Often times, we live our lives with a certain degree of stress. We know that some tension is beneficial…you think of a bow and arrow. An arrow would never go very far, if there is no stress or tension put upon the bow. However, too much stress may cause the bow to snap.

I’ve given this diet out before, but I want to share again with you the famous "Stress Diet."

Breakfast
½ grapefruit
1 slice of whole wheat toast
8 oz. skim milk

Lunch
4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast
1 c. steamed spinach
1 c. herb tea
1 Oreo cookie

Mid-afternoon snack
Rest of the Oreos in the package
2 pints of Rocky Road ice cream, nuts, cherries & whipped cr.
1 jar of hot fudge sauce

Dinner
2 loaves garlic bread
4 cans or 1 large pitcher of Coke
1 large sausage, mushroom & cheese pizza
3 Snicker bars

Late Evening Snack
Entire frozen Sara Lee Cheesecake (eaten directly from freezer)

This diet is only for professionals…do not try that at home. However I read a statement that would make me start that diet…it said, "I used to have a handle on life, but mine broke." Buckle your seat belts…for the next seven weeks we are going to look at probably the best-know of all of the Psalms…the 23^rd Psalm. I want us to look at the seven greatest sources of stress, which are found in that chapter. And the antidotes are also found in Psalm 23. This chapter tells us what God is really like. The more we understand God, the easier it is to trust Him.

The first cause of stress that we’ll look at is worry. We all worry about something: finances, jobs, relationships, marriage, kids, our heath. Three negatives about worry: It is unhelpful, unreasonable and unhealthy.

It is unhelpful because it never solves anything. It is "stewing without doing." It’s like racing your car’s motor…you create a lot of smoke and noise but you don’t go anywhere. Worry never solved a problem. It cannot change the past or control the future. All it does is make you miserable TODAY. It doesn’t work.

It is unreasonable. It exaggerates your problems and makes mountains out of molehills. It makes some problems bigger and bigger. The more you review something that you’re worried about, the bigger it gets.

It is also unhealthy. Our bodies were not made to worry. Worry gives you ulcers, backaches, headaches and insomnia. Plants and animals don’t worry. The only thing in all of God’s creation that worries is people. The old English word for worry is the word "to strangle" or "to choke." And that is what worry does—it strangles the life out of you.

Now, you weren’t born worrying. You learned it along the way. And, with practice, you’ve become good at it. The good news is that, if worry is learned, it can also be UNLEARNED.

There are many tools for handling stress. I found one on the Internet this past week. It was dubbed "A Management Technique for Handling Stress:" Picture yourself near a stream. Birds are softly chirping in the crisp, cool, mountain air. No one knows your secret place. You are in total seclusion from this hectic place we call "the world." The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity. The water is clear. You can easily make out the face of the person you’re holding under the water. There now—feeling better? Unfortunately, that is not a helpful option. We all know that some people are alive only because it’s illegal to kill them. On a serious note, what is the antidote to the stress of worry?

• A shepherd provides. (Food, shelter, the basic necessities of sheep)
• A shepherd protects. (He defends against enemies and harm.)
• A shepherd guides. (He leads his sheep when they’re confused & don’t know which way to go.)
• A shepherd corrects. (Any problems that come along the way, he corrects it.)

1. Accept Jesus as My Lord.

The Lord cannot be your Shepherd until the Shepherd is your Lord. The two go together. You can’t ask Him to be the Shepherd without letting Him be in charge. In other words, we have to stop playing God and let God be God.

The word "Lord" denotes the one in control. Today, we might say "boss, manager, CEO, or chairman of the board." A "lord" is the person calling the shots. And if Jesus Christ is not calling the shots in our lives, then He’s not Lord.

To accept Jesus as Lord means three things. (John 10:14, 27) "I am the good shepherd. I know my own & my own know me…My sheep hear my voice & I know them & they follow me." Three words describe what it means to have Jesus as your Lord: You know Jesus, you hear Him (you listen to Jesus) and you follow Him. He is the One in control.

Bottom line, folks, worry is a control issue. The root behind all of your worry is a fear that you are not in control. Worry is always an attempt to control the uncontrollable. It is assuming responsibility that God never intended for you to have. It is a warning light…you’re trying to control too much. That is what is behind worry.

Who is in control of your life today? Two options: Either you are or God is. God cannot be your co-pilot. If He was, you would crash and He would get blamed. If you are running your life without God’s direction, you ought to be worried. Most of the things in your life, you cannot control. So, you need God running the show.

2. Begin praying about everything.

Pray about the stuff you usually worry about. If you have time to worry, you have time to pray. Worry never changes anything, but prayer does. Worry is "stewing without doing." Prayer is getting in touch with God, Who can change it. Whenever I worry, I have two options—I can panic or I can pray.

Phil. 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer & supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts & your minds in Christ Jesus." Pray about EVERYTHING. Not just about "religious things." When most people pray, they pray about stuff they think God wants to hear about. If something is big enough to worry about, it is big enough to pray about. GOD’S ABILITY IS GREATER THAN YOUR ANXIETY! I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." "Cast" means to "unload it" or "let it go." The Greek word literally means "drop." "Dump it on Him." The problem is, most of us do the casting like we do when we’re fishing. We cast our worries out and then we reel them back in, don’t we?

Have you driven in a dense fog before? The fog is actually an illusion. Worry is like that. The National Bureau of Standards has discovered if you took a dense fog that would cover seven square blocks of a city, 100 feet deep, and condense the fog, it would only equal enough moisture to fill less than one glass of water. (Your tax dollars at work.) That is what worry does—it expands and exaggerates the problem.

3. Consider one day at a time.