From Tragedy to Triumph

From Tragedy to Triumph


A Girlfriends in God email devotional
by Mary Southerland

Today's Truth
"These (trials) have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:7, NIV).

Friend to Friend
I am told that in the famous lace shops of Belgium there are certain rooms used for spinning the finest and most delicate designs of lace. Each room is completely dark - except for one small window. Through this tiny window, light shines directly on the work at hand. A solitary spinner works in the darkness, sitting where the narrow stream of light will fall on the delicate thread. The choicest pieces of lace, the most exquisite designs, are created when the worker is in the dark and only his work is in the light. When it comes to handling hurt, we often find ourselves sitting in the darkness of frustration and pain, wondering if anything good can possibly be salvaged from the broken pieces of our lives.

I will never forget the day I learned that God really can turn tragedy into triumph. I was sitting at my desk, working on an assignment from the counselor I had been seeing. For months, I had been wrestling with my past; slowly, methodically working through painful issues and buried memories that seemed to be feeding the clinical depression I was battling. As page after page filled with harsh realities, a memory slammed into my heart and mind.

The pain was overwhelming as a vile scene from my childhood slowly took shape. I could hardly breathe as I frantically tried to escape the certainty I had been molested. The perpetrator had been our family doctor and friend. He had even provided free medical treatment when we had not money to pay. I had trusted him, counted on him. As a nurse, my mother had worked beside this man every single day and often watched his children when he and his wife went out.

Anger unlike any I had ever known fueled violent thoughts of revenge and retaliation. I was angry with this man - and angry with God. How could He have let this happen? Where was the light in this dark place?

For months, I worked through painful memories and raging emotions until I saw the first glimmer of light. It was wrapped in chosen forgiveness. And I began to see that had I never been wounded so badly, I would never have been able to forgive so freely - and in doing so, discover a depth of healing and freedom only the greatest pain can produce. Today, I can honestly thank God for all He has accomplished in me through the sin of that man.

There are no accidents with God, nor is He surprised by anything or anyone in the life of His child. God uses even the most horrendous circumstances for our good. The same can be said of relationships. Every relationship - difficult or easy - comes to us for a purpose, wrapped in God's love and plan and faithfully delivered with His permission. The apostle Paul gives clear directions for the handling of these difficult relationships:

"Live in peace with each other. Encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:13-18). It is only in God's economy that being thankful transforms tragedy into triumph.

Let's Pray
Father, I come into Your presence, choosing to believe that You are faithful and will do what You have promised to do in Your Word. I lay my pain at Your feet and surrender my hurt to You. Only You can ease my pain and restore my joy. Only You can turn the broken places of my life into living illustrations of Your sufficiency and power. I praise Your name, Lord, and choose to trust You today.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Now It's Your Turn
Do you really believe that an attitude of gratitude helps us measure our problems against the limitless power of God, turning stumbling blocks into stepping stones? Explain.

Read Psalm 43:4. "Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God." What does it mean to "go to the altar of God" in dealing with hurt and pain in your life?

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:18. "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." How does this verse apply to the way you handle hurt and pain in your life?

More from the Girlfriends
Only God can take the broken pieces of your life and make something beautiful out of each one. He is waiting for you to let go of your pain and trust Him. And you really can. No one loves you like He does. You may not always understand or even like His process, but you can always trust His heart of love for you!

 

What Does the Lord Require of You? It’s Simple . . . Really

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Dan Buckhout

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord  require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”--Micah 6:8

“I have a case against you.” Yikes! That’s something we don’t want to hear spoken about us. How about this? – “’I have a case against you,’ says God.” Double yikes! Micah was the prophet called by God to deliver this message to the people of Israel many years ago. God’s people were getting it all wrong and Micah was asked to explain it to them and to tell them what was going to happen as a result. (It wasn’t pretty.) He wrote a book about his message and experience so that God could speak to us through it today.  So what does it have to do with us? Ummmm. . .well, God has a case against us. Triple yikes! But there’s good news! In the message Micah delivered were the simple instructions on how to straighten it out. Interested is knowing what it is? Me too. Let’s get started.

What’s the case? (see Micah 2:1-3, Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28)

In Micah’s time, the list of infractions included devising wickedness, coveting, defrauding, and walking proudly. Before we breathe a big sigh of relief – thinking we’re innocent of such charges – let’s fast-forward ahead in time a few hundred years to Jesus’ time on Earth. The people of Jesus’ time said God didn’t have a case against them. Jesus responded by establishing the proper standard by which to  measure such things. Murder and adultery were topics of Jesus’ discussion. Jesus taught that these sins are committed in the heart long before outward actions are taken. Anger and lust in the heart are the root causes of murder and adultery. So everyone in Jesus’ audience got the message. If they had ever been angry with someone or had ever looked upon another lustfully, God had a case. Yikes! So let’s admit it, God has a case against us too. Now to figure out how to straighten it out. . .

What not to do (see Micah 6:6-7, Matthew 6:5)

In Micah’s time, God looked at all the things the people were doing to compensate for His case against them. Through Micah, He told them they were doing two things wrong. (Later, Jesus backed him up on these.)

First, they were trying to deal with things by putting window dressing around it. Through empty religious rituals the people were trying to sweep God’s case under the rug. They figured if they gave more sacrifices and spent more time at the Temple, they could make sufficient payment to erase the case against them. God wasn’t interested. In Jesus’ time, the religious leaders were doing much the same thing. Their window dressing took the form of loud, wordy, public prayers, meant to demonstrate to the crowds that God didn’t have a case against them.

Second, they were making it too complicated. Through a complex set of prescribed rituals and offerings the people thought they were addressing the case against them. What they were really doing was substituting rituals in the place of dealing with the real issues. In Jesus’ time the complicated web of legal compliance that the leaders had put in place focused on looking pious rather than owning up to the case against them.

Today, we do the same. We go to church on Sunday and think that buys us a free pass when we get angry with the one who cuts us off in traffic on Monday. We pray diligently for God to straighten out the flaws of the world and then let our eyes linger on the sexy billboard or coworker. We devise complicated packages of logic to excuse our actions while condemning the actions of others.

