In a world that is searching and struggling to find an answer for how to cope with stress, God has planned for us not to simply cope with stress, but to overcome it and allow Him to turn it around for our good.

There is no circumstance, no trial, no persecution that Satan can bring into your life that can defeat you. None of the circumstances, trials, and tribulations we face are responsible for creating stress. It is how we react to our circumstances, trials and tribulations that activate stress in our lives.

When Satan attacks us through our circumstances, it triggers a response within us. If we are fearful, worried, or doubtful that God will deliver us, we will be full of stress. However, if we face the circumstances Satan brings into our lives full of faith and confidence in God, knowing that He will deliver us in that situation, our hearts and minds will be filled with a peace that passes all understanding. There will be no room for stress.

Once Satan has attacked us through stressful circumstances he bombards our minds with fear, worry, and doubt. As long as we keep our eyes on the circumstances we are facing — the sickness, financial problems, family problems, problems on the job — we will continue to be fearful.

Satan will try to fill our minds full of fear concerning these circumstances, until we are so bound we are unable to release our faith. Once fear grips our minds, we begin to worry about our circumstances, our sickness, our children, and our overdue bills. Night and day, our minds are in a constant state of turmoil as we try to decide what we are going to do about the circumstances we are facing. The longer we keep eyes set on our circumstances the more we worry, the more we are fearful and the more stress we feel, until Satan has us in a deadly grip that paralyzes and hinders us from receiving what we need from God.

The moment we begin to worry, we open ourselves up for defeat. Satan begins to attack our minds with doubt. “If God loves you, why did He allow this problem to happen to you?” Satan will cause you to doubt God's Word and His covenant promises to you. If you do not see an immediate change in your circumstances, Satan will tell you: “It's not God's will to heal you. He doesn't care about your finances. God doesn't do miracles today.”

Satan's strategy is to fill our minds so full of fear, worry, and doubt that the Word of God becomes ineffective in lives because it's not mixed with faith.

I am mixing my faith with the Word of God. The Word of God is living, active, and at work in me and my circumstances.