Stress + Anxiety

We live in a stress sandwich. The stress sandwich is when you try to put a slice of today in between the two larger slices of the regret of yesterday and the worry of tomorrow.

Jesus gives us the Lord's Prayer as a great roadmap to not live in that stress.

When we say "give us today", we are recognizing that we can't go back to yesterday and we don't have tomorrow promised. So, we have today. It's pretty simple. We have given anxiety a seat at the table and written it into our story. But God has power and authority. He has a powerful name.

The way of freedom is seizing today and living with Christ today.

Our Father in Heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come (today),

your will be done (today),

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts (today),

as we also have forgiven our debtors (today).

And lead us not into temptation (today),

but deliver us from the evil one (today).

Matthew 6:9-13, (today) added

During the last message we learned about Jesus being our daily bread, and in this message, we'll see how he is our daily grace as well.

How do we TRUST God to give us today?

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• Turn down the covers at night of His grace. Then lie down in His forgiveness over your life. The Hebrew mindset is going to bed trusting God and then waking up to see what God has done. It's His will to be done, not yours. Thank God for His grace as you fall asleep.

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• Reflect that grace to others. Ephesians 4:32 says to forgive others just as in Christ, God forgave you. We love getting the shovel of grace, but we give barely a teaspoon to others. If that's what your daily grace looks like, you won't have peace. It's not sweeping under the rug or putting yourself in harm's way; it's reflecting what God has done for you so that as far as it depends on you, there's peace.

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• Uproot the urge for revenge and offload justice to a just God. It's not shirking responsibility, if someone needs to be held accountable, then let that happen. It's more about changing position from being the judge and jury of every single thing that happens in your life to letting God, who sits on the Throne, be the Judge and Jury. Ask for justice over your life and theirs. Let truth prevail.
• Psalm 3:5 shows the rhythm of daily grace, this is what happens when you uproot the urge to defend. You sleep at night.
• Psalm 3:7 permits you to ask God to break the teeth of anything that's trying to speak less than the best.

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• Start your morning with confidence that God is working. The day starts with "Lord, show me all You've been doing" not "Oh Lord, here's what I need you to do today".

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• Take every step in the power that He supplies. He is enough. The same Christ that died to give you forgiveness, so you could lie down at night in the covers of His grace is the same Christ that was raised up from the dead so that the incarnation could happen. The same Christ lives in you. The same power that raised Him up is the same power available to you and me as we trust Him...not one time, but every time, not one moment, but every moment.

Jesus is enough and He is the grace that we need. Trust Him and let Him handle it. Surrender to His grace and reflect it to others. Uproot the urge for revenge and start your morning with confidence that God is working on your behalf. Then take every step in the power that He supplies.