What to do (see Micah 6:8, Matthew 6:6, Matthew 5:23-24)

The people in Micah’s time, in Jesus’ time, in our time are all called to get on a two-way street and understand the equal importance of the “traffic” that flows in each direction. In one direction – how we act toward others – we are to act justly. We are called to treat others with the love that God has for us and for them. Don’t act toward others in ways that are selfish or unfair. In short, love ‘em always! In the other direction – how we respond when others act toward us – we are to love mercy. When others don’t treat us with kindness and love, we are called to extend mercy to them. Understand that God has more than enough love for us and don’t require it from others as a payment for receiving love from us. Be understanding. Just as God shows mercy to each of us, we should extend it to others.

Walk Humbly With Our God

Not only do we have to get on a two-way street of just actions and mercy, but we must get on the right two-way street. To walk humbly with God, we must be on the road God is on. Inviting God to walk with us on the road of our choosing, is not walking humbly. It is walking proudly, on a road we deem more important than the road of God’s choice. God wants us to walk with Him, on the road He has purposed just for us. We must be willing to change the road we’re on and seek after God’s presence on the road He is on.

This is God’s plan. Pretty simple isn’t it? We tend to make it more complicated than this because, while God’s plan is simple, it is hard. The complicated, window-dressed approach is really just trying to substitute an easier plan. Yet, it accomplishes nothing but furthering the case God has against us. Instead, we are to keep it simple  – act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. That’s the truth.

“He has shown you what is good. When you substitute religious activity for what is good, you are not doing what He has shown you. What He has shown you is simple, yet hard. You are to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

That’s the YouTruth. Walk Humbly With Your God.

What Should You Do When Standing at a Crossroads?

What Should You Do When Standing at a Crossroads?


An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Heidi Avery

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

I love road trips! I think you will agree that good driving directions are essential for successful road trip.   Technology offers us some great options that promise to get us where ever we want to go. Google maps, auto navigation systems and Smart Phones easily do all the map work for us. But, even though our old AAA maps seem outdated we still like to keep one handy in our glove box just in case technology steers us wrong… and, it has!

Getting lost is never fun. It takes precious travel time to figure it out. Whether you’re just staring at the map or finding reliable local expert assistance time will be lost.

Life is like that sometimes too, isn’t it?

You find yourself steadily moving along and suddenly you’re at a crossroads. You pull right up to your own personal intersection of life and wonder “where the good way is?”

Crossroads are planted everywhere and they are unique to each individual, but what it all boils down to for each of us are the choices we make each day. And, really it’s about “who” we are making choices for.

We live in a fast paced, self-involved world and it’s spinning so fast most of the time that we are making decisions by the minute, sometimes without thought. And, because of this our own plans and selfish desires often make their way on to the path ahead.

Guess what? The crossroads are not there by accident.

They are reminders. Free supernatural moments handed down to us by our loving Creator causing us to stop and seek the ancient paths to find the good way… His way.

Standing at the crossroads, we put on the breaks to our own urgent agenda; remain still long enough to clearly see beyond ourselves for His way ahead.

What should we do at the crossroad?

Get out your road map… The Bible.  Just like the fold-up maps our Bible can overwhelm us at times, especially when we are feeling stranded and pressed for time. But, it’s the only way!

Seek expert assistance… godly counsel in confirming your new path. God often gives us great wisdom through the people around us and we are wise to seek it.

Pray… Seek Him and test whatever advice you are given by others.

Just like on a road trip, pulling out the bible and seeking godly council will cost us precious travel time. More than that, pursuing Jesus first in our lives means we absolutely will lose our lives. But, in return we get to claim His promises…

"For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25

That motivates me... you?

The simple reminder that our eternal lives are at stake by not following Jesus gets my attention, but it's not enough and it's selfish thinking too. Don’t get me wrong our eternal lives are at stake and that should motivate us, but we ought to follow Jesus because HE is GOD and because we love Him desperately and so much more than our own life.

If we sincerely seek the good way it can always be found in the ancient paths… the old ways. That’s exactly why God gave us the Living Word, to guide us through this life. It may indeed be old, but as Ecclesiastes reminds us “there is nothing new under the sun.” 

What we do at the crossroads determines whether or not we’ll find the rest that our souls desperately long for.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 8: Emotions Gone Bad and Mad

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 8: Emotions Gone Bad and Mad


An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries

 

Introduction: You’re reading Part 8 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea, Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel, Part 3: Good News about Good Moods, Part 4: What Went Wrong?, Part 5: Our Emotions and Our Bodies, Part 6: How’s Your EI?, and Part 7: Become an Emotional Mentor. I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.

Mood Disorder: Emotions Gone Mad

So far in our blog series on emotional intelligence, we’ve focused on how God designed us as emotional beings. We’ve called this “Mood Order.”

However, we’d be quite naïve to imagine that our emotions and moods are always well-ordered. Because of our fall into sin, we’re not the way we’re supposed to be—we are depraved and disordered. For emotions, we call this “Mood Disorder.”

In Ephesians 4:19, Paul chooses a very rare Greek word, apēlgēkotes, to describe mood disorder. The word literally means “past feeling.” We cease to feel and care. Tired of feeling, we shut ourselves down to the messages that pain sends. As a result, we lack emotional intelligence, sensitivity, and awareness.

Designed to be responsive to the world, others, and God, we close ourselves off. We think we’re too smart to smart anymore. In our folly, we decide that hurt is too painful, even if reflecting on hurt enhances our relationships. We become obtuse to emotional messages—emotionally dense, relationally stunted.

Refusing to Need God: Emotions Gone Bad

What is the essence of fallen emotionality? Instead of using emotions to experience deeply the life God grants us, we misuse our emotions to forget the pain in our soul and the sin in our heart. We pursue whatever pleases us for a season. We live as if this world is all there is.

We also pursue whatever pleases us for a reason. We live to survive, to make it somehow—without God.  You see, facing our feelings force us to face the fact that we must live face-to-face with God to survive.

In our refusal to depend upon God, we pinball between two self-centered, self-sufficient emotional survival modes.

• Out-of-Control Emotional Expression

• Over-Controlled Emotional Repression

Both styles share the refusal to listen well to our emotions, the refusal to use our emotionality to evaluate where we are spiritually. We refuse to face our feelings because we refuse to need God.

