Being involved with technical ministries can be very stressful. To some people it just looks like we are turning a few knobs here and there, but we know how critical those knob turns really are. Turn the wrong one and everything falls apart. Turn the right one and the production comes out perfectly.
About 50% of people in America suffer from stress in their lives. This stress can their attitudes to sour and can even cause their health to decline. I have battled with stress for years, and my guess is that you have too. At one point the stress in my life triggered hypertension and my blood pressure levels were through the roof. On the emotional side it triggered feelings of depression and continual anxiety. Once service time came, I could almost feel the fibers in my body tensing up with the pressure.
I was actually proud of my stress levels, I would even brag about it. I though it made me look like I was really working hard and serving God. The truth was that it was doing damage to my spiritual life as well as my physical one.
Step 1. Call it what it is.
If you have ever battled with the stresses of ministry then God's Word provides some help for you. Since the Bible doesn't really use the word stress much we have to look at the root of stress and find out what it really is. If we are honest about it we will realize that stress is nothing more than fear --- fear that we will make a mistake, ear that everything won't be ready on time, fear that people will be upset with us because of a failure on our part. Stress is simply fear.
Step 2. Use God's Word
God's Word does talk a lot about fear. In Psalm 56:3 it says “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” That may seem over-simplistic, but there is a lot of wisdom in that verse. Fear is simply believing and trusting that something bad is going to happen. Instead of trusting that something will fail or go wrong, we should be putting our trust in God.
When stress and fear begin to weigh us down, we need a faith booster shot. Romans 10:17 says that “Faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” So you see, God's Word gives us the boost that we need. It builds out faith and trust in God, which in turn, will combat the fears that we are facing.
Step 3. Pray about it.
Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”
When anxiety and fear come your way, don't waste any time beginning to lift those things up in prayer. That should be your first response. So your computer just crashed. Instead of getting stressed and angry take a few moments and pray about it. You will be surprised at the difference it makes.
Recently I was getting the sound board ready for a service when it started acting up. I felt my stress levels rising as everything I tried to do to fix the problem was unsuccessful. Somehow, in that moment, I reminded myself to pray. I took a few minutes to pray with the other guy that was helping me. I realized that God wanted the service to have sound even more than I did. I also realized that God understands the system far better than me. We gave the situation to God, and then tried again. Everything came online perfectly.
I am not trying to say that it will happen this way every time, but we need to realize that there is power in prayer. God loves to hear our prayers and answer them. Instead of getting all worked up about the problems that we have, know that's the time to call upon the absolute best tech support that has ever existed!
Step 4. Resist the devil.
It is important for us to realize that we have an enemy that is working against us. The person running sound for a band that is glorifying sin and sex does not have that enemy working again them. We do have an enemy though. The devil does not want God's Message to be preached and he will do any and everything to stop you and bring problems to your system.
In James 4:7 we are told that we can “resist the devil and he will flee from us.” When things start going wrong, remember that you have an enemy that is trying to get under your skin. If he cannot keep the message from going out, he wants to get you all stressed out and fearful. You need to resist him.
The best way to do this is by using God's Word, the Sword of the Spirit, to fight him off. When Jesus was tempted by the devil He quoted Scripture. We should also have some verses committed to memory that can help us in times of stress and anxiety. The ones that I have used in this article is a good place to start.
We know that things will go wrong, but we have the ability to change the way that we respond to those things. Always remember that God is in control and that we can put our trust in him.
