Feelings are the energy of motivation. They inspire us, compel us, push us, encourage us, they bring us down and they lift us up. Feelings are typically likened to "a weather" whereas a person's mood could be seen as "the climate" where emotions arise. This "climate" describes what kind of weather (read: emotions, reactions, responses) is typical for a person but, as we all know so well (this may surprise): one can sometimes experience a really hot day in Finland — even though it's not that common! (the science of motivation goes a lot deeper than I mentioned in this paragraph! just saying, it's complex and fascinating!) Why is it important to understand your own feelings? More than being our motivators (for the good and the bad) they help us make decisions and build intimacy. Emotions are from God. He created them. He made us into His own image so emotions didn't just "happen" but the ability to experience them was purposefully crafted into our hearts. We can see Jesus be a pretty emotional guy! I limit my observations to him, for when we see Jesus, we've seen our Father who really, really cares for us. Jesus CRIED when Lazarus died and was sad over the loss of his friend (women like men that show their feelings yes!), he rejoiced when he was happy (like: At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Luke 10:21.), he got angry when the pharisees were misrepresenting the Kingdom of God, he was loving towards children and women and he expressed compassion without shame. Jesus definitely was moved by what he saw. Emotions are spontaneous. We cannot strategically plan to have them but actors can fake them. Certain environments can stir them up but we can decide to numb them down. A loving act towards me arouses feelings of being noticed, cherished and valued. (Yes, feelings are a fundamental part of expressing and receiving love but there's more to love than the feeling that follows. Love is a very vulnerable, sacrificial decision to be made.) On the other hand, a violent act toward someone can bring that person such pain that they can shut down if they aren't able to process it. Feelings are a precious gift from God! Crying-sadness and laughter-joy are two of the most powerful whole body emotional responses we use daily to process and express what's going on inside us. Positive emotions do more than provide psychological comfort, however. According to University College of London’s Sophie K. Scott and colleagues (2014): I find it fascinating that some Finnish researchers found what happens in our body when we feel different emotions! (Science Daily) All the above is important and good to know about emotions — but the truth has a deeper, beautiful, relieving (!) dimension to it: we are led by the Spirit, not by emotions and feelings. The truth that God loves me doesn't change whether I feel it or not. Haha! That's GOOD news. The Holy Spirit moving is more than a hype. The Holy Spirit leading is not always fun either, sorry. :D Few months after I came to Redding I saw a dream where I had a battle inside of me. In the dream I consciously decided to set the Spirit of God in the throne of my life and to be led by the Spirit. In that encounter I submitted myself to Jesus' Lordship in my life: I surrendered my will to His and it required an intentional decision that didn't "just happen" (this goes to the category "experiences impossible to explain with words"). I'm yet to fully understand what that meant but after that day I've felt it easier to practice spiritual disciplines in my life. In the morning after I found myself just flowing in prayer and wondered how easy it was! What matters is Who leads me and Who gets to influence and fuel my heart where the emotions are born. Emotions can be trained for unrighteousness in which case they can start leading us away from Christ OR they can be cultivated in a redeemed heart for righteousness... when they eventually will serve our well-being and the Kingdom of God! Many people spend their lives being guided by their feelings. When their feelings change they are convinced their heart has changed. But feelings are rooted in emotion, not truth. A virtuous person lives out of their convictions and expects their feelings to follow. Feelings are great servants but terrible masters. If you stop following them, they will follow you. // Kris Vallotton I have an exercise for you to develop healthy self-awareness! This will help you to pay attention to RED FLAGS (such like loneliness, unworthiness, shame, rejection, powerlessness...) that can trigger behavior that you don't wish, such like finding yourself browsing porn sites in search of intimacy? Binge eating to fill up emptiness? Love the journey of getting to know your heart! You have been given a NEW one and it's time to discover what makes your heart flourish. Ah, I'm glad to share these things with you that I have been learning and have found really beneficial over the past year. Check yourself when waking up/leaving the house/coming back home/going to bed/whenever. 1. How am I feeling? 2. Why am I feeling like that? 3. What happened? 4. Ask the Holy Spirit what to do with the information you become aware of. Becoming conscious of your "normal" helps you to meet your needs in a healthy way! It helps you to not to punish yourself for being a human, to love yourself and to love Jesus and your neighbor with all your heart. xoxoxoxo
