Lose Your Stress & Find Your Rest! Join In and Find Out How!
Shifting Our Focus for Better Empowerment - Through Trusting God and Following Jesus - Lose your stress & Find your rest!
We continue our Summer series on learning to shift our thoughts, our way of thinking to the way of God’s Kingdom way of thinking through discovery of a few simple tweaks we can make. In this series, we continue looking at the story of Moses and how the Israelites took decades to enter God’s promised land but their attitude left them wandering in the wilderness for decades.
Let’s not get lost in the chaos and confusion of a bad day, situations we can’t control and circumstances that may not be all that easy to go through. We can’t run from them, but God can give us the strength and grace to get through. And that is what He was trying to give to Diana and to the Israelties But with just a shift, we can empower ourselves to have better days! So are you ready? Let’s dive in.
Diana’s Notes
Shifting Our Focus for Better Empowerment - Through Holding Our Peace and Remaining at Rest
Welcome to week 7 of our summer series of Heartfelt Conversations with Diana!
Our conversations this summer have been about shifting our focus, our thoughts, our attitudes and behaviors off of the things that keep us stagnant in life. Keep us from pressing on towards the greater things that are within us - And, about trying to control everything around us so we can avoid being hurt. Taken off guard. Disappointed. Again.
Did you know that We can actually frustrate ourselves when we fix our focus on the wrong beliefs. Where we place our trust, our confidence.
We can create our own panic attacks and anxieties by trying to control every- thing and every-one around us. - Which we all know - We can’t control Every - Thing or Every-One! Or - we try to PLEASE every - one - and every - thing around us. BOTH are not healthy!
So, we have been learning to shift our thoughts off our emotions and onto knowing we can Trust God to care and watch out for us. In other words, we have been learning to lean on God and take the stress and pressure off that we all feel and go to Him for advice.
Philippians 4:6 in the New Living Translation reads:
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and THANK HIM for all He has done.
Why? Why does God tell me rather than getting upset, rather than trying to figure all the problems out on my own, rather than getting on Facebook and updating my story to reveal everybody’s dirt that I’m mad at in the moment, rather than allowing personal hurt and emotions to ruin my day my week my month my year then years… God instructs us to take our concerns to Him in prayer, to petition His help as God, but especially I come to Him as His child and I simply ask with a sincere earnest heart to help me, to supply whatever it is that I need. Money, a hug, humor, I have asked God for every basic need a person could ask for. And every time I ask in earnest, He answers me. It doesn’t always come in the way I was expecting it, but the need is always met. There are some things we can do, must do, need to do on our own and God will help us, but there are those things that we have no power over and those are the things to not stress over, worry about but take to God and Trust Him with it. And then continue to walk with your heart and eyes fixed on Jesus and you will begin to discover as I did, that the things that used to steal from your life and stress you out and depress you, no longer weigh you down. Your days are not so stressed and exasperating and exhausting with drama and overload.
Verse 7 in Philippians 4 goes on to give us this answer about why God wants us not to worry but to take everything to HIM in prayer AND Thank Him for what He has already done. Have a grateful heart, not a complaining attitude.
Verse 7:
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
There is a lot of comfort in that verse!
God is not trying to control us or find out what is on our hearts or fills our minds, He already knows! He is teaching us to depend on Him because He desires that we experience HIS Peace, the God Who told Moses, I AM that I AM
Moses was having a conversation with God about His rescue plan for the Israelites and how Moses was to be God’s spokesman ( so to speak) So Moses was asking God, when the people ask for his credentials, when they want to know Who sent him ( Moses) God responded with Exodus 3:14, but I am going to back up just a bit and read from verse 11 through 15
Exodus 3:11-15:
And Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
God said, I will surely be with you: and this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you; when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. (Horeb, or Sinai)
And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is His Name? What shall I say to them?
And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM AND WHAT I AM, AND I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; And He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!
God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelities; The LORD, The God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Issac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is MY Name forever, and by this Name I AM to be remembered to all generations.
When we get our thoughts in line with our hearts and spirits we come to know, to grasp and understand by experience and trials, through good days and bad days that God is always the same. We can count on Him to always be constant, stable, trustworthy to His word and when we Trust IN Him, we are strengthened with His peace.