Using Our Feelings as Spears: Out-of-Control Emotional Expression

Paul further describes sinful emotions in Ephesians 4:19 as “giving themselves over to sensuality.” We’re ungoverned. Out of control. We’ve taken the brakes off our emotions.

We decide that we want nothing to do with managed moods. If we feel it; we express it. If it hurts others; so be it.

Consider King Saul. He massaged his jealousy toward David. When the women of Israel met Saul and David with dancing and song, they sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Saul was enraged. This refrain galled him. “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David” (1 Samuel 18:9).

Caressed anger leads to expressed anger.

“Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, ‘I’ll pin David to the wall’” (1 Samuel 18:10b-11a). Saul perfectly pictures imperfect, sinful emotions—we use our feelings as spears to hurt others.

Like all unmanaged moods, Saul’s resulted from a foolish internal evaluation of a difficult external situation. No doubt it would be emotionally distressing for most leaders to hear subordinates praised to the extent people praised David.

Experiencing this, Saul kept thinking to himself, rather than talking to God. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” (1 Samuel 18:8b).

Saul catastrophized. Imagining God to be a Hoarder, Saul could not imagine that there was enough respect and responsibility to go around for both David and himself. This town was not big enough for the both of them because God was not big enough for Saul.

Emotional sensationalists wear their emotions on their sleeves and hurl their feelings like a spear. They will not be controlled. They refuse to be inhibited. Their feelings become their god.

Yet, their feelings never direct them to God. They may feel their feelings, indulge their feelings, but they never engage their feelings, never use their mood states to detect their spiritual state.

And Us?

I know. We’re all thinking about people—other people. People who have treated us like this.

But what about us? Am I, are you, are we ever guilty of indulging our feelings? Do we ever use our feelings as spears to harm others? Do we refuse to face our feelings face-to-face with God?

The Rest of the Story

Some may wonder, “Well, yes, I do this—so how do I cling to God so I can change?” Great, honest question. We’ll address that later in our series.

Others may say, “Well, that’s not my style. I do the opposite. I stuff my feelings.” In our next post, we’ll examine that mood disorder in: Why Stuffing Our Feelings Is Sinful.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 7: Become an Emotional Mentor: How to Help Others with Their Emotions

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 7: Become an Emotional Mentor: How to Help Others with Their Emotions

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries

  

Introduction: You’re reading Part 7 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea, Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel, Part 3: Good News about Good Moods, Part 4: What Went Wrong?, Part 5: Our Emotions and Our Bodies, and Part 6: How’s Your EI? I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.

Emotions Are God-Given

 

Of course emotions are God-given because God created us in His image, including His emotional image. As John Piper notes, “God’s emotional life is infinitely complex beyond our ability to fully comprehend.”

While our emotions are not infinitely complex, they are complex. So, in ministering to others, let people have their feelings. Face people’s feelings, don’t fear them, don’t run from them.

Since emotional maturity includes experiencing life deeply and acting on feelings wisely, help people to face their feelings. Point them out. Explore them. Think about them.

Emotional Maturity Is Learned

Explore where your spiritual friends learned how to handle their emotions. Trace their emotional education to its roots. Then help your spiritual friends to unlearn (put off) unhealthy emotional living and learn (put on) healthy emotionality.

Bring rationality to emotionality. Explore the Scriptures with your spiritual friends to discern how they can respond to their emotions and to understand how their emotions reveal their deepest attitudes toward God.

Spiritual Discipline Is Vital to Emotional Health

Help people to tune their whole person—body and soul, mind and emotion—to be ready recipients of God’s grace. Teach the spiritual disciplines—like prayer, biblical meditation (Psalm 1), silence, solitude, simplicity, submission, service, etc.

Help people to understand that the Psalms are “emotional mentors.” Meditating on, applying, and paraphrasing psalms help us to face our feelings face-to-face with God.

The Rest of the Story

In our next post, we shift gears considerably as we move from God’s design for our emotions to sin’s distortion of our emotions, feelings, and moods. Read all about it in Emotions Gone Bad and Mad.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 6: How’s Your Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 6: How’s Your Emotional Intelligence?

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries

Introduction: You’re reading Part 6 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea, Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel, Part 3: Good News about Good Moods, Part 4: What Went Wrong?, and Part 5: Our Emotions and Our Bodies. I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.


IQ or EQ?

People talk a lot about IQ—Intelligence Quotient. However, we all know that “book smarts” and “people smarts” are two different skills. Today, we’ll summarize and apply what we’ve said so far about emotions by taking an Emotional Intelligence Test.

What’s Your EQ?

Evaluate yourself using 10 as “Emotionally Mature” and 1 as “Emotionally Immature.”

 1. I’m aware of my feelings and moods as they occur.

 2. I’m able to recognize and name my feelings and moods.

 3. I’m able to understand the causes of my feelings and moods.

 4. I maintain a sense of ongoing attention to my internal mood states.

 5. I’m aware both of my mood and my thoughts about my mood. 

 6. I actively monitor my moods as the first step in gaining control of them.

 7. I soothe my soul in God—I candidly take my feelings and mood to Christ.

 8. I have a sense of self-mastery—frustration tolerance and anger management.

 9. I self-regulate my emotions—self-control.

10.I can harness my emotions in the service of a godly goal.

11.I can stifle my impulses (“passions of the flesh”) and delay gratification.

12.I’m a hopeful person.

13.I turn setbacks into comebacks.

14.I’m resilient and longsuffering. I demonstrate perseverance.

15.I practice Christ-centered hopefulness: “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” “I can meet challenges as they arise.” “I’m competent in Christ.”

16.I’m learning contentment in whatever state I’m in (external situation or internal mood). 

17.I’m attuned to others, not emotionally tone-deaf. I have the ability to sense another’s mood. 

18.I have empathy built on self-awareness. I’m open to my own emotions and, therefore, skilled in reading the feelings of others.

19.I practice the creative ability of perceiving the subjective experiences of others.

20.I make another person’s pain my own.

21.I can take on the perspective of another person.

22.I forgive.

23.I’m emotionally nourishing toward others.

24.I leave others in a good mood.

25.I’m effective in interpersonal relationships.

