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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 Different Way
Jesus calls us to walk a different way. How can anyone tell we have worked hard to be different than we were yesterday? Our last blog we talked about having a different character in this blog we are going to discuss the different way we act. We know our different character will manifest itself in the way we act. That is the different way. The way people see us, good or bad. Jesus said in Matthew 7:15-20 that false prophets and true prophets will be known by their fruit. The different way with God, always manifests itself as good fruit. We can go the different way producing good fruit when we walk in the Spirit, when we are kind and when we love our brethren.
The Spirit’s Way
Different is walking in the Spirit. Even your brethren will see you do things differently because you follow the Spirit rather than the world. The Spirit manifests Himself in you making you think different than others therefore you see you have become different. You look for Jesus in everything because the fruit the Spirit has produced in you something you want. You are addicted to the good fruit. Honey comes from it rather than mustard. Everyone’s good fruit is the work of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and our bad fruit is the work of our flesh. We walk a different way because we are killing our flesh. We have seen the result the fruit of the Spirit has had in our lives so we want to keep walking that way. How much fruit we produce is based on the percentage in the way we walk. If we are walking in the Spirit, we will produce good fruit, but if we are walking in the flesh, bad fruit. The fruit you produce as a result of the way of the Spirit will make you so different you will ooze kindness with those around you.
The Way of Brotherly Kindness
I know that some people will equate love with kindness but I see them as different. Kindness is a precursor to brotherly love. When I don’t know you, I am kind toward you, but once I know you it will be deeper. Kindness is more of a superficial way of treating unknown people. We are kind to people when we don’t know exactly what they need, so we guess, and we deliver. We can guess that a homeless man, who has no coat, needs a coat, so we give him one. When we continue to walk the way of the Spirit kindness toward people will make us different than others. We are kind to everyone no matter who they are, even when everyone else hates them. The need to be kind will be something you will not be able to squelch because the Spirit will give you the power and the prodding. When you go the way of the Spirit to kindness you begin to walk in love as well.
The Way of Brotherly Love
While kindness is superficial, love is deeper. We will be known to be a disciple of Jesus by our deep love (John 13:35). God is giving us information, by revelation, that can be used to know them better. We are drawn back to the people who need our kindness, by the Spirit, over and over again. We are beginning to feel more than a need to provide for them, we are feeling a deep need to see their lives improved. The way of brotherly love goes deeper than kindness and goes deeper into the trenches as well. Kindness provides a fish while love teaches them how to fish. Love is an endless action meant to improve lives. This different way of love manifests itself by the leading of the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Father. It is specific to the plan of God for us and for those we are called to manifest this different way of love too. It manifests itself as speaking the truth (all of it), reprimanding for sin, teaching ways to escape temptation, teaching every commandment in the Word of God, revealing every promise and all done with kindness.
Different in God’s way does not mean the same as the worlds way. It manifests itself in a way that set us apart from others. They witness this different way and they want it too. People are changed when we choose to walk the different way. When we choose to walk by the Spirit it is the way of life for both us and those we are called to serve. When we choose to walk in the way of kindness we see how people react to our actions. When we choose to walk in the way of love we are responsible for people seeing Jesus in this world. Every word we say, every action we take show the way to Jesus. Being Jesus in this world is the goal of being different otherwise there is no different way. Walk in the different way to manifest Jesus to people.
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This is the Way
I am no more confused than you are with figuring out the direction in which I should go. One thing I do know is I spend too much time trying to figure it out and not enough time just listening. I travel down this road, because it makes sense, only to fail. I travel down that road, for the same reason, only to fail again. I ask God, what the heckers is going on, but I ask in vain, because I am telling Him He is wrong and I am right. Due to my vainness I keep going. Thank the Lord for His great mercy to teach me, because today I am not as likely to keep going as I was yesterday. When I hear Him say, “This is the way, walk in it!” I stop, back up if I need too, and go His way. Pursuing the biblical direction is the Way. It is the only way. I go that way and I really want you to go that way too. It is the way to better character and it is the way to your calling.
This Way to Better Character
I assume you believe Jesus Christ. I assume you have faith. So, then I am going to assume that you want to act like Jesus in this world. 2 Peter 1:5-7 sums up the way all of us should go to a better character. Kindness and love is talked about as if it is the way to better character but according to Peter they are the last things to add to our faith. Kindness and love are external character traits that prove out that we have worked out the rest of the list (virtue, knowledge, self-control and perseverance). The way to have the character of Jesus is to work out what is going on inside you first. You need to care about the way you do life then know what you should do. You need to learn how to focus on the way you are being told to go and keep going in that direction despite what you think or what others say. You cannot help but become godly when you are following God all over the place. Treat people kind and show them the love Jesus has for them. When you go to the right or to the left, even if they the wrong way, people will be blessed by you. No matter where you are in your life, better character is always the best way to go to your calling.
