Greetings in the Precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Last week must have been quite a STRESS-ful week for some (myself included). I received news that all my planned trips to work with some of the branches had been suspended and yet my work had to carry on via phone/ teleconferences etc. I asked the Lord what was going on and He reminded me of His grace for me.

You must have wondered why I made the subject of this week's sharing "STRESS". I am very sure all of us know what stress is but I am not sure if you know that hidden in the word is a message - Struggling To Resolve Every Situation Single-handedly.

How does stress arise? I asked the Lord and He showed me two factors: -

1. We have the wrong relationship with the Lord - i.e. we are at odds with Him and we do not allow Him to work through our lives.

§ After the Blood of Jesus has saved us, we are to rest in Him. However, at times, we want to do things our way; we sought of want to "give Him a helping hand".

§ I am reminded of the story of Abraham. In Genesis 15, God promised Abraham that he will have a son from his own body (verse 4) and that night God sealed a covenant with him (Genesis 15: 5 - 21). So what do you think Abraham did?

§ Obviously He helped God by having a son through Hagar, his concubine who was his wife's Egyptian maid. "A little help for God would not hurt, right?" Wrong. God's promise was for the son to come via Sarah his wife. And what became of the mistake made? We are still witnessing the effects of that mistake - the Middle East conflict. All the Arab countries are clamoring for control over one piece of land claiming that as its birthright in Abraham.

§ Abraham had to drive Ishmael out of the family household later when Isaac, the real son he was to have, was born. Until Abraham realized his mistake and gave up trying but allowed God to take over was he able to achieve what God really wanted him to have.

§ You see, our Heavenly Father allows us to make our own decisions even though they may not be His decisions for us. He created us with a spirit and with this spirit comes choice. God did not create robots that obey every instruction given. We are free to make our own decisions but with the choice also comes responsibility - we have to bear the consequences of every choice we make.

§ Did the Lord leave Abraham alone with his bad choice forever? Obviously from the Bible we know that it was a total of 13 years that God was silent with Abraham. Was it because He was angry with Abraham? I don't think so. I believe it was because Abraham was too busy "enjoying his new found son Ishmael".

§ You see, when we work, the Lord stands aside but when we stand aside and invite Him to work in and through our lives, He will honor His promise to us that He will take care of us.

2. We set our own targets and they may be unrealistic.

§ Ever had the feeling that some of the disappointments we had faced in the past could have been avoided if we had spent some time praying before making those decisions? For one thing, at least we know that after spending time praying in the will of the Lord, we have the peace in our hearts and when we face those situations, we will not be disappointed.

§ Life is never what we expect of it. When we set our own targets, do we know enough of ourselves where our strengths and weaknesses are?

§ Do we know enough of the environment of the decision to make those decisions on our own?

§ When we set our own expectations and targets, we get frustrated when we do not get our desired results and we push ourselves to try harder. But each time we do that, we get worse results because we would have spent our resources and we get drained. The higher the expectations we set, the higher the targets and chances are, the higher the stress/ disappointment level when we fall short of those targets/ objectives.

§ No wonder our Lord Jesus encouraged His disciples in Matthew 11:28- 30
28. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

§ But what did Jesus mean by taking His yoke? Interesting because a yoke normally comes in a pair - i.e. a pair of oxen is strapped together to the yoke and together they will walk the fields. It is never meant for one animal to carry that yoke. If that happens, very soon the animal will get tired and exhausted. Also if there is only one animal bearing that yoke, it goes out of balance and no matter how hard the farmer guides the animal, it will never be able to walk straight. I believe Jesus wants to share that yoke with us because He is the Strong One of God and with him sharing that yoke, we would never feel tired because each time we feel the strain, He knows and He will come and take over the burden from us.

I know it is never easy knowing just what to do in every situation we face every day. That is why we need to know God's will for our lives each day. Spend time with Him and know the "heartbeat of God" and know Him; yes, I said know God and not know about God. Go on, try it and you will not regret it.

Best regards,
Andrew L W Lee

Dated : 06 August 2001