Soul Integrity

Lysa has decided there are four categories of unglued reactions. You can read my last post here

1. Exploders who shame themselves
2. Exploders who blame others
3. Stuffers who build barriers
4. Stuffers who collect retaliation rocks

no matter how “kind” of a person we are, we will still have these unglued moments.

Soul integrity is  honesty that’s godly. It brings the passion of the exploder and the peacemaking of the stuffer under the authority of Jesus.

A Balance… in everything balance is key and our emotions is no different. When we explode we embrace the honesty by how we are truly feeling, but miss the godly peacemaking. We can be honest with how we feel and still exaggerate or misinterpret what is factually true.  This may just be emotional spewing.  That is why we need godly honesty; honesty reined in by the Holy Spirit.

Just as we shouldn’t always be blatant about our feelings, we should not be fake.When we stuff and pretend everything is ok we are not being honest. We may be keeping the peace but we are missing the honesty factor. We will end up harboring those feelings and building up barriers, and bitterness. Over time the eruption may be extreme!

Truth and godliness always walk hand in hand.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. – James 3:7-8

Self effort alone cannot tame the tongues and our raw emotions that run wild.  Here’s what James says about the exploders.

7 People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, 8 but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. 9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. 10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! 11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring. (NLT)

Then James also lets us know how to recover when we do fail, because honestly we all do.

3 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.

When we are humble, we realize our honesty can’t be one-sided. We try to see other people’s perspective.  We stop and think about what we say before we just spout it off.  Here is some wisdom for the stuffer.

14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.

The harboring James is talking about is rooted in envy and selfish ambition. Bitter and selfish. Protecting ourselves from the conflicts we don’t want to deal with.  That self protection quickly turns into selfishness.

17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere.

Sincere! Being a true peacemaking reaps a harvest of great qualities in our lives right things, godly things, healthy things.

18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.

Go to the Lord and ask Him where in the four you are. You may be in all of them. Ask Him to show you what He wants you to learn.

How to live a Holy Life.

Chapter 1 : One Flesh, are you sure?

Chapter 2: But Won’t That Hurt?

Chapter 3: Before Starting Over, Try This.

Chapter 4: A Man Shouldn’t Be Alone

Chapter 5: Count to Ten Before You Speak

Chapter 6: Maybe Some of It Was My Fault

Making Marriage Work by Joyce Meyer

Maybe Some of It Was My Fault Part 2

Holy life begins with getting rid of selfishness in your life. The paradox of  happiness is that it comes when you forget about yourself and live to help somebody else. If we don’t have righteousness, peace, and joy, then we have missed the kingdom.  Prosperity, healing, success, and promotions on our jobs are all kingdom benefits that God wants us to have. He shows us in the Bible how to get them.  (Romans 14:17) (Matthew 6:33)

So our priorities need to stay in line with God’s Word. We need to go to God not for what He can do for us, but for Who He is and because we need Him to survive every day. The kingdom of God is the realm within us. It is learning a response to daily life that differs from how  the world responds, and we need to pay more attention to this inner life we have available to us through Christ. We get too concerned with what everybody else things of us, but we need to be more concerned with what kind of thoughts we have.

If you are unhappy, examine yourself and ask,

• What’s going on in me that is not pleasing to God?
• What attitudes do I have that stink in the nostrils of God?
• Am I jealous, bitter, or resentful?
• HOw many people am I offended with?
• How many people do I  have unforgiveness against?
• How many people do I hate?
• How many people am I jealous of?

As I typed those questions I felt the guilt come upon me. If your heart is not full of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy ghost; happiness wont be found anywhere, or through anyone. It’s not your circumstances that make you unhappy; it’s not having things right on the inside of your heart. Jesus says we can have peace in the midst of the storm. (Matthew 8:26). When Peter said we can have joy unspeakable and full of glory (1 Peter 1:8) he was in the midst of persecution from Nero’s reign in Rome. Paul repeatedly spoke of his joy saying in all his troubles his joy knew no bounds. (2 Corinthians 7:4)

Dear God, I did not become a Christian so I could trade in my worldly misery for a Christian misery. Something is wrong. – Jerry Savelle.

The only way we will see changes is to learn what God’s Word says and, whether you feel like it or not, start doing what it says consistently day, after day. Improvements to your present conditions come from getting alone with God, confronting the devil yourself, and gaining victories that no devil in hell can take away from you. You must know who you are in Christ and seek peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

When you can’t deliver yourself, and you can’t encourage yourself, you can still go encourage someone else. Sometimes when you can’t believe God for the mess you are in, you can encourage someone else to believe God. And as you share with them, your encourage yourself to believe God as well. Always remember that what you make happen for someone else, God will make happen for you.

You can have all kind of methods to make things happen but without the power flowing through that method it can become empty, dead works that wear you out and get your burned out with Christianity. Jesus’s didn’t come to teach us about rules, regulations, and method. He came to teach us how to have a personal relationship with the Almighty God and then with others.

How To Be Rid Of Strife

James 4 talks about strife.  What leads to strife? Jealousy and unfulfilled desires lead to strife. Strife gets started because of all the stuff we want that we don’t know how to get. So why don’t we get the things we want? First of all , we are trying to do it ourselves instead of asking God and the result is strife in our life. Secondly, we do ask God for it, but our motive is wrong. he can’t reward our wrong motives. There is a purification process that has to go on in our life. We just have to ask God, and He will give it to us in His way and in His time. I think that is what the problem is. We want it NOW and if we don’t get it soon, we probably wont get it mentality.

Try praying this:

God, help me to stay in Your will. I don’t want anything that You don’t want me to have. if it’s not You, God, slam the door in my face. 

We do not need to be afraid to walk in the light of God’s truth. Light exposes every bug and every rat in the room, and when you turn the light on, they all start running for some corner to hide in. We don’t know what is in us until we are tested. We don’t know what kind of endurance, steadfastness, or faithfulness we have until its been tried. We don’t know anything about being faithful to our spouse until that spouse is failing to do a few things we want them to do. 

Next Chapter:  Chapter 7