Angry

April 22

Anger Is Not Only Skin-Deep

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GET RID OF ALL BITTERNESS, RAGE AND ANGER, BRAWLING AND SLANDER, ALONG WITH EVERY FORM OF MALICE
(Ephesians 4:31).

Anger is often only the bandage that covers the wound.  If you were to peel the anger off, you would expose a festering ulcer filled with unworthiness, condemnation, and abandonment. Listen to God’s Words to you:

FOR MAN’S ANGER DOES NOT BRING ABOUT THE RIGHTEOUS LIFE THAT GOD DESIRES
(James 1:20).

Precious Child, do not let your anger go unchecked; instead, probe deeper to find out what is concealed underneath it.  Inquire into the understanding of your mind to expose the false beliefs from the father-of-lies.  Scrutinize your heart for clues of unworthiness—conclusions that believe “I do not measure up.”  Probe your mind for clues of shame—beliefs that claim “I am a disgrace.”  Search your spirit for clues of abandonment—thoughts that demand “I am all alone.” Check your heart for clues of rejection—arguments that reason: “I am not wanted.” Remember, anger does not stand alone, but sits on a pillar of negative, destructive beliefs, instilled in your mind by the father-of-lies!

A FOOL GIVES FULL VENT TO HIS ANGER, BUT A WISE MAN KEEPS HIMSELF UNDER CONTROL
(Proverbs 29:11).

Child, no temptation has seized you, except what is common to man.  I understand unworthiness.  I am familiar with condemnation.  I am acquainted with abandonment.  I know what it feels like to be rejected. I want you to know that these “common-to-man” temptations that are hiding beneath your anger are not too powerful for Me to handle.  I know the way out.

AND SHE SHALL BRING FORTH A SON, AND THOU SHALT CALL HIS NAME JESUS: FOR HE SHALL SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS
(Matthew 1:21).

What sits underneath your anger: feelings of being unloved, unworthy, unaccepted or unwanted?

I bless you to embrace the beliefs that sit underneath your anger, expose these to the Lord Jesus, and allow Him to exchange them for His Worth, Acceptance, and Love. Then, your anger will disappear.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I bring my anger to You.  But most of all, since anger is a symptom of negative, destructive beliefs that are lodged in my heart, I bring the beliefs that are hidden UNDERNEATH the anger to You, as well. Thank you, Lord, that You have conquered shame, condemnation, rejection, and abandonment on the cross, so I may be rid of these oppressing beliefs from the father-of-lies to receive Your beliefs of Love, Worth, and Acceptance in their place.

Maintain an Awareness

Know that you cannot be a friend of the Light and be a friend of darkness, at the same time. Darkness and Light do not mix. They are incompatible. You are either in the dark, or in the light.

The Two Counsels

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Angry

April 21

God Is Love

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LOVE IS PATIENT, LOVE IS KIND. IT DOES NOT ENVY, IT DOES NOT BOAST, IT IS NOT PROUD. IT IS NOT RUDE, IT IS NOT SELF-SEEKING, IT IS NOT EASILY ANGERED, IT KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS.  LOVE DOES NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL BUT REJOICES WITH THE TRUTH.  IT ALWAYS PROTECTS, ALWAYS TRUSTS, ALWAYS HOPES, ALWAYS PERSEVERES.  LOVE NEVER FAILS
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

GOD IS LOVE
(1 John 4:16).

Precious One, I, the Savior, want you to know that I am patient, even when your pain and weaknesses show…because I am Love.

Ponder that I, the Redeemer, am kind and do not condemn as people do…because I am Love.

Value that I, the Good Shepherd, am not boastful, but came to this earth to serve you and share everything I am, with you…because I am Love.

Embrace that I, the Resurrection and the Life, am not rude, but gentle…because I am Love.

Know that I, the Wonderful Counselor, am not self-seeking, but came to share My own Wholeness and Holiness with you…because I am Love.

Celebrate that I, the Author and Finisher of your faith, am not easily angered, even when you come undone…because I am Love.

Speculate that I, the Bread of Life, keep no records of your wrongs, after you have asked forgiveness…because I am Love.

Capture that I, the God of Light, do not delight in evil done against you or anybody else…because I am Love.

Recognize that I, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, rejoice whenever you are set free by the Truth…because I am Love.

