Christian Stress Management

How to Achieve Hard Goals like Abraham

Do you want something that seems like a hard goal to achieve?

Would you love to have something that seems impossible to get?

If you do, learn from Abraham how to achieve hard goals because he ended up with a child even though he was very old and his wife Sarah was an old woman.

In the natural this seemed an impossible goal but Abraham and Sarah did achieve it and you can also achieve humanly impossible goals by doing the following:

Choose to Have Faith

The Bible tells us that Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrew 11:1)

Therefore, decide to have faith by feeling the substance of the things you are hoping for and seeing with your mind's eye the things not yet visible with your physical eyes.

So if your hard goal is to get a baby, you have to feel the presence of the baby in your life and see yourself having a baby.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Choose to Have Faith in God's Word

Having a child was something that seemed impossible for Abraham to achieve in the natural because of his age and his wife's age. HOWEVER, Abraham chose to have faith in God's Word.

We know this because the Bible tells us that Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but he was strengthened in faith and praised God while being fully convinced that what God had promised He was also able to perform. (Romans 4:19-22)

So, go through the Bible and find Scriptures and Promises of God that support getting the thing that you want.

Click here to read The Promises of God and their Conditions

Then decide to wholeheartedly believe those Scriptures without taking into consideration the facts about your situation.

Choose to believe WHAT THE PROMISES OF GOD SAY instead of choosing to believe WHAT THE FACTS SAY about your situation.

This is because Abraham did not consider his own body already dead since he was around 100 years old or Sarah's barren womb. (Romans 4:19-22)

All that Abraham considered was God's Word and He was fully convinced that God would perform it.

As a result of choosing to believe God's Word and choosing to believe that God could do what He said, Abraham was able to get a son with Sarah in their old age.

Therefore if you want to achieve a big, hard goal, decide to believe God's Word wholeheartedly instead of believing the facts of your situation which say you cannot achieve the goal.

With God all things are possible Matthew 19:26

Even if the reality of your situation tells you that you are as good as dead (totally useless) and that the people who are supposed to help you are barren (poor and unproductive) or impotent (weak and powerless), decide to believe God's Word when it says you can achieve the goal.

Do not let your faith waver because of your limitations for Abraham did not let his 100 year old body shake his faith in God.

Do not also let your faith waver because of the limitations of your helpers for Abraham did not let Sarah's barren womb shake his faith in God.

Emulate Abraham and hope even when all odds are against you for the Bible tells us that Contrary to hope, he believed in hope. (Romans 4:18)

Abraham was able to hope even when there was no reason to hope because He was strengthened in faith. (Romans 4:20)

Click here to read How to Strengthen your Faith

He was also praising God for it is written that he was Giving glory to God. (Romans 4:20)

Consequently, Abraham Became the father of many nations according to what was spoken. (Romans 4:18)

Share in the comments section how you will achieve hard goals.

Almasi Christian Gifts Shop in Nairobi Kenya

10 Relaxation Tips for Stress at the Office

The symptoms of stress are varied and can range from tension headaches to back pains and sleeplessness. Therefore study yourself so that you can know how your body reacts when you are stressed. This self knowledge will help you manage the source of your stress and enable you to begin practicing relaxation techniques before you succumb to full-blown stress-related illnesses like hypertension and peptic ulcer disease.

This blog post on 10 relaxation tips for stress at the office will teach you the steps you can take to deal with the stress at work.

Pray

The first thing that you should do when faced with any stressful situation is to pray because it is written, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6)

Therefore, take a minute of two to pray about the things that are stressing you in the office and ask God to help you deal with them.

Breathe

The body's reaction to stress involves taking small, shallow breaths.

Therefore counter this response by inhaling deeply until your abdomen rises and exhaling deeply until it drops. Do this several times and you will begin to feel less stressed because abdominal breathing is a very effective relaxation technique.

Meditate

Meditation reduces stress, anxiety and depression. It also improves focus and concentration.

Therefore, when you find yourself getting stressed at the office, take a moment to meditate on Bible verses like I can do all things through Jesus Christ Who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

Do not be afraid because I am with you. Do not be dismayed because I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous Right Hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Click here for more Bible Verses to meditate on

Organize your Work Space

Clutter contributes to feeling stressed.

Therefore, organize your work space by tidying it and de-cluttering it. Place all your items in their designated spots. Make this an ongoing daily process by ensuring that everything that is brought into your office is neatly placed in its nook.

Organize your Work

Before your work day begins, plan how you will do the activities you are expected to do. If possible, develop a routine since engaging in repetitive activities relaxes the body and ensures you will not miss a task.

Skip the Coffee

Skip the coffee during your morning break since caffeine can trigger reactions in the body that are similar to those of the stress reaction.

Therefore, drink fresh fruit juices or sip green tea since it contains L-Theanine which reduces your body’s responses to stress.

Eat a Stress-Reducing Lunch

Eat foods that will not affect your mood adversely to avoid aggravating the effects of a stressful workplace.

For example, eat sandwiches made from whole wheat bread since they will not cause the rapid changes in blood sugar levels that are associated with the release of stress hormones. For optimum results, finish your lunch with a single square of dark chocolate since studies have shown that dark chocolate lowers stress levels.

Click here to learn about the Christian Chocolate Meditation

Relax over Lunch

After eating, relax for a few minutes by reading or giving yourself a temple massage with relaxing lavender oil. You can also fill crosswords or complete Sudoku puzzles during your lunch break to divert your mind from the stressful events in your work place.

Relax Yourself Progressively

At the end of the work day, if you find that you are tightly wound because of work-related stress, progressively relax your muscles.

