How are You Feeling Today?

This morning as I was preparing a cup of green tea, which is how I usually start my day. (Green tea is full of anti-oxidants, fights breast cancer, burns fat, gives you energy while calming the spirit at the same time).  I felt overwhelmed by sadness.  A spirit of sadness just enveloped me like an ocean wave out of the clear blue, I started thinking about who was not in my life, started focusing on relationships that were either not healthy, not working or just not developing the way that I would like, and immediately, the Holy Spirit quickened me, "Do not allow yourself to focus on Who is Not in your life, BUT instead Focus on who IS In Your Life."  In other words focus on the positive, focus on the blessing. 

We can let our feelings control us Or we can deliberately choose to control  our feelings.  In my quiet time today, I enjoyed reading a letter from Joyce Meyer Ministries.  Guess what the topic was about?  "You don't have to be ruled by your feelings anymore..." In her letter, Joyce states, "It's important to realize that God gave you feelings.  The solution is not to get rid of your feelings and live like a robot.  Instead, God wants you to Enjoy them and Find Freedom to manage them instead of them managing or leading you."  Amen.  She goes on further to state that at times your feelings can seem pretty powerful and overwhelming, (I just said that was exactly how I was feeling this morning).   So what is the solution when  you feel overwhelmed?

We need to Remember We are not What We Feel, we are what God says we are!!  Remember why Jesus came, not that we would be miserable, but so that we would have an abundant life!! (John 10:10)  When these negative feelings come crashing in, we need to deliberately, bombard our thoughts with the word and teaching of God.  Apply the appropriate scripture to our situation. (Today with technology available you can incorporate online software to help with your daily devotional time, if you are looking for a scripture and don't know what to use, just type in the topic you are dealing with in google and an appropriate website will come up that will take you to a scripture dealing with the subject.)  Or just go to a good site to use to study is www.biblegateway.org.  and http://bible.cc (If anyone has any other favorites to share please post a comment), just go to the search field and type the subject and an appropriate scripture will come up.

We need to be in God's word daily, it has to become our necessary food. If we do not have a hunger for Gods word we need to Ask Him to Give Us a Hunger and He will do it. The more you eat it, the more you will have an appetite for it, it's like real food you are not used to eating, you have to cultivate a taste for it, and once you get used to having it regularly, you will start to CRAVE HIS WORD!!!  We must schedule time to read God's word, meditate on it everyday, it must become a priority if we are to win the battle of the mind. 

Many of us are Challenged Today, are daily lives are a Juggling Act of Balancing so many competing responsibilities, job/career or business, family, community or civic duties,school,  regular exercise, daily time with God, maintaining a home, etc, but with God's Help We Can Win this ongoing battle and incorporate regular time with God.  Each day (today) we have to make a choice as to who and what we will serve.  God told the Israelites that they had to make a choice and explained to them both the blessings and the cursings of each decision (Joshua 24:15)   My pastor, Sam Mayo of  The Tabernacle suggests to his congregants that we schedule a daily appointment time with God, if necessary have two backup times so that if one appointment is cancelled you have reserved in your calendar two other slots that will work.   Each persons life is different, everyone can't do it in the early morning, maybe mid-day or evening will work better for some, but the point is we have to work it out! Each man must work out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Phillipians 2:12),because at the end of the journey we will all have to stand before God for what we did in this life, and we all want to hear a good report, "Well Done". What do our emotions have to do with this?  A LOT!!, many will have to answer for abusing or neglecting their mates or children because they let their emotions rule them.  Many will have to answer for not Allowing God to Break Bondage Issues, because Instead of Reaching out to God and His word and meditating on it daily, digesting it by letting His word get in you and transform you, they continue to allow their minds, thoughts, hearts, spirit,  and FEELINGS  continue to be Controlled by Works of the Flesh (Galatians 5:19 -21) instead of allowing the Holy Spirit with the Help of God's Word and the Blood of Jesus to transform us so that we can produce the Fruit of the SPIRIT (Gal 5:22-26).  Many will answer for Allowing Excuses of loneliness and depressions from keeping them from multiplying their talents and reaching out to others.  Now I am not trying to beat anyone over the head, I know the challenges of walking in this life, and daily war with keeping my Spirit Man dominant so that I will grow in the fruit of the spirit.  I have known the challenges of fighting depression, loneliness, rejection and feeling isolated, I have been alone but not All Alone because God is With Me and Dwells within me through His precious Holy Spirit.  I personally know that if we apply these principles We Can Walk in Victory, some days our walk will be stronger than others, but we will not fail because God Promises, that He that began a good work in you will Complete IT!! (Phillipians 1:6)  And if we do NOT GROW WEARY....(Gal 6:9, II Thess. 3:13)... we shall reap a reward,.. the fruit of HIS Righteousness, right relationships with HIM and our neighbor, joy, peace, contentment, healthy living, etc.

Their are many applications of how we can let our emotions control us and not live the Godly productive, fruit bearing lives that Jesus' death on the Cross paid the price for.  Ultimately, that is what we will have to answer to God for, why did we not Walk as Overcomers when God has given Us EVERYTHING WE NEED to be Victorious in our daily lives.  (II Peter. 1:3) "God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity."(God's Word Translation)

I  went to a play last night, "Is My Living In Vain" It was really good, if you have an opportunity tonight and live in the ATL look it up www.antiochlithonia.org   The last scene was the roll call in heaven and everyone in the play had to come before God the Father to have their life judged.  Revelation 3:5 "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."  Let me get back to the main subject on dealing with our feelings....

