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I want to talk about living the Spirit filled life. Specifically what emotional responsibility has to do with living a successful and powerful spirit filled life. The Lord has drawn my attention to this subject recently.
Through some classes at work, a recent interview I watched on television, and prayer, I believe The Lord has confirmed to me the importance of His people learning about the connection between being fully aware and responsible for our own feelings and emotions, and The Spirit Filled Life. He will be able to inhabit His body and demonstrate His manifold wisdom, through His Body, to all the seen and unseen world, when we are able to respond intelligently to His Presence.
So, what does it mean to be emotionally intelligent and emotionally responsible? There are many many articles, studies and books written on the subject. If you do a Google search on emotional intelligence or emotional responsibility you will find a wide variety of slide shows, books, articles and many psychological and scientific studies on the matter. All of them are very good, very informative and all of them offer a deeper understanding of what Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Responsibility is.
But for the purposes of this article I want to simplify this subject. Because it all boils down to one simple but profound truth. Your feelings are not your emotions. Your feelings do not automatically dictate what your response should be. Your emotional response, to any feelings that you may have, is a choice that you make, and that you alone are responsible for. Realizing and securing this as truth in your thought processes can set you free from so many things that cause you to get off course in life.
I want to keep the focus of this article on what emotional responsibility and emotional intelligence has to do with the Spirit filled life. However, it is important to note, that the idea of raising emotionally responsible and emotionally intelligent children is being recognized by secular psychologist as something that will be critical in order to prepare this next generation for the world to come. The lack of teaching on emotional intelligence and emotional responsibility, and the fact that many parents are ignorant themselves about their emotions, is being recognized more and more as a major hindrance to raising children into successful well equipped adults.
Emotional Responsibility starts with us being aware of our own feelings, our own hearts, our own passions, weaknesses and strengths. We must first be 100% honest and open with ourselves and God. We must realize that feelings, whether positive or negative , are not emotions.
So, whether you are filled, or temporarily overcome, with positive or negative feelings, you alone are responsible for how you translate or express those feelings through your God given emotions.
I want to state that again, whether you are filled, or temporarily overcome, with positive or negative feelings, you alone are responsible for how you translate or express those feelings through your God given emotions. This would be good to put on your desk, on your refrigerator, at the door of your house, anywhere you can see it all the time.
We are all familiar with with the scripture that states we are not moved by what we feel or see. We apply it to teachings on faith and living a faith filled life, and it is indeed a good scripture to stand on. Most of the time we apply it to standing against negative circumstances or feeling. However, it is just as important, and as deceit grows in The Church and world, it will be critical, that we understand, that we are not to be moved by positive feelings, or positive circumstances either.
We are told in scripture that the enemy comes as an angel of light. The Spirit Of Anti-Christ is not only revealing himself in the wickedness of man’s heart and systems, he is masquerading as a Christ-less answer to peace, tolerance, cohabitation and world unity. The Oprah’s and the Depak Chopra's of the world offer light, without The Creator Of Light, That is the essence of Anti-Christ.
The Spirit will always align with scripture and exalt Jesus As LORD. Any light that denies either, is Darkness, no matter how good it makes you feel or how positive it may seem. Yet many Christians and even leaders embrace them and their teachings as good and even equal to scriptural wisdom, their god is their belly(feelings) so they deny The Scripture.
His children right now, much like the children of the world are not being raised with the knowledge they need to filter feelings and circumstances solely through scripture and The Holy Spirit. They are being tossed about by every wind of doctrine, whether doctrine with minor errors or doctrines of darkness disguised as light.
Like some secular psychologist warn about natural children, God’s children are not being prepared for the spiritual realities to come. Worse yet, they are not prepared to handle His Glory and Power in a way that brings Him honor and demonstrates His Manifold Wisdom to All Creation! We have been taught for to long a self help, prosperity, best life now, Oprah type Christianity.
But! The Lord has a plan. He has had a plan all along. He has had a system all along. He has clearly laid it out with a specificity that only those attached to the wisdom of The World and The deceptions Of Anti-Christ would miss.
Ephesians 4:11-16 New Living Translation (NLT)
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
The scripture is clear. It takes the entirety of Gods Ordained Ministers to bring about a mature people, well prepared for all the lies, tricks and disguises of the enemy and wicked man. We must rebuild a Church that the gates of Hell crumble before. You are The Church, I am The Church, We are The Church. It will be us, or no one, that demonstrates Gods Manifold Wisdom.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
The scripture is clear. It takes the entirety of Gods Ordained Ministers to bring about a mature people, well prepared for all the lies, tricks and disguises of the enemy and wicked man. We must rebuild a Church that the gates of Hell crumble before. You are The Church, I am The Church, We are The Church. It will be us, or no one, that demonstrates Gods Manifold Wisdom.
It will take us being mature, emotionally responsible and intelligent to be able to handle His Glory and Wisdom without derailing it with wild emotional outburst and strange physical manifestations because we don’t realize we must choose what we do with what we feel, even what we feel while In The Spirit.
In the past God had allowed us, to experience His Presence in limited ways, and one thing that has marked these “revivals” is an increasing amount of fleshy outburst and strange and even ungodly behavior, being attributed to The Holy Spirit. Two particular “ministers” would act like they were smoking joints or taking tokes off the Holy Spirit. All under the eyes and approval of the group of “leaders” that were supposed to be raising mature Christians.
This was obviously an extreme example of a lack of Emotional Intelligence when it comes to A Spirit Filled Life and The Lords Plan for His Anointing and it’s purpose for His People. But, it is an excellent example of how not understanding these things has hindered The Church, and stunted the growth of His Children.
We can learn how to intelligently respond to The Lords Presence. We can learn how to behave, more than that, move ,work with and cooperate with The Lord to demonstrate His Love, Power and Manifold Wisdom to a hurting and confused world. The Holy Spirit doesn’t make anyone behave or react in a way contrary to Wisdom and Godly Intelligence. Man chooses to respond to feelings, God wants His Children Emotionally Intelligent and Responsible enough to wield His Gifts,Power and Wisdom to destroy the Gates of Hell
What say you? Are you ready to look back only to The Design Jesus set forth for His Church? The example He set forth for us to follow? Are we ready to learn from our past childish handling of The Lords Power and our infant like responses to His Presence?
We will miss it, and get corrected, but that is okay. Let me end with some examples of How Jesus handled wrong emotional responses by His Leaders and people. He taught, rebuked and corrected, to bring them to maturity.
Luke 10:17-20 New Living Translation (NLT)
17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”
18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”
Luke 9:52-57 New King James Version (NKJV)
52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them,just as Elijah did?”
55 But He turned and rebuked them,and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.
Matthew 16:13-27 New Living Translation (NLT)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.
22 But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?27 For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.
