Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]
This is what we all want, peace, emotional stability~freedom from emotional agitation.
The scriptures are filled with precepts to insure we find this however there are times when we need to be able to grab a quick first aid kit before moving on to a full recovery program.
The last few weeks the Holy Spirit has been revealing a few steps to me as I have counseled myself ( oh yes many times) and had the privilege of speaking into the lives of others I care about. Emotional agitation may have many causes that require healing; rejection, guilt, trauma, loss, a sense of a lack of control, failure and simply everyday hurts.
Lets take a quick look at everyday hurts:
First pay attention when you feel emotional pain, recognize it when it happens and work to treat it before it engulfs you.
Sometimes you might feel hurt over something someone else says about you or blames you for something regardless of the truth behind it. We may simply be bumping into someone else’s bad day or mood and we find the atmosphere charged with negativity. I find the quickest remedy to this dilemma is to quickly take a look at your emotional reaction. Then take control over it. When I was doing executive coaching I learned a simple technique centered around the rather silly picture of burned chicken. If you were grilling chicken in your backyard over the perfect heat would you throw your chicken over the fence to your neighbor’s grill when you saw his was near a 3 alarm fire? Of course not. But that is exactly what we do when we give allow our emotions to be sucked into someone else’s fire storm. Just recognizing how we are relinquishing control and taking it back turns down the heat and brings us back to a place of peace.
Let me give you an example. One lovely summer day Dave asked if I wanted to go fishing. I quickly agreed because that really meant a few hours on our glorious lake reading a book while he fished….About an hour into our little foray Dave yelled, “get the net”! So I did and as I brought it close bumped the fish…yep, off the hook it went! I did not have a happy husband.The next hour was awful. Dave was unhappy and so was I! Until I realized that that fish was probably not really hooked and it simply was not my fault . I started laughing and Dave asked what was so funny? I told him I had thrown him my chicken to burn. Well he knows that analogy and quickly agreed that the silly fish was not well hooked. No harm no foul, we both laughed and that was that. The important thing to see is there could have been a great deal of harm done if I had continued to take on false guilt and perpetuated a negative emotional response.“(Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed) is what the amplified states. We really have to see that we either allow others to influence our emotional well being or we don’t. We have a choice, to be changed by another’s emotion or to be the atmosphere changer.
“do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]”
When I allow fear and intimidation to come in I am actually giving it permission to take over my emotional well being.
Fear and intimidation has been something I have known too well throughout the years. Fear of failure, intimidated by others much more qualified than I, fear of poverty, fear of future uncertainty. Everyone has their own list but it has the same results regardless of the source, fear paralyzes and robs us of our peace.
The word of God states that perfect love casts out all fear. Fear is normally a response to an inner lie: I am not good enough, I can’t, God might not show up….So, when you experience fear take a moment and ask yourself, is this based on truth ( the house really is on fire) or a lie? For the most part it will be a lie. It could be an old lie we have believed that was told to us about ourselves or a new one Satan whispers in our ear. Regardless lies have to be identified as such and then replaced quickly before they take hold of our emotions and rob us of our peace.
Most fear does not take into account the basics. Who we are in Christ, adopted and loved lavishly. Fear does not take into account that when God tells us to do something He will supply the courage and the victory, it does not take into account the promises of God for taking care of all of our needs. It does not take into account that God is Good, all the time.
So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,
We will loose our peace, we are all human, the issue is how often and for how long. When we find ourselves experiencing emotional pain it is important to recognize it and know its cause, then Hebrews tells us to do something. Fear, anger and depression debilitates us. Our knees go weak and we loose our strength. So how do we brace ourselves and reinvigorate our inner selves setting us on firm ground once again.
I want to suggest a few ways:
Praise and worship.
Isaiah 61:3 (AMPC)
3 To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion—to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit—that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
This is amazing! Expressing praise creates this amazing exchange. As our eyes focus on Him and His goodness and we express it we experience a lifting of the burden and we are supernaturally strengthened. I believe this happens in part because praise moves us into a spirit to spirit encounter. Our spirit moves past our emotions and thoughts and communes with the spirit of the living God. His spirit refreshes and renews us simply though praise and worship.
Pray:
Philippians 4:6-7 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)
6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ([a]definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.
7 And God’s peace [shall be yours, that [b]tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall [c]garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Praying specifics to a God who hears us, thanking Him for the answers before they arrive guarantees peace!
Being thankful and cultivating an attitude of gratitude is not hard but does take intentionality and diligence. Make a list when you feel down of all your blessings, it does wonders.
Renew your mind:
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind.
Our emotional transformation, or freedom, actually comes from renewing our minds.
When negative thoughts are taking over, disrupt them with positive truth.
When you replay distressing events in your mind without seeking new insight or trying to solve a problem with God’s answers, you’re just brooding, and that, especially when it becomes habitual, can lead to deeper psychological pain and a gaping entry for the enemy to come in and rob, steal and destroy.
There is a scriptural truth to counter every lie. Find the ones you need today and apply them. The word of God is active and sharp. It roots out destructive thinking and fills us with faith to face all our giants.
TAKE AWAYS:
Check your chicken!
Your first aid kit holds the 3 Ps: Praise, Prayer, Promises!
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