You have I AM on your side!!! And when you feel like you are nobody, remember that I AM says you are a somebody! Moses felt unworthy and probably a little ridiculous telling the Israelites that God had sent him. You can hear the smart comments now. Oy yeah sure God sent you, yea right buddy why don’t you slam down another shot or two. You’ll be alright . Laughing and jeering, but God.
That is all you need to remember when whispers come
BUT GOD!
Let me tell you, I am sold out, hook, line and sinker on this! When you can stop trying to control everything, when you can relax your grip, and learn to trust in God the exact same way Jesus did as He walked this earth knowing the cost of His life one day and to still remain at peace knowing God is good, God is love, knowing if God be for me, who can be against me???
There is nothing - not - a - thing!!!!! In this world that I crave and desire more than God’s peace and His presence. I have come to treasure the calmness and the rest and the delight of His Presence and life becomes very sweet when you walk in fellowship with your heavenly Father.
I told you last week that I look for God every day in my life. My eyes are fixed on learning “of” Jesus every day. I expect Him to show up in my life because I ask Him to. I invite Him to interrupt my plans with His plans because I know His are the best!
Last week I also shared that I use to struggle with having to be in control because I thought controlling every- thing and every -one would keep me safe - free of hurts and disappointments - and I said, I hated to be the one to mention this, but, hopefully we had all come to realize that we can’t run from disappointments , we can’t hide from struggles. We started to talk about how do we have any hope, any comfort, any encouragement that our lives can be better, richer, fuller, more abundant and satisfying, Balanced!
By Trusting and Obeying God! And how do we get to a place in our lives where we CAN Trust God and become confident enough IN HIM - To Obey??!!
The answer: By Following Jesus
If you can get these next few verses into your heart and just marinate in them and let them minister to your heart, if you can allow them to be like medication for all your burdens, I promise, your stress levels WILL go down! You can’t play patty cake with it. Go at it with a determined purpose of less stress in your life and it will happen. And Jesus tells us how to have less stress in our lives in Matthew.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 11: 28- 30 to come to Him -
Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I AM humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.”
That is how I have been learning. Jesus my Shepherd - Jehovah Rafa. God challenged me one day to truly believe He could and He would supply my “daily needs” - to give up any false security of independence from Him and to fully, completely, solely, lean on Him! I simply asked How? How do I genuinely, authentically, Learn to do this when I know all people fail, no one is perfect - who could be a mentor for me?
And then I read Matthew 11: 28-30 and Jesus said, Learn of Me and I knew whatever I needed to do, it needed to start with “Learning of Jesus” sitting at His feet. My Rabbi and Teacher.
Remember last week we read in Hebrews that Jesus is the perfecter of our faith. What better teacher could there be?
Hebrews 12:1 says:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles us, AND let us RUN with PERSEVERANCE the race, marked out for us - BY Fixing our eyes on Jesus, The Pioneer and Perfecter of faith.
We also read:
2 Corinthians 12:10 in the AMP Bible:
So, I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak (in human strength), then I am strong (truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength.)
We have God’s Spirit in us, and it is by and through our spirit that we receive God’s instructions. The Holy Spirit also helps try to guide us, nudge us while trying to keep us on the right path. The Holy Spirit is your supernatural weapon along with the Word of God. You can’t know God’s plans if you aren’t in communication with Him or know how He thinks and operates. His word is how you learn Who He is. His Spirit fellowshipping with our spirit is how He fuels us, moves us, empowers us, where we draw our strength and courage and boldness from. Then we are able to run towards fear because we are more than conquerors in Christ!
I was in such a mess by the time I finally laid everything at the cross. But when my heart was sincere and I was determined to believe and follow, when I asked God, How do I follow Jesus? How do I learn of Him, I received Matthew 11:28-30, and it has been my grounding verse. My regulator when I become overwhelmed with emotions or feelings or just really want to be a jerk like a lot of other people,
I give it to Jesus and in exchange He gives me His burdens which are always light and easy to bear.
He promised to be gentle towards me while I was learning because I had never had much tenderness, love, mercy in my life.
The fact that Jesus cared enough about me to lift me up out of the ditch I put my life in and allow me to not be shamed but allowed me to hold my head up, He restored my dignity so lovingly and I love Him all the more for that right there! I never received shame again once I gave it all to Jesus.
