GODLY FAITH TURNS STRESS TO PRAISE!
John 14:15-31
INTRODUCTION: Godly faith will turn our stress into praise! We live in a world full of stress. Our Lord Jesus promised peace in a world torn by turmoil and stress: John 14:26-27. Jesus didn’t promise us our peace; He said it would be His peace in our hearts. Jesus didn’t say He would take away the problems of this world He did say He that although in this world we will have trouble we should take heart! John 16:33; John 14:27. Having stress in our lives is not sin. Let’s look at five stress reducers for our lives tonight.
- GODLY FAITH RECEIVES GOD’S PARDON!
Psychologists tell us the number one cause of stress in our lives is caused by guilt. Guilt is caused because living outside the harmony God desires for our lives causes stress. Proverbs 28:13-14. The blood of Jesus was shed to give us absolute release from the guilt of sin. Faith is the remedy for our guilt. Satan loves to keep God’s children under the stress of guilt but our God is a God of everlasting mercy: Lamentation 3:21-23. That simply means if you blew it yesterday, as a believer in Jesus Christ you can get up today with a clean slate. 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 1:9.
2. GODLY FAITH RECOGNIZES GOD’S PRESENCE!
The faith to believe that our God is present with us helps the believer to conquer stress. Isaiah 26:3-4. We must learn that every promise in the Bible is linked to our faith and trust in our God. Heart belief is trusting God to do what He has promised. When we cannot see God, feel God, when we cannot touch God how do we know He is present with us? Psalm 46:10; Proverbs 19:2.
3. GODLY FAITH REMEMBERS GOD’S PRINCIPLES!
Psalm 119:165-166: to be able to follow God’s commands we must know His commands for our time. His commands are His principles for living. The Bible is our owner’s manual for life. Stress in our lives is often the result of not following the Owner’s Manual for our lives. The bible teaches that there is a link between obedience and faith. The children of Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness instead of living in the land of milk and honey for one reason: they lacked faith in the promises of God: Hebrews 4:1-2. I don’t want to wander in the wilderness of stress when the perfect peace of God could be mine for simply trusting in the Lord and His promises.
4. GODLY FAITH RELIES ON GOD’S PLAN!
In order for us to know how important our trust in God is look again at Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust is faith in action. Trust is behaving as though God is in control. We must learn to trust in the Lord with all our heart. We must stop leaning to our own understanding. We don’t have to understand why God is allowing us to be tested we just have to learn to trust Him. In all our ways we need to acknowledge Him. 1 Peter 5:7.
5. GODLY FAITH REQUESTS GOD’S PROVISION!
There are two options in life when horrible things occur. One is panic. The other is prayer. Philippians 4:4-7. If we learn to pray with thanksgiving we cannot worry. If I am worrying it means I am not praying with thanksgiving. God will give us His peace which is a supernatural kind of peace: John 14:1; John 14:27. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Godly faith will turn our stress into praise!