Acknowledge that I, Immanuel, yearn to protect you from the negative, destructive beliefs of the father-of-lies…because I am Love.

Understand that I, the Everlasting Father, always trust and hope that you will bring your pain and weaknesses to Me, instead of hiding from them, running away from them, and blaming them on someone or something else…because I am Love. My Love never fails. I will never fail you.

AND SO WE KNOW AND RELY ON THE LOVE GOD HAS FOR US. GOD IS LOVE.  WHOEVER LIVES IN LOVE LIVES IN GOD, AND GOD IN HIM
(1 John 4:16).

What has the father-of-lies told you about God: that He has forsaken you…that He wants to harm you…that He is not faithful?

If you have been believing these lies, you have been missing out on God’s Love for you. Submit these beliefs to the Way, the Truth, and the Life, just the way you hear them in your mind. Then, experience the Truth…and God’s Love for you.

PRAYER: Lord God, I submit my beliefs about You to the Truth. I realize that I have an enemy—the father-of-lies—who wants me to think that You are phony…that You are cruel…that You are easily angered. But I come to YOU. Show me who You really are, so I may EXPERIENCE Your LOVE…and believe.

Maintain an Awareness

The Bible calls it the OLD MAN. It makes us feel like a powerless CHILD. It is the reason we believe we are abandoned, bad, rejected, and shamed. It is the reason we feel mad, bad, and sad. It is the reason neither life, nor death, makes sense.

The Two Counsels
April 14

Put Off the OLD SELF with Its Deeds

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PUT OFF YOUR OLD SELF, WHICH IS BEING CORRUPTED BY ITS DECEITFUL DESIRES…AND PUT ON THE NEW SELF, CREATED TO BE LIKE GOD
(Ephesians 4:22). 

We all have a CORRUPTED PERSON living inside of us: a being, shaped in us by the father-of-lies, filled with negative, destructive beliefs of condemnation, shame, abandonment, and rejection—the OLD SELF.

When these OLD SELF beliefs of condemnation, abandonment, shame, and rejection are triggered, we hurt so much that we want to bandage the pain as soon as possible.  And the father-of-lies stands ready with his SOLUTION: sinful habits and patterns of hiding, running, and blaming others.  THESE ARE THE PRACTICES OF THE OLD SELF.

Some people think that in order to become holy, they only need to put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF.  They think that all they need to do is to stop their harmful habits of hiding, running, and blaming in order to become whole and holy.

SINCE YOU HAVE TAKEN OFF YOUR OLD SELF WITH ITS PRACTICES
(Colossians 3:9).

But I have discovered that it does not help to only put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF.  You have to put off the PERSON of the OLD SELF, first.  If you only put off the PRACTICES of the OLD SELF, the OLD SELF PERSON is still in you.  This deceived OLD SELF PERSON is void of God’s Love, Hope, and Truth, and feels unloved, unworthy, and unacceptable. The OLD SELF PERSON NEEDS ITS PRACTICES OF DEFENSE, so it can take care of its pain.  If you take its defense patterns away, it will find new ones.  You cannot do this backwards.

Have you noticed the OLD SELF PERSON that lives in you? What are the negative, destructive beliefs that keep it alive? What are its practices—the harmful habits that take care of its pain?

I urge you to invite the Lord Jesus to put off the OLD SELF in you, and to put on HIS SELF in you, who is filled with new beliefs of Love, Truth, and Hope.  Then, your harmful habits will disappear, because it is only if there is someone NEW living in you with whole and holy beliefs that you do not need your sinful defense patterns anymore.  Know that you cannot better your SELF from the outside; you need to be exchanged on the inside for a NEW SELF—the SELF of the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I lay my corrupted OLD SELF PERSON by Your feet. Please come and replace it with Your Self—the NEW SELF. Then, I will not need my harmful habits anymore. Then, I will be new.

Maintain an Awareness

Capture that the human mind loves to reason WITHOUT the Holy Spirit.

The Two Counsels
April 12

Jesus Did Not Come to be Served…but to Serve

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THE SON OF MAN DID NOT COME TO BE SERVED, BUT TO SERVE, AND TO GIVE HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY
(Matthew 20:28).

Celebrate that the Lord Jesus has been raised from the dead…to become your Life.