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What happens when I draw in? What happens when I enter into His presence? Your faithfulness surrounds you. Psalm 89:8 What is it like to see His faithfulness surround Him? What does it feel like to have it touch my skin as His light shines away the shadows of lies that I had been carrying with me? Mercy calls me by name and I drop my burdens as I hear Him speak. When His loving-kindness captures my attention, I forget the worry of whether or not He will be able to sustain me. Jesus. This is what I need. Mercy and loving-kindness and truth go before Your face. 89:14
Exodus 33:19 “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you ––”
In every touch of God there is a revelation of Him. Experiencing Him is like God kissing your face. Awaken my love. How do you see Him today? Will you let His light touch your fears? Will you pass through the disappointments of not being enough, of not measuring up... and just let the light come in. As you have been fully known and accepted, to remind you once again... We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. Lift up your eyes my beloved. 1 Cor 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Listen to the following song and ask the Father to let His light shine upon you. May He take you by surprise. Did you like my title? I'm sorry if it's uncomfortable. :D The Bible encourages us to observe the nature and learn from it. We all know that even the flowers and birds can teach us about God's faithfulness! We do also learn a lot through observing the lives of the wise and... the unwise, just like Solomon did in the book of Proverbs. This awesome man of God, Mika Yrjölä (miehen koskettava elämäntarina Youtubesta), shared the lessons he'd learned in spending time with drunk people in one of his latest sermons. Mika brought up 12 good points in his message and my post today is a summary of them. (The original video was hilarious and still available here in Finnish) I do not support drunkenness and I encourage every Christian to pursue holiness in their personal life relating to alcohol. Ask God what it means to you! Alcoholism is a painful, tormenting obsession and it can destroy one's life. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. —— And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”Acts 2 Isn't it supposed to mean something that people mistook the Holy Spirit for new wine? "OH, THE GOOD OLD DAYS! THE GOOD OLD WINE!" I bet you too have heard people longing for "those days" when the Spirit was poured out and it was all well. Are some Christians suffering from hangover? And more importantly, why? And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ Luke 5:37—39. Did we forget what it feels like to taste fresh anointing? How fulfilling it is! How GOOD it is! What alcoholics say about the hangover is that the best way to avoid it is to stay drunk. Will Jesus find us burning, not lukewarm, when He comes back? We must find out how to sustain the fire. It was the priests in the Old Testament who kept the fire burning on the altar. What is our responsibility? Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out. Leviticus 6:6 Here are Mika's 12 points: 1) Drunkenness will change your speech Even the Finnish people (who are well-known from their quietness) will suddenly find it incredibly easy to share their deepest feelings when they get drunk. Drunk people don't have any shame on any subject and they love to talk a LOT. Remember also the "new tounges". ➝ The Spirit of God invates us into vulnerability! He also breaks the fear of men when He comes. 2) Ugly becomes beautiful Drunk people complement one another and they really mean what they say! "You'rrrre beautifulll..." When will our vision change and when will we start to see the Kingdom of God, the church and our lives as beautiful? 3) They are willing to give away anything at any time Drunk people don't count their odds. If their friend needs a coat and they have what to give, they will help. 4) They don't want to drink alone Drunk people want everyone to join them. They will try to make you "taste even one" and refuse to understand why you would restrain yourself from drinking. ➝ When we taste the GOODNESS of our God, we will start to feel the necessity to share what we've experienced. 5) There's always a reason to have one The reason for drinking can be anything: a deep mourning, loss or celebration. There's always a good reason to drink. If not, they'll make up one. 6) They always know where to go to get it And where not. Alcoholics know by heart the opening times of Alko (liquid store) and they know where to get alcohol after the stores close. — Enough said. We should go for it all in, not counting the cost. 7) They aren't proud And that's why it's impossible to offend them. 8) They never have problems Except the one (=drinking, auch!). All the worries disappear when people fill their minds with that miracle substance. ➝ Jesus taught us not to worry. We will get things into the right perspective when the Spirit of God gets to fill us and begin to reveal the true nature of our amazing God. 9) They love e v e r y o n e And they loooove the world! THEY LOVE THE WORLD! C'mon, so did God when He gave us His one and only Son. 10) They love to fight We also need fearless Christians! 