26.I help others to soothe their souls in their Savior.

27.I can initiate and coordinate the efforts of a group of people—helping them to move with synchrony and harmony.

28.I can negotiate solutions—mediation, preventing or resolving conflicts.

29.I can make personal connection—ease of entry into an encounter along with the ability to recognize and respond fittingly to people’s feelings/concerns.

30.I’m a good team player.

31.I’m skilled at social analysis—being able to detect and have insights into people’s feelings, motives, and concerns. Ease of intimacy and rapport. 

The Rest of the Story

Today we focus on personal application. In our next post, we focus on ministry application. Read all about it in Helping Others with Their Emotions.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 5: Will Medicine Stop the Pain?

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 5: Will Medicine Stop the Pain?


An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries

Introduction: You’re reading Part 5 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea, Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel, Part 3: Good News about Good Moods, and Part 4: What Went Wrong? I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.

A Defining Question 

In a recent CCEF Ask the Counselor video, biblical counselor David Powlison addressed the question, “Do you believe that there is a biological basis for depression which may endure, despite the fact that heart issues have been successfully addressed through biblical counseling? If so, is there a place for long-term use of medication?” 

In his nuanced, loving, balanced response, Dr. Powlison noted that, “this is one of the defining questions of our age.” Listen to David’s full response at Is Depression Purely Biological?

A 1,000-word blog post can never provide the final word on this defining issue. Instead, consider these words simply an introduction to the Bible’s teaching on the complex inner-working of our body/soul, brain/mind connection. 

Jars of Clay

In the beginning, God designed us as body-soul beings. “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7). Even before the fall, we were more than inner person—we ere and are embodied beings. 

Our bodies are works of art fashioned by our heavenly Father who fearfully and wonderfully handcrafted us (Psalm 139:13-16). We are works of God’s hand; made, shaped, molded, clothed with skin and flesh, and knit together with bones and sinews (Job 10:3-12). We are not to despise our physicality. 

After the fall, the Bible teaches that we inhabit fallen bodies in a fallen world (Romans 8:18-25). Paul calls our fallen bodies “jars of clay” (2 Corinthians 4:7). As one commentator has mused, we are cracked pots! Paul also describes our bodies as a mortal earthly tent—perishable, weak, flesh and blood (1 Corinthians 15:42-47).

Paul is not saying that the flesh is bad or evil. He is saying that our bodies are weak and natural, prone in our fallen state to disorder and dysfunction. 

Some modern Christians seem to take a hyper-spiritual approach to the brain/mind issue. They act as if inner spirituality eliminates all the effects of outer bodily maladies. Some seem to imply that giving any credence to the fallen bodies influence on our emotional state is something of a Trojan Horse that sneaks secular, materialistic thought into Christian spirituality.

Not So the Puritans

The Puritans would have been shocked by such a naïve perspective on the mind-body issue. Puritan pastors and theologians like Robert Burton, William Ames, and Jonathan Edwards recognized that problems such as scrupulosity (what we might call OCD) and melancholy (what we might call depression) might, at least in part, be rooted in the fallen body. They warned that such maladies sometimes could not be cured simply by comforting words or biblical persuasion (see A History of Pastoral Care in America, pp. 60-72).

Edwards described his sense of pastoral helplessness in the face of the melancholy of his uncle, Joseph Hawley. He noted that Hawley was “in a great measure past a capacity of receiving advice, or being reasoned with” (see A History of Pastoral Care in America, p. 73). Eventually, Hawley took his own life one Sabbath morning. Shortly thereafter, Edwards advised clergy against the assumption that spiritual issues alone were at work in melancholy.

Emotions: Bridging Our Inner and Outer Worlds

Emotions truly are a bridge between our inner and outer world. Think of the word “feeling.” Feeling is a tactile word suggesting something that is tangible, physical, touchable, and palpable. “I feel the keyboard as I type. I feel the soft comfortable chair beneath me. I feel my sore back and stiff wrists as they cry out, “Give it a rest!”

We also use this physical word—feeling—to express emotions. “I feel sad. I feel happy. I feel joy. I feel anger.” It’s no surprise that we use this one word in these two ways—physical and emotional. We know what the Israelites understood—our body feels physically what our emotions feel metaphysically (see my Th.M. thesis Hebrew Anthropological Terms as a Foundation for a Biblical Counseling Model of Humanity).
When I’m nervous, my stomach is upset. When I feel deep love, my chest tightens. When I’m anxious, my heart races. When I’m sad, my entire system slows.

We know much more about the brain than the Israelites knew. It is a physical organ of the body and all physical organs in a fallen world in unglorified bodies can malfunction. My heart, liver, and kidneys can all become diseased, sick. So can the physical organ we call the brain.

Embracing our Weakness/Embracing God’s Power

It is important to realize that every emotion involves a complex interaction between body and soul. Therefore, it is dangerous to assume that all emotional struggles can be changed by strictly “spiritual means.” 

For some, spirituality includes embracing physical weakness. In fact, this is the exact message Paul communicates when he calls us “jars of clay.” Why does God allow us to experience physical weakness? “To show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). It’s the same message Paul personally experienced in his own situational suffering (2 Corinthians 1:8-9) and in his own bodily suffering (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

We can act as if we are more spiritual than the Apostle Paul. However, in actuality, pretending that our external suffering and our physical bodies do not impact us emotionally involves an arrogant refusal to depend upon and cling to Christ alone. 

Certain emotions, especially anxiety and depression, involve physiological components that sometimes may need to be treated with medication. When we ignore the importance of the body, we misunderstand what it means to trust God. It is wrong to place extra burdens on those who suffer emotionally by suggesting that all they need to do is surrender to God to make their struggles go away. 

On the other hand, it would be equally wrong to suggest that medication is all someone needs. That would be like a pastor entering the cancer ward to talk with a parishioner who was just told that she has cancer. “Well, take your medicine. Do chemo. You’ll be fine. See ya’ later.” No! That pastor would support, comfort, talk with, and pray for his parishioner.

Sickness and suffering are always a battleground between Satan and Christ. So, while medicine may sometimes be indicated for certain people with certain emotional battles, spiritual friendship is always indicated. Physicians of the body (and the brain is an organ of the physical body) prescribe medication. Physicians of the soul (and the mind is an inner capacity and reality of the soul) prescribe grace. 