This Way to Your Calling
There is only two things to do for Jesus, act like Him and follow Him. He has already been Him (2000 years ago) so you do not need to do what He did, so that has to mean, you have your own plan to follow. As you work out your character traits Jesus will reveal Himself to you along the way to do what He wants you to do. Unless you look like Jesus He will not send you into your calling. Imagine if you have an issue with people calling you by a shortened version of your name and Jesus wants you to become a public speaker of some kind. How will He send you if you lose your cool every time someone doesn’t use your full name. Boy, that will need to be worked out first, or you won’t have anyone coming to listen you speak. Your message will be – call me by my given name or hear me roar. That is not Jesus. The way to your calling is always through the way to better character. Jesus will not allow you to get to your calling any other way so don’t try to cheat, just follow Him. Do not be the thief of John 10:10 by trying to get God’s blessings by any other way but through Jesus. Your calling can be found no other way then by following Jesus. He is the only way to your calling.
Walk this Way!
Stop heading to the right and to the left to find you. Jesus is the way to the character that defines you and He is the way to your calling. Jesus cared about people because He focused on what He was doing for them and why He was doing it. He was focused on going in the way of the Father. He listened for His voice and saw what the Father was doing. His ears heard a Word behind Him saying, “This is the way to go, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21) He went to His calling through the Father’s character. Jesus was our example and we can do exactly what He did. We can hear the voice behind us and walk in it. The Father told us we can so we can. Follow “the Way” the Father is directing you and find yourself in the way too.
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The Way to Change
I want to explain why I have been using the word way so much recently. I, sometimes, will put quotes around the word Christian, because in today’s society being a “Christian” is like wearing a union badge. If you belong to the CAW/UAW, you are respected because they are feared. You don’t have to change, your employer has to change. Being a Christian is different, or at least it is supposed to be, but we come up with thousands of reasons why we don’t have to change, One of those excuses happens to be the love of God. I say, “How dare anyone, use the love of God, as an excuse to slander and misrepresent Him?” The line has been drawn for me. It has been a long time since I have called myself a Christian because I do not want to be lumped in with those who talk the talk, and don’t walk the walk. I know that sounds brash, but you might just need to hear this right now to be convicted to change the way you represent Jesus.
The Way
How did the disciples of Jesus Christ get this designation, The Way? John 14:6 tells us Jesus called Himself the way, the truth and the life but to what? He continues to say, “No one gets to the Father except through Him.” He is the Way to the Father, the Truth of the Father, and the Life of the Father. The Bible uses way to describe a travelled way, road or path, or as a metaphor for a course of conduct, a way of thinking, feeling, or deciding (hodos is the Greek word used: G3598). In other words following Jesus. Following Jesus to wherever He leads you will result in a change of way but if I am not seeing change in you then I can guess you are not following His way. He shows you “the way” then waits for you to follow. If you don’t follow there will be no other way for you to go. It is His way or the world’s way. You can change while you are in the world but all of your change will result in promoting self which will end up being thrown into the Lake of Fire. Trust me, I know my worldly works will be thrown into the fire, too. When I choose the way of the world, I am choosing the Lake of Fire. When I choose His Way to the Father, I am choosing the New Jerusalem. You can read about the Lake of Fire and the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 & 22.
Change for the Way
As I’ve said, you cannot follow Jesus without making change or you are a “Christian” in name only. If you are following Jesus the Christ, you are of “The Way” and changing every minute of the day, every day you follow Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 calls us a new creation. The God of all creation makes us a new creation. He renews us day in and day out. This is the change to expect and we should be the first of the witnesses to it. It is painful and will disrupt your current life but the new life you gain is like none other. If you are not seeing change in yourself, you must ask yourself if you actually are following the Way to the Father. Answer truthfully, otherwise you will never be changed by the Way. If you are afraid of the pain involved, walk through it with another follower who knows your anguish, but you will do the majority of it with Jesus. There is no one else who will understand 100% of your anguish or plan except Him. We think because they are “Christians” they understand but we are in for a rude awakening. They do not for two reasons, they either are not a true follower or they are not supposed to understand. You are following Jesus on your path not theirs. He is creating a new Way for you to get to the Father that no one has traveled before. You are a NEW creation not a carbon copy of another creation.
The Way is New
Remember the reactions to the words Jesus spoke to the Jews? They were so new to them, they reacted violently in word and deed. Jesus was killed for this new stuff He was teaching. Not too many people like new because new means change. New means learning. New means different. We want the same and to be rewarded for our sameness but do not be fooled, you are not staying the same. You are not the same today as you were yesterday. Life happens and it hauls us along the path. Our choice is to go with the world to its new place or go with Jesus to ours. Our new place has been prepared for us before time itself. No one will have it except us. It is irrevocable, no matter how long it takes us to submit to our plan. The change we are required to make will get us to that new place. It will be the way we are to go alone with Him so we can serve His people to glorify Him.
