Fill Up My Weakness Oh God

The text for this lesson comes from Colossians 3:1-13 in 'The Message'.

‘Filling’ emphasizes applying the resources of the Spirit of God to our individual emotional weaknesses. We are supposed to call upon the ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ in Galatians and USE them instead of relying on emotions to respond to life! The Bible encourages us as believers to ‘stay in step with the Spirit’(Galatians 5:22-25).

Easier said than done huh? Decisions and the world are being thrown at us at every turn. We are in emotional overload on most days!

What do we do when we can’t gather the ‘WANT TO’ or we ‘DON’T KNOW HOW’ to make that work? We make concrete choices based on the Word of God.

What is the first sentence of Colossians 3:1? “So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it.”

The Bible says in the NIV of this verse that we ‘SET’ our hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

What happens when we ‘set our hearts’ on something? Did you ‘set your heart’ on getting married? Did you ‘set your heart’ on getting that degree and pursuing a career? Did you ‘set your heart’ on buying that house? Getting that job? Doing that thing?

When we are focused and ‘set our hearts’ on believing God and following after Him…GREAT things begin to happen! Our emotional overload suddenly disappears and we find ourselves dealing with life on a different level. Our desires transform, our heart seeks something deeper, our minds begin to wonder about the things of God instead of this world!

God takes that emotional weakness that might still be hanging around because of the stimulus we have been subjected to and He FILLS US UP WITH HIMSELF – when we begin to ‘set our hearts’ on Him!

He takes care of the problem! – We have to LET Him!

The focus in the book of Colossians is that ‘God is our life’ and Paul discusses the transformation that should be taking place inside of the believer.

By Satan’s plan – we have gotten off that track through time and have come to believe that we ARE controlled by emotions instead of letting God control us AND our emotions - being filtered through the Spirit.

It is time to get back on track and BELIEVE that God is in control of our life! It is time to get rid of that emotional overload that we often experience and instead - begin to experience PEACE in the Spirit that lives within us! (Philippians 4:8)

When emotions begin to take the front seat in our thinking and actions we create bigger problems and pitfalls to get out of!

We understand that emotions of fear, anger, worry, bitterness are spiritual attacks from Satan and God DESIRES to work in us to overcome this!

Our formula for casting out fear and other emotions that burden us is:

God’s Power + Your Self Discipline = A POWERFUL Force

God wants us to ‘Stand Firm’ against all strategies of the devil. (Ephesians 6:10-13 NLT) Standing firm means that we are setting our heart on God and believing Him in our mind so that when emotions come in that are trying to turn us toward the world – we have the ‘Self Discipline’ to defeat them!

I LOVE that the Bible works all things together in us and transforms us! It is a beautiful thing to watch unfold in the life of a believer! I hope that you are able to watch it unfold in someone’s life AND your own!

We have learned that we MUST MEDITATE on God and His Word in order to cause this transformation in our mind. It takes work and effort and it DOES PAY OFF! Our minds become strong in God and our hearts are strengthened to wait upon God in all decisions! We seek His counsel first as opposed to Oprah or Dr. Phil.

How are you meditating today? How much of your time is focused on God? In order for Him to be our center – we must focus and meditate on Him!

We are learning to ‘authenticate’ the Spirit that lives within us! We see God at work in us and it proves that He is who He says He is! The more that we do this exercise the more we will see the Truth at work in us and around us and the evidence will be visible for us to be even more encouraged in the Lord!

Will we have weakness? Yes – but when we are seeking God – He will fill that weakness with Himself to overflowing. (John 10:10) His abundance of love is there for the believer and that is supposed to be where we live out our lives – not wading around in emotional darts from Satan. God wants so much more for us!

So – how do we get ‘filled up on God’ and overcome emotions that control us?

©      Pursue God and ACT LIKE WE ARE BELIEVERS inside and outside

©      Get rid of all old habits and emotions that are death; those things are shaped by emotions and possessions

©      Recognize that you ‘know better now’ and begin to live that way

©      Learn God’s Word and speak that Truth into your own heart and the lives of others. Surround yourselves with folks who can help you on your walk and encourage you to be strong!

©      Dress yourself inside and out with the clothing of the Lord; compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength and discipline

©      Forgive as quickly as you have been forgiven in Christ – to not do so will cause emotions to take over

©      Everything you do – do it in love! Look at what God did in love for us – He gave us His Son so that we might have LIFE!

God desires for us to live VICTORIOUS lives in Him! A life lived out like this gives God glory and also is a light for other folks that points to JESUS.

Don’t let emotions rule in your life but depend on God to rule instead. Remember that choices are made every day and unless you are looking to JESUS – there will be fallout from choices not based on Him.