The Rest of the Story
So how’s your EQ—your Emotional Quotient? In our next post, we’ll summarize and apply what we’ve said so far by presenting an EI Test: an Emotional Intelligence Test.

He Loves You No Matter What

He Loves You No Matter What
by Sharon Jaynes



A Girlfriends in God email devotional



Today’s Truth
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV).

Friend to Friend
Most of us live in a world of performance-based acceptance.  We make good grades and mommy is proud.  We look pretty and daddy smiles. We do a good job at work and the boss is pleased. We serve at church and congregation thinks we are “good Christians.”

Unfortunately that same sense of having to perform well to be accepted by people can easily roll over into our relationship with God. We falsely believe that we must perform well to be loved and accepted by Him, when nothing could be further from the truth. As a result, we strive to obtain something that we already have...God’s unconditional love.

Anabel Gillham was a woman who loved God, but had trouble accepting that God could love her. Sure, she knew the Bible verses that talked of God’s unconditional love for her. And yet she knew herself and doubted a God who knew her innermost thoughts would approve of her.

Then God used a very special person to help Annabel understand the depths of His love for her - her second child, Mason David Gilham, who was profoundly retarded.  Let’s let Anabel tell you her story.

I never doubted for a moment that Jesus loved that profoundly retarded little boy.  It didn’t matter that he would never sit with the kids in the back of the church and on a certain special night walk down the aisle, take the pastor by the hand, and invite Jesus into his heart.  It was entirely irrelevant that he could not quote a single verse of Scripture, that he would never go to high school, or that he would never be a dad.  I knew that Jesus loved Mason.

What I could not comprehend, what I could not accept, was that Jesus could love Mason’s mother, Anabel.  You see, I believed that in order for a person to accept me, to love me, I had to perform for him. My standard for getting love was performance-based, so I “performed” constantly, perfectly. In fact, I did not allow anyone to see me when I was not performing perfectly. I never had any close friends because I was convinced that if a person ever really got to know me, he wouldn’t like me.

Mace could never have performed for his parent’s love, or for anyone’s love, but oh, how they loved him.  His condition deteriorated to such a degree-and so rapidly-that they had to place him in an institution when he was very young. His parents enrolled him in the Enid State School for Mentally Handicapped Children. They drove regularly 120 miles to see him but occasionally also brought him home for a visit.

On one particular visit, Mace had been with them since Thursday evening. On the following Saturday afternoon God painted a vivid picture of His great love for Anabel through Mason. She was standing at the kitchen sink, dreading what lay ahead. In just a few moments, she would be gathering Mace’s things together and taking him back to “his house.” She had done this many times before-and it was never easy-but today God had something in mind that would change her life forever.

 “I stood up to the sink again,” she continued. “More dishes, more washing, more crying - and thoughts, foreign to my way of thinking, began filtering into my conscious awareness.  I believe God spoke to me that day, and this is what He said: “ Anabel, you don’t look at your son and turn away in disgust because he’s sitting there with saliva drooling out of mouth; you don’t shake your head, repulsed because he has dinner all over his shirt or because he’s sitting in a dirty, smelly diaper when he ought to be able to take care of himself. Anabel, you don’t reject Mason because all of the dreams you had for him have been destroyed. You don’t reject him because he doesn’t perform for you. You love him, Anabel, just because he is yours. Mason doesn’t willfully reject your love, but you willfully reject Mine. I love you, Anabel, not because you’re neat or attractive, or because you do things well, not because you perform for Me but just because you’re Mine.”

And friend, that’s exactly how God feels about you.  He loves you just because you’re His.

Let’s Pray
Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me unconditionally.  You love me when I perform well, and when I fall flat on my face. Help me to love others the same.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen

Now It’s Your Turn
Do you ever feel that God loves you more when you perform well?

I’m guessing you said, “Yes.”  So tell me, what is wrong with that way of thinking?

Ten Ways to Encourage a Brother or Sister in Christ

Ten Ways to Encourage a Brother or Sister in Christ

A Christian Resource Cafe devotional (FaceBook page)
by Douglas in Daily Devotion


First Thessalonians 5:1–11 tells us that Christ died for us so that we can live together with Him. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up . . .”

It is crucial that we encourage our brothers and sisters in our small groups, where we “live together with Him.” Here are some specific ways to do so:

1. Write an encouraging letter (Paul to Timothy).
2. Share how God has dealt with you in your life—your personal testimony of overcoming and growth (Paul’s testimony in Acts 22).
3. Offer your supportive presence, even when you do not understand (the women at the cross).
4. Affirm another person’s worth by doing kindness when he hurts (Jesus in Matthew 25—feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, clothe the naked).
5. Absorb another person’s problems into yourself (pay his debts—Paul with Onesimus; the Good Samaritan).
6. Rejoice with another in his successes (Acts 5:41).
7. Jump in and help someone else actually complete a job (John and Peter with Philip in Samaria).
8. Stand up for a brother or sister, defending that person when others disparage him or her (Barnabas for Paul).
9. Pray (Paul for the Romans).
10. Review with a brother or sister the record of God’s involvement in our past and present so he or she can get the future into perspective (Paul to the Philippians, and on the shipwreck).

Courtesy of the Navigators

Christian Anger

Christian Anger

By www.jesus-is-lord-the-way-the-truth-the-life.com's FaceBook page


Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath. ~Ephesians 4:26

"Few things are more destructive to Christians than anger. Anger causes us to lose our self-control and to say and do things we would otherwise never consider. Anger, if allowed to remain, turns into bitterness that eats away at our hearts. Scripture consistently commands believers to put away anger and lists it as one of the sins of the flesh (Eph. 4:31).

At times, we try to defend our anger by citing Ephesians 4:26. As additional proof we argue that Jesus cleansed the temple in ""righteous indignation."" Ephesians refers to anger that does not lead to sin. Jesus was capable of being angry without sinning. When Jesus cleared the temple, Scripture does not indicate that He was angry (Matt. 21:12-14; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-46).

