Important Guidelines for Life Pt. 5a

God means what He says and says what He means! My hermeneutics are “literal”, however, that being said…study the scriptures yourself and make up your own mind! Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit…

Mind Your Emotions:

Every emotion that you are feeling whether it’s sorrow, joy, fear, etc should be brought to Heavenly Father in prayer.

Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

It’s been determined that there’s an almost unknown number of distinct human emotions, but in this blog, I’m only going to talk about the most common emotions that we experience almost on a daily basis: sadness, joy, anticipation, trust, disgust, surprise, anger & fear.

Scriptures from the KJV – King James Version of the Bible.

SADNESS: Equated with unhappiness, loneliness, depression and melancholy…etc.

From time to time, we all experience moments or even long periods of sadness, sometimes these times will evoke a gauntlet of feelings…the ones mentioned in the heading are only a few. Because we are human and we live in this sinful world, these feelings are normal and they can and will occur at one time or another during our lives. Some people might tell you that you need to see a counselor or get psychiatric help. But I’m here to tell you that God – Our Heavenly Father can handle it if we’re willing to humble ourselves and give it to him!

1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: ⁷ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

God keeps His promises! When we keep our eyes on Jesus and our faith and trust in Our Heavenly Father, we have a future that is beyond anything that we are able to comprehend!

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. ⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Sadness has been equated to feelings of darkness, but keep this Scripture in your heart:

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

JOY: Equated with happiness, contentment, pleasure and elation….etc

Once again, the feelings mentioned in the heading are only a small list. Joy is the emotion that we all look forward to! And Joy is the emotion that we are constantly seeking! Of course we want to feel this emotion, it’s the polar opposite of sadness! However, there are many ways to feed this emotion in the world that aren’t truly satisfactory and leave us seeking more ways to experience this feeling of elation.

It’s also true that “Joy” is one of the fruits of the spirit! So when we experience this feeling, we must pay attention to what has actually triggered it. If it’s from the Spirit of God our joy will last forever. If it’s because of something worldly, for example, there’s a new car in the driveway making you happy, it will be fleeting…you will soon need something else to replace and renew this feeling…which of course will lead you to the polar opposite when you feel like you need to feed your joy with something else from the world. Please don’t get me wrong…it’s okay to be happy with a new car or a new house, just don’t count it as your true joy in this life…cars get dented and houses need repairs. The JOY we receive from a relationship with Heavenly Father will last eternally!

 John 16:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

John 16:24 amongst many other verses are often used by prosperity preachers to convince us that things and stuff and money will bring us joy. I do believe that it’s true that God wants us to grow and do well in this life, but He also tells us in a parable:

Matthew 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Jesus – Yeshua has a lot to say about riches…

Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Mammon, biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debasing influence of material wealth. The term was used by Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount and also appears in The Gospel According to Luke. Medieval writers commonly interpreted it as an evil demon or god.

So when we think of growing, we need to think about growing in the faith, not necessarily growing our bank accounts. When it comes to doing well, I personally believe that it means that we will have a roof over our heads, warmth, food and clothing to cover our bodies and prayerfully enough left over to help provide these essentials for others. The fact is that the majority of those of us who live in the USA, have very few needs, but VERY MANY WANTS.

ANTICIPATION: Looking forward to, Hope, Confidence and Promise…etc.

When I think of anticipation, I immediately think of the hope that we have in Jesus Messiah – Yeshua Ha Mashiach and the promises of God!

God’s promises are to ALL of us! Jesus – Yeshua died on the cross for ALL sinners! But mankind must accept Jesus as their Savior and the Son of God as well as repent from their sins to reap these promises. God’s promises are laid down on a foundation of unshakable HOPE!!! Without hope we have nothing because Jesus is our only HOPE.

1 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

Titus 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Romans 12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

We must never lose HOPE! When we do, we are losing our faith in Jesus as well as our trust in Heavenly Father! However, keep in your mind, that not everything you hope for is the will of God and that sometimes our anticipation takes us away from our one and only true HOPE which is found in Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.

1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. ⁴ To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

Our faith and trust in Jesus gives us eternal life and that is where our HOPE lies…not in the things of this world. God keeps his promises and through Jesus – Yeshua he’s keeping his promise of HOPE!

TRUST: Faith, Belief, Protection and to Rely Upon…etc.

It’s not easy for humans to truly put their trust in anyone…generally speaking man has a tendency to only trust himself. My question: how does that usually work out?

Romans 12:2 ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Sometimes we have to be knocked down to our knees over and over again before we recognize that we can only trust in God and the plans He has for us!

Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Heavenly Father watches out for us all the time! To put it simply, if we allow HIM , HE has our backs! He will never forsake those who LOVE HIM, BELIEVE IN HIM and TRUST HIM!

John 14:1  Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Psalm 56:3-4 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. ⁴ In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

The take away from these Scriptures is that TRUST is demanded of us as followers of Jesus and believers in God.

TO BE CONTINUED: Important Guidelines for Life Pt 5b

DISGUST:

SURPRISE:

ANGER:

FEAR: