The Virtue of Contentment : WK 1/ Day 3

As women, we tend to be a bit more emotional than our counter parts.

My husband and I happen to be on EXTREME ends of the emotional chart.

This created BIG stumbling blocks in our marriage…especially for me…having believed that if someone “hurts your feelings” they did it on purpose because they don’t love you.

This of course, is a lie that I believed.

Thank you Lord, that you have freed me from that chains of that untruth, but I must continue to keep that lie in check.

We tend to look back towards what we most know.  Our track record with the Lord is not as long as our track record with the past…more on that later in the study!

Allowing our emotions to guide our decisions will lead us down the path of destruction.  They will takes us to a place where we experience a roller coaster ride daily…

if we allow it.

In life, we WILL have “ups and downs,” / “highs and lows”  (Phil 4:12-13) and if we allow that roller coaster of emotions ( & circumstances) to take us on a ride, we will experience mood swings and lack of peace (contentment) on a regular basis.  This will not only affect us personally, but it will impact all of our relationships! (even with the Lord!)

We have the FREEDOM to choose to be led by our “feelings/emotion” or the FREEDOM to choose to be led by WISDOM.

This is where that unpopular word SELF-CONTROL comes in.

Self control leads to wisdom.  Lack of self control leads to chaos (and a roller coaster)…

can I get an AMEN?

Self-control is a freedom, not a bondage. You are FREE to use wisdom, FREE to obey God, and FREE to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. YOU ARE FREE NOT TO BE PUSHED AROUND BY YOUR FEELINGS.

You don’t have to do what you feel like doing. You’re free to do what you know is wise.

“Right Thinking” and “Righteous Emotion” (which comes from the Lord) will lead to fruit…to self-control…to freedom and unity…to peace.

“Wrong thinking” and “Unrighteous Emotion” will  lead to a lack of fruit…to living “OUT OF CONTROL”…to bondage…to sin and separation.

We can try to reason with our human mind OR we can “think with a mind like Christ!”

 (1 Cor 2)

So…how do we get there to that place of self control and freedom from the chaos that our emotions can bring us?

WE MUST TAKE ACTION AGAINST THEM!

Here’s a little something I learned from a good friend…

REMEMBER THE 3 P’S.

PAUSE

PRAY

PROCEED

This is something that MUST be practiced!  It does NOT come naturally! We are stubborn and prideful.  We want to do things our own way…but, if you are like me, this hasn’t worked so well!

Soooooo,

Before you react to something that was said to you 

(pause, pray, and then proceed)

Before you react to something that was done to you

(pause, pray and then proceed)

Before you decide your schedule for the day…

(pause, pray and then proceed)

Before you go shopping…(yes, shopping…I know…this is a hard one)

(pause, pray and then proceed)

Before you make decisions that will affect your family…

(pause, pray and then proceed)

MAKE YOUR OWN LIST HERE!

“Nobody can always have devout feelings: and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about. Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will. If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shall love the Lord thy God.’ He will give us feelings of love if He pleases. We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right.” Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

 

 

As you continue to work through THE VIRTUE OF CONTENTMENT WORKBOOK this week,  prayerfully consider how  “wrong emotions” (emotions that are NOT rooted in truth and have NOT been covered with WISDOM from the Holy Spirit) have led you to believe lies…lies about yourself, others and even the Lord.

Share with and encourage one another on our FB page!

Blessings,