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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Realizing That I Can Choose
To Control My Emotions
Pages 197-199
The next lie gives control of our lives to our emotions, saying that we cannot control our emotions. We often use this belief to justify wrong actions or reactions on our part, rationalizing, "I can't help the way I feel."
While it may be true that we cannot necessarily control how we feel about something, we can control how much power we allow our feelings to have over our lives.
We can always choose to obey God, regardless of how or what we are feeling.
33. The lie: I can't control my emotions.
The Truth: I do not have to be controlled by my emotions.
Matthew 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."
Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath."
1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
The Truth: I can choose to fix my mind on the Truth, to take every thought captive to the Truth, and to let God control my emotions.
Psalm 42:11, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.
Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."
2 Corinthians 10:5, "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
The Antidote to Satan's Poison
The Enemy uses this lie to make us believe we have no choice but to be controlled by our emotions, but as you can see from the Word of God, we certainly have a choice and we don't have to let our feelings run our lives.
The Truth is, regardless of what emotions are whirling around inside, by God's grace, we can choose to fix our minds on Him and to "trust and obey." When we do, we will experience His peace and the grace to be faithful, even though our circumstances may not change.
Pray This Prayer
Father, sometimes my emotions do seem overwhelming. Thank You that I do not need to be controlled by my feelings. I pray that You will be Lord over every part of my life, including my emotions. Helps me to set my thoughts and affections on You each moment of the day. Amen.
Pages 197-199
The next lie gives control of our lives to our emotions, saying that we cannot control our emotions. We often use this belief to justify wrong actions or reactions on our part, rationalizing, "I can't help the way I feel."
While it may be true that we cannot necessarily control how we feel about something, we can control how much power we allow our feelings to have over our lives.
We can always choose to obey God, regardless of how or what we are feeling.
33. The lie: I can't control my emotions.
The Truth: I do not have to be controlled by my emotions.
Matthew 5:44, "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."
Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry, and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath."
1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
The Truth: I can choose to fix my mind on the Truth, to take every thought captive to the Truth, and to let God control my emotions.
Psalm 42:11, "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.
Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You."
2 Corinthians 10:5, "casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
The Antidote to Satan's Poison
The Enemy uses this lie to make us believe we have no choice but to be controlled by our emotions, but as you can see from the Word of God, we certainly have a choice and we don't have to let our feelings run our lives.
The Truth is, regardless of what emotions are whirling around inside, by God's grace, we can choose to fix our minds on Him and to "trust and obey." When we do, we will experience His peace and the grace to be faithful, even though our circumstances may not change.
Pray This Prayer
Father, sometimes my emotions do seem overwhelming. Thank You that I do not need to be controlled by my feelings. I pray that You will be Lord over every part of my life, including my emotions. Helps me to set my thoughts and affections on You each moment of the day. Amen.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Handling Emotions
Understand the Difference Between Truth and Feelings
Pages 193-197
The subject of our emotions is one of the most complex and difficult-to-understand aspects of our walk as women. God created emotions, He experiences emotions and understands them. However, His emotions are always perfect, whereas ours have been tainted by sin.
Our emotions can send us all kinds of mixed messages, often deceiving us and leading us away from the Truth. The best weapon against misleading emotions is to pinpoint the lies and learn to counteract them with the Truth.
The first lie tells us that if we feel something, it must be true. If we feel unloved, then we are. If we feel that God has deserted us, then He has. We need to counteract this lie with the truth that we cannot depend on our feelings to give us a true assessment of our situation.
We should always rely on what we know to be true, regardless of how we feel.
32. The Lie: If I feel something, it must be true.
The Truth: My feelings cannot always be trusted. They often have little to do with reality and can easily deceive me into believing things that are not true.
Psalm 119:29-30, "Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth; your judgments I have laid before me."
Jeremiah 17:9-10, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."
The Truth: I must choose to reject any feelings that are not consistent with the Truth.
Psalm 33:4, "For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth."
Psalm 51:6, "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom."
Philippians 4:8-9, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."
A Prayer
Lord, Help me to fix my eyes on you. Regardless of what my emotions are telling me, I purpose to trust you. Pour out your grace and give me the power and desire to see Your truth in every circumstance. I need Your help to be faithful to you. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
Pages 193-197
The subject of our emotions is one of the most complex and difficult-to-understand aspects of our walk as women. God created emotions, He experiences emotions and understands them. However, His emotions are always perfect, whereas ours have been tainted by sin.
Our emotions can send us all kinds of mixed messages, often deceiving us and leading us away from the Truth. The best weapon against misleading emotions is to pinpoint the lies and learn to counteract them with the Truth.
The first lie tells us that if we feel something, it must be true. If we feel unloved, then we are. If we feel that God has deserted us, then He has. We need to counteract this lie with the truth that we cannot depend on our feelings to give us a true assessment of our situation.
We should always rely on what we know to be true, regardless of how we feel.
