HANDLING EMOTIONS UNDER PRESSURE
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3
WHAT IS PEACE?
I looked up peace in the dictionary and I found out that it is Freedom from disturbance, tranquility. It is not showing or feeling nervousness, anger or other strong emotions. Peace, I discovered, is the absence of war or violence.
HOW ARE YOU?
So are you constantly at war within yourself?
Are you always at war with your circumstances, situations and with others?; are you tense, angry, nervous, irritable or edgy? Maybe it’s not you but it’s someone you know.
How do you handle mental or emotional strain or tension, resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances?
How do you deal with negative and extremely demanding situations?
How do you deal with negative emotions towards others?; friends, colleagues, neighbours, loved ones?
How do you cope with extremely demanding jobs, business, careers and authorities?
What do you do when you start to feel resentment or anger and you’re ready to pick a fight anywhere and with anyone?
How do you fixed ease even when you are at war within yourself?
WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure. When you feel you are unable to cope with these circumstances, pressure turns into stress
Lots of things can cause stress, including work, relationships and money problems. Stress can affect how you feel, think, behave and how your body works – from how well you sleep to your immune system.
People who are exposed to unremitting stress on a continuous basis may develop anxiety or panic attacks.
Long-term stress puts your health at risk.
There are various ways we react to pressure and/or stress.
– HOW NOT TO REACT TO STRESS
Emotions and feelings are real.
When confronted with unpleasant or stressful situations, how we handle the strain is very important.
ANGER
Moses always confronted emotional or physical strain with anger.
When he visited his brethren and saw the injustice being meted our to them, Moses’ anger caused him to kill the Egyptian maltreating his fellow Israelite,
“…and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand…. When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh”
(Exodus 2:12 and 15)
Moses’ action turned him into a fugitive.
He never dealt with his anger issues, and a few years down the line;
“Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written….. the tablets were the work of God and the writing the writing of God….“And as soon as he …saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.” (Exodus 32:15 - 19)
Moses never dealt with anger as a response to stress, difficult or unpleasant situations, and this eventually robbed him of his destiny
And in numbers chapter 20, Moses angrily struck the rock when asked to speak to it, disobeying God in anger because of the people’s rebellion. This single action caused Moses to miss the promise land.
Do you let anger take its toll on you?
Do you allow other people to dictate your response to life?
Rage, Fury, Fire are some of the names to describe Moses. Uncontrolled, it stopped him from becoming who he was really destined to be.
What could anger cause you to lose?; your dreams? your health, salvation, ministry, marriage, career, friends, relationships, money, or your mind?
Are you uncontrollable like Moses when anger kicks in?
KING SAUL : IMPATIENT, PANICK, RASH AND IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOURS
What about King Saul, destined for greatness?
A man who struggled to deal with his emotions, under pressure.
Designed for greatness and on his way to fulfil it, he just didn’t know how to manage unfavourable situations, throwing it all away under pressure.
He made rash judgements as a king, panicked under pressure, and just couldn’t place his emotions under control when faced with adversity.
Saul threw the toys out of the tram, threw tantrums, tried to have his own way at all costs, played to to the gallery and erred several times, in order to satisfy his own ego.
Under pressure, he pronounced a death sentence upon his own son. (1Sam 14)
Under pressure he entered the prophets Office to God’s displeasure. (1Sam 13)
Under pressure by his own people at Amalek, he made another irrational decision, disobeying God by sparing Agag and all the beautiful things he was asked to destroy, just so he could please the people (1Sam 15)
Saul ended his own reign because of his ego and inability to handle his emotions correctly
Saul, again under pressure, became impatient and practised idolatry when it seemed he couldn’t hear from God, by visiting the witch at Endor (1Sam 28)
Saul wouldn’t change, but God cannot change as well, so God departed from him “the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him” (1Sam 16:14)
Saul eventually committed suicide when depression and the fear of loss overcame him.
Are you like Saul under pressure ?
What about David, Samson, Solomon, Judas Iscariot, Annanais, Sapphiras and other biblical characters who erred because they couldn’t deal with their emotions properly, or just didn’t know to handle stress?
How you choose to react under adverse situations is important to your well being, health and prosperity. It is also important to your relationship with others and with God.
PRAYER
Lord let me not destroy everything you created me to be, with my actions.
Lord Teach me how to accept the uncomfortable, momentarily, so that I do not trade my destiny, health, ministry, home, career, Life and salvation for nothing
Every chronicles of anger, impatience, fury, irrational decisions and rash judgements, designed for my generation, that would place limitations upon my life, Lord erase it in Jesus name.
I’ll be back next week to finish this.