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The Way to Kill your Emotions
Emotional overload results in saying dumb things for me. Some people may act out, and other may retreat inside. Emotional overload causes damage to those who don’t recognize it. I have always recognized emotional overload but had no idea I could control my behaviour in the midst of it. As a Christian, what do you do when you discover you are on emotional overload? What emotion typically causes an overload? Do you look at the overload and figure out what is at the bottom of it? Knowledge is power.
Awareness
In my book The White Picket Fence, week one deals with awareness. I have discussed awareness before and will continue to discuss it. You cannot deal with any emotion unless you know why it is rearing its ugly head. When I am aware I am in emotional overload, I instantly wonder why. What has happened that has caused me to lose control? It might be minor, but it has touched on something more significant. You might not even know what your trigger points are because what they are triggering is hidden. It might be something you hate doing but find you are doing it more and more these days. Anything can trigger an emotional overload, but you need to get to the truth before the overload spills onto others.
The Sword of Truth
When emotional overload happens, you must get to the truth as quickly as possible. The overload is making you unstable and unpredictable. You are fast becoming someone without a sound mind. Your decisions are hampered by this emotion. The other day I was angry about something I didn’t know about. I was lying in bed thinking and discovered what I actually was angry about. I am forced to do this thing I despised for up to one year. I despise having to do it and that made me angry. Life happens to all of us. The time period is short so therefore I can do this and do it in a godly manner.
Live
I choose to live my life without emotional overload. I become aware instantly when I am in overload but sometimes not quick enough to escape embarrassing myself. I want to live without avoiding the things that hurt me or frazzle me. If I choose to avoid them I will live in a cocoon. Inside the cocoon I will avoid the tough stuff, but I am also hidden from the good stuff too. The joy in my life overshadows everything I can put myself through. I choose to live in that joy and kill my negative emotions before they kill me.
You Shall Live
The goal of my whole ministry of teaching is to help you live your life to the fullest. I write about my death, so you can live. My death to negative behaviour, sheltering my emotions and serving self leads to a life so wonderful I never want to go back. I want you to live your life after death the same way. Jesus died to give you life. I die to give you life. Every one of the people who have taught you about Jesus have died to give you life. Fight your negative emotions with the Sword of Truth and you will be successful at killing them to live.
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The 3 Ways to Live
My Goal to Live
As you know by now my whole goal for you is for you to live. I want you to stop sitting on the sidelines while others live. I want you to stop agonizing over a spent life. I want you to live. I want you to be somebody who is proud of the way you have lived. I want you to say on your deathbed, “I have lived a good life.”
This is why Jesus has made me who I am. To bring you the news that no matter what is going on in your life, you can live. I know struggle. I know hatred. I know medical problems. I know loss of time. I know every excuse that is known to man, but I still make it my goal every day to do what Jesus has called me to do: live.
If you are able to grapple with and overcome three major problems to living, you will live. Before Jesus gave up His life for us, He told us three things about living that we ought to pay attention too. He told us we must die to live. He told us we must see to live, and He told us we must feed off of Him to live.
Way One: Die to Live
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. John 11:25
You will never live until you kill yourself. To live the life Jesus has for you killing yourself is mandatory. Up until you were saved, you were living your own life. BUT now you must live for Jesus or you will surely die. This is a conundrum all of us grapple with, but I can tell you that once you have successfully overcome this, you will begin to live a life more abundant.
Your mind changes from striving for goods to striving for God. You look at people differently. You love differently. You plan differently. You begin to live as if death has no hold on you.
Way Two: See to Live
A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. John 14:19
You will never live until you see Jesus all around you. To live a life for Jesus you must be able to see Him at work. Jesus is alive and at work in this world. He is alive and at work in the people around you. It is because He is alive in this world that we can possibly live a life more abundant than before.
When you see Jesus at work, He is easier to follow. When you see Him, you see His plan for you. You see Him at work in others’ lives. It is because He manifests Himself to you, that you are able to see Him, follow Him and live through Him. Your previous blindness falls away leaving you are able to see.
Way Three: Feed to Live
As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. John 6:57
You will never live until you feed on the Word. Everything that happens in our life can be understood by Word. Your life will always remain a mystery if you never feed on the Word. While you are trying to solve life’s issues you are not living. You are moving from one problem to the other instead of one event to another. Jesus has provided the food for us, so we can use it to live a life more abundant.
Have you ever heard that if you eat too many carrots your skin turns orange? Well, if you eat much of the Word, you will look like the Word. We already have the image of the Word, now we need the character of the Word. The world will see the image of the Word working like the Word. You will live because of the Word, and your life will become much more abundant.
Your Goal to Live
None of us want to reach our deathbed full of regret and sorrow. Jesus came that we might live (John 10:10) so why aren’t we? Why aren’t we dying to self? Why aren’t we seeing Jesus? Why aren’t we working like the Word? We are grappling with life and we must overcome it.
Living for Jesus is the most wonderful thing in the world to do. He supplies us with everything we need to do what He has asked us to do. He makes the way for us to do His will. He has provided us with a room in the Fathers mansion. He intercedes for us when we fail. What more could we ask for? What more do you want?
If all of the provisions are available living for Jesus should be easy but it takes time and effort in the beginning. You just need to get past this stage no matter how hard it is so that you may live. I want your goal to be to live. I will be with you every step of the way bringing you my stories and solutions to life’s problems. We can and will overcome this life, so we may live His life more abundant.