We must be careful not to justify our anger with Scripture. Ephesians 4:31 commands us to put away all anger. That does not mean that we cease to have strong convictions or lose our desire for justice. It does mean we refuse to allow the sins of others to cause us to sin. Anger does not bring about God's redemptive work; far more often it hinders what God is working to accomplish.

If you feel that you have a righteous anger because of something that has happened, see if you are holding anger in your heart without sin. Is your anger turning into bitterness? Is your anger causing you to speak in an unchristian manner to someone or to gossip about them? Is your anger causing you to make excuses for your own ungodly behavior? Is your anger preventing you from acting in a loving, redemptive, and Christlike way toward someone? You must examine any anger within you and allow God to remove any sinful attitudes that your anger may have produced."

Death and Birth of a Vision

Death and Birth of a Vision


By www.jesus-is-lord-the-way-the-truth-the-life.com's FaceBook page



I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. - John 12:24

Almost every significant thing God births He allows to die before the vision is fulfilled in His own way.

• Abraham had a vision of being the father of a great nation (birth). Sarah was barren and became too old to have children (death). God gave Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age. He became the father of a great nation (fulfillment).

• Joseph had a vision that he would be a great leader and that many would bow down to him (birth). Joseph's brothers sold him to some merchants and he became a slave. Later he was falsely condemned to spend his years in prison (death). God allowed Joseph to interpret the dreams of the butler and baker and later the king, whereupon, he was made a ruler in the land (fulfillment).

• Moses had a vision of leading his people out of the bondage of Egypt (birth). Pharaoh as well as his own people drove Moses out of Egypt after Moses' first attempt to relieve their bondage (death). God gave Moses signs and wonders to convince Pharaoh to free the people and bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land (fulfillment).

• The disciples had a vision of establishing the Kingdom of God with Jesus (birth). The very ones He came to save killed Jesus, and the disciples saw Him buried in a tomb (death). God raised Jesus from the dead, and the disciples performed great miracles until the gospel had spread through all the world (fulfillment).

• A grain of wheat has a "vision" of reproducing itself and many more grains of wheat (birth). The grain dies in the ground (death). A harvest springs up out of the very process of "death" in the ground (fulfillment).

Has God given you a vision that is yet unfulfilled? If that vision is born of God, He will raise it up in His own way. Do not try to raise the vision in your own strength. Like Moses, who tried to fulfill the vision of freeing the Hebrews by killing the Egyptian, it will only fail. But wait on your heavenly Father to fulfill the vision. Then you will know that it was His vision when He fulfills it in the way only He can do.

Testing Reveals Your Heart

Testing Reveals Your Heart


By www.jesus-is-lord-the-way-the-truth-the-life.com's FaceBook page

And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. ~Deuteronomy 8:2-3

"God allows us to suffer difficulties and hardships for a purpose. God led the children of Israel to wander through the wilderness for forty years in order to humble them and test them. When they refused to obey Him and enter the Promised Land, the Israelites revealed that they did not really know Him. If they had, they would have had more faith. God spent the next forty years testing the hearts of His people to see if they were prepared for His next assignment.

Testing reveals what is in your heart and produces a robust faith (James 1:3, 12). God allowed His people to hunger so they could experience His provision and develop a deeper level of trust in Him. As the people walked with God they came to understand that their lives depended upon His Word. They learned that God's Word was the most important thing they had. After depending on God for forty years while living in the desert, the people listened when God spoke, and they believed. When they finally entered the Promised Land and waged war against their enemies, the Israelites knew that God's word meant life and death. They were prepared to listen to Him, and as a result He led them to an astounding victory.

Is God presently testing you in some area of your life? What has His testing revealed? Have you become bitter toward God because of where He has led you? Or have you come to trust Him more as a result of what you have gone through?"

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions Part 4: Emotions: What Went Wrong?

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions
Part 4: Emotions: What Went Wrong?


An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries

Introduction: You’re reading Part 3 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea, Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel, and Part 3: Good News about Good Moods. I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.

Mood Bent Out of Shape: Mood Disorder

Separated from the life of God, we demand that we become like gods for one another. When our fellow finite beings fail us, then we face personal dis-integration. We’re shamefully exposed as false trusters. Thus, all disorder ultimately arises from a state of disconnection. The emotional result is disordered moods:

• My inability to accurately sense and experience my own inner and outer world and my failure to maintain a healthy self-awareness of my prevailing emotional mood state(s).

• My inability to accurately read my emotional thermostat so that I inaccurately gauge the relational temperature outside and my personal temperature inside.

• My inability to respond to my inner and outer world courageously, lovingly, and wisely.

In mood order, we perceive unpleasant or distressful moods as messages sent from the soul to the body (from the mind to the brain). The message is communicating: “Necessary changes requested. Please reply ASAP! Thank you.”

The symptom (the distressed mood) is thus seen as a potential gift. It is like the warning light in our cars reminding us to “check under the hood.”

In mood disorder, we misperceive our distressed mood and respond in non-God ways. We attempt to manage our misperceived moods self-sufficiently. (Later in this blog mini-series, we’ll explore more about mismanaged moods.)

Mood Reshaped by Christ: Mood Reorder

Satan wants our moods to overwhelm us, control us, and direct us away from God. Or, at least he wants us to respond to them by entering survival mode.

Remember this principle. Overwhelming moods lead to survival mode.

Jesus came to give us life, and that abundantly (perisson). “Abundant” means beyond what is necessary, surplus, left over, greatly enlarged. It is used of the abundance left over after the feeding of the 5,000. Spoiling! Jesus came to spoil us.

Resurrection power allows us to do more than survive. We can thrive (2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Philippians 3:7-15). We can move from anger to love, from despair to hope, and from fear to faith. 

Resurrection power offers fresh, creative energy, and a reawakening of courage—of mood. As Paul Tournier insightfully describes it:

“The person matures, develops, becomes more creative, not because of the deprivation in itself, but through his own active response to misfortune, through the struggle to come to terms with it and morally to overcome it—even if in spite of everything there is not cure . . . Events give us pain or joy, but our growth is determined by our personal response to both, by our inner attitude” (Tournier, Creative Suffering, pp. 28-29).

Remember this principle. In reordered, redeemed moods, intense moods lead to a thriving mode.