Beloved One, I, the Bread of Life, want you to know that, first and foremost, I did not come to be served by you, but to serve you: to care for you…to minister to you…to save you.  Know that in the first place it is not about what you do for Me, but what you allow Me to do for you.  It is not about how useful you are to Me, but how valuable I am to you.  I am offering My Life to you, so you may be unchained from sorrow, discharged from guilt, and unyoked from slavery to harmful habits.

SO IT IS WRITTEN: ‘THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING; THE LAST ADAM, A LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT’
(1 Corinthians 15:45).

Precious Child, it is not about what you have done in the past that was wrong, but about what I have done in the past…that was right.  I died for you, then became alive for you, to offer you My Self—a Life-giving Spirit.

THEN JESUS DECLARED, ‘I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. HE WHO COMES TO ME WILL NEVER GO HUNGRY, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER BE THIRSTY’
(John 6:35).

Are you so busy serving the Lord Jesus that you are missing out on Him serving you with His Life? What is it that you need the Lord Jesus to do for you and to BE for you through His Life-giving Spirit, today?

Receive from Jesus, the Bread of Life, so your hunger for Hope may be stilled, your longing for Righteousness may be satisfied, and your yearning for Wholeness may be fulfilled.  Accept that it is only after you have received from Him that you can give back to Him, because without Him you are nothing and you have nothing.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I come to be served by You. I come to receive Your Life, so I may be unchained from the sorrow that has lived in my heart for so long. I come to receive a drink from Your Living Water, so I may be unyoked from the guilt my past mistakes have caused in my heart. I come to You to be my Bread of Life, so that my hunger for Righteousness may be satisfied and my thirst for Love may be quenched.  How joyful I am that You have been raised from the dead…to become my LIFE! How blessed I am that You have given Your Life to me as a Ransom.

Maintain an Awareness

Blaming others and blaming yourself will not get rid of the accusatory pain in your heart.

The Two Counsels
April 11

But God Intended It for Good

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YOU INTENDED TO HARM ME, BUT GOD INTENDED IT FOR GOOD TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT IS NOW BEING DONE, THE SAVING OF MANY LIVES
(Genesis 50:20).

I am sorry if anybody intended to harm you at any point during your life.  I am sorry about the evil done against you.  I wish I could have protected you against it.  I am sorry about any harsh punishment you had to go through as a child.  I wish that did not happen.  It breaks my heart.  I am sorry about your dad’s or mom’s disapproval and condemnation.  I wish their hearts had been healed from their own pain, so they would have treated you differently.  I feel your pain.

I am sorry for any unjust blame that you had to endure, during your life.  I wish people could have owned their own stuff instead of blaming it on you.  I know how you feel.  I am sorry if you were abandoned by a parent or a friend.  I wish I were there to comfort you and take their place.  I know how much it hurts to be left.  I am sorry for any shame you had experienced at the hand of a smooth criminal.  I am sorry if nakedness was involved.  I wish I could have washed off all the unrighteousness and clothed you.

PRAISE BE TO THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THE FATHER OF COMPASSION AND THE GOD OF ALL COMFORT, WHO COMFORTS US IN ALL OUR TROUBLES, SO THAT WE CAN COMFORT THOSE IN ANY TROUBLE WITH THE COMFORT WE OURSELVES HAVE RECEIVED FROM GOD
(2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

Today, I want to comfort you with the Comfort I myself have received from God during times of unjust suffering. Listen to how God comforted my heart: Child, do not despair of the evil done against you—the injury…the depravity…the immorality.  They might have meant evil against you; BUT I, the God of all Comfort, will cancel any evil done against you—any manipulation…any iniquity…..any corruption—if you yield it to My Power and Control.

What evil has been done against you? Have you been abandoned, condemned, or shamed? What are you going to do about this?

I bless you to yield any evil done against you to God’s Power, so He may turn it into Good.  Yield the abandonment to God’s Love, so He may replace it with Belonging.  Yield the condemnation to God’s Holiness, so He may exchange it for Acceptance.  Yield the shame to God’s Truth, so He may turn it into Glory.

PRAYER: Most High, I bring all the evil done against me, to You. I yield it to Your Power. I surrender it to Your Goodness. I submit it to Your Authority. Reverse the purpose of the evil, so it would serve Your Purpose, instead. Turn the evil into Righteousness. Turn the sin into Holiness. Turn the disgrace into Grace. Change the hopelessness into Hope. Change the abandonment into Belonging. Change the condemnation into Acceptance. To You be Glory…forever…and ever.

