Want to trust your feelings as the "self esteem" people say we should? Don't be fooled, our feelings are based on the flesh most of the time. That's why we cry at a sad movie or become fearful at a scary one, because our emotions don't seem to be able to differentiate between fact and fiction.
We know the movie is not real and yet we cry anyway or feel fear, songs always manipulate our senses, but can lead us astray, our truth must be based on God's principles and facts not our emotions.
God says "come let us "reason" together." God wants us to think rationally in making our choices and decisions.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Guard Your Minds!
I have found that if one stops "nursing" thoughts of desired sin, the feelings eventually dissipate.
Proverbs 4:23 "Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life."
Philippians 4:6-8
"6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
That's why God told us to guard our thought life, it is sort of like the rudder on a ship, whichever way our thoughts go, so go our actions. We can retrain our thought life through reading of God's Word and meditating on His principles.
I have a saying I use a lot, "ignore your feelings, they will tell us things are good when they are bad and they will tell us things are bad when they are good, they cannot be trusted."
Proverbs 4:23 "Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life."
Philippians 4:6-8
"6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."
That's why God told us to guard our thought life, it is sort of like the rudder on a ship, whichever way our thoughts go, so go our actions. We can retrain our thought life through reading of God's Word and meditating on His principles.
I have a saying I use a lot, "ignore your feelings, they will tell us things are good when they are bad and they will tell us things are bad when they are good, they cannot be trusted."
Let Them Go To Let God
Why are we so afraid to let our children go so that God can teach them His way?
Notice the father of one of the prodigal sons never chased after the son who left the household? He never looked for him, had no phone to call him, never wrote a letter to him or any other form of contact with him, he let him go.
What the Father did do was hope for his return and became excited when the son repented. The son had to wallow with the pigs to be broken over his sin before he could realize his need for the father.
For all those people who keep hanging onto, bailing out and pampering their rebellious adult children to keep them close, remember that you may be thwarting something wonderful God has for your children but you are standing in His way. If they haven't listened to you by now, perhaps the Lord can use others while bringing peace back into your home.
When our focus is on ourselves, the possibility of missing and grieving over a child who has left, we miss the bigger picture, bringing trials into our own lives that God never intended for us to have, simply because of the fear of loneliness and worse the judgment of others who don't understand.
When we focus on God, seek His will His way, we can be free from the judgments of unspiritual worldly people, bring peace to our lives and even help in the repentance of a wayward child by letting them go. Discipline can be very effective in helping a people learn to ask God to change their heart.
God has not called us to raise adult children, He has however mandated that adult children care for their aging parents when there is a need. Our culture is backward in this, the adult children now demand that their parents continue to take care of them, the opposite of God's plan.
When we do things God's way, we free ourselves from evil and stress caused by rebellion and go on to more fully serve God.
I have to say, I prefer to be alone with God and my thoughts much more than in a house full of rebellious people who fight against all that it truth. Give me God any day and I will have all I need.
Notice the father of one of the prodigal sons never chased after the son who left the household? He never looked for him, had no phone to call him, never wrote a letter to him or any other form of contact with him, he let him go.
What the Father did do was hope for his return and became excited when the son repented. The son had to wallow with the pigs to be broken over his sin before he could realize his need for the father.
For all those people who keep hanging onto, bailing out and pampering their rebellious adult children to keep them close, remember that you may be thwarting something wonderful God has for your children but you are standing in His way. If they haven't listened to you by now, perhaps the Lord can use others while bringing peace back into your home.
When our focus is on ourselves, the possibility of missing and grieving over a child who has left, we miss the bigger picture, bringing trials into our own lives that God never intended for us to have, simply because of the fear of loneliness and worse the judgment of others who don't understand.
When we focus on God, seek His will His way, we can be free from the judgments of unspiritual worldly people, bring peace to our lives and even help in the repentance of a wayward child by letting them go. Discipline can be very effective in helping a people learn to ask God to change their heart.
God has not called us to raise adult children, He has however mandated that adult children care for their aging parents when there is a need. Our culture is backward in this, the adult children now demand that their parents continue to take care of them, the opposite of God's plan.
When we do things God's way, we free ourselves from evil and stress caused by rebellion and go on to more fully serve God.
I have to say, I prefer to be alone with God and my thoughts much more than in a house full of rebellious people who fight against all that it truth. Give me God any day and I will have all I need.
Adult Children Need To Listen!
LOL, notice I don't worry about speaking my mind openly on facebook, none of our children are reading what I write, they don't even want to be friends with me on facebook because I am too bold for them, I am an embarrassment, or so it seems.
If my mother had written a lot of things, I would want to read everything she wrote. I found out that she had written a small booklet, I wanted to read it, she shared it with an aunt and a brother, but would not share it with me when I asked to read it. I wanted to know my mother's thoughts, I was interested, but in our generation our children are not interested in our thoughts, unless we completely validate their life, it's all about them. They like to know facts about a person's life as long as it does not include Biblical correction.
