A man stood in a misty field with his head down

 

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Stress (6)

17 September 2019
‘Very early in the morning…Jesus…prayed.’

Another way we can decrease our stress levels is by making prayer a daily habit. Prayer is a great stress-reliever. Jesus made prayer a priority. The Bible tells us that He repeatedly withdrew from what He was doing to spend time with His Father. That included taking time out of His ministry work. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus dismissed the crowds and ‘he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray’ (Matthew 14:23 NIV). Time alone with God can help us to gain perspective on our situations, and experience the peace that only He gives. If we take time out of our busy days to talk to God in prayer, tell Him what’s on our minds, and let Him talk to us as we read the Bible, then we’ll feel calmer and more prepared to face the things ahead of us. There’s nothing too big or small to bring to God. He’s interested in every detail of our lives. Sometimes we can become stressed because we struggle to just stop and be quiet. But God says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10). We’re often too busy to be quiet and just think. Instead we’re speeding through life without knowing where we’re heading. Instead of letting our minds and bodies restore in our quiet times, we spend hours on our phones scrolling through social media sites, which can overload our minds with information and lead to comparison and stress. We should be starting our mornings with prayer, and stopping throughout the day to pray again and recharge our spiritual batteries. We need to prioritise prayer, no matter how busy we are. We need to stop and be still, no matter how challenging it can be to block out the noise of the world.  

 

What Now?

When you feel the urge to check social media first thing in the morning, use this feeling as a reminder to pray first instead.

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