To do this, tighten the muscles of your right foot for a few seconds and focus on how they feel. Follow this by relaxing the same muscles and focusing on the sensation so that you can know when those muscles are relaxed as this will help you differentiate when you are tense from when you are relaxed. Proceed with this tightening and relaxing of your muscles groups as you work your way up your body until you finish with the muscles on your face.

Visualize your Vacation

If you need a vacation because of the stress you are experiencing, but you cannot afford to take one, practice guided imagery.

To do this, close your eyes and imagine yourself at your favorite vacation spot. See the sights, hear the sounds, feel the sensations and even taste the food you are eating in your mental vacation.

To learn more relaxation tips for stress at the office, read Rules of Relaxation.

Please share in the comments section how you deal with stress at the office

How to Deal with False Accusations

How to deal with false accusations is part of our Dealing with the Devices of the Devil Series and has been adapted from the book We Are Not Ignorant Of His Devices.

Have you been accused of committing a crime you have not done?

Are you being punished for something you did not do?

Are you suffering physically, mentally, socially, legally, professionally and in any other way because of lies that have been perpetrated about you?

If you are, know that you are dealing with false accusations which are one of the devices of the devil.

We know that false accusations are a device of the devil because the Bible tells us that Satan is the Accuser of the brethren. (Revelations 12:10)

We can even see a good example of this when Joseph was falsely accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s life and imprisoned for several years because of it. (Genesis 39:1-20)

Nehemiah and the Israelites were also accused of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem so that they could rebel against the king. (Nehemiah 6:5-7) This was a false accusation because Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls because this was what God had placed in his heart for him to do in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 2:12)

How To Deal with False Accusations As A Christian

If you are a Christian and you want to deal with false accusations, do the following:

Pray

When Nehemiah was sent the letter with the false accusations, he prayed and said, “O God, strengthen my hands”. (Nehemiah 6:9)

Therefore if you are being attacked with false accusations, pray and ask God to help you and strengthen you so that you can continue doing what He has called you to do without being afraid of the consequences of the false accusations.

Sample prayers that you can say include the following:

Heavenly Father I ask You in the name of Jesus to vindicate me O Lord because I have walked in integrity and trusted in You. (Psalm 26:1)

Father God you are a God of justice (Isaiah 30:8) and I ask You in the name of Jesus to look into these false accusations and prove my innocence.

Heavenly Father I ask You in the name of Jesus to let justice flow like a river (Amos 5:24) in my life.

Heavenly Father I ask You in the name of Jesus to strengthen me (Nehemiah 6:9) so I can be strong in You Lord and in the power of Your might (Ephesians 6:10) as I deal with these false accusations and continue doing what you have called me to do.

Strengthen Yourself in the Lord

In addition to praying for God to strengthen you, strengthen yourself by encouraging yourself in the Lord so that you can continue doing what He has called you to do like Nehemiah. Click on the link to read How to Encourage Yourself in the Lord.

Continue Serving God

When Joseph was falsely accused and imprisoned, he continued to be faithful to God. He exhibited his faithfulness when he found Pharaoh’s incarcerated butler and baker looking sad because they did not have an interpreter for their dreams for Joseph praised God and glorified Him by saying that all dream interpretations come from Him before he interpreted their dreams correctly. (Genesis 40:5-22)

As a result of his interpretations, when Pharaoh dreamt a dream that his wise men could not interpret, his now freed butler remembered Joseph and recommended him to Pharaoh for his dream interpretation skills. Joseph then interpreted Pharaoh's dream and was promoted to be the Prime Minister of Egypt.

When Nehemiah was falsely accused, he also continued serving God faithfully by continuing to do the work that God had place in his heart which was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Therefore even if you are suffering because you have been falsely accused, continue being faithful to God by praising Him and using your gifts and talents to glorify Him because He can use them to help you the way He did for Joseph.

To learn more about how to deal with false accusations and 19 other devices that the devil uses to attack God's people, read We Are Not Ignorant Of His Devices.

We Are Not Ignorant of His Devices 2nd Edition (2 Corinthians 2:11) uses examples from the Bible to teach you 20 of the strategies the devil uses to attack God’s people. This Christian spiritual warfare book also shows you how to deal with each of those devices so that you can live a more victorious Christian life.

Anti Stress Home Decor Ideas

Decorating your home with these anti stress home decor ideas is a great activity for Stress Awareness Day, which is celebrated on the first Wednesday of November, because it can help you relieve stress since it allows your brain to switch off from thinking about your stressors and focus on the task at hand of creating a more pleasant living space.

Decorating your home becomes an even more effective stress management technique when you do it with a non-judgmental attitude. This is because it adds fun to your life and gives you something pleasant to look forward to at the end of a stressful work week.

Since decorating also gives you an outlet to express yourself and let your creative juices to flow, it is a great complementary hobby especially if you work at a strict, stressful job.

Decorating your home is also a great stress-relieving hobby if you like doing something constructive during your down-time instead of just sitting around. This is because finishing decorating a room gives you a sense of accomplishment and this improves your emotional well being since it leaves you feeling fulfilled.

Studies have shown that persons who engaged in activities that they enjoyed during their leisure time had lower blood pressure, lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and lower levels of depression. These persons were also noted to have higher levels of positive psychosomatic states. Therefore make decorating your living space one of your stress relieving hobbies.

Even if you have never decorated before, you can still reap these benefits of decorating by reading a book like Anti Stress Home Decor since it teaches you the basics of decorating and leaves you with enough room to create a room that is pleasing to all your senses.

Anti Stress Home Decor

Anti-stress home decor accents that you can use to decorate your home include wall clocks, canvas art, mats and throw pillows or cushions like the following:

White chrysanthemum throw pillow