Make those changes today and live a life in FREEDOM that Christ came to give you! (Galatians 5:1)

Be My Center – An Exercise In Emotions

JESUS – Be my center, be my source, be my light - JESUS

Galatians 5:16-24

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

“As life is organized around the Spirit, we will also be positively prompted by these qualities (Gal 5:18). These promptings should be followed. As they are followed they will produce wonderfully positive emotions and inner abilities in the believer’s life, as indicated by the accompanying vocabulary connected with the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control …” (Gal 5:22–23).

Our emotions carry great weight in our bodies and God desires to control them by learning and living out His Word! When He is our ‘center’ every emotion is filtered through Him.

As we discussed last week; emotions originate in the brain. It is interesting that the ‘command center’ for emotions is in the ‘center’ of the brain and God desires to be the ‘center’ of us!

If we are daily living out His Word then He IS the center and we are covered from the INSIDE OUT! We are not waiting around to react to any emotion that is sent to our brain for response – instead we are prepared and ready by receiving the Spirit and obeying Him! We are filling ourselves with the positive responses that are found when we are obedient to Christ!

Emotions start in the brain and are felt by the entire body. They play out across your face as your body reacts to the emotion. Examples are:

Fear  Joy  Love  Hate  Anger  Worry

Emotions authenticate (prove to be genuine) our understanding of the Truth and how we respond to that shows us how much of the Holy Spirit we are utilizing! Every believer has the same ability…we have to USE the gift we are given by God!

To ‘authenticate’ the Truth means – we might have something happen to us and we react the right way or think the right thought and we KNOW that the Holy Spirit is with us. We are listening to that still small voice within and our emotions are under Holy Spirit control!

God desires to be our CENTER. This means that every response that is perceived by our eyes, our ears, our body would be filtered through the Holy Spirit.

According to Galatians 5:22-23 the Spirit guides us from within by love, joy, peace, etc.

The flesh guides us from outside by issues in the world according to Galatians 5:19-21.

The Spirit is peace and assurance and when those qualities are guided by Him from the inside out – we wait for the guidance out of the fruit of the Spirit and find we can handle whatever the issue is.

Four ways to replace fleshly emotions with the Fruit of the Spirit:

©      Recognize that God desires to manage us through the Holy Spirit! (Galatians 5:16-24)

©      Recognize that the Holy Spirit desires to control our emotions – from within – teaching from inside out how to control our emotions (Romans 8:1-6)

©      No matter what the stimulus is – we must in response set our mind on God. (Colossians 3:1-13)

©      Recognize that the Holy Spirit desires to control us for our own good. (Philippians 4:8-9) so that we can walk and think in peace.

These four principles are only effective if we are willing - giving over to a LIVE relationship with Jesus and we are asking Him to fill us with the Fruit of the Spirit. It is a choice in life and we make it every day.

Emotions HAVE to be dealt with. They are a part of us that God created in each person. Bringing our emotions into submission to God is rewarding – not only to us but to our CREATOR who sees His work living out what JESUS died for! It brings Him glory.

Spend time this week working through these exercises and recognizing what stimulus brings out which emotion. Are they Fruit of the Spirit or workings in the flesh?

Examine yourself and discover if JESUS is YOUR CENTER!

Problems or Promises - Which Controls Us?

“1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

All of us have been in the grip of fear at one time or another in our life. Did the fear win or was it overpowered by God in your life?

Fear of the unknown can take control of our emotions if we let it. God instructs us to pay attention to His teaching and learn to overcome fear with the knowledge and love of God.

Some things that cause us to have the emotion of fear are:

• The unknown
• Lack of money
• People talking about us
• Circumstances beyond our control
• What if?

The list of fears is exhaustive because man can come up with fear after fear that controls our mind.

2 Timothy 1:7 says “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.”

The tools that the Word of God provide for us are outlined in this verse: ‘a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.’ When we are filling our mind with these things instead of fear – we overcome fear!

Here is a formula that will help us cast fear out of our minds for good!

God's Power + Your Self-Discipline = A Powerful Force

Fear is a spiritual attack from your enemy, the devil. The ‘Powerful Force’ that we become is because God’s Power is living inside and defeating the spiritual attack of fear. However, we have to recognize and put into action the formula for it to work.  

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NLT) says: “Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.

We must be strong in God’s Mighty Power and believe that we can defeat this battle that takes place in our minds. Notice this passage says we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but rather those in the unseen world.

God has given us the weapons that we need to fight back, but if we don't know what they are, or how to use them, it is easy to become battle weary, and feel like giving up. This is why so many, many Christians give up the fight and give over to living in fear.

God says that He hasn't given us fear, but self discipline.

How do we begin ‘self disciplining’ our emotions and thoughts?

We fill our mind with the promises of God.  One of the best ways to safeguard our mind against the emotional attacks of the enemy is by meditating on God's Word on a regular basis.  And, doing that takes self-discipline!

EVERYONE MEDITATES.  The true meaning of meditation is to think and rethink a thought in our mind.

