One article called it the fastest way to hack mental stress and gain focus as it gets more oxygen to the brain. So yawn. Um, Sue continues to write, laughter and play are helpful as well. A merry heart is like good medicine, says Proverbs 17:22. The Christian author Dr. Archibald Hart writes, delighting in the everyday pleasures of life actually repairs and heals the overstimulation of our brains. Lastly, physical exercise can help us to calm. Strenuous exercise releases endorphins, which release pain— relieve pain and create a sense of well-being. Walking at a little slower pace gives us time to drink in God's beauty in creation. In Matthew 7, there's a familiar story of two men, one who built life on the rock and the other on the sand. Jesus says this: Everyone who hears these words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The wise are not those who simply get it. But those who practice it— this week should give us plenty of opportunities to practice these quieting exercises so that we can know the God who is the Prince of Peace. That was from Sue Jantz, the FICM National Director of Prayer, on how to relax. So yeah, so go to the blog, check out what she had to write because I sort of killed it in the podcast, and, you know, practice those things. They're very familiar practices. I recognize some of them from Deeper Walks, Building Emotional Resilience, Building Bounce book from Marcus Warner. And so the practices are pretty common amongst Christian counselors and they're good advice. So try to apply them. Okay, I hope that helps. Keep walking and talking with God. And I'll report on my evening as a volunteer with David Jeremiah on Monday, possibly. Because when you walk in the Spirit— possibly because when you walk in the Spirit, the Lord may have something else in mind and may point me in another direction. Anyway, this morning's, or this evening's, or whatever time it is, today's Bible verse comes to us from the New Living Translation Bible Promise Book for Men. This morning's meditation verse is John 5:24, and it says, I tell you the truth, Those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. Today's verses are the words of Jesus, and the exclusivity of Christ alone to save us could not be made any clearer. If we listen to Jesus and believe in God, we will have eternal life. We will never be condemned and have the assurance of our salvation like it is already a done deal. Now, you could play Jesus' state— play with Jesus' statements here and say, "Oh, I hear you, Jesus, and I do believe in a God, so we are good, right?" Unfortunately, Christ called his disciples to follow him, not just hear his words and generally disregard them, and then just have the faintest sense of mentally assent to a belief in in God. No, Jesus came to earth to draw people to the Father, to bring Him in, to bring people into the kingdom, to know God and to live for God, to love God with all their, with all our hearts, minds, and strength. So while Jesus Christ's message is clear, we have to be sure that we let those we share the gospel with that while the gift of salvation is free, it is not cheap. It cost Christ His life, and the epistles indicate it will cost us ours as well, as Paul writes that we are crucified and died with Christ and then are raised to new life through Christ's resurrection. So today's verse is great news, but we have to receive all of it to live. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Um, today we share from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's— uh, continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship, also known as The Cost of Discipleship. And today we are moving into the section from Matthew 6 that Bonhoeffer calls the Simplicity of Carefree Life. So if you want to go to M— if you want to read what Bonhoeffer has to say about Matthew 6:19-24, go to mtforchristdeit.com and you'll see that, that excerpt at the bottom of today's blog post. Yeah, as always, we encourage people to walk in the Spirit, to be spontaneous, but to always follow the Lord. And his word, um, and to apply it to your life the best you can. We encourage people to check out our discipleship teachings on YouTube and our, our podcast, uh, Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, and Freedom in Christ. They're all based on the word of God and the, and the writings of Dr. Neil Anderson. That's Freedom in Christ. Sue Jantz is part of the organization. Freedom in Christ Ministries, you know, there's good advice from Freedom in Christ. That's why I am part of the organization as an online discipleship course leader, and it's helped me in my walk. And so we recommend people to check out the material. So go to ficm.org and check out all the resources. And of course you can always follow me because I will write what I write, and usually a lot of it's pointing to freedom in Christ. So that's it for this afternoon because I literally got to drive to the KeyBank Center and try to get in, um, well, about an hour from now. So I'm not sure how far away I am. Uh, Google Galleria— Walden Galleria Mall to the KeyBank Center and you'll know, but it's probably like 20 minutes, something like that. So I'm sort of pushing it. So, um, I wish everyone a fantastic weekend, as today will be Saturday when you hear this message. And, um, we just pray, um, for all of you to keep walking and talking with God. But let's actually pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you, um, for prayerfully bringing us to Saturday, um, and, uh Lord, we just thank you for the people listening today. We pray for you to bless them and to guide them as they go, Lord. And, you know, I'll be— I'm praying this ahead of time, so it's a prophetic prayer. I'm praying that you open my eyes to everything I need to see on Saturday morning to get me home safely. Um, Lord, open up my eyes, lead me in the way I should go, and keep me safe and guide me today. To get back to my countryside home so I can see my wife and tell her all about what happened when I went to the David Jeremiah event. So we just pray for that, Lord. We pray for you to open our eyes and guide us today and every day. And we just, we just want to pray that we love you, Lord, and we thank you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.