Resilience Reflects the Redeemer
"We saw clearly that the Lord was with you." Genesis 26:28
Good morning and welcome to the Spirit of Stress newsletter! It’s a pleasure to be with you in spirit this morning. I hope you have your Bible, your coffee, tea, or favorite drink, and maybe a tissue or two. I trust the Lord has provided for you and kept you this past week. If you’re new here, welcome and thank you for joining us. I pray this newsletter is a well for you to draw from to grow in your faith. I pray you’re able to read this in comfort, but if you’re reading this in distress, know that God is close to the broken hearted and he has not forsaken you.
Growing up in New York, I was used to long, cold, dark winters. But even though I was used to them, I wasn’t immune to the effects they had on me. I’ve struggled with depression on and off since I was 18 years old, and it began as seasonal depression. Fast forward a few years, I was working as a personal trainer in a gym that was in the basement of a mall, so there were no windows. Soon after I became a workaholic when I worked for UFC GYM, trying to climb the corporate ladder, and would leave early in the morning before the sun rose, work all day, and leave work after the sun went down. I really only saw the sun, (and my family), for a couple hours on the weekend, and I was averaging four hours of sleep a night.
Me and Dana White (UFC President), Las Vegas, 2017.
This went on for over a decade. And although I still appeared to be fit physically, I was unhealthy mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. And where do you think it was the most apparent? At home. The last place I wanted it show. I had no patience or tolerance for anything. I wasn’t the husband or father I always wanted to be— far from it, in fact, which brought about feelings of guilt and failure. I picked fights because it was easier to remain distant than it was to close the gap. Closing the gap required me admitting my errors, and there were a lot of them. Those feelings of guilt and failure brought about thoughts like, “I might as well work more. They’re better off without me. At least I can provide them with money and things.” Providing them with things I didn’t have gave me satisfaction. But the satisfaction I really wanted, was to know that I was the husband and father they deserved, and the witness for Christ I ought to be. There wasn’t much evidence in my life that I had been redeemed, and at times, I questioned whether I was saved at all. This was a dark and difficult season for me. But one in which God proved himself to be faithful and almighty in.
Today I’m going to ask you to ask yourself a difficult question, “is it clear to people that the Lord is with me?” Most importantly, “is it clear to my family that the Lord is with me?” We’re going to talk about the importance of being an accurate reflection of Christ in the world, and how the snares of the devil, and our innate love for money and the world destroy our resilience and hinder our ability to be the witness for Christ we all want to be. But first, let’s pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we come to you simply because you are who you are, and we are who we are. You are able. We are not. You are strong. We are weak. Apart from you we can do nothing. We come for wisdom and revelation, for faith and repentance, for minds to know you, hearts to love you, and a willful spirit to do what pleases you. We pray this morning, for your namesake, don’t leave us unsanctified and unchanged. Come with power into our lives; light up the darkness and shake what can be shaken. Remove what can be removed - whatever muddles reflection of you and hinders our ability to testify of your goodness and power. Help us to walk uprightly. Help us to see the traps our enemy has set for us. Keep us from stumbling and set us on solid ground. For your namesake, help us to live in the reality of our resurrected lives here and now. Help us to bring honor and glory to your name, Lord. In Jesus’s name we pray, amen.
Resilience Glorifies God
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:12
Good deeds don’t come easy.
resilience: the ability to recover from or adjust to stress, change, or misfortune. Merriam Webster
Good deeds require resilience. The life we are called to live for Christ is demanding; it costs us our self, and it’s difficult to live such good lives among the pagans and let our light shine before others when we’re at the end of our rope all of the time. We glorify God with our good deeds and although our spirit wills it, our flesh is weak. On its best day it’s weak. But when we’re sleep deprived or have an unhealthy lifestyle, the weak and depraved flesh is at its worst. It’s imperative that we do what we can to improve our ability to cope and manage stress so we can glorify God and be the witness for Christ we want to be. Like suffering, (see last week’s newsletter here), good deeds are a mark of a true Christian. “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them,” (Matt. 7:20).
Resilience Gathers the Lost Sheep
When it is clear that the Lord is with us, we prove God is alive, active, able, and almighty. People who know our sinful history see our liberation from the slavery we were once in. We testify to the fact that our God is no myth and that he is just as active in the lives of his children today as he was thousands of years ago. Though they do not see blind men given sight, they see spiritually blind men given sight. They may not witness, with their natural eyes, dry bones come to life, but they witness spiritually dead people become spiritually alive. In this way, by the power of God, faith is born in the heart of a lost sheep, and now believing, he is gathered unto God.
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Luke 11:23
If we’re not gathering, we’re scattering; there’s no gray area, and how can we gather if we don’t have evidence that we ourselves have been redeemed. Evidence of resilience is evidence that the Lord is with us. If we lose our temper quickly, is it clear that the Lord is with us? If we give no grace, speak poorly of others, or have no patience, tolerance, or bandwidth, is it clear that the Lord is with us? No, it’s not.
