Can We Enter God's Joy?

if you are like me, and many others in this world, we can often find excuses to not live joyfully or hope-full--much less enter what is known as the joy of God. Yes, God has joys and we are invited to enter those with Him. The Israelite King David put it this way: "You [God] make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." Today, I want to point you to a blog Ed Welch composed on this topic. It will be worth your time. I hope that God gives you grace to recognize the possibility of entering into His joys and to live a life motivated by them. To read the blog click here.

Sincerely,

Diego Cuartas

The Gift of Anger

(By Lois Robinson)

Anger, a gift? Some of you may highly disagree with the title of this blog! Some of you have witnessed anger being used in a controlling, manipulative way that brings division and harm at times. That is called externalizing your anger. That would be an example of taking a gift and using it in a wrong way. Just like getting a beautiful vase, a one of a kind, but using it as a hammer just because you needed to put a nail in the wall to hang a picture. The vase was never created to be used in that way. It will break, and someone may even get hurt when it shatters.  Make sense? Then there are those who don’t break things but internalize their anger. They just don’t acknowledge any feelings of anger whatsoever; they deny it. Both are wrong ways of dealing with this emotion. 

The bible, otherwise known as the Word of God, actually says to be angry. It is actually a command! Check it out:

    Ephesians 4:26 (NRSV)

    "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,"    

When I saw this, I was taken back. I never read this particular verse as a command. I only paid attention to the ‘do not sin’ part. As I then started breaking this verse down, it became clearer and clearer to me, through the Holy Spirit, that it would be impossible not to get angry in this broken world we live in. There are so many teachings saying anger is a sin, it’s wrong to get angry, Christians don’t get angry, and the list goes on and on. The verse that I have posted in this blog says just the opposite! That’s why it is so important we make sure we know what God Himself says about anger and other issues as well.         

So, why am I calling this emotion of anger a gift? Here goes!

Anger is the barometer of your heart that tells you something needs to be dealt with- a quote from Pastor Nate Howard, Living Faith Alliance Church.  So in trying to sort through what needs to be dealt with, you can unpack it with this next bit of information:

Anger is considered a Secondary Emotion. It is actually made up of three Primary Emotions: 

• Fear
• Frustration
• Hurt Feelings                 

So the next time you feel anger, see if it is a Fear Anger, a Frustration Anger or a Hurt Feelings Anger. It may be a combination of a couple or all three as well. That can help you understand where the anger is coming from so you can know how to move forward in dealing with it. 

Processing the anger correctly will prevent the following destructive pattern from occurring:        

        Anger-(becomes)-Resentment- (becomes)-Bitterness

It is critical that you pay attention to what you are feeling inside and then make healthy choices to deal with it correctly. Otherwise destruction comes from internalizing it. 

    Hebrews 12:15 (NRSV)

    "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled."

That is a heavy verse, friends. I would encourage you to stop externalizing anger in controlling, manipulative ways, if that is your tendency. I would also encourage any of you who hold it all in/ internalize it, to process it and take steps to handle it in a healthy manner. 

Blessings Friends - 

When I’m feelin’ Some Kinda Way...

(By Lois Robinson)

I strongly dislike generalized statements like, “All women love to shop” or “All guys love sports”, “everyone” wants this or “everyone”  wants that. A  recent one  I’ve heard is “All teenage boys cuss when they are together with other teenage boys. That’s what teenagers do!” Or these little gems, “That’s a man thing because they’re stupid” or “That’s a woman thing because they’re so hormonal”. Just love when people boil down the complexities of individuals to such a small definition in order to understand how “everyone” functions. Wrong conclusions being made every time is usually the case!