We don't have to take it personally, they aren't interested in God's thoughts either. They use the cherry picking method of Bible reading to justify what they want, rather than seeking God to know His heart, if they even ask God for truth or read their Bibles more than just in the church gathering.
When I was in Sunday School, we were taught that the Bible was God's love letter to us from our Father. If we were sent a letter from our Father that we had not seen in a long time, we would not place the unopened letter on the mantle and ignore it, we would quickly open it, pouring over every word to hear from our father. We might even read the letter over and over again to sense a closeness to him. This should be our response to our heavenly Father, He has sent us a letter containing all the wisdom of His own heart, and all we have to do is read it and ask Him for the understanding and He will answer. '
Our children's generation doesn't care about a letter from parents, it is treated lightly, even critically, but even more somber is the thought that our children demonstrate this same mentality toward God, lacking interest in His heart, His thoughts and His direction, embracing what they like in the letter from Him and throwing away what doesn't fit our culture or what doesn't make them feel prominent and special.
If our children ever became interested in what I write, I would probably pass out from the shock. If they are sneaking peeks, I have no evidence of that, some have blocked me. I have been told by two of them that they "don't respect" me, a tactic used to manipulate emotions, because I have confronted them about their sin. I suppose this is a narcissistic tactic to intimidate me into silence or feeling guilt for telling them the truth. Narcissists love the strategy of punishing their victims to control them. I guess they cannot control me so they isolate me from themselves. The only Person I ever want to be controlled by is Christ, everyone else will not be in control of me, nor do their maneuvers dictate my voice or actions. My desire is to please God, often this displeases man and causes rejection.
This mentality of the parent being equal with the child has caused them to treat us like any other person who irritates them, ignoring, deleting and even blocking us if they don't like what is being said. No matter what our parents did, we would never have spoken to them the way our children have spoken to us. We loved our parents with all their problems. Rather than being hateful and mean to them for their behavior or attitudes, we grieved that they would do things that dishonored God, we admitted to ourselves the truth about them and desired that they love us. There was no thought of "punishing" them or "teaching" them, it was total acceptance of their position as parents. Our job was to be loving and honoring children, we were not appointed to be their teachers or judges.
1 Timothy 5:1 "Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers,"
When we reflect on how we are being viewed and treated by adult children, remember that God created the entire universe, including the people in it. He gave His children all their needs, provided an amazing paradise for them to live out their eternity, never becoming tired when they worked hard, never becoming ill or sensing anything that is ugly or mean., and, what did they do? The original couple had God's love and total protection forever. They ignored His direction, lacking gratefulness, they wanted more than they had, they wanted to be like God, validated in their own right through their own glory. They were not satisfied with all the blessings of God, they had to have their own way, to be elevated in their own minds.
The teaching of self esteem has caused our children to think that the world revolves around them, desiring to be elevated in the eyes of others, they grapple for praise while disdaining correction and training. Their focus is on appearing wonderful and accomplished in whatever they do, rather than becoming holy and righteous.
They disdain the wisdom of their parents, while thinking they already have all the answers, they have no need of anyone else's counsel. Many have made a mess of their lives, when all they had to do was listen to those who have already lived long enough to know things they have not yet experience, but they are determined to go it alone to be able to take all the credit for wins while blaming others for their losses.
Rather than looking objectively at their lives, being honest about what they have done and admitting their failure to learn and go on to do better, they hold onto their pride with the tenacity of a barnacle on the bottom of a boat, progressing no further than superficial foolishness, they struggle, flounder and flop like dead fishes on the beach and think they are in control of their own lives, not realizing that they are going no where in a hurry.
2 Timothy 3:9 "But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also."
I could never speak rudely or harshly to someone who is much older than I, no matter what their delivery, I was raised in a different generation that was taught not to speak disrespectfully to older people.
Isn't this what we see now when our children reject the mandates of God to honor their parents? Our children are no different from the original couple, they still want to be in charge of their own life, no matter what devastation it brings. They do not honor God nor do they care if they grow in holiness, it's all about appearances for the praise of men.
I have seen loving and respectful adult children who are humble, but in our day they are few. What a blessing when we encounter them, we can feel the love emanating from them as they interact respectfully and attentively. They know they have a lot to learn and appreciate an honest discussion that may cause growth in their lives.
Thank the Lord for the examples that we have had of the wise and mature adult children, if not for them, we might be tempted to believe the way things are right now are natural and normal.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us what the end times will be like, knowing this helps us to endure things on this earth, they are not a surprise to us and we don't have to take them personally, the devil is working hard to twist the minds of those who have not submitted to Christ. They don't see clearly, they are blinded by their own desires.
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, [a]haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." 2 Timothy 3:1-5
May the Lord bless with His wisdom all those who want to grow in holiness, while convicting those who have not yet discovered how wonderful it is to walk with God in His ways. May those in bondage be freed from themselves through salvation in Christ Jesus.
If my mother had written a lot of things, I would want to read everything she wrote. I found out that she had written a small booklet, I wanted to read it, she shared it with an aunt and a brother, but would not share it with me when I asked to read it. I wanted to know my mother's thoughts, I was interested, but in our generation our children are not interested in our thoughts, unless we completely validate their life, it's all about them. They like to know facts about a person's life as long as it does not include Biblical correction.
