So, whats it going to be....On my heart is emotions and how we choose to react to them.
Emotions, they bring out the best of man and the worst of man. Without emotions we would have no love, empathy, joy, and happiness. All thats right in the World. Without emotions we would have no hate, bitterness, anger, and fear. All thats wrong in the World. What makes a man, or woman, is how we react and respond to these emotions. What is difficult in life is how we respond to these emotions. Do we let our flesh choose the response or do we choose to fight the flesh and respond with Christlikeness? Or more importantly than that is how do we strive to respond?
As I opened up biblegateway.com, the verse of the day is..
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.”
Wow, how true... I can speak from my experiences that fear was and is definitely a snare. Fear of this, fear of that, fear of how do I respond, is it the correct way, how will it be perceived? I can say that if you are constantly worried on how you will be perceived, you will never truly experience what living really is. I can say that if I operate my reaction to the emotions I feel from perception, I always react wrongly. If I choose to be bold and trust in the Lord that he will guide my reactions, things almost always work out in the end. You have to make a choice to trust in the Lord. When I say this, I mean whole heartily trust in the Lord with your lips and your heart. It is a "Lord, I cannot do this without you mentality", a mentality of striving to be as much like Jesus as you can at the given moment. Not to fret on how I will react to..., but trust in the Lord that when the moment arrives, He will guide your footsteps.
When faced with an emotion that automatically triggers you, you must keep a tight reign on your tongue. As it is written in James 3(oh how I love the book of James)
3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
When your emotions are triggered, the first step is to tame your tongue, your first choice should be to fight the urge to have your flesh do the speaking and trust in the Lord. You are unable to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you if you are unable to tame your tongue. It will set a spark that turns the situation into a raging fire, that throws gasoline on all emotions allowing the negativity of the flesh to rule everyone involved. You must trust in the Lord, give it to Him.
Anger is easily invoked when we let our emotions drive us. Guess what, anger triggered from a defensive emotion does no good. (Psalm 37 is great, I urge you to look it up and read it in entirety)
Psalm 37
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
Anger in response, leads to fleshly wrath, which as it is written only leads to evil, which is not of God. Fleshly anger leads only to evil which will anger God and possibly His wrath. I have experienced His wrath, it is no fun. I urge us to respond in Christs example, to be spared by the Lords wrath.
Psalm 90:11
If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
See, I told you so
When triggered by emotions of the flesh we must STRIVE to respond in the example Christ has set forth as written
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,
but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
4 The soothing tongue is a tree of life,
but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
5 A fool spurns a parent’s discipline,
but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
A soothing tongue is a tree of life. Wow. Something that often stirred up anger in myself was correction, it stirs up much less, but it is still something that I must trust in the Lord to help me with. Nobody likes to be disciplined that I know of, but discipline is for our good, so when it happens we must strive to accept it, learn from it, and move on.
Proverbs 29
8 Mockers stir up a city,
but the wise turn away anger.
9 If a wise person goes to court with a fool,
the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.
There it is again, the wise turn away anger, the foolish do not and therefore will find no peace.
Proverbs 29
11 Fools give full vent to their rage,
but the wise bring calm in the end.
and again...the wise bring calm in the end. Do you know why? Because the wise trust in the Lord, tame their tongue, and respond in a way that is not of the fleshly response, but of the teaching of the Lord.
I really like this...
Proverbs 30
32 “If you play the fool and exalt yourself,
or if you plan evil,
clap your hand over your mouth!
33 For as churning cream produces butter,
and as twisting the nose produces blood,
so stirring up anger produces strife.”
You see that? If you are still foolish at times, arent we all?, clap your hand over the mouth, or tame your tongue. If you do not and react from your fleshly anger it will only produce strife.
This topic has been on my heart and mind. I used to let my emotions drive me, I strive to no longer let that be the case. I put my trust in the Lord. I do also however believe in giving myself grace and forgiving myself because I do know that I am striving to be more like Christ with everyday that passes. If I am busy living in remorse I am not truly utilizing this gift of life I have been given. I can only change the present and future, not the past. If we make a mistake we must be quick to admit it, humble ourselves, and ask for forgiveness. BUT just as importantly we must be quick to give ourselves grace, IF and ONLY IF we are trusting in the Lord and striving to be worthy of called a disciple of Christ. ONLY if we can say whole heartily that our hearts are in the right places, that our motives are pure. Christ came to correct the laws of condemnation, He came to offer grace and forgiveness. Who are we to assume a higher position than HIM? We must give others grace, but give ourselves grace.
I want this to be clear though, in no way, shape, or form am I advising or condoning that we just go around living falsely and doing wrong with wrong motives of our heart and then saying or believing we are to give ourselves grace. Not at all friends, not at all. If our motives are pure, our efforts are striving towards Christ, we confess our errors and ask forgiveness to those we hurt no matter the discipline it brings upon ourselves, then and only then should we give ourselves grace. Then and only then will we be living in true freedom.
Romans 12
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Emotions, the best of man and the worst of man. I will leave you with the most wonderful of all emotions, the thing that God Himself demonstrated by sacrificing His Son for a people unworthy of such a thing like myself...love. Why we are here, what Christ showed through language, but more importantly His actions...to love, He loved a people unworthy
Romans 12
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I urge you to read that last excerpt again, let it sink in. Give it to God, tame our tongue, heed discipline and live a life worth living. Live a life of love
It is what it is, and this be it...
