Solution for Killer Stress

Supernatural, utterly transforming words; the words of Jehovah are written on these pages. The staggering 180 degree transformation into the all-powerful Kingdom of God cannot, cannot be exaggerated. The absolutely literal ability to transform circumstances with the spoken words of faith is not some ambiguity floating around somewhere in the ether. Romans 10:8 reads, "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth,..."

This magnificent place of supernatural words of supernatural transformation is only entered into through the door called born-again. Jesus Said in John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Through the unmatchable door called born again, does the journey of the redeemed begin, and at this place everything changes. Isaiah 61:1-3 discusses this marvelous concept:

1 The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

Born-again is the door of transformation. Are you bound by physical and psychological addictions? Christ proclaims liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison doors. Are you ready to trade in your ashes for beauty? Are you ready to open the door to eternal life? GodSaidManSaid has eternally good news for you. Today is your day of Salvation. Click onto "Further With Jesus" for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God. Now for today-s subject. 

GOD SAID, Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

GOD SAID, Philippians 4:6-7:

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 26:3:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

MAN SAID: We are the captains of our ship. Man's great wisdom and medical accomplishments will lead the way. 

Now THE RECORD. This is GodSaidManSaid feature article #566. These faith-building features employ a four-step proof process to certify the full inerrant truth of the supernaturally penned Word of God. These are found in the majority-text, authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible and these features grow by one, God willing, every Thursday eve. Welcome to GodSaidManSaid. May the face of our God shine upon you with light and truth. 

Stress is a killer. Humans have not been designed to handle chronic stress. 

In the book, Deadly Emotions, Dr. Don Colbert, M.D., writes, "According to the American Institute of Stress, between 75 and 90 percent of all visits to primary-care physicians result from stress-related disorders." [End of quote] Dr. Colbert also reports that 2.4 million adults in the United States are affected by panic attacks (and I assure you the numbers are skyrocketing during these tumultuous times). 

According to Dr. Jordan S. Rubin, in his book, The Maker's Diet, sudden stress is the most common "trigger" for fatal heart attacks. You cannot afford fear and stress. The results are deadly. The Word of God spends considerable time teaching its adherents the supernatural power of shifting fear and stress, and even easily handling sudden fear. Modern science is just beginning to understand the truly debilitating workings of fear and stress. Techniques for relief are fully and repetitively recorded in the Holy Bible and are just recently beginning to be understood. How could these ancient writers have known, thousands of years ago, the intricacies of psychology's latest discoveries? The answer is, of course, that the words of the Bible are the words of God, the creator, who fully understands the make-up of man. 

Stress participates in a myriad of physical, as well as psychological disorders. Consider the following:

• • March 22, 2004, WedMD, "Anger, Frustration, and other mental stress can trigger abnormal heart rhythms that may lead to sudden death, new research shows." 
  • Under the heading, "Bad Attitude," October 2003, Better Nutrition magazine, "Researchers have consistently suggested that people with negative attitudes suffer significantly higher rates of stress, depression and disease." 
  • September 24, 2003, WebMD, "As if life isn't stressful enough, Swedish researchers say that being under stress may double a woman's risk of developing breast cancer." 
  • June 16, 2003, WebMD, a headline reads, "How Stress Causes Miscarriage." The final paragraph of the feature reads, "But more immediately, he says his finding offers more proof of the hazards of emotional stress on pregnancy. 'We now know the effects of stress (on the fetus) are very real and produce a specific physiologic reaction in the uterus,' he tells WebMD. 'So you really need to reduce it whatever way you can.'" [End of quote]

Again from Dr. Colbert:

A heart disease study at the Mayo Clinic found that psychological stress was the strongest predictor of future cardiac events, including cardiac death, cardiac arrest, and heart attack. [End of quote]

Under the heading "Health News," Prevention magazine reported the following:

More than 100 people with type two diabetes took five diabetes-education classes either with or without stress-management training. After 1 year, more than half of the stress-relief group improved sugar significantly, enough to lower their risk for the worst diabetes-related complications, such as heart disease, kidney failure, nerve damage, and vision problems.  [End of quote]

The following paragraphs are from WebMD under the title "Mental Stress, Physical Illness:"

Hiroyaso Iso, MD, of the University of Tsukuba in Lbaraki-ken, Japan, gathered information from more than 73,000 Japanese men and women aged 40-79. Each of the study participants completed a lifestyle survey that included questions about perceived stress levels. The researchers monitored their health for about eight years. 

Nearly 9,000 women and 7,000 men reported high mental stress. Researchers found that women in the high-stress group were more than twice as likely as those with low stress to suffer a stroke or develop heart disease. This held true even after accounting for other potential causes. 

High-stress women were also more likely than their relaxed counterparts to report a history of high blood pressure or diabetes. The stressed-out women tended to be younger, more educated, and less physically active. 

In addition, researchers say that these high-stress women were also more likely to be angry, be in a hurry, feel hopeless, and feel unfulfilled. 