We don't have to take it personally, they aren't interested in God's thoughts either. They use the cherry picking method of Bible reading to justify what they want, rather than seeking God to know His heart, if they even ask God for truth or read their Bibles more than just in the church gathering.
When I was in Sunday School, we were taught that the Bible was God's love letter to us from our Father. If we were sent a letter from our Father that we had not seen in a long time, we would not place the unopened letter on the mantle and ignore it, we would quickly open it, pouring over every word to hear from our father. We might even read the letter over and over again to sense a closeness to him. This should be our response to our heavenly Father, He has sent us a letter containing all the wisdom of His own heart, and all we have to do is read it and ask Him for the understanding and He will answer. '
Our children's generation doesn't care about a letter from parents, it is treated lightly, even critically, but even more somber is the thought that our children demonstrate this same mentality toward God, lacking interest in His heart, His thoughts and His direction, embracing what they like in the letter from Him and throwing away what doesn't fit our culture or what doesn't make them feel prominent and special.
If our children ever became interested in what I write, I would probably pass out from the shock. If they are sneaking peeks, I have no evidence of that, some have blocked me. I have been told by two of them that they "don't respect" me, a tactic used to manipulate emotions, because I have confronted them about their sin. I suppose this is a narcissistic tactic to intimidate me into silence or feeling guilt for telling them the truth. Narcissists love the strategy of punishing their victims to control them. I guess they cannot control me so they isolate me from themselves. The only Person I ever want to be controlled by is Christ, everyone else will not be in control of me, nor do their maneuvers dictate my voice or actions. My desire is to please God, often this displeases man and causes rejection.
This mentality of the parent being equal with the child has caused them to treat us like any other person who irritates them, ignoring, deleting and even blocking us if they don't like what is being said. No matter what our parents did, we would never have spoken to them the way our children have spoken to us. We loved our parents with all their problems. Rather than being hateful and mean to them for their behavior or attitudes, we grieved that they would do things that dishonored God, we admitted to ourselves the truth about them and desired that they love us. There was no thought of "punishing" them or "teaching" them, it was total acceptance of their position as parents. Our job was to be loving and honoring children, we were not appointed to be their teachers or judges.
1 Timothy 5:1 "Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers,"
When we reflect on how we are being viewed and treated by adult children, remember that God created the entire universe, including the people in it. He gave His children all their needs, provided an amazing paradise for them to live out their eternity, never becoming tired when they worked hard, never becoming ill or sensing anything that is ugly or mean., and, what did they do? The original couple had God's love and total protection forever. They ignored His direction, lacking gratefulness, they wanted more than they had, they wanted to be like God, validated in their own right through their own glory. They were not satisfied with all the blessings of God, they had to have their own way, to be elevated in their own minds.
The teaching of self esteem has caused our children to think that the world revolves around them, desiring to be elevated in the eyes of others, they grapple for praise while disdaining correction and training. Their focus is on appearing wonderful and accomplished in whatever they do, rather than becoming holy and righteous.
They disdain the wisdom of their parents, while thinking they already have all the answers, they have no need of anyone else's counsel. Many have made a mess of their lives, when all they had to do was listen to those who have already lived long enough to know things they have not yet experience, but they are determined to go it alone to be able to take all the credit for wins while blaming others for their losses.
Rather than looking objectively at their lives, being honest about what they have done and admitting their failure to learn and go on to do better, they hold onto their pride with the tenacity of a barnacle on the bottom of a boat, progressing no further than superficial foolishness, they struggle, flounder and flop like dead fishes on the beach and think they are in control of their own lives, not realizing that they are going no where in a hurry.
2 Timothy 3:9 "But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also."
I could never speak rudely or harshly to someone who is much older than I, no matter what their delivery, I was raised in a different generation that was taught not to speak disrespectfully to older people.
Isn't this what we see now when our children reject the mandates of God to honor their parents? Our children are no different from the original couple, they still want to be in charge of their own life, no matter what devastation it brings. They do not honor God nor do they care if they grow in holiness, it's all about appearances for the praise of men.
I have seen loving and respectful adult children who are humble, but in our day they are few. What a blessing when we encounter them, we can feel the love emanating from them as they interact respectfully and attentively. They know they have a lot to learn and appreciate an honest discussion that may cause growth in their lives.
Thank the Lord for the examples that we have had of the wise and mature adult children, if not for them, we might be tempted to believe the way things are right now are natural and normal.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 tells us what the end times will be like, knowing this helps us to endure things on this earth, they are not a surprise to us and we don't have to take them personally, the devil is working hard to twist the minds of those who have not submitted to Christ. They don't see clearly, they are blinded by their own desires.
"1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, [a]haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [b]godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these." 2 Timothy 3:1-5
May the Lord bless with His wisdom all those who want to grow in holiness, while convicting those who have not yet discovered how wonderful it is to walk with God in His ways. May those in bondage be freed from themselves through salvation in Christ Jesus.
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