Later in this blog mini-series, we’ll learn more about managing our moods. Here’s my desire now: recognize how marvelous moods can be when managed in Christ and recognize how pernicious they can be when mismanaged under Satan. Appreciate your moods as God-given sources of instant insight into your inner and outer world. Enjoy the usefulness of reordered moods in a disjointed world, which include:

• My God-given ability to become aware of my moods, whether pleasant or unpleasant, and to accept that I am experiencing that mood.

• My God-given ability to face and feel whatever mood I am experiencing, allowing it to grant me insight into my inner self and my external situation.

• My God-given ability to bring rationality to my emotionality by coming to understand the sources of my moods and my resources to manage my moods (responding to my inner and outer world wisely).

• My God-given ability to bring volitionality to my emotionality by choosing how I will manage my moods instead of allowing them to manage me (responding to my inner and outer world courageously).

• My God-given ability to bring relationality to my emotionality by allowing my moods to motivate me toward deeper connection or reconnection with God, others, and myself (responding to my inner and outer world lovingly).

The Rest of the Story

So, all we need to do is work on our inner life and all “negative” emotions will flee? No, there’s more to it. There are other components involved, including our physical body. In our next post, Dust and Divinity, we briefly explore the connection between our bodies (we are physical beings) and our feelings (we are emotional beings).

Join the Conversation

Reread the five bullet points under reordered moods. Select at least one and ponder how you might apply that principle to a current emotional issue you are facing/feeling.

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions. Part 3: Good News About Good Moods

Emotional Intelligence: The ABCs of Emotions.
Part 3:  Good News About Good Moods

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries




Introduction: You’re reading Part 3 in a blog mini-series on Emotional Intelligence. Read Part 1: Emotions: God’s Idea and Part 2: Why We Feel What We Feel. I’ve developed this series from material in my book Soul Physicians.

How God Designed Our Moods to Work: Mood Order

We tend to develop rather patterned approaches to life. Relationally, we pursue affections that motivate our actions (Psalm 42:1-2). We cling to our Creator or to created realities—pure or impure affections, lovers of the soul or idols of the heart. Either we worship God our Spring of Living Water, or we dig broken cisterns that can hold no water. We enjoy intimacy with Christ or we weary ourselves pursuing false lovers. 

Rationally, we develop mindsets that persist over time (Romans 12:1-2). Either we direct our lives according to the mindset of the spirit/Spirit or we pilot our lives off course according to the mindset of the flesh. Either we guide our lives along the narrow path of wisdom or along the broad road of foolishness. 

Volitionally (our will), we develop purposeful pathways of intentional interacting (Joshua 24:15). We trod a path toward what we perceive will satisfy the hunger of our heart. We habituate ourselves either toward willing God’s will or willing our own will. “Your will be done,” or “My will be done.”

Emotions are no exception. We not only experience instantaneous emotional responses, we also encounter ongoing mood states. A mood is a background feeling or emotional state that persists over time. It is less intense and longer lasting than emotions. My mood is my prevailing tone or coloring, my state of mind, frame of mind. In a sense, it is my emotional outlook that occurs both at a particular time and settles deep inside me over time.  

As with emotions, moods are the intersection of our emotional/feeling responses and our rational attitude/perceptions. My mood reacts both to the external events of my life and to the internal longings, images, ideas, goals, and actions of my soul. 

Created by God, moods, like emotions, were a very good thing. Our heavenly Father intricately fashioned His image bearers to experience a variety of positive emotional states, the most optimal moods. Our moods and emotions have a purposeful function or they would not exist.

Emotions and moods contain vital signals of readiness not simply for action, but for interaction, and rest from interaction. They signal when we need to interact and when we need to come apart (before we fall apart). Jesus identified within Himself moods that led him to seek solitude (Mark 1:45; Luke 5:16) and that led Him to engage in intimate interaction (Luke 5:15; Mark 3:1-6).

Our moods guide us to mobilize our resources for wise relating. They work with our self-awareness so that we can become attentive to our emotional states as our inner person interacts with our outer world. Moods motivate, or better, moods jolt us into awareness, promote pondering, and motivate us toward appropriate interaction. Taken together, we can define mood order as:

• My God-given ability to feel my own feelings, to sense my own life experiences, and to become self-aware of my prevailing emotional mood state(s). 
• My God-given thermostat that quickly gauges the relational temperature outside and my personal temperature inside.
• My God-given capacity to courageously, lovingly, and wisely respond to my inner and outer world. I perceive what I feel and I choose how I respond.  

Moods in the Garden

What was the mood process like for Adam and Eve? All order ultimately arises from connection. So when Adam felt happiness and joy in the presence of Eve, his entire being became focused on connecting, attaching. “I like being with her. I want to be with her. When we are together, I am outrageously happy.”

Sinless Adam and Eve also could have experienced legitimate sadness—a sadness due to absence that impelled them to reconnect. Adam is working in one part of the Garden. Eve in another. Happy in her work, but aware of a growing sense of sadness, of a developing mood of aloneness, Eve stops. She ponders. She recognizes the source—she misses her hubby. She runs to him, throws her arms around him, kisses him impetuously. “Just wanted you to know how much I missed you!”

Separation, whether physical or psychological, is a basic cause of human sadness. Sadness provides a driving force to restore attachment, in the same way that hunger impels us to eat. 

This ancient, biblical sense of mood corresponds to how other pre-modern people understood mood. Before AD 900 in Middle English, mood meant “spirit, courage, mind.” In the Old Saxon, mood meant “courage and spirit.” Mood had a very positive connotation. It was always correlated with courage, movement, spirit, aliveness, passion, and energy. 

That’s so different from our modern or post-modern thinking. “He’s so moody!” “She’s in such a mood!” That could be a dynamic compliment, depending on the nature of the mood.

The Rest of the Story

Talking about “mood order” is “fun.” However, we would be naïve to stop here. We all know and experience the “disordering of our emotions and moods.” So in our next post we’ll explore Emotions: What Went Wrong?

Join the Conversation

How could you use this good news about good moods to enjoy and benefit from your emotions and moods, rather than fearing and fleeing them? What legitimate mood could you enjoy right now?

