stress

Putting God First in Exams

/ Henry Jiang / 4 Comments

Too often I feel like I am digging into the content that will be (or hopefully) tested in exams. The allnighters we pull, the stress we are being put through, sometimes I question myself, if I were concentrating and looking into God, will I be wasting some precious last minute studying time?

Quantum physics is definitely not my favourite, especially when the class has come to a consensus that the professor has done a horrible job teaching and also a horrible job administering the course. These horrible instructions has taken me to a point where I am honestly worrying about failing this course. As a Christian, what do I do?

Every time I took a break from studying, I took time to pray to God for His assistance. A song that comes to my mind when I am in trouble is R. Kelly’s “I look to you” sung by Whitney Houston.

I look to you.
I look to you.
After all my strength is gone,
In you I can be strong

Who else do I look to during these really harsh situations. The Bible tells us:

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. — Isaiah 40:30-31 (NIV 1984)

I kept on praying and praising God, rejoicing at His challenge He provided me, though honestly I was completely exhausted and felt physically down, I kept in mind this is a great trial for my faith, and to testify that I put my faith in Him. Then the exam came. I opened the exam booklet. Cr**… SOOO hard…

I did the questions I knew off my mind and I kept on praying. Amazingly, I was able to derive two questions I was not expecting I could do perfectly, because I know what goal I have to reach at the end of the question. I put my faith in Him until the very end of the exam when the papers were collected. Something as simple as that, God will answer. Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, are you turning to Christ even in the process of a huge burden or trial? If you do, you may witness Him working in you and working with you on your struggles!

God Bless!

Most-Faithful Friend

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

Are you struggling with something? Do you ever feel discouraged by the events that happen in your life? Do you feel like you need someone to talk to about your struggles? Well, look no more! As a continuation of the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, let’s dig deep into the second verse of this wonderful hymn.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

As written in the Bible, trials and temptations are used to develop our perseverance so that perseverance can complete its job to make us mature, complete and not lacking anything (James 1:2-4). But sometimes during our trials and temptations, we feel like it is too hard for us to continue on with the challenges ahead of us, and we are stressed out. From a Homeostatic/Medical approach, Walter Cannon was the to describe that stress is an “emergency response” as an animal’s response to a threat. Our body will naturally transform from a neutral posture to an offensive posture when stress is induced (ORGB Canadian Edition, Nelson Quick Armstrong Condie, 2012). Once our body takes this offensive posture, we naturally deceive our foresight of the Kingdom to come.

The best way to deal with any trouble is through prayer. We should never be discouraged or stressed out as God will not tempt us beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). Some may argue against using this Bible verse as it is taken out of context but if we consider how faithful our Lord God Jesus is, He will not forsake us and we can overcome anything in our earthly lives, just as Jesus has overcome the cross. The only thing is that we must do so through prayer. We should fear God but also treat God as a friend as he knows us the most (Psalm 139:1) and he is always faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9). That is the perfect quality as a friend so my brothers and sisters, have you been consulting your most-faithful friend during times of trouble and temptation? Have you ever been discouraged about earthly struggles? Maybe it is time to share it with your most-faithful friend by taking it to the Lord in prayer!

God Bless you all!