God promises to keep you completely safe.

Over and over and over again, God tells us not to be afraid. Fear not. He means it, and yet, we assume it’s ok to live with fear. That’s because we call it stress, worry, anxiety, embarrassment. We think it’s ok to worry because it shows how much we care about something or someone. What kind of parent would not worry about their kids?

Well, God says that worry, fear, what ever you want to call it is a sin. He wants us to trust in Him completely, even for our kids. Even for our jobs, our plans, our walk home in the dark. There is no situation that we can justify not trusting God. He says to fear not. Full stop.

In return for our complete trust, God promises to take care of us, tenderly. Psalm 91 is the paean to His loving protection:

• You will live under the shadow of the Almighty.
• He will be a fortress to you.
• He will deliver you from traps set before you.
• He will deliver you from death.
• He will protect you like a mother bird covering you with His wings.
• His truth will be your armor.
• You will not be afraid of anything in the night or anything that can happen in the day.
• People may fall all around you, but you will be safe.
• No plague of sickness will come into your house.
• You could step on a lion or cobra and not be harmed.
• He will be with you in times of trouble and help you through.

What a wonderful promise. But you must know in your heart that God is true and will do what He says. If people are falling all around you, you have to keep your faith in God. They are falling because they lack faith. Don’t look at them, look at God.

If you can live with this complete trust and lack of fear, imagine what your life would be like. Imagine being unafraid to do anything the Lord leads you to, unafraid to speak up, unafraid to face any situation. If God is literally your shield, nothing can harm you. You are the blessed one. Imagine what that must look like to other people. How easy it would be to show them the One who protects you.

Repent for holding onto fear, stress, worry. Rebuke the lie that tries to make you afraid and live in relaxed peace. You are completely safe in God. Now go change the world.

Letting go of stress takes intention.

Are you one of those people who manages everything for everyone? You’re probably really good at it. Hopefully you get paid well for it. But there’s a balance between managing everything and trusting God.

Do you get white-knuckled when it looks like your best plans are falling apart? That’s called fear—fear that you are losing control. The enemy loves that. God hates it.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5)

There is a way to give it all over to God and still do what you need to do. But it requires faith. It requires that you will not stress when stuff starts to go bad. That’s when you turn to God and say, “You said you would take care of this, so I am trusting you.”

Keep your peace. God has your back. The kingdom of God is about righteousness, peace and joy. If you can live there, no matter what happens, you’ll be ok. You can have peace when problems come at you. But if you refuse to trust God, you’ll be filled with fear and stress. That’s the opposite of what God wants for you. It’s going to be ok. Let go.

God makes the crooked way straight for you.

God never said He would take us out of conflict or trials. In fact, we’re told that the trials are for our benefit. (James 1:2) Salvation was never about living the easy life, it’s living life under grace. That means that we have an advantage that we didn’t have before — God is with us.

When we put God first, above all our relationships and goals, He blesses all that we do. When we trust Him to be everything that we need, He does what we cannot.

I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. (Isa 45:2)

This is awesome. God promises to make things easier for us. Because He goes before us, we may never know what He’s done on our behalf. And if it seems rough now, just think what it would have been if He didn’t straighten things out first!

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. (Psa 37:5)

Trusting in God is what it’s all about. Really trusting. Commit to it. No holding onto fear or worry. Let it all go. When you do, God is there for you, making things easier, making things happen for you. That’s life in the kingdom.

Peace should be the foundation of your life.

If joy is the currency of heaven, then peace is the foundation. The peace of God should rule and reign in your life. No matter what is going on, no matter how hectic or busy you get, you should feel peace.

Stress is the thief of peace. Stress means worry, or fear. You’re afraid of something going wrong. Despite your best efforts, you still think something will go wrong.  That’s the enemy stirring things up to cause fear.

Fear is agreeing with the enemy. It is total lack of faith that God will be there for you. Repent of that immediately. Remember who God is. He is the One who loves you passionately. He is there for you and will bless the work of your hands and keep you safe.

Once you understand that, I mean really understand that, you can relax. You can be busy and run off your feet, but you’ll just be busy, not stressed. Your fatigue will be from a long day of work, not from fear of failure. Peace is the assurance that God has your back in everything you do.  Of course,  that means that you have to put everything in His hands to bless, and He will.

Peace is yours to have. It’s living life in the kingdom.

God knows how to make dreams come true.

I hope you know how much God loves you. He has great plans for you. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11) And when God gives you hope and a future, He doesn’t mess around.

Remember when Mary asked Jesus to help the host of the wedding who ran out of wine? (Jhn 2:1) It was a social event. It wasn’t a special celebration in the temple. But Jesus took water and turned into really good wine.

Imagine what He can do with your dreams. I say that because you may not be dreaming big enough. You may not feel worthy to dream at all. That kind of thinking is a lie of the enemy. God loves to bless. It is His nature to give and give well.

Tell Him what about your heart’s dream. Make a list of what you’d love to see happen. Draw pictures. Do something to show Him how serious you are. Then give it all to Him. Don’t hold onto a tiny bit. Say, God these are my dreams. I give them to you. It may feel like giving up on everything you asked for, but that act of selflessness will allow God to make those dreams come true.

God will answer in His God way.

But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (1Cor 2:9) Typically, we read that and think that means heaven. I would agree. I believe that what God is preparing for us in heaven is so far beyond our understanding that we don’t have words to describe it.

But Jesus also said to pray, on earth as it is in heaven. When we pray, our faith must be real. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (Jam 1:6)

So in your prayers, you must believe that God will answer. And when He answers, He’s likely to do it in a way that no eye has seen nor ear heard, because He’s God. He knows how much more to bless us than we even know to ask.

The thing is, keep your heart close to Him. If He answers in a way that no eye has seen, you may not recognize it. Or you may be looking in a different direction, expecting something different. But if you believe and trust Him, you better know that He will bless you amazingly and you will love it.

Your sins could be making you sick.

You’ve probably heard the studies that say that a huge percentile of sickness is related to stress. I believe it. Stress is fear. God says, repeatedly, to fear not. So if we do, if we stress, we are disobeying God. Disobeying God is called what? Yes, sin. Stress is sin, because we are not trusting God as we should.

Stress is a fear that we hold onto because we don’t actually believe that God is who He says He is. When we hold onto sin, it affects us both spiritually and physically. I won’t diagnose anything here, but trust me, there’s a list of conditions directly related to holding onto fear, stress, what ever you want to call it.

Unforgiveness is the second big area of sin-related illness. And I’m not talking about having a cold or flue. I’m talking about huge, serious conditions–conditions you have actual control over. Stress/fear and unforgiveness are completely manageable. All you have to do is repent and give them to Jesus.

Is there ANYONE that you need to forgive? Do it. Do it now. Repent for not doing it sooner and give it all to Jesus. Ask for His healing and blessing. He’s waiting to give it to you. Stop stressing and believe God. He’s there for you. Trust Him and be healed. It will change your life.