Maintain an Awareness

When your heart hurts, both the Lord Jesus and the father-of-lies stand ready to lead you out of that pain to a solution.

The Two Counsels
April 09

Forgive from Your Heart

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IN ANGER HIS MASTER TURNED HIM OVER TO THE JAILERS TO BE TORTURED, UNTIL HE SHOULD PAY BACK ALL HE OWED.  THIS IS HOW MY HEAVENLY FATHER WILL TREAT EACH OF YOU UNLESS YOU FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART
(Matthew 18:34).

I have had many accusers and I have had many accusations hurled at me. On one of these occasions, the accusations hurt so much that they felt like hard-handed lashes slashing my bare flesh. When my accusers were finally done with their tongue lashing, I left, broken and bleeding. In fact, I thought I was going to bleed to death. To make matters worse, the Lord Jesus whispered to me, “Child, I want you to forgive your accusers…from your heart.”

Surprised at His impossible expectations, I answered, “Are you kidding, God, My heart is broken.  How can You expect me to forgive from a broken heart? You are asking the impossible of me.”

“Exactly,” the Holy Spirit answered in my heart, “You can’t.  You can only forgive from your heart if it is healed.  So, let Me heal it, first.”

To allow the Lord Jesus to heal my heart I had to focus on the pain in my heart—the pain the accusations caused me.  Do you know what?  When I examined my heart, I discovered that the pain that really broke my heart was not the condemning accusations my accusers hurled at me, but the fact that I felt so alone, exposed, and unprotected during their tongue-lashing.

I brought the real pain to the Lord Jesus…and He exchanged it for His Truth: Precious Child, I was there when your accusers whipped you with their out-of-control tongues. I was not NEXT to you, but BETWEEN you and your accusers, receiving the lashes for you.  You were not alone. You were not unprotected. I suffered with you.

BECAUSE HE HIMSELF SUFFERED WHEN HE WAS TEMPTED, HE IS ABLE TO HELP THOSE WHO ARE BEING TEMPTED
(Hebrews 2:18).

I wept as this brought healing to the deepest places of my heart. Suddenly, the tongue lashing did not matter anymore. All that mattered was that the Lord Jesus shared my suffering. Only after I experienced His Presence in my suffering was I able to forgive my perpetrators from my heart.

Have you ever received a brutal tongue lashing that left you broken and bleeding, unable to forgive? The Lord Jesus knows how you feel. He, too, has suffered humility, condemnation, and unfairness. Therefore, He is able to help you feel better, if you let Him in on your suffering. He will share your suffering. He will help you to forgive…from your heart.

PRAYER: Most High, work Your Truth in me, so I may be able to forgive from my heart. Shine Your Light on me, so I may find the negative, destructive beliefs from the father-of-lies that are hindering me from forgiving.  Help me to take my focus off the circumstances and the facts that are causing the pain, but instead, to focus on my own heart and Your Truth.

Maintain an Awareness

There is someone who came to bring Heaven to earth, into your troubled heart, into your dark mind, into your dead spirit, into your disease-ridden body, and into your broken life. His name is Jesus Christ, the Perfect Father’s Son.

The Two Counsels

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Accused Angry Bitter Rejected

April 08

Forgiveness Is More than a Decision

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IN ANGER HIS MASTER TURNED HIM OVER TO THE JAILERS TO BE TORTURED, UNTIL HE SHOULD PAY BACK ALL HE OWED.  THIS IS HOW MY HEAVENLY FATHER WILL TREAT EACH OF YOU UNLESS YOU FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART
(Matthew 18:34).

People often say, “Forgiveness is just a cold decision.  Just disregard your feelings.  Then it is easy to forgive.”  I have tried that.  It does not work.  Deep inside, my heart still remembers the pain.

FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART

Precious Child, how do you forgive anyone from your heart, if your heart is broken?  Don’t you see?  You cannot!  You need a healed heart, first, before you will be able to forgive from your heart, and there is only ONE who can do this for you—I, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The only way you can forgive from your heart is to stop disregarding your feelings…to stop ignoring your heart…to stop regarding forgiveness as a cold decision.  In fact, you need to do the exact opposite.  Focus on your heart.  Find out what it believes about your circumstances, about you, and about your perpetrator.  Face the pain.

