DJGF EMOTIONS!

The fourth century theologian Augustine: insights on fear. Augustine teaches that humans are created to love and designed to love. He teaches they are four principal emotions that shape us as we pursue love. They are DESIRE, JOY, GRIEF, and most of all FEAR! John Charles Selner, who studied Augustine and wrote many books on this subject, tells it like this, “Desire attracts us to what we love. Joy accompanies the experience of love. Grief is what we feel when we lose love. Fear is the emotion we experience when we believe we may lose love.” This is so true; I have felt this way many times in my life and as a matter of fact this week. You see pursuing love is an emotional battle. However these emotions can shape us if we let them. So many of us are control freaks. We try to control everything even love when the reality is we need to pursue love instead of trying to control it. I have never been great at this at times I’m sometimes lazy at pursuit. Whether it be planning a date night or just stopping and listening to my wife. You see that’s the secret to a successful marriage listening to your wife. Although I struggle at this from time to time I try my hardest to listen to my wife. That is all women want we as men to listen. If were honest we all struggle with pursuit in some way. Whether it is laziness, fear, or just not making the time to pursue. So do we acknowledge? Or do we ignore pursuit? Is today the very day you try harder to pursue your spouse? I am going to pursue like never before. Remember the four principal emotions that shape us as we pursue love. Desire, Joy, Grief, and Fear let them shape you! Have a Jesus filled day!

Wait Part 2!

Now for Part 2 on WAIT this is also by Craige Lewis! Here we go are you ready, this is off the chain!...... The problem with waiting is a lot of times based on what you are waiting for. Although the scriptures tell us plainly that if you wait on God you will be exalted and shall inherit the land, we must realize that this should not be the reason we wait! You don’t wait on God just because you know that if you do, he will exalt you one day. If you do that, then you will find yourself with the “Look at me now” complex and you will seek to get from God for your own glorying purposes. You should wait because during the waiting period, you can learn of him and be close to him. God wants a relationship with you, not based on what he can do for you, but what he means to you! We are taught so much that we should give with expectancy or we should wait knowing that in due season we will be exalted. And even though these things will happen, we should not seek them to happen. That is a very selfish way to live and you will not reap the benefits of knowing God intimately if you live only for what god will do to you. God wants people to have the attitude like the 3 Hebrews boys. They knew God could deliver them, but there attitude was, “if he doesn’t” we want bow! They loved God to the point that they didn’t care what happened and that’s why he exalted them. God has a great blessing for you and much in store for you. I’m a living witness that if you wait on him and his perfect plan for your life to unfold, he will bless you. But while I waited, I never looked for the day he would exalt me. I only desired to be close to him and because I got close enough to be trusted by him, he blessed me tremendously. Please people of God, hear my heart. It’s definitely okay to know that things will get better for you. But please make sure God is more important to you than your own desires and accomplishments. Make sure you are not using God for what you feel he can give you, but you are serving God because you love him and want to do what’s right!

Wait Part 1!

This guy (Craige Lewis) is off the chain and there are 2 parts to this devotional reading. The title is WAIT so let’s jump right in this morning! Psalms 37:34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. How many times have you gone to a restaurant to eat, but once inside you heard there was a long wait so you left and decided on something else? Or what about having something in your hand at the register of a store, but putting it down and deciding to do without it because the wait to check out was so long. Have you done this before? Well, those times are very understandable and you can always eat there a less crowded night, or buy that thing somewhere else. But in our get it quick society, there are times when we make huge mistakes in the spirit realm because of our lack of patience. We begin to get anxious for things and we want to move the hand of God by our actions rather than wait on his divine plan. Our human nature craves things instantaneously and this can cause us to make some big mistakes in our walk with Christ! Abraham had Ishmael because he couldn’t wait on Isaac. And many of us are constantly giving birth to illegitimate visions, ministries, and churches because we could not wait on God’s plan instead we try to do it and it fails! We got out of his line and did something else because the wait was too long or we just basically decided to go somewhere else to get what we felt God wanted for us. This is not a good place to be in. Although our flesh cries out for certain things, we must learn the first attribute of Love which is patience. If you truly Love God, You will seek his face and