One of life’s toughest problems is stress. The word “stress” relates to pressure applied either from the outside or inside. “Stress” is a term familiar not only to the medical field but also to engineering and architecture. When architects design a building, they are careful to calculate the stress-bearing capacity of the foundation, walls, and roof. They estimate the effects of wind, snow, and ice, and then allow a generous margin of stress safety.
God is the Divine Architect who designed you and me. He created us with a capacity to bear only so much stress, and He knows how much stress we can withstand (Psa. 103:14a). To strangle stress, we must know the causes of stress and the cure for stress.
Have you ever felt like a failure as a Christian, parent, husband, wife, friend, or as a person? We all have our setbacks and defeats—times when we feel like failures. Sometimes, failure even overwhelms us. The Bible is a series of stories about failures. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and caused the entire human race to fall. Noah got drunk. Moses killed an Egyptian and had to flee to the desert. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband. Simon Peter denied the Lord. John Mark deserted Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey. These are just a few stories of failures mentioned in the Bible. However, the Bible is also the story of how God loves and forgives failures. In this lesson, we will look at the results of failure and recovering from failure.
Discouragement is one of the most effective weapons in the Evil One’s arsenal. Therefore, we need to know how to defeat discouragement. You may be discouraged right now because of some kind of adversity in your life. It may be a health crisis, a marriage crisis, a parental crisis, a financial crisis, a career crisis, or whatever.
All of us have bouts with discouragement. When we are discouraged, we feel like giving up because we are disheartened, dispirited, and defeated. However, the more we try to live for the Lord, the more we will have to battle discouragement because it is the devil’s choice weapon. That’s why, over and over again, we read in the Bible: “Do not be discouraged.” The New Testament uses words and phrases like weary, faint, lose heart, give up, and dismayed to describe discouragement. What wonderful promise about discouragement does God give us in Galatians 6:9?
How much light does a burned-out light bulb produce? None! How much light does a burned-out Christian produce? None! Burnout occurs when we give out more than we take in. In Lesson 11, we talked about stress, and long-term stress results in burnout.
Burnout doesn’t happen overnight. It evolves over a long period of time and often results from making too many commitments. Such a lifestyle works fine for a while, but finally it brings us to the point of exhaustion. We become “zapped.” Our motivation leaves us, and we can’t stand the thought of another obligation or responsibility. In this lesson, we will answer three questions: what is burnout, how do I recognize burnout, and how do I beat burnout.
We live in an angry world where we often see anger revealing itself through rage. There is road rage, cell phone rage, checkout line rage, and “I’ve lost my wife in Wal-Mart” rage. Have you ever suffered from one of these forms of rage? Regardless of the reason for our anger, in a few seconds we can say and do very hurtful things that can destroy a relationship that has taken years to build. We should be very careful about destroying relationships because of what truth in Proverbs 18:19?
That means it is harder to patch up a broken relationship than to capture a fortified city, and arguments separate friends like a gate locked with iron bars. Nothing hurts or destroys more relationships than anger. In this lesson, we will look at three things: the categories of anger, the causes of anger, and the cure for anger, beginning with …
Building the Foundation for Lasting Happiness (Matthew 5:17–20)
Nothing that is built without a firm foundation will last. A house built on a weak foundation will crack and crumble. A “journey into blessed living” requires the firm foundation of the Word of God. We cannot live out the Beatitudes unless we stand on the foundation of God’s Word.
To emphasize the importance of the Bible in His confrontations and in answering questions, Jesus repeatedly begins His response with three words. The first time is immediately after His baptism when He hasn’t eaten in forty days. The Evil One tempts Jesus to use His power selfishly by turning stones into bread. What are the first three words in Jesus’ answer (Matthew 4:4)?
ON BRIGHTENING YOUR LIGHT AS A CHRISTIAN – MATTHEW 5:14-16
If we live out the Beatitudes, we will be the salt of the earth, as we discussed in the last lesson. However, not only will we be the salt of the earth but what else will we be, according to Jesus in Matthew 5:14a?
For this to be a reality in our lives, we must do three things …
Comprehend what light is (5:14a)
The word translated light (phōs, foce) means to shine or make manifest. In a physical sense, light enables us to see form and color. In the spiritual sense, light enables us to see spiritual truth. That’s why Jesus makes what statement in John 9:5?