HE HIMSELF BORE OUR SINS IN HIS BODY ON THE CROSS, SO THAT WE MIGHT DIE TO SINS AND LIVE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS; BY HIS WOUNDS YOU HAVE BEEN HEALED
(1 Peter 2:24).

Which oppressing conclusions are causing the pain and lack of forgiveness in your heart? Know that the pain will not destroy your heart if you face it, but these oppressing conclusions will, if you don’t face them. And they will keep you from forgiving from your heart.

FORGIVE YOUR BROTHER FROM YOUR HEART

Therefore, EMBRACE the conclusions in your heart that are preventing you from forgiving, EXPOSE these negative, destructive beliefs to the Lord Jesus, and let Him EXCHANGE these beliefs for His Perspective. Then, you will be able to forgive your perpetrator from your heart.

Have you been trying to forgive someone from your broken heart? Did it work? Are you willing to try something else?

I encourage you to surrender the beliefs that are causing your broken heart to the Lord Jesus, and let Him restore your heart with His personal Words to you. Then, forgive from your healed heart.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, please heal my broken heart, so I can forgive from my heart.

Maintain an Awareness

God wants you to desire to be important to Him, because you ARE important to Him…and He wants to tell you so, Himself.

The Two Counsels

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Angry Bitter

April 07

Forgive Them, for They Do Not Know What They Are Doing

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WHEN THEY CAME TO THE PLACE CALLED THE SKULL, THERE THEY CRUCIFIED HIM, ALONG WITH THE CRIMINALS—ONE ON HIS RIGHT, THE OTHER ON HIS LEFT. JESUS SAID, ‘FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.’  AND THEY DIVIDED UP HIS CLOTHES BY CASTING LOTS
(Luke 23:33-34).

Has someone offended you, recently, or long ago? Is this offense still lingering in your heart, stabbing you with each heartbeat?

Understand that your offenders do not know the extent of the hurt they caused you when they lashed out at you in anger.  At the time, they were only focused on their own pain and reacting to their own heartache.  He did not get the full scope of the result of his offense.  She did not know what she was doing to your heart.

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING

Know that it is not what your offender said or did to you that is causing all the pain, but what you came to conclude about yourself, over the years.  The father-of-lies is responsible for these negative, destructive beliefs of rejection, abandonment, condemnation, and shame…not your offender.

Understand that when someone offends you, the father-of-lies uses this as an open door to hurl all the past rejection, abandonment, condemnation, and shame at your heart that you perceived through your previous offenders.  You do not just perceive the pain of the present offense, from your present offender, but the pain of a lifetime.  The father-of-lies is responsible for this…not your offender.

Sometimes we make mistakes…and others do, too. To make a mistake means to make a wrong judgment. This happens to all of us, even you and me. Please forgive those who made a mistake, because they did not know what they were doing, at the time. They made a wrong judgment. Maybe you did, too. Forgive yourself.

Is there resentment in your heart because of what a perpetrator said or did to you?

I encourage you to investigate the conclusions that got stuck in your heart “because of what your perpetrator said or did.” Surrender them to the Lord Jesus and ask Him for Truth. When you receive Truth, you will recognize the real perpetrator. Then, you will be able to forgive as Jesus did.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, help me to realize that it is not what my offender said or did to me that caused all the pain in my heart, but what I came to believe about myself in response to what he said or did. May I forgive like You do, Lord Jesus, for my perpetrators did not know what they were doing, but the father-of-lies did.

Maintain an Awareness

Since the beginning of our lives, the OLD MAN beliefs of abandonment, shame, condemnation, and rejection have been firmly planted in our minds and hearts by the father-of-lies.

The Two Counsels
April 02

Crucified in Weakness

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FOR THOUGH HE WAS CRUCIFIED IN WEAKNESS, YET HE LIVES BY THE POWER OF GOD
(2 Corinthians 13:4).

How difficult it is to be weak during times of insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, especially when others are strong in their own defense mechanisms. How hard it is to be weak and lay down our own defense mechanisms, so the Power of Christ may be at work within us.