Leaving The Hurt Behind

Leaving The Hurt Behind


An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Dionna Sanchez




Some people hurt me really deeply in my life. It was a long time ago, but the hurt that was done is still very much remembered. I’ve gone to God so many times and asked Him to help heal my heart and to help me forgive. To help me WANT to forgive. 

Time and space have been wonderful boundaries for a wounded heart to slowly heal.

Now, here I sit. Many, many years later. And something seems to have changed. Either these people regret how they treated me, or God has done some work on their own hearts. Either way, I sense a shift in how they are responding towards me. How they are viewing me.

At first I felt somewhat defiant. “They SHOULD know they were wrong about me!” That changed to “It’s about time.” Now, I’m feeling my heart soften a bit more. It doesn’t matter whether or not I feel they deserve my forgiveness or peace. I can’t ever buy back the time that they stole from me. I can’t replace the stress, the heartache, the part of me that they took from me. It’s done.  What I CAN do is see that I deserve to be the kind of person who offers forgiveness so that I can finally have peace.

You see – it’s not about them. It’s about me. It’s about being free. Free from bitterness. Free from discouragement, frustration and a label. A label that was put on me. As long as I stay rigid in my heart and thoughts towards them – I’m in bondage TO them. And that’s the last thing I want.

Not only that – but how many times have I hurt someone else? Not intentionally, mind you – but I’m sure the hurt has been done, just the same. The price to pay is never having the relationship we could have had. The price to pay for these people in my life is never having the relationship they could have had with me. 

Forgiveness doesn’t mean removing boundaries. It simply means removing anger and a lot of times… sorrow.

I am where I am in life for a reason. I believe God has used the pain in my life to help others. I believe He’s used it to help ME! Would I go back and do it again? Probably not. But then there would have just been some other hard lesson for me to experience and go through.

I want to be free. I want to be healed forever. That only means one thing.

Forgive. Let the past go and leave it there. Don’t carry it with me as a constant reminder of what I wish would have been.

There is something different that can be found today. And it can be a different kind of beautiful if I’m ready to find it.

How To Create Your Own Bible Studies

How To Create Your Own Bible Studies

An Everyday Christian Devotional
By Jack Wellman

  
I have been working on a Bible study for prisoners for some time now and see how Paul taught the Roman Christians how they are supposed to live a godly life in the world and how to a godly life among each other.  Romans 12 is a pattern on how Christians ought to live among themselves in the church or in some cases, being incarcerated.  Romans 12 is how Christians can live among the world and also live among other prisoners and guards while being incarcerated.  I have used this same study for our church to be model Christians and model citizens in the world and in the church as a witness and testimony to Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

I am presently working on a model on Romans 12 for prisoners to use as a Bible study on how they should be living within the Christian community, whether free or incarcerated.  As for this lesson, there are the five W’s and the one H of each of these verses in Romans 13.  They are the who, what, where, when, why, and how.  If you can add anything to this, please feel free to do so or modify it for your own use.  This will be available to copy and paste, modify, or use in any way you wish.  If you wish I can email you a personal copy as a PDF or a document.  Please suggest areas in which to improve on this study or customize it to use as you wish.  I have even included this as part of my letters to prisoners and Death Row for those who wish to go deeper into studying the Bible.

Christianity in the World - Living a Godly Life

How does the Christian affect the world?  What does being salt and light mean?  What are God’s requirements of every Christian in the world as far as being an employee?  Actually, the world would be a better place and so would business.  If Romans 12 is the model of how Christians ought to relate to one another, then Romans 13 is how Christians ought to relate to their employers and employees and to society in general.

Submitting to Government: Romans 13:1-2

Paul is clear about what God’s expectations are for believers in the world of work.  Starting in verse one he says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.”

Who is Paul talking about here? _____________________________________________

What are the ways in which this can be lived out? _______________________________

Where do these two verses apply? ____________________________________________

When are there opportunities to live this out? ___________________________________

Why is this important? _____________________________________________________

How can we fulfill these commands? _________________________________________


Submitting to Employers: Romans 13:3-5

So being obedience, submissive, and a faithful work is commanded of us by God.  In verse 3 Paul continues,  “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake.”

God has placed people in the church as it pleases Him.  My church has a deacon, and elder and for some reason unknown to me, has placed me as their pastor.  So we should realize that people that are in authority over us, at work, in public and in church, as God’s agents. He has placed each person in their position as His sovereignty pleased Him to do so.  It is no accident.

Who is Paul talking about here? _____________________________________________

What are the ways in which this can be lived out? _______________________________

Where do these two verses apply? ____________________________________________

When are there opportunities to live this out? ___________________________________

Why is this important? _____________________________________________________

How can we fulfill these commands? _________________________________________


Submitting to Rulers: Romans 13:6-7

Paul continued in verse 6 “For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” In other words, we are to esteem those in authority with respect and honor that is due them.  Not because you agree with them, but because God has instructed Christians to do so.

Who is Paul talking about here? _____________________________________________

What are the ways in which this can be lived out? _______________________________

Where do these two verses apply? ____________________________________________

When are there opportunities to live this out? ___________________________________

Why is this important? _____________________________________________________

How can we fulfill these commands? _________________________________________


Submitting to our Society: Romans 13:8-9

In verse 8, Paul says that we are to “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness, ‘You shall not covet,’, and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Who is Paul talking about here? _____________________________________________

What are the ways in which this can be lived out? _______________________________

Where do these two verses apply? ____________________________________________

When are there opportunities to live this out? ___________________________________

Why is this important? _____________________________________________________

How can we fulfill these commands? _________________________________________


Wearing Christ in Public: Romans 13:11-13
 
Paul tells us that the world is watching us and so says, 11 “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

Who is Paul talking about here? _____________________________________________

What are the ways in which this can be lived out? _______________________________

Where do these two verses apply? ____________________________________________

When are there opportunities to live this out? ___________________________________

Why is this important? _____________________________________________________

How can we fulfill these commands? _________________________________________


How different would be the world if Christians took to heart these commands to be a good neighbor, citizen, employer/employee, and fellow member of the Body of Christ.  Then indeed, it would be said of us all, collectively, that "These that have turned the world upside down are come here also." - Acts 17:6.  Maybe it should read, we have turned the world, right side up!