Taking control of Our Emotions
One of the most important, yet difficult and challenging, things for us to learn as we stand for the restoration of our marriages is how to take control of our emotions, because our emotions tend to control us and they influence and determine our actions and WAY TOO MUCH of what we say. Since it’s impossible to do that in and of ourselves (John 15:5), the ONLY way we can accomplish it is to KNOW and BELIEVE the word of God. And that’s confirmed in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6, which 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. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. For a more in depth study of that, read The Importance of Taking Every Thought Captive. And another very similar and related SOF post is Learning to Walk in the Spirit.
There’s no doubt that ALL of us can relate to the struggle between KNOWING what we should do and actually DOING what we should do. This is not a new battle for man, as Paul very well expressed and described it in Romans 7 But the rest of the story and so much of the answer we have to rely on is found in Romans 8, especially Romans 8:5, which is a very powerful verse we don’t focus on or teach about enough, because it says Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. And The Amplified Bible puts it this way, For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. So that boils down to whether or not we’re focused on things of this world instead of the things of God; are we heavenly minded? What’s on our mind most of the time? What are we seeking and what are we pursuing? Answering those questions will tell us if we’re being controlled by our sinful nature or whether we’re walking in the strength and victory of our spiritual nature as described in Romans 8.
Perhaps having a better understanding of Satan’s power and his never ending desire to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10) every blessing, provision and protection promised in God’s Word, might change our perspective and help us overcome the stronghold he has in the area of our emotions. As so often happens, Creflo Dollar’s TV broadcast message this morning was perfectly timed to address this issue, because it is something many men and women standing for marriage restoration struggle with. We have to understand that standing for our marriage is a matter of warfare, and on one side with us is God and on the other side is Satan, who wants to destroy our marriages and our children. So if we continue to give way to his lies and deception, which ALWAYS try to convince us of anything and everything contrary to the Word and character of God, we allow him to steal the restoration we desire because he steals our faith and confidence that God CAN and WILL do what we ourselves are totally powerless to do. And one of the most effective ways he does that is to convince us that there IS something we can do to change our circumstances, and other than obedience to the Word of God and seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness as we put all of our trust and confidence in Him (Proverbs 3:5-6 and Matthew 6:32-34), There is absolutely NOTHING we can do. That’s why He tells us to HUMBLE ourselves under His mighty hand and that HE WILL lift us up in DUE time and that we can cast ALL of our anxieties on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:5-7! So don’t miss Creflo Dollar’s message, What Hinders the Glory? (Part 2). And here’s the first part, What Hinders the Glory?, from yesterday. And please take notes and study these messages, so they can sink in, because there’s no way to understand the power of God’s Word as we take control of our emotions and stand against the wiles of the devil for the restoration of our marriages, without being greatly blessed and encouraged!