32. The Lie: If I feel something, it must be true.
The Truth: My feelings cannot always be trusted. They often have little to do with reality and can easily deceive me into believing things that are not true.
Psalm 119:29-30, "Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth; your judgments I have laid before me."
Jeremiah 17:9-10, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."
The Truth: I must choose to reject any feelings that are not consistent with the Truth.
Psalm 33:4, "For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth."
Psalm 51:6, "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom."
Philippians 4:8-9, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you."
A Prayer
Lord, Help me to fix my eyes on you. Regardless of what my emotions are telling me, I purpose to trust you. Pour out your grace and give me the power and desire to see Your truth in every circumstance. I need Your help to be faithful to you. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
More Truth About Raising Your Children
Being Sure of Their Salvation
Pages 179-187
We are continuing our study through Chapter seven as we look at lies women believe concerning their children. The next lie is a subtle one. Some parents assume that their children are believers because they prayed to receive Christ at a young age, even though, years later, their children's lives do not demonstrate evidence of genuine conversion.
Without realizing it, such parents may be giving their children a false sense of securiuty and may need to refocus their prayers for their children.
30. The Lie: I know my child is a Christian because he prayed to receive Christ at any early age.
The Truth: Those who do not have a heart for God or any hunger for the things of God and who have a consistent pattern of rejecting the Word and ways of God have no basis for assurance of salvation.
The essence of true salvation is not a matter of profession or performance; rather, it is a transformation!
2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
1 John 3:10, "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother."
The Truth: Parents who assume their children know the Lord, regardless of their lifestyle, may give their children a false sense of security and may not be praying appropriately for their children.
Hebrews 3:14, "For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end."
Two Extremes
The final lie of the chapter promotes two extremes. On one hand it indicates that parents are not responsible at all for how their children turn out; but on the other hand, it deceives parents into believing that they are 100 percent responsible.
31. The Lie: We are not responsible for how our children turn out.
The Truth: Parents have enormous influence in molding the lives of their children by their example, their teaching, and their leadership.
Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Ephesians 6:4, "And you, fathers [and mothers], do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
The Truth: Each generation is responsible to pass on to the next the heritage of a heart that knows and walks with God.
Psalm 78:5-6, "For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children..."
The Truth: Parents will give account to God for the spiritual condition of the lives He has entrusted to their care.
Proverbs 3:12, "For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights."
Proverbs 13:24, "He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly."
The Truth: Each individual is responsible for his own walk and obedience.
Regardless of what kind of parents he had, each person will give account to God for his own choices.
Deuteronomy 24:16, "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin."
John 6:39, "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."
A Prayer
Lord, it is sobering to realize how much our children pick up from our lives, our values, and our walk with You. Please do whatever is needed to make me the mother than my children need. May my life create in them a desire to know and follow You. Please work in their lives to draw them to You, that our family may reflect Your light to others. Amen.
Pages 179-187
We are continuing our study through Chapter seven as we look at lies women believe concerning their children. The next lie is a subtle one. Some parents assume that their children are believers because they prayed to receive Christ at a young age, even though, years later, their children's lives do not demonstrate evidence of genuine conversion.
Without realizing it, such parents may be giving their children a false sense of securiuty and may need to refocus their prayers for their children.
30. The Lie: I know my child is a Christian because he prayed to receive Christ at any early age.
The Truth: Those who do not have a heart for God or any hunger for the things of God and who have a consistent pattern of rejecting the Word and ways of God have no basis for assurance of salvation.
The essence of true salvation is not a matter of profession or performance; rather, it is a transformation!
2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
1 John 3:10, "In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother."
The Truth: Parents who assume their children know the Lord, regardless of their lifestyle, may give their children a false sense of security and may not be praying appropriately for their children.
Hebrews 3:14, "For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end."
Two Extremes
The final lie of the chapter promotes two extremes. On one hand it indicates that parents are not responsible at all for how their children turn out; but on the other hand, it deceives parents into believing that they are 100 percent responsible.
31. The Lie: We are not responsible for how our children turn out.
The Truth: Parents have enormous influence in molding the lives of their children by their example, their teaching, and their leadership.
Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Ephesians 6:4, "And you, fathers [and mothers], do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."
The Truth: Each generation is responsible to pass on to the next the heritage of a heart that knows and walks with God.
Psalm 78:5-6, "For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children..."
The Truth: Parents will give account to God for the spiritual condition of the lives He has entrusted to their care.
Proverbs 3:12, "For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights."
Proverbs 13:24, "He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly."
The Truth: Each individual is responsible for his own walk and obedience.
Regardless of what kind of parents he had, each person will give account to God for his own choices.
Deuteronomy 24:16, "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin."
John 6:39, "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."
A Prayer
Lord, it is sobering to realize how much our children pick up from our lives, our values, and our walk with You. Please do whatever is needed to make me the mother than my children need. May my life create in them a desire to know and follow You. Please work in their lives to draw them to You, that our family may reflect Your light to others. Amen.
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