Our feelings come from the mind and the heart.  God wants to give us a new spirit and a new heart. "....A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you....I will put my spirit within you , and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them.." (Ezekiel 36:25-28)   Of course, today, we are not under the Jewish Torah and not required by God to keep all the old testament ordinances and laws, today, Jesus said the two great commandments incorporate all the law and the prophets, he instructed us, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind and soul; and to love thy neighbor as you love yourself."  So basically, we are to put God first, love our neighbors (good and bad) as we love ourselves (second).  In order to do this we have to control our feelings, we have to let God put His Spirit and Heart in us, then we are empowered and enabled to seek Him first and love our neighbors along with loving ourselves.  What is the vehicle or tool that brings all this together?

Prayer and Prayer and More Prayer!!!   E.M> Bounds states in his book, entitled, "Answered Prayer", page 22, "No new heart ever throbbed with its pulsations of divine life in one whose lips have never in prayer with contrite spirit sought that precious privilege of a perfect heart of love and cleanness.  God has never put His Spirit into a realm of a human heart that had never invoked by ardent praying the coming and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  A prayerless spirit has no affinity for a clean heart.  Prayer and a pure heart go hand in hand.  Purity of heart follows praying while prayer is the natural, spontaneous outflowing of a heart made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ.....God deals with each one personally, so that every saint can put the promises to the test "Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord"(Malachi 3:10)  The praying saint has the right to put his hand upon the promise and claim it as his own, one made especially for him, intended to embrace all his needs, both present and future." Needless to say this is a great book, a classic and a wonderful tool to deepen your prayer life, a thorough study of this small powerful paperback will help you get powerful answered prayer!!

Isn't it wonderful to know that as saints of God, we can claim Gods promises, promises as unique as each one of us!!  (Matt 10:30) Isn't it wonderful to know that God will do just what He says he will do, His word says, "So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11 - Authorized King James Version) .  So if we pray and Ask God to help us to learn to manage our emotions he will do just that!!

Isn't it wonderful to know that we do not have to be ruled by our emotions, that God is Willing to Step Right in on the Inside and give us a New Spirit and a New Heart, that He Wants to be in a relationship with us to help us manage our emotions, which are a precious gift from Him and He wants us to enjoy them!!  Isn't it wonderful that He Allows us to choose, that we are Not just Robots, preprogrammed to do what He wills, but He allows us to be an integral part of the process of our own growth and development in this journey of developing emotional maturity.    Isn't it wonderful that He preserved his precious Holy Word that Inspires us and Teaches us (His heart towards). His Word shows how much He truly wants to bless us, Renew us and Prosper, us as we remain obedient to living out life according to the golden rule.  Isn't it wonderful that He gave us a Mouth, to Have conversation with him Daily, and He Responds back to us and communes with us!!  If we humble ourselves and seek HIM he will answer us!! (II Chronicles 7:14)   He reveals not only His Heart but also shows us how to line up with Him so that our lives will be governed by maturity and not by immature emotions. 

God Wants our Entire Lives to be Blessed, our relationship with Him and with Others!!  He wants our health to be blessed!  He wants our children, mates, brothers and sisters to be blessed. (And anyone that blesses us to be blessed, remember the promise he made to Abraham?  Gen 12:3) He wants our communities, businesses, ministries,  careers, educational pursuits, whatever we find ourselves passionately pursuing... ALL Blessed!!! "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live": (KJV DBY WBS) (Deuteronomy 30:19) But wait a minute,   JESUS even takes this blessing thing into a whole new dimension when He says, that we are even to use the power and authority He has given to us to bless our enemies...we are to have so much blessing flowing into and out of our lives that we do not discriminate... enough of the love of God (His greatest blessing) to love our enemies and bless them "but I -- I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those accusing you falsely, and Persecuting You, (YLT)(Matt 5:44).  In essence we are to do what He did, live like He lived, be his hand extended, regardless of how we feel, whether our emotions are up or down, regardless of how others are treating us...we are to have enough of Him Inside of Us to even Bless our Enemies... (Remember the story of Stephen while he was being stoned... He prayed for His persecutors, that God would not "lay this sin to their charge" Acts 7:60 and Remember what did JESUS say on the Cross... "Father Forgive them for they KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO"   (Luke 23:34) But for the Grace of God!! We can Do it!!! By His Spirit, not by or our might!! but by "MY Spirit, saith the Lord!!!"...

I am getting ready to close (really)  He has shared the keys to the Kingdom  of God, "...joy, righteousenss, and peace.." (Romans 14:17) with us, all we have to do is commit to daily, regular  studying and applying his divine principles as revealed in His Word to our lives.  Speak His word over our situations, Put On the Full Armour of God, rely on Him to do what we cannot do, claim and stand upon His promises. (Ephes 6:13)  In the process we begin to enjoy life, manage our feelings (walk as overcomers) , learn to trust God more and wait on Him to fix the stuff we cannot fix, enjoying His presence.  Instead of choosing to be miserable while we wait, We Can Celebrate Every Day Life In His Presence and He gets the glory because, we cannot do it ourselves. 

Today, I Choose to Focus on Who Is in My Life!! God the Father, Jesus Christ, The Holy Spirit and a host of family, loved ones, and you my wonderful friends.  I am too blessed to be sad today!! It is a beautiful Fall Day and I am going to enjoy it!! Further I am going to commit to pray everyday, everywhere, without ceasing so that every event in my life is subjected to  prayer,... to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17)

As always if you think this blog has encouraged or inspired you in some way, why not share it and lift someone elses day that may need a word of encouragement and  pass it along!  Also don't forget to post a comment.    Selah.