Emotions, they bring out the best of man and the worst of man. Without emotions we would have no love, empathy, joy, and happiness. All thats right in the World. Without emotions we would have no hate, bitterness, anger, and fear. All thats wrong in the World. What makes a man, or woman, is how we react and respond to these emotions. What is difficult in life is how we respond to these emotions. Do we let our flesh choose the response or do we choose to fight the flesh and respond with Christlikeness? Or more importantly than that is how do we strive to respond?
As I opened up biblegateway.com, the verse of the day is..
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.”
Wow, how true... I can speak from my experiences that fear was and is definitely a snare. Fear of this, fear of that, fear of how do I respond, is it the correct way, how will it be perceived? I can say that if you are constantly worried on how you will be perceived, you will never truly experience what living really is. I can say that if I operate my reaction to the emotions I feel from perception, I always react wrongly. If I choose to be bold and trust in the Lord that he will guide my reactions, things almost always work out in the end. You have to make a choice to trust in the Lord. When I say this, I mean whole heartily trust in the Lord with your lips and your heart. It is a "Lord, I cannot do this without you mentality", a mentality of striving to be as much like Jesus as you can at the given moment. Not to fret on how I will react to..., but trust in the Lord that when the moment arrives, He will guide your footsteps.
When faced with an emotion that automatically triggers you, you must keep a tight reign on your tongue. As it is written in James 3(oh how I love the book of James)
Taming the Tongue
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. 2 We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
When your emotions are triggered, the first step is to tame your tongue, your first choice should be to fight the urge to have your flesh do the speaking and trust in the Lord. You are unable to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you if you are unable to tame your tongue. It will set a spark that turns the situation into a raging fire, that throws gasoline on all emotions allowing the negativity of the flesh to rule everyone involved. You must trust in the Lord, give it to Him.
Anger is easily invoked when we let our emotions drive us. Guess what, anger triggered from a defensive emotion does no good. (Psalm 37 is great, I urge you to look it up and read it in entirety)
Psalm 37
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
Anger in response, leads to fleshly wrath, which as it is written only leads to evil, which is not of God. Fleshly anger leads only to evil which will anger God and possibly His wrath. I have experienced His wrath, it is no fun. I urge us to respond in Christs example, to be spared by the Lords wrath.
Psalm 90:11
If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
See, I told you so
When triggered by emotions of the flesh we must STRIVE to respond in the example Christ has set forth as written
Proverbs 15
1 A gentle answer turns away wrath,but a harsh word stirs up anger.
2 The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge,
but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.
3 The eyes of the LORD are everywhere,
keeping watch on the wicked and the good.
4 The soothing tongue is a tree of life,
but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.
5 A fool spurns a parent’s discipline,
but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.
A soothing tongue is a tree of life. Wow. Something that often stirred up anger in myself was correction, it stirs up much less, but it is still something that I must trust in the Lord to help me with. Nobody likes to be disciplined that I know of, but discipline is for our good, so when it happens we must strive to accept it, learn from it, and move on.
Proverbs 29
8 Mockers stir up a city,
but the wise turn away anger.
9 If a wise person goes to court with a fool,
the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace.
There it is again, the wise turn away anger, the foolish do not and therefore will find no peace.
Proverbs 29
11 Fools give full vent to their rage,
but the wise bring calm in the end.
and again...the wise bring calm in the end. Do you know why? Because the wise trust in the Lord, tame their tongue, and respond in a way that is not of the fleshly response, but of the teaching of the Lord.
I really like this...
Proverbs 30
32 “If you play the fool and exalt yourself,
or if you plan evil,
clap your hand over your mouth!
33 For as churning cream produces butter,
and as twisting the nose produces blood,
so stirring up anger produces strife.”
You see that? If you are still foolish at times, arent we all?, clap your hand over the mouth, or tame your tongue. If you do not and react from your fleshly anger it will only produce strife.
This topic has been on my heart and mind. I used to let my emotions drive me, I strive to no longer let that be the case. I put my trust in the Lord. I do also however believe in giving myself grace and forgiving myself because I do know that I am striving to be more like Christ with everyday that passes. If I am busy living in remorse I am not truly utilizing this gift of life I have been given. I can only change the present and future, not the past. If we make a mistake we must be quick to admit it, humble ourselves, and ask for forgiveness. BUT just as importantly we must be quick to give ourselves grace, IF and ONLY IF we are trusting in the Lord and striving to be worthy of called a disciple of Christ. ONLY if we can say whole heartily that our hearts are in the right places, that our motives are pure. Christ came to correct the laws of condemnation, He came to offer grace and forgiveness. Who are we to assume a higher position than HIM? We must give others grace, but give ourselves grace.
I want this to be clear though, in no way, shape, or form am I advising or condoning that we just go around living falsely and doing wrong with wrong motives of our heart and then saying or believing we are to give ourselves grace. Not at all friends, not at all. If our motives are pure, our efforts are striving towards Christ, we confess our errors and ask forgiveness to those we hurt no matter the discipline it brings upon ourselves, then and only then should we give ourselves grace. Then and only then will we be living in true freedom.
Romans 12
3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.
Emotions, the best of man and the worst of man. I will leave you with the most wonderful of all emotions, the thing that God Himself demonstrated by sacrificing His Son for a people unworthy of such a thing like myself...love. Why we are here, what Christ showed through language, but more importantly His actions...to love, He loved a people unworthy
Romans 12
Love in Action
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e]
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I urge you to read that last excerpt again, let it sink in. Give it to God, tame our tongue, heed discipline and live a life worth living. Live a life of love
It is what it is, and this be it...
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