Friday, July 5, 2013

The thought of Jesus.

This post is going to have two points.  When I took public speaking, they told me over and over have ONE point and ONE point only or you will fail to make either.  In ministry school when they teach how to write sermons they also stress the need for one focused point that every sentence used points at.  I was even told that any sentence that does not point towards the focus of the message is a waste of time and should be cut out of the message.  I'm breaking those rules because this is a blog and it's my blog and I might one day make a post with fifty points.


  The main point is about thinking of Jesus.   I always have the most stressful jobs.  I don't know why, but I do.   I always end up in a fast paced job that requires a lot of energy and emotions being poured out.  Yet at these jobs, just the thought of Jesus brings a wave of refreshment.  From the time when I was 16 at Burger King, I learned the key to a happy work day was Jesus.  I was on break today, and just looked out the window and went to my happy place with Jesus.  It was nice.   I had never really realized the fullness of just thinking about Jesus and what it does to you.

 We all have people in our lives that we think of and when we think of them, we allow certain emotions to be stirred up. Sometimes positive and sometimes negative. We think of what the person has done to us and what they are doing in life and we allow our emotions to be stirred up.  But that's the main thing.  We ALLOW our emotions to be stirred up.  It's a choice.  No one has the power to affect our emotions.  We say that someone made us angry, but really someone does not have power over our emotions.  We do. We allow ourselves to become angry or happy or sad or glad.  It's our choice.  Someone can not force depression on us. They can not force guilt.  They can not even force happiness. I know some people who would not be happy even if I bought them a brand new house.  They are just not happy being happy.  I could never force them to be happy.

  We talk about people who make us feel guilty or sad, but in truth we allow that to happen and we can stop it.  Sometimes that does mean cutting people off.  I've had to do it. Not just for bad emotions, but sometimes we need to walk away from people because they become our source of happiness and by allowing that to happen we put them in a position of an idol.  Sometimes God want's to use people to make us happy, but He wants us to know that He is the source of that happiness, even if He is using someone else to bring it to us.  So that's point number two.  Other people can't control our emotions.  Even in extreme cases where rape and murder are involved, I've seen people choose not to allow the attackers to have the power over them to live in fear or anger.

   The first point was that Jesus does have the power to change our emotions.  Immediately.  Just by thinking of Him, I can not help but be happy and overtaken by love sickness. My love for Him gets stirred up beyond my control or what I could conjure up alone.  It's all Him awakening a love from inside of me.  So the secret to stress relief to to think of Jesus. And would you know the Bible even says so!!!  Col 3:2 talking about putting your mind on things above and not on things of this world.  The world is a trap.   My pastor, Rick Joyner, had a message and part of that message he quoted a study on athletes.  The study was written about how athletes get in "the zone".   They had a lot of information about the body and the chemicals that was really intriguing, but what was most interesting was how athletes come out of it.  They can come out of "the zone" in one moment if fear or anger hits them.   The study said that one moment of fear or anger takes up the same amount of energy as 8 hours of labor extensive work.  I know this to be true in my life.   Just by thinking of things of this world, I allow myself to get fearful and worn out and even sick.

  The secret to good health and energy?   PUT YOUR MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE.  Stress has to leave in the presence of the provider.  Fear must leave from the presence of the protector.  And Anger must leave the presence of Love.

1 comment:

  1. Hey baby. I do so miss you. Love you so much! Wish we could have spent time over the 4th together. Stay safe my love

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