Therefore, I will intentionally avoid a generalized statement here and simply say, “If you are anything like me, I have frequent times of “feeling’ some kinda way!” Sometimes its feeling frustrated out of the blue, sometimes it’s feeling hungry for the Chinese Buffet, sometimes it’s feeling angry over violations or other times its just feeling  UGH! At times my feelings are all over the place, hard to really understand what is going on.  Sometimes the anger is an appropriate response to external circumstances that are wrong and my internal response towards the violation or sin is anger. While other times my anger is strictly my own sinful heart not getting its own way. As my Pastor Nate has taught, anger is a barometer of our heart that says something needs to be dealt with. That’s a blog for a whole different day!! Remember, feelings are a gift from God but we must learn how to recognize them, process them appropriately and not avoid them. God has given them to us for a reason.  Feelings, oh they can be so powerful. I am very thankful God gave the human heart, mind and body, the ability to feel. How dangerous would it be if we couldn’t feel.  When we feel extreme heat, the normal bodily response is danger and we step away. When we feel sub zero temperatures, we normally  respond by putting on more clothing to prevent frost bite. Hopefully I have made the point regarding the importance of our body feeling sensations and responding appropriately.  Otherwise it could be very detrimental to us. For some who have lost the ability to feel, due to some diseases or traumatic accidents, they have to be very cautious and take proper measures to ensure they won’t be subject to danger. God created the human body with an awesome alert system to protect us from danger.

This brings to the next point. The beautiful gift of emotions that God has given us. They are designed to work in our favor, to be a part of our celebrations, our healing process, our warning signals from danger, our own brokeness and need for a Savior. We are so broken in this area friends and unfortunately many of us base our reality on “how we feel” and then label it as God’s leading or lack thereof because they can’t feel Go. I have sat with young girls who “feel” like they love the new boyfriend as of 3 weeks and has sex to show him. Only to end up feeling shame and guilt. Others have felt like fitting in with the peer group and made some bad decisions that get them arrested. Others compromise their values very quickly and perform sexual acts to get needs met. In the church, people operate in their feelings to the extreme of disengaging in worship because they don’t feel like it, don’t like the worship song or don’t actively engage in the celebration time because they aren’t feeling anything.

               NEWS FLASH

WORSHIP ISN’T ABOUT YOU!!!

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE GOD WHO DESERVES YOUR PRAISE

AND CAN SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SELF-FOCUSED ORIENTATION.

This is a little diddy I had as a piano lesson back in the day as a child. I thought I was all that being able to play it......OVER AND OVER!! Check out the crazy lyrics!

Feelings

Feelings ,Nothing more than feelings, Trying to forget my feelings of love 

Teardrops, Rolling down on, my face, Trying to forget my, feelings of love 

Feelings, For all my life I'll feel it, I’ll wish I've never met you, girl, You'll never come again

Feelings, Wo-o-o feelings, Wo-o-o feelings, Again in my heart,

Feelings, Feelings like I've lost you, and feelings like I've never have you, Again in my heart.

Feelings, For all my life I'll feel it, I wish I've never met you, girl, You'll never come again

Feelings, Feelings like I've lost you , And feelings like I've never have you

copyright (http://elyrics.net)

He is the God who created the entire universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th.

He is the God who parted the Red Sea and killed the Egyptians who were chasing His children the Israelites.

He is the God who parted the Jordan River in order for His children to walk into the Promised Land.

He is the God who sacrificed His only Son and raised Him from the dead in 3 days in order to Save us.

He is the God who HEALS. He is the God who PROVIDES. He is the God who REDEEMS. He is the God who COMFORTS. He is the God who is JUST. He is the God who CARES. He is the God who FORGIVES. He is  God, He is my God, He is my Savior, He is my Abba.

In spite of your feelings, .....I ask you friend....a question that Jesus asked His disciples...

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loose din heaven.” (Matthew 16:13-19)

Feelings are a gift but must come under the authority of Jesus Christ. Through His Spirit, we can understand what we are feeling, why we are feeling that way and how to process appropriately so the feelings we experience lead us into a closer relationship to Him and Christ-likeness.

Blessings Friends-

To Face or Not to Face?