11) They believe in impossibilities E v e r y t h i n g is possible for them! And so much so that it seems crazy. — Which is something we should learn too: all things are possible for God and nothing is too hard for Him. 12) They are willing to do anything to get more Are we satisfied? Are we willing to seek Him? How to be content and still always hunger for more? There is a great mystery right there. God wants us full and overflowing! I have experienced the Spirit of God come powerfully upon me a few times during my life and those encounters marked me forever. But... we can't survive with the yesterday's presence. We need His breath every day. Jesus longs to build a relationship with us and it is He's desire to give us power to do all that He asks us to do (heal the sick, cast our devils and raise the dead, anyone?). God wants to fill us up and we NEED HIM. So, let's wait upon Him with eager expectation of the fulfillment of Jesus' promise in our hearts, just like the apostles did in Acts — even though it contains a risk (I won't go there but you can perhaps easily think of all kinds of risks). I'll leave you with this question and bless you with massive God-encounters! Pic 1. Pic 2. Pic 3. Just recently I saw a dream where there was a man trying to give someone the Gospel. I listened to what he was saying: "I can't promise that your life will change if you accept Jesus." Now that made me really upset, so I interrupted him and declared: "No! Your life WILL CHANGE. Jesus wants to possess your life!" And I'm serious as I'm sharing this with you. The message of the Gospel is POWERFUL! The same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the death will come to live inside of you as you decide to give your life to Him! That's crazy! And it's awesome! Did you know that there is power in the name of Jesus to break EVERY chain in your life? I mean it. Every chain! There's no sin, addiction or problem that can stand before Jesus, our glorious King and Savior. Do you want to give it all up to Him? HE can do it. When I was a teenager no one really told me about this power available and I found myself struggling with some issues constantly. (At least I didn't let the Word pierce my heart and thought it was not meant for me?) And over and over again I felt shame and disgust because I just couldn't make it on my own! At times I felt unworthy, powerless and weak – not realizing that He had given ME authority over all the power of the enemy. (Luke 10:19) I can picture Him in my mind eagerly waiting for us to use what we've been entrusted with. He's given us the sword of Truth to reveal and cut off every lie in our lives. Let us cleanse our armor from dust. Wow. I remember that one day, in the morning, I was reading the Bible and it talked about the power of grace. That Jesus broke the curse of sin for me. Ah, and right there, something rose within me and I made war! I ate the WORD and it became flesh in my life. It was glorious!!! I became FREE right there, alone in my room by the true power of the Cross. This is the message we should be giving out. Not excusing sin in our lives! Jesus is alive and so should we. I can't apologize for genuinely believing the whole gospel and it's power. I understand that some things may be deeply rooted in our thinking and lives, which is the reason we shouldn't just cut off the bad fruit but dig deeper into the root system, which requires humbling ourselves and letting go of our pride and self-sufficiency. GOD will do it if we ask Him to! Come out of your cage. There's so much more for you to see and live in – a life of abundance in Christ Jesus. ♥ Listen to this song and experience the POWER OF GRACE. He who the Son sets free is free indeed. John 8:36 Jos siis Poika vapauttaa teidät, te olette todella vapaita. Johannes 8:36 Näin hiljattain unta, jossa eräs mies koetti kertoa ilosanomaa jollekulle. Kuuntelin, mitä hän sanoi: "En voi luvata, että elämäsi muuttuu kun otat Jeesuksen vastaan." Ah, silloin turhauduin ja korjasin: "Ei! Elämäsi TULEE MUUTTUMAAN TÄYSIN! Jeesus haluaa omistaa sinut kokonaan!" Olen vakavissani kun jaan tämän sinulle. Evankeliumin sanoma on VOIMAKAS! Sama voima, joka herätti Jeesuksen kuolleista, tulee asumaan Sinun sisällesi kun päätät antaa elämäsi hänelle. Se on ihan hullua! Ja upeaa! Tiesitkö, että Jeesuksen nimessä on voima katkaista jokainen kahle ja side elämässäsi? Tarkoitan sitä. Jokainen kahle! Mikään synti, riippuvuus tai ongelma ei yksinkertaisesti vain kestä Jeesuksen, meidän Pelastajamme ja Kuninkaamme, edessä. Haluatko antaa itsesi hänelle? Kun olin nuorempi, en ymmärtänyt tätä voimaa ja ihmettelin, miksi jatkuvasti pyörin samojen juttujen keskellä (ainakaan en antanut sanan lävistää sydäntäni). Ja niin yhä uudestaan ja uudestaan tunsin itseni syylliseksi ja likaiseksi, sillä en vain kyennyt elämään niin kuin olisin halunnut! Ajoittain koin itseni arvottomaksi, voimattomaksi ja heikoksi – sillä en nähnyt, että Jeesus oli antanut MINULLE auktoriteetin paholaisen voiman yli. (Luuk. 10:19) Voin kuvitella Jumalan vain niiiiiin odottavan meidän todella ottavan käyttöön kaiken sen, mitä hän on meille antanut. Hän antoi meille totuuden miekan, jolla voimme lävistää ja leikata kaikki valheet elämistämme. Olemme vapaita hänessä! On aika puhdistaa taisteluvarustuksemme pölystä. Vau. Muistan, kun eräänä aamuna luin Raamatusta armon voimasta. Siitä, että Jeesus rikkoi synnin kahleen elämästäni, ja että olin vapaa hänessä. Jotain nousi sisälläni silloin ja nousin vastustamaan vihollista! Minä söin SANAN ja se tuli lihaksi minussa. Se oli mieletöntä! Ja minusta tuli VAPAA juuri sinä hetkessä, yksin huoneessani, Jeesuksen ristin voiman kautta. Tämä on se uutinen, mitä meidän tulisi jakaa. Ei selitellä syntiä elämässämme, sillä Jeesus elää ja niin tulisi meidänkin. En voi pyytää anteeksi sitä, että uskon evankeliumin voimaan. Se toimii, sillä Jumala rakastaa meitä! Tiedostan, että jotkin jutut ovat juurtuneet syvälle elämissämme ja ajattelutavoissamme, mutta se onkin aivan erityinen syy sille, miksi emme voi vain leikata huonoja hedelmiä pois, vaan mennä syvemmälle ongelmien juuristoon. Se vaatii nöyrtymistä ja itseriittoisuudesta luopumista. JUMALA on voimallinen auttamaan meitä, kun vain pyydämme häntä! |
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