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The first year and a half to two years after I rededicated my life to Jesus, I was voracious, I could not get enough, I would be doing two maybe three different studies at the same time.
By the end of the second year I was teaching an adult Bible study on Sundays and usually leading another study during the week.
I love to dig into His word, find little treasures. I heard the Lord when I studied, and I would get such amazing downloads from Him.Emotional Integrity was the latest download I received from the Lord.
I want to start with Romans 12. I chose The Message for its ease of reading and not a literal translation. Read it in whatever translation you are comfortable with.....
Romans 12 (The Message)1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.
Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3 I'm speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we?
So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.
7-8 If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
11-13 Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody.
17-19 Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it."
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he's thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
This chapter is easily summed up: Love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength.
We are called to be bold, to step out and to step it up, it is imperative that we are intentional with our emotional integrity.
Our cultures today constantly bombard us with "It's all about me", "Do it my way", "Have it your way", "Just do it", "You deserve it".
Watch TV or go see a movie, you see all the emotions running the actors lives. Out of control emotions, deceit, manipulation, emotional mind games are just a few examples of poor emotional integrity. Sad thing is, we have come to see this as normal adult behavior.We have to know what emotional integrity is, and how to grow into it. If we are going to be steadfast in our calling, we must be intentional with it, not only in our own lives, but also when we minister to the world.
Emotional Integrity starts with learning how to take our every thought captive for Jesus. (2 Corinthians 10:5)
We have around 10,000+ thoughts a day run through our minds, how in the world do I suppose to keep control over that?? It takes training!, but most of all you can not do it alone, you need Jesus. When Jesus left this world He sent a Helper to help us in our daily struggles and to help us accomplish the Great Commission, the Holy Spirit. Read Acts 2, Pentecost.
John 14:15-19
If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Emotional Integrity, Keeping our thoughts captive. Your walking down the street and you see an attractive man or woman. How far do you let your mind run with it? or does it continue to go down paths of lust?
When you get a text or an e-mail, Do you try to read between the lines? She said this, but I think she meant this: see how quickly we let our thoughts run free?
Your best friend ignores you and walks by without saying "Hello". Do we think "What did I do?" do we think to ourselves "If they are going to treat me this way I won't be their friend!"See how reading into something allows our thoughts to control our emotions. The truth of the matter could have been they were focused on what happen in the car earlier, maybe a problem with their child. It had nothing to do with you but you have already become emotionally out of control. You have made it all about you.
Our thoughts are not reality!
When we minister to others we must keep our thoughts captive and not allow ourselves to judge that person.
I have always said "Say what you mean and mean what you say"
Can you tell I'm not very good at being "politically correct"?
Another way to look at it is "Where my thought life goes, my life goes also"
What this means if our thoughts are righteous and noble, our life will reflect that in how we live and our actions and decisions.
Proverbs 25:28
Like a city whose wall are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.If we allow the lack of self-control to persist in our lives we will become desensitized to controlling our thoughts. We will begin to to justify our decisions to our own gains. Each thought will give birth to another going a little further each time. One day our thoughts will give way to actions....like adultery. Our one thought that we allowed to go free and un-challenged is now causing pain for others and yourself.
What other examples are there of our thoughts controlling our emotions/actions? Envy, pride, jealousy, anger, deceit. How do any of these benefit our walk with Jesus?
Have you heard someone say "the devil made me do it"? Satan might have tempted them, but they chose an action.I have given some examples of keeping Emotional Integrity, as you can see it all starts with our thought life.
Your probably thinking about times when you allowed your thoughts to run free and un-challenged, that's good, you have to recognize it first...now keep them captive. It takes training our thoughts every day. The world is full of triggers that want our minds to run free.
When your thoughts start to break free..PRAY.
Your on your way to emotional integrity.