(By Tammy Vaughn)

I have been pondering the reasons that people choose to face their emotions or suppress their emotions.  I’ve listened to friends’ conversations and have noticed lately that many people suppress emotions and/or deny their feelings. People are generally proficient in talking about the facts of a particular situation but are not in touch with their feelings.  Instead, they choose not to delve into the emotional side of the situation.  It’s easier to talk about someone or something than take responsibility for how you feel.

Some may ask, “How do you know when a person is suppressing their feelings?”  I’ll answer the question with an example:  If someone calls an overweight individual “fat,” most likely it will cause some kind of negative reaction or feeling within the person targeted, whether that is embarrassment or hurt.  To say that it does not cause some kind of feeling is probably not likely or realistic.

There are times when a person does not realize that they are suppressing feelings.   This often happens when people do not take deep self-inventory.  They may be unwilling or unable to take the time to mine-out their deepest emotion.  Many people are fairly good at identifying happiness, sadness or anger.  However, that same group of people may not be so keen on identifying the varying intensity of their emotion.  For example, a more intense form of sadness could be depression.  A more intense form of anger is rage.  There are varying shades of basic emotions.

Some may deny that they are experiencing a particular kind of an emotion that is affecting them negatively.  This denial often happens because they feel embarrassed about the emotion.  They may feel like they are not entitled to feel the way they do.  Some people seem to be very concerned that if they give themselves permission to feel the emotion, they will not be able to actually deal with it.  According to James Gross, a scientist who studies emotions, “Suppressing emotions is hard to do and does not work.”  His studies have shown that once the emotion is triggered, it is very difficult to shut it down or ignore it. In fact, we become more tense and agitated while trying to suppress or ignore the feeling.  This shows that it is not emotionally healthy to suppress emotions.  Another negative implication of shutting off emotion is that people closest to us can tell we are suppressing our feelings; our non-verbal communication gives clues that we are hiding emotions, even when we insist on saying we’re fine.   In other words, in many cases we are not fooling anyone but ourselves.  This can actually do damage to the people we love; they end up feeling shut out because they know that we are experiencing feelings but are not willing to share them.

So, if it is not beneficial, what is the purpose of shutting down emotions?  What does a person hope to accomplish?  Often times, the person who shuts down or shuts off their emotions hopes that this action will make them appear to be strong in their vulnerable time of weakness.   This reminds me of the beautiful Bible verse that says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

Other times people hope that by suppressing their emotions they can calm themselves down or help defuse a delicate and/or explosive situation.  The person does not wish to cause waves or cause a fight.  It does not usually accomplish what they want.

Usually feelings that are stuffed down come out in ways we do not want and at times we do not want.   Often we handle stuffed feelings in ways that are not helpful to us.  Stuffed feelings can be motivators to very negative behaviors or habits like substance abuse, physical and/or verbal abuse, etc.  However, when we give voice to our emotions we actually give validation to how we are feeling.  We feel grounded and more in control.  Healthy discussions about your emotions is just that, healthy.  It actually helps to bring your feelings to the light, which makes you better able to identify and deal with the source of the emotion.  If you can recognize the emotion, you can deal with the emotion.  You can respond to the situation as opposed to just reacting like a puppet on a string or a slave to a master.  Have you ever met a person who is ruled by their emotions?  If they feel a certain way then they have to act a certain way, never realizing that they may be a slave to their “un-dealt with” emotions.  Galatians 4:6-8 says, “Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.  Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.”  Our emotion, while important and valid, are NOT God.  And we should not be a slave to them.

Many things we suppress are not able to be processed by ourselves because we are stuck in our emotion.  At these times it’s advantageous to seek out professional counsel and begin to learn how to express those feelings and get them out in the open, aided by someone we trust.  Even the expression of those feelings to a close loved one is beneficial because it allows others to express care and empathy.  No one really wants to be burdened and suffer through a rough time alone.  Nor should they have to.  Open communication is one of the ways a person experiences a loving relationship.  Sharing your heart with someone you trust can greatly strengthen that relationship.  In the end, giving our loved ones a chance to show us they care and that they can be with us/there for us is actually a gift to them.