It’s not as if you can or should ignore pressing matters regarding your work and pretend that they don’t concern you in order to stay stress-free. However, when there is more than normal on your to-do list, you’d do well to follow the advice of many great men of God who have gone before you, who, throughout their lives of service for Me, learned the secret of effective leadership: lean harder on Me. The key at such times is to draw closer to Me and spend time with Me. With so much to do, the key is in relying more on Me, trusting in Me, spending time with Me, and praising Me—not in trying to handle more in your own strength.
When circumstances require you to take on more responsibility or a bigger workload, do not neglect your relationship with Me. That still comes first; nothing should change in that regard. This priority should always remain the same.
Rather than pushing yourself harder to accomplish more, push to lean harder on Me. If you commit the added work to Me and ask for My Spirit to empower you, rather than trying to take it all on in your natural strength, it can help you to stretch and grow. It can cause you to draw closer to Me and become more dependent on Me.
Keep your appointments with Me. Don’t try to squeeze too much into your days. Don’t let yourself become so rushed or pressured or pushed by circumstances or by the needs of your work or ministry that you forgo your time with Me.
Hear from Me about your priorities. If you concentrate on the majors and commit the rest to Me in prayer, then you will be able to focus on the most important matters and avoid feeling overly burdened or pressured.
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When work is pressing, the problem with taking the demands on your own shoulders—aside from you feeling unnecessarily stressed and pressured—is that you may end up doing things that you think are most important but neglecting things that I know are most important. At such busy times, there is only so much you are physically capable of doing. So in order to know your priorities and do first things first, to get the most essential things taken care of in the time you have, you need to lean on Me and My wisdom as you go. Otherwise you risk not only burnout and undue stress and pressure, but also forgetting or not being able to fit in things that I know are most important.
Of course, the temptation is to just go, go, go! After all, there’s so little time and so much to do. But remember that the busier things get, the more important it is to be connected with Me. That doesn’t always mean that you need to take more hours reading My Word—although I might occasionally ask that of you. It means that your focus should be more on Me as you go about your work, making sure that your priorities are right, your goals are defined as I want them defined, and your schedule is in sync with My plans for you. It doesn’t take more time to do this; it just takes availing yourself of the power of My Spirit that is available to you, rather than leaning solely on your own strength and power.
As you depend on Me, look to Me, and commit your work to Me, I promise that I will help you and anoint you. If you’re depending on Me, then you’ll be able to handle your work without feeling frazzled. You’ll have a perfect peace in your heart, knowing that you did what you could, and you’ll have the trust in Me to know that I’m going to provide all that you need.
When there’s so much to do, it’s a human tendency to try to do it all yourself and not cast it on Me. But remember that when you cast your burdens on Me, your load will grow lighter, and when you take on My yoke, it will make things easier for you to bear. Your work is not going to disappear and your yoke is not going to be effortless—but the burden will be lighter and the yoke will be easier to bear if you are casting your cares, burdens, and to-dos on My shoulders.
My shoulders are broad enough to carry any load. My Spirit can empower and guide you with any task. As you do things My way, you’ll have success and peace of mind, knowing you’ve done the best you could and accomplished all that was possible with My anointing, and you’ll be able to trust Me for the rest.
Call on Me and I will give you My peace, which will lift you above the stress and pressure and bring you to the place where My will is known, My plan is clear, My priorities are your guidelines, and My strength and power are available to you.
Originally published October 2003. Adapted and republished January 2014. Copyright@TFI.
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