Resilience is evidence of redemption.
Paul says, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not destroyed,” (2 Cor. 4:8). How do we react to stress and misfortune? Is our spirit crushed, destroyed, or in despair? If so, then it is not clear the Lord is with us.
Satan’s Snares
Wherever there’s food, there’s a trap.
Satan has a snare for every verse in the Bible— a misinterpretation that misleads us. We see this played out when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. When he recognized Jesus was clinging to scripture as his guide, Satan tried to use scripture to deceive Jesus, saying, “if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone,’” (Matt. 4:6). Jesus responded with, “it is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test,’” (Matt. 4:7). This is why it’s so important to know scripture well— Satan uses it against us.
When Satan says, “it’s ok to chase money, for it is written: ‘Seek first God’s kingdom.’ As long as you seek God’s kingdom first, you can seek money second.” We have to respond with, “it is also written: ‘One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple,’” (Ps. 27:4). And also, “no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money,” (Matt. 6:24).
serve: to work for. Cambridge Dictionary
What we love, we serve. And what we serve, we love.
It is not ok to love money as long as we love it less than God. We’ve been deceived to think that’s possible. We don’t love the one less than the other, we love the one and we hate the other, (again, no gray area). I was caught in this snare for quite a while. I pursued financial-gain and it cost me. What I gained financially, I lost spiritually— mainly intimacy with the Lord and my family. I lost focus and sought gratification and satisfaction from the world, forgetting that the Lord is my portion. I forgot who I was and no longer did I reflect Christ, I reflected the world.
“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” James 1:23-24
Satan has led many good men away from the home to provide financially and deprive spiritually.
Satan’s offer is always gain the world and lose your soul. Listen carefully to the voice of Satan as spoken through Pharoah in Exodus when speaking of the enslaved Jews:
“That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: ‘you are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, “let us go and sacrifice to our God.” Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.’” Exodus 5:6-9
It has always been a strategy of Satan to keep us busy at work in an effort to keep us from communing with and serving our God because he knows what we now know - there’s no gray area. If we don’t believe in God, we’ll work to gain all that we can in this world. But if we know God is true, we will show that we are foreigners and strangers here.
Resilience Requires Redirection
For many of us, we need to evaluate what we’ve been serving and set our affections on the Lord. And because we’re still attached to this body of death, as Paul calls it, we have to continue examining our hearts and motives for as long as we live. Sheep, as we are, are prone to go astray, but thanks be to God who pokes and prods us to keep us on the narrow path. Whenever the Lord redirects us, the fog we’re living in lifts, the chains break, we reflect our Redeemer, and it’s clear to everyone that the Lord is with us.
The Exercise Tip of the Week (ETOW) in the video below, which is really more of a health tip than an exercise tip, is about the benefits of spending time in the sun. It optimizes our circadian rhythm, which improves our physiological resilience— our ability to manage stress, have a longer fuse, and be more patient. I hope you enjoy it! But first, let’s pray.
Closing Prayer
Lord, thank you for being faithful. Thank you for interceding for us and protecting us from the evil one. Thank you for your promise to finish what you began in us. Thank you for giving us an inheritance that will never spoil, perish, or fade and equipping us with everything good for doing your will. Thank you for being the Good Shepherd and for the goads that pierce us and keep us from going astray. Thank you for the Holy Spirit that convicts us and comforts us in our distress. Help us to see the traps our enemy has set for us. Help us to set our affections on you and you alone, to seek you and your kingdom only. Compel us to search our hearts and help us to mortify our flesh. Help us to see ourselves as we are: poor and needy. And help us to see you as you are: almighty and sufficient. You, Lord, are our rock and our portion, both now and forever. Amen.
Until next time, God willing, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Exercise Tip of the Week (ETOW):
Spiritual Tip: Spend time in the Son. No, that’s not a typo. The Son, like the sun, is a light! As the sun helps release endorphins that lift our mood, bring relaxation, and pain relief physically. The Son lifts our spirit, brings joy, rest, and comfort! “My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord,” (Ps. 104:34).
Book Recommendation: Words of Warning for Daily Life, by Charles Spurgeon.
An excerpt:
Again, there are some runners in the heavenly race who cannot win because they carry too much weight. A light weight, of course, has the advantage. There are some people who have an immensely heavy weight to carry. “How hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of heaven!” What is the reason? Because he carries so much weight; he has so much of the cares and pleasures of this world; he has such a burden that he is not likely to win, unless God should please to give him a mighty mass of strength to enable him to bear it. We find many men willing to be saved, as they say; they receive the Word with great joy, but by-and-bye thorns spring up and choke the Word. They have so much business to do; they say they must live; they forget they must die. They have such a deal to attend to, they cannot think of living near to Christ. They find they have little time for devotions; morning prayer must be cut short, because their business begins early; they can have no prayer at night, because business keeps them so late. How can they be expected to think of the things of God?