Change your Way
I know how scary it is to drop the world. I tried to hang on as well. It seems comfortable. It seems peaceful. It seems well, but it is not. When you change your way to His way you will see how uncomfortable the world actually is. You will see how chaotic it is. You will see how ill the world is today. It is perishing and I do not want you to perish with it. All things are going to be made new including the world. Do you want to be a part of that? Let yourself become clay in the hands of the Potter. Let Him mold you His way, to the new you that you secretly long to be. The way to change is already paved for you, all you have to do is follow. Start by praying for God’s vision for your life then follow it, love it, and live it.
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The 3 Ways to Earn Rewards from Heaven
You have worked hard all of your life and feel like you have gotten nowhere in particular. Your goals and your plans have all been for not or so you think. God has not looked upon your work and forgotten it. Each step you have taken, each kilometer you have driven, each ditch you have climbed your way out of has been part of His path for you. Where is your mind? Is it focused on you or on Jesus? Your labour of love is not a labour of love unless you are doing it for the love of Jesus. If you are doing your works for the love of Jesus, He will never forget it. Most of us will think our labour is to bring nonbelievers into the fold so we give up but Hebrews 6:10 tells us he will not forget our labour of love for the saints. It is no labour at all to bring people in to the fold because it is not our job. It is the job of the Father to bring them in, therefore, it is our job to labour for them after they come into the fold. What is in it for us if we labour for the Saints? Read Revelation chapters 2 & 3 to find out the rewards of the Saints. We still have to earn them but how can we do that? The ways in which we can earn them are, to know the will of the Father for us, to trust the will of the Father for us, and to overcome the things of the world that can trick us out of our rewards.
Way One: Know the Will of the Father
The wisdom of the world is not the direction we want to head if we are looking for the path God has paved for our lives. Ephesians 5:17 to not be unwise but to understand what the will of Lord is. There are many verses that tell us exactly what the will of the Father is but when it comes to walking the paved path specifically for us it takes understanding. We will not have understanding unless we know our God. I will say this over and over again in my writing and in my speaking. It is clear to me but it may not be for you. You cannot know God if you are not reading the Bible. He shows Himself to us in this Book so clearly that you cannot mistake His work for anyone else’s nor can you misunderstand His commands. The more you know Him the more you will know His will. The wisdom from knowing Him is what connects us to His rewards. He rewards us for knowing Him by speaking to us and manifesting Himself to us. The more we know the more we see. When we see Him we are able to follow Him down the paved path for us. The reward we get here is the satisfaction that we are on the right path, the reward in heaven is endless for loving Jesus while on the path. As we continue on His path we learn to trust His directions more.
Way Two: Trust the Word of the Lord
It is impossible to know Jesus more and trust Him less. He is so faithful to remember us when we move in His direction. He reminds us of the work He has done to get us to where we are even if we think we are still nowhere. It has been fifteen years since the Father called me and sometimes I feel as if I spent the whole time in the ditch. Jesus reminds me often how far I have come since the days when I traveled down gravel roads on my ten speed road bike. I have many flat tires and many broken spokes. I went off-roading to see if the grass was greener on the other side but it wasn’t. A snake is still a snake no matter what yard it lives in. Paul said to Timothy, “For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God.” (1 Timothy 4:10) We cannot have the hope of our God if we do not trust His will for us and we cannot collect any rewards. He shows us how faithful He is if we trust that He is. When we get discouraged doing good He comes through with ways to encourage us to be strong and courageous to continue on His path even in the driving rain, the fog and a snow storm. He will remember we are in there and give us the tools we need to continue and those tools sometimes are worldly rewards but are always heavenly. The tools we have will surely help us to overcome any adversity the world will throw at us.
Way Three: Overcome the Things of the World
We are not living a life that is uncommon to man. The sun shines on everyone, good and evil, and the rain comes on everyone, good or evil. The advantage we have as Christians is the Word of God and all it brings into our lives. To be an overcomer of all the world throws at us to trick us, we must use the Word of God. Paul tells us to put on the armour of God (Ephesians 6) but we know (because we know the Word) that is just putting on the character of Jesus Christ. The rewards for doing that are many. You can line those pieces of amour up with the letters to the church in Revelation 2 & 3 quite nicely. Jesus regales them with the rewards for overcoming the obstacles that are pounding against our amour. At the beginning it seems cumbersome to carry all this armour just to follow the path paved for us but after a while it becomes habit to put this armour on before we put on our walking shoes. Without this armour it is impossible to continue on the path God has for us because the armour shines a light through the darkness to reveal the tricks of the world. The obstacles we must hurdle are there in the darkness and they need to be overcome to continue. We need to stand our ground and not step backwards. Do not let a lie get through to you. We overcome by knowing our God and trusting our God as a barricade.