NOW TO HIM WHO IS ABLE TO DO IMMEASURABLY MORE THAN ALL WE ASK OR IMAGINE, ACCORDING TO HIS POWER THAT IS AT WORK WITHIN US, TO HIM BE GLORY
(Ephesians 3:20 21).

I bless you to be weak during insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for it is during the times that you do not depend on your own defense mechanisms that God has a chance to establish His Power in you and through you. Therefore, lay down your own will and allow God to conform you to His divine Will in your thoughts, your actions, and your purpose.

THEREFORE I TAKE PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES, IN REPROACHES, IN NECESSITIES, IN PERSECUTIONS, IN DISTRESSES FOR CHRIST’S SAKE: FOR WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN AM I STRONG
(2 Corinthians 12:10).

May you become weak during hardships, so God may bring you to a new place in your life…a place where you have never been, before. Put an end to relying on your own wisdom, believing in your own self, and depending on your own understanding, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. Rather, let the Wisdom that comes from Heaven fill you. Then, you will be strong, even though you are weak.

BUT THE WISDOM THAT COMES FROM HEAVEN IS FIRST OF ALL PURE; THEN PEACE-LOVING, CONSIDERATE, SUBMISSIVE, FULL OF MERCY AND GOOD FRUIT, IMPARTIAL AND SINCERE
(James 3:17).

What do you usually do during times of insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities? Do you depend on your own defense mechanisms…or do you become weak, so you may become strong?

What will it take for you to lay down your defense mechanism and become weak, so the Wisdom that comes from Heaven may fill you and the Power of Christ may be at work within you?

PRAYER: Most High, bring me to a new place in my life—a place where I am weak and You are strong.

Maintain an Awareness

Every given moment of your life, you live either in obedience to the Counsel of the Perfect Father, or in obedience to the counsel of the father-of-lies.

The Two Counsels

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Angry Bitter Jealous

March 25

Steps I Use to Surrender

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Describe the SITUATION that evoked your feelings of sadness, badness, or madness.

Example: Today, while we were driving, I felt very sad when my husband spoke to me in a gruff manner, after I asked him to slow down his driving for me around a dangerous curve.

Focusing on the FEELINGS evoked by this incident, find your PERTURBING PERCEPTION of the situation and the people involved, especially yourself.

Example: I felt intense sadness in my heart during this incident. My perturbing perception was that I did not count, and that I did not matter to anyone, not even my husband.

Still focusing on the feelings, find the PLACE during your life where you felt like this FOR THE FIRST TIME, whether that be this day, last year, or fifty years ago.

Example: Focusing on the sadness, I discovered a memory that matched it: I was about eight years old. I had just cleaned the whole kitchen floor while my parents were out shopping and could not wait for them to come back and be proud of me. But after they returned from shopping, my dad walked over my clean floor with his dirty shoes. When I tried to tell him not to dirty my newly washed floor, he was gruff with me, the same way my husband was with me when we were driving.

INVITE GOD’S PRESENCE AND PARTICIPATION into your feelings, perceptions, and place where you experienced these for the first time. Allow Him to exchange your perception for His Perspective—THE TRUTH.

Example: Lord Jesus, I invite You into this place of sadness in my heart. Although my mind is telling me that I am unimportant and do not count because my dad walked over my clean floor (and my husband does not want to slow his driving down just for me), I surrender my own perception to You and ask for Your Truth.

Allow God to SPEAK into your feelings of sadness and your perturbing perception that nobody cares about you. LISTEN for His voice. LOOK inside the memory and see, hear, and feel if there is anything different there. God speaks in many different ways. Be open, and be patient.

Example: While focusing on the memory where I felt unimportant for the first time, I saw, with the eyes of my heart, a little girl standing in front of her daddy. She was wearing a royal robe and a crown. Then I heard with the ears of my heart: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). I knew that I counted. I mattered. I was important, because I was important to God and I counted to Him. My feeling of sadness disappeared. Today, I know that I count, even when my husband is gruff.

Has there been a situation this week that evoked feelings of sadness, madness, or badness in you? Do not focus on what someone said or did to you. Instead, turn your heart to you own interpretation of the situation, because our interpretations were sold under sin to the father-of-lies. Find out where this interpretation entered your mind for the first time, and surrender it to God to receive His Truth…and a new heart.

Maintain an Awareness

Temptations give us many opportunities to be trained in God’s Holiness.

The Two Counsels