Negative emotions are a red flag that something is wrong
in our soul. It may be abuse from someone in our life, or society putting undue
stress on us, or we may encounter an unsafe person or an experience, which
causes anger to rise up in us. This happens to protect us from some perceived
harm. We could also be reaping the results of our own fleshly pursuits.
Negative emotions also arise when God’s will for us upsets us and reveals some
idol in our life.
Our emotional red flags alert us to physical or emotional
harm, erroneous beliefs, an ungodly goal or an area taking us away from God’s
will. We may also feel discouraged, angry or upset because we are hungry, sleep
deprived, ignored, away from the comfort of home, lonely, etc. Often a simple
meal, a nap, gaining someone’s attention, meeting a new friend or going to the
comfort of home will dispel these negative emotions.
If not, then get into a quiet place and reconnect with
God’s Spirit, step out of your carnal, fleshly mindset and look for God’s
miracle in the circumstances. When our negative emotions indicate an idol in
our motives, thinking or aspirations, or reveal to us our negative spiritual
attitude and focus, we can seek God’s Spirit to pluck these disturbing menaces
from our soul. Once we are willing to work out our own salvation, God’s Spirit
delivers us from our self (Philippians
2:12-13).
Prior to Salvation, we conformed to the image of this
carnal, depraved world, but now God calls us to allow His Spirit to transform our
mind and behavior and to make us holy, acceptable and perfect in God’s sight. He gives us His
spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know Him more intimately. He
enlightens our eyes to discern between various levels of evil and holiness, and
to flee from evil.
By His death on Calvary’s cross, Jesus Christ set us free
from the Law of Sin and Death by replacing it with the Law of the Spirit of
Life in Christ Jesus (Romans
8:2). He removes all condemnation from us caused by our past sin and
failings (Romans 8:1).
He includes us in His family and makes us co-heirs with Jesus of all that He
owns (Ephesians 2:19;
Romans 8:17; Psalm 50:10). He calls us to imitate Him as His Beloved
children (Ephesians
5:1).
Prayer:
Father God, we die to our self by denying our flesh in
simple areas, such as that second piece of cake. Then we soon develop less of a
desire for carnal appetites and attitudes, and more of a desire to live in
submission to Your will. From this, we reap intimacy with You and have fewer
areas in our life, on which the devil can feed (John 14:30). We start this walk of total
dependence on You by developing quiet times in our daily schedule in order to
sit in Your presence. Remind us to spend our day in praise for who You are and
all that You do for us.
Thought for the Day:
As we humbly submit to God’s control over our life, He
fills us with the power of His Spirit, such as was resident in the Apostles
after Pentecost. - Acts 2:41