The study found the overall link between mental stress and cardiovascular disease in general to be stronger among women than men. But men who reported medium or high levels of mental stress were nearly twice as likely to suffer a heart attack. [End of quote]

Stress is a killer and God's plan for shifting stress is truly life and life more abundantly. Coming unto God in prayer and mixing the word of God with faith yield phenomenal results. Concerning prayer, a subhead in a March 2006 article in the magazine First reads, "The silent dialogue proven to reduce stress-hormone levels by 40%—and melt away 36% more body fat." The following excerpt is from that article:

To understand the mechanism behind the miracle, we turned to world-renowned expert Harry G. Koenig, M.D., of Duke University and coauthor of "The Healing Power of Prayer" (Baker Books, 2003). "An ongoing dialogue with a higher power calms the amygdala, the brain's stress-serenity command center," he explains. "It also increases activity of the brain's soothing alpha waves. This prevents the adrenal glands from releasing a flood of harmful cortisol." In fact, a study from the Shimane Institute of Health Science in Japan found that this type of calming activity reduced cortisol by up to an astounding 40 percent. 

That can translate into major weight loss, maintains Shawn Talbott, PH.D., author of The Cortisol Connection (Hunter House, 2002): "In my research, those who reduced cortisol by 20 percent lost nine times more weight, including 18 percent more body fat and 9 percent more belly fat."  [End of quote]

Stress unchecked is a killer. In a Newsweek article titled "Stress," the lead paragraph states, "A whole new body of research shows the damage stress wreaks on the body: not just heart disease and ulcers, but loss of memory, diminished immune function, and even a particular type of obesity." [End of quote] 

Dr. Sheldon Cohen conducted a study in 1991 at Carnegie Mellon University linking stress to immune dysfunction. He ran the study again in 1998. Test people were chosen and intentionally infected with a respiratory virus. Those who experienced chronic stress (ongoing conflicts with co-workers or family members, for example) increased their odds of getting sick by 300 to 500 percent. 

Here's a new 2011 headline for you: "Almost 40 percent of Europeans are 'mentally ill.'" Consider the following paragraphs from the article:

Nearly 165 million Europeans—that's 38 percent of the population—suffer from mental and neurological illnesses ranging from depression to insomnia to dementia, according to a major new study. 

"Mental disorders have become Europe's largest health challenge of the 21st century," said Hans Ulrich Wittchen, director of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Germany's Dresden University and the study's lead investigator, according to a Reuters report.

The three-year study surveyed 30 European countries, including all 27 European Union member states, plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, with a total population of over half a billion.

The study considered about 100 illnesses, ranging from anxiety and depression to addictions and schizophrenia, as well as neurological conditions like epilepsy, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.  [End of quote]

It is a glorious thing. The born-again are directed to shift this stress and anxiety and their fears to the ample shoulders of Jesus Christ. Psychology employs a principle in word therapy called "positive reframing," which simply means taking a bad picture and reframing it. Unfortunately, this technique has its obvious shortcomings. God's Word, on the other hand, gives Christ's followers a clearly defined promised solution for every one of life's problems. God underwrites these promised solutions with the glorious power of the Holy Ghost, angels, and sundry support ministries. Biblically reframing life's bad pictures is the believer's power, and it is fully supported by the full faith and credit of the Kingdom of God - not empty words - but miracle-laced confessions. 

Life's circumstances bring various levels of stress, but God expects His children to shift them all. Consider Isaiah 8:11-13:

11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,

12 Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid.

13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.

In verse 12 God says, "Say ye not, a confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy..." In other words, do not align yourself with the faithless, sinful, fearful ways of the unsaved. The verse continues "...neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." 

The following two recommendations will effectively shift your stress:

1. Take three to six index cards and write a stress-shifting gospel verse on each of them. Read them several times a day. I often place them next to my car keys and read them each time I pick them up. Your list could include the following passages:

Romans 8:28:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

Proverbs 4:18:
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

Isaiah 8:12:
Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. 

I Thessalonians 5:18:
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Matthew 11:28:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:29:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

2. Pick 30 to 60 minutes each day and set that time aside as your no-stress zone. (I personally rise up early in the quiet of the morning.) Turn off the TV, radio, cell phone, etc. Pray, read the scriptures, meditate, sing songs, and wait upon the Lord. You will bound forth with great Godly growth and your stress will surely melt away.

The final paragraph from the article titled "Almost 40 percent of Europeans are 'mentally ill,'" reads:

Bolstering that reported sky-high rate of depression, Fortune magazine noted that SSRI ("selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors," the technical name for most modern depression meds) anti-depressant brands like Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa and Luvox, which have become "household names," have "done more than any other class of drugs to spur psychiatry's substitution of pills for couches." In fact, reports Fortune, "we're popping so many SSRIs that their breakdown products in urine, gushing into waterways, have accumulated in fish tissues, raising concerns that aquatic animals may be getting toxic doses, according to recent research at Baylor University." 

When things have progressed to the point of poisoning fish, it's clear we're talking about a lot of drugs.  [End of quote]

Man's solution for the world's stressed-out population is legal dope, but God has a better way. 

GOD SAID, Matthew 11:28-30:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

GOD SAID, Philippians 4:6-7:

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 26:3:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

MAN SAID: We are the captains of our ship. Man's great wisdom and medical accomplishments will lead the way. 

Now you have THE RECORD. 




References:

1. Authorized King James Version

2. "Almost 40 percent of Europeans are 'mentally ill,'" wnd.com 

3. Colbert, D., M.D., Deadly Emotions, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003, pp6,79-80 

4. "Health News," Prevention, June 2002, p44 

5. "Stress," Newsweek, June 14, 1999 

6. "Stress: Assault on the Immune System," Energy Times, May 1999

 

• Go Further With Christ
• Email To a Friend
• Comments or Questions?