HE took every bit of it and covered me in a garment of love and grace and mercy.
This week, when we get weary, tired, stressed… let’s go to Jesus for rest. Hold your peace and don’t let go of it by allowing emotions and feelings to over take you. Jesus said Himself, “Come to Me all you who are weary, who carry burdens. Do you carry burdens? Then Jesus is speaking to you.
This week, let's empower our souls, our spirits, our thoughts by meditating on Matthew 11:28-30
Then Jesus said, “ Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I AM humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.”
Remember Exodus 14:14: The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.
Hold your peace by giving everything that you have no power to change, over to God! LET IT GO!
When we come to Him with our burdens is when He gives us rest, not just sitting around thinking about it, intending to one day, No, from this day on. Practice, practice, practice. Practice until you are on the starting team!
If you fall down, miss the mark, screw up! Get up and keep going!
I’m just saying, nothing worthy and excellent comes without putting yourself fully into it.
I hope these conversations inspire someone to be encouraged and step out in a faith walk with Jesus today and not wait one more day!!!!
Let’s focus our hearts and minds on TRUSTING GOD, Holding our Peace and Remaining at Rest!
And when we are at rest - We are not stressed
Enjoy what is left of this amazing summer!
May God strengthen you, help you, and uphold you with His righteous right hand!
God Bless! And see you next week!
Songs to inspire you
Jason Crabb & Dylan Scott - Good Morning Mercy (Official Music Video)
Brandon Lake - MIRACLE CHILD (Music Video)
for KING + COUNTRY - God Only Knows (Official Music Video)
Scriptures from this week's Podcast
Philippians 4:6: New living Translation
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and THANK HIM for all He has done.
Verse 7:
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus
Exodus 3:11-15:
And Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
God said, I will surely be with you: and this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you; when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. (Horeb, or Sinai)
And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His Name? What shall I say to them?
And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM AND WHAT I AM, AND I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; And He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!
God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelities; The LORD, The God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Issac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is MY Name forever, and by this Name I AM to be remembered to all generations.
Matthew 11: 28- 30: NLT - Come to Him -
Then Jesus said, “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I AM humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.”
Other Verses from series:
2 Corinthians 12:10 in the AMP Bible says:
So, I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak (in human strength), then I am strong (truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God’s strength.)
EXODUS 14:14
The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest. In Christ you have the same power living in you that rose Jesus from the grave! How amazing is that child of God!
Foundation Verse
Romans 8:11
The Spirit of God, Who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Chrisr Jesus from the dead, He will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living in you. “
Additional Resources
Prayer of Salvation
Jesus has given salvation, healing, and countless benefits to all who call upon His name. These benefits can be yours if you receive Him into your heart by saying this prayer:
Heavenly Father, I come to You admitting that I am a sinner. Right now, I choose to turn away from sin, and I ask You to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I believe that Jesus rose again from the dead so that I may be justified and made righteous through faith in Him. I call upon the name of Jesus Christ to be the Savior and Lord of my life. Jesus, I choose to follow You, and I ask that You fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit. I declare right now that I am a born again, child of God. I am free from sin and full of the righteousness of God. I am saved in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This prayer and the comment above, were taken out of the book:
Secrets to Powerful Prayer - Discovering the Languages of the Heart
By Lynne Hammond and Patsy Cameneti
If you have just received Jesus as your Savior, please write Lynne Hammond Ministries at:
PO Box 29469
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55429-2946
Or, email one of the ministries listed on the Additional Resources Tab and let them know that you are a brand new christian and need some direction on the next steps for your new life in Christ.
Or email us here at Heartfelt Conversations with Diana and we will pass along your information for you.
Congratulations if you are a brand new Christian or if you have Returned Home! Welcome!!! Get in God’s Word and get it into you!
Diana’s Home Church:
Valley Family Church - Pastor’s Eric and Alexa Jones
www.valleyfamilychurch.org
Other recommended Jesus-centered churches who teach the True Word of God:
Elevation Church - Steven Furtick
https://elevationchurch.org/
Joseph Prince Ministries - Joseph Prince
https://www.josephprince.org/
Joyce Meyer Ministries
https://joycemeyer.org/