We spend our time ‘meditating’ on the FEAR INSTEAD OF THE SELF DISCIPLINE! We do not discipline our minds as God has instructed us to so that we can get rid of the stronghold of fear.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

 
The more that we discipline ourselves to meditate (take captive our thoughts) on God's Word, the easier it will become to reject thoughts that don't line up with it.  And, that's what fears are - Thoughts that do not line up with God's promises to us!

Fear says God will not help you this time.
Fear says your children won't come back to the Lord.
Fear says that your finances will never improve.
Fear says that your marriage is ruined.

Fear says you will never find the right person to share life with.
Fear says the opposite of what God says.
Here is the key to overcoming fear in our minds!

Back to our beginning verse from 1 John! Perfect love drives out fear.  But where do we find perfect love?  Our parents?  A spouse? Our circumstances?

If you look for perfect love in these places, you will only be disappointed.
The only place where you can experience perfect love is in an intimate relationship with your Heavenly Father.  

As you develop that intimate relationship with Him, His perfect love will become more and more real to you, and your fears will become more unrealistic.

In order to keep from being ‘tormented by fear’ we MUST be full of God! This only comes through a close relationship with God on many levels.  

That is something that should really make us all stop and think.  When a fear creeps up inside of you, it should be a red flag that you need to continue deepening your relationship with God.

So, how do we begin controlling emotions of fear?   Your faith in the unyielding, perfect love of your Heavenly Father is what removes fear from your mind, regardless of your circumstances.

God has promised in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God alone has the ability to know our future and He PROMISES us that He will see it through! Knowing that small piece of truth from His Word can help us overcome fear in a big way.

That does not mean that the spirit of fear will never try to attack us.  But, it does means that our shield of faith can become strong enough to resist it through growing and believing God in relationship and in our life.

Next time we feel ourselves starting to fear, follow these simple steps for controlling emotions of fear:

• Recognize the fearful thought as a threat.
• Think of God's promise for that situation (if you don’t know what it is; look it up in the Bible)
• Pray and tell God your concern.
• Praise God for His promise to provide your needs.
• Refuse to think about it. If it comes to your mind again, confess that you have given it over to your Heavenly Father in prayer.   Then begin praising God that He heard your prayers. (James 5:16).   

When fear tries to take over in your mind go through these steps again and again. God WILL release you from the fear by believing His Promises!

Refocus Our Focus

In today’s world – in the culture we live in – we often lose focus of what a Holy God can do in our lives! We trade that for what we CAN see, feel taste and hear instead. Many times we are focused on the things we see daily instead of focusing on the Promises of God.

Today’s culture says:

You are in need of change

You need psychic help to see the future

You may need this drug to sleep

You may need this drug to wake up

You need this to give you energy

You need this to keep up with technology

We are being driven by what can fix us temporarily instead of looking to the Lord for a permanent fix for our problems and circumstances.

God says the following: I John 2:6 “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” This requires us to ‘Refocus our focus’ in this life…focusing on Jesus and walking like He walked - letting the chains of this life fall away.

Jesus Christ was Counter-Cultural! He was focused! He did the opposite of what people did…he walked where others would not normally walk. He believed in who He was! He knew the Word and lived by it! – He quoted it all the time…He focused on His mission not the daily circumstances and problems.

God WANTS to shine in us just like He did in Jesus! We have the same Spirit living in us that Jesus did!

Our focus needs to be brought back to what God can do through us instead of what we can do on our own…

The Bible says in Ephesians 3:19-20 that God’s love for us is immeasurable! That with His power we are unstoppable…why aren’t we believing that? We are not focused…

The Word of God holds the key for the believer!

Romans 8:35, 37-39 says: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

If ever there was a time in all of creation to be who Christ has called us to be…it is now!

God WANTS us to shine for Him!

He WANTS to grow our faith!

He WANTS to show us victory!

You may say – how can I do that – how can I refocus my focus on what God wants in my life?

Here is a three part formula found in the Word of God:

John 1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

©   Receive – Receive into your heart the promise of God and let it change you…obviously the culture is not going to change us!

©   Believe – Believe that God CAN and WILL do a work in you! Begin to read the Instruction Manual and believe what it says about you!

©   Become – Become who God says you are in this life! He tells us we are MORE THAN CONQUERORS – overcomers in this life! It is a work in progress and it takes time, effort and lots of Christ’s love to do it!

Walk like Jesus walked – not like man walks…Jesus will begin to use you in ways that you CANNOT MEASURE! Staying focused on Jesus can heal us, motivate us, cause us to conquer mountains in our life and bring us peace.

God will take the worst thing in you and make it the best thing in you – if you are willing to let go of what the world tries to label you as and begin to believe the Holy Promise of God - to focus on Him.

Refocus your focus…don’t wait! Take this formula and apply it to your life! Receive + Believe = Become…