Overcoming the Pitfalls Of Our Emotions And Impulses
Joyce Meyer’s TV broadcasts for the last few days have been very powerful and important messages for everyone standing for marriage restoration. If there’s one thing we can ALL relate to as we walk through this trial, it’s the difficulty of overcoming the feelings, emotions and impulses, which often drive us to do things we never thought possible before. But the GOOD NEWS is that Jesus came to deliver us from the destruction we allow Satan to accomplish when we give in to such ungodly emotions and impulses. We have assurance of that in John 10:10 (AMP), which says The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). And the simplest key to avoiding such pitfalls is found in Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV), which says You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. So this is an important opportunity for us to demonstrate how much faith and trust we REALLY have in the Lord, and when our family and friends witness how we walk through this difficult time with peace and total confidence in our Lord and Savior, we can be absolutely certain that the works and intentions of the devil are demolished and destroyed, because 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
While there are MANY things at this particular time in our lives that we have absolutely NO control over, the one thing we, and we alone, DO have ABSOLUTE control over is our minds and our thoughts. So it’s up to us to decide whether or not we’re going to allow our thoughts to be used for the glory of God, or to bring about the death and destruction intended by Satan. And it really is a matter of choosing one or the other, as we see in Romans 8:6-14, which says The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. And yes, I do know how much easier said than done this is, and so does Jesus, because in John 15:5, He said “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. So it always comes right back to our walk and relationship with the Lord, and we need to recognize that the Lord WILL test that from time to time, and there will be a very direct connection between the faith and obedience we demonstrate and the consequences and blessings we experience.
If our lives are not filled with the fruit of the spirit, there’s something very serious missing in our walk with the Lord, which means we need to focus a lot more on our relationship with Him than what’s going on in our marriages. Because we won’t have the right kind of relationship with our husbands or what it takes to make marriage restoration possible unless we’re able to experience and walk in the fruit of the spirit Jesus came to give us. Apart from Jesus, it is NOT possible, but when we keep our minds stayed on Him and when we put our trust in Him, we CAN and WILL experience the fruit of the spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. So there’s NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, that can keep us from producing and living with the fruit of the spirit when Jesus IS TRULY “LORD” in our lives! And it is these very fruit that will end up being the weapons of our warfare as described in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, because they’re the fruit produced when we take EVERY thought captive and MAKE it obedient to Christ, based on the word of God, which is the Bible.
So I encourage all of you to make the time to watch Deadly Emotions, Managing Your Emotions & Fickle Feelings, June 19th thru June 23rd, which are all very important messages for anyone challenged by the natural feelings and emotions experienced when standing against the gates of hell for the restoration of our marriages. And, thanks to our Lord’s AWESOME promise in Psalm 37:4-6, we know sowing this seed will reap a precious harvest, because it promises Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. And the best news of all is that HE will do it! And let’s NOT forget that Romans 8:30-31 also promises And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? Just keep your eyes on Him, AND HE WILL DO IT! AMEN!