Knowing the will of God, trusting the will of God, and overcoming the tricks the world while doing the will of God will put you in a great position when it come to the doling out of the rewards when Jesus returns. When you read Revelation 21 and 22 you will see when the rewards are given so I beg you to understand the rewards we receive here on earth are perishable and cannot stand the test of time waiting for Jesus to return. The rewards we receive when the New Earth and the New Jerusalem become a reality are the ones that are waiting for us when the time is fulfilled for us to receive them. Just because the rewards here are perishable doesn’t mean we should not go after them but we should know they do not even hold a flashlight to the rewards we will receive from Heaven. This is your storm warning. I do not know right now if there will be storms on the New Earth for us to endure but I do know the difference between then and now. I will have Jesus to speak too then because I will be able to go into the New Jerusalem to talk to Him. Will you?
Combine this blog with Episode 4: The Future of Making Good Decisions podcast on WE Podcast.
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The 3 Ways to be Guided with His Eye
You know I believe that the Bible is the best way to find information about how to live your life, but I am especially thrilled to tell you it is excellent at helping us make good decisions. Every day we are faced with decisions, some easy some hard. What we choose to do with the power we have to decide is based on many things. Our history can play a role, our present and our future dreams and goals. The problem is we don’t think much about the future when it comes to making our current decisions. We are a generation of impatient decision makers. Why should we wait when we can have it today? The issue with that premise is, what we want today, can hurt us in the future. Take some time to look around you. Find something in the room you have purchased without thinking. As I look around me, I see purchases that are wasting away. Money that could have been used for more important things for the Lord. These were hasty decisions on my part and I am sure you can see yours sitting there too.
What does our Lord have to say about this issue with decision making? Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” Jesus has an eye on the future of His kingdom, that we do not understand, nor can we see. His eye is the eye we should look through. Our decision making should always be guided by His eye, not our own. We should look through the lens of the Bible for the way to make every decision we are facing. This is not to say that we cannot make decision on our own. When we become mature in the Word, we will be able to make decisions without consulting Jesus because we KNOW what He would say. We know specifically because we have been in this roundabout before. He has showed us His way out of the ditch and we do not want to go back for this decision. We will learn to trust God, we will learn to ask for wisdom and we will watch Him transform our skills for making godly decisions. We will be changed.
Way One: Trust Him, Proverbs 3:5
His eye is trustworthy. He has guided people from the time He created us. For six thousand years He has been showing people how to live an abundant life. If an abundant life is your goals then trusting God is the only way there. Leaning on your own understanding will not lead you to the abundant life, it will lead you to the self-serving life of the world. This will make you a slave to the world always serving them from your ditch. If you have been on this roundabout before it is time for change.
Today, I want you to stop making hasty decisions and set you mind to being guided by Jesus. If that means you are not allowed to make any decision until you know they are from Jesus, then so be it. His eye has greater knowledge than yours, so look through His eye first.
Way Two: Ask Him for Wisdom, James 1:5; James 3:17
To see through the eye of Jesus you need to know His eye. If you think not making decisions is hard, at first, wait until you try to look through the lens of the Bible. Do not get frustrated because you can do this. When you love Jesus, He reveals Himself and what He expects from you. This is the wisdom we want. We want to know Him, so we can follow Him where He wants us to be.
Today, wait before you make a decision to see if you can see Jesus already there. This is he greater knowledge you want. You want to know if this decision will lead you on the path he has paved for you or the ditch beside it. His eye knows where you need to be to accomplish His greater good.
Way Three: Watch, Romans 12:2
As you begin this Biblical decision-making process you may not notice the changes happening in you. Every Biblically based decision you make may cause turmoil within you but outside you, life is changing. Jesus will allow you to see through His eye to see the ramifications of your godly decisions. He will show you how positive His path can be when you decide to follow Him.
Today, keep your eyes open to the changes going on outside of you. Those of us who are already there so we can see the changes. Don’t be afraid to talk to us. We will encourage you.
The way to make better decisions is God’s way. Time is a better indicator of our progress than anything else. We have been making ungodly decisions for many years and we will not begin to make godly decisions over night. We need to spend time talking to Jesus about how we can begin doing this today, right now. Our fervent discussions with Jesus will result in great knowledge toward becoming a decision maker He can use for His will. We need to commit our mind to change our decisions from worldly decisions to godly ones. If we do we will learn to trust Jesus, we will learn to ask Jesus for wisdom and we will watch as Jesus transforms our skills for making godly decisions. We will be changed. We can only see that change if we are looking through the eyes of Jesus. The world’s eyes are filled with sin, but the eyes of Jesus look past sin to the abundant life. Let His eyes guide you today and see the future of good making good decisions.
Combine this blog with Episode 3: The Future of Making Good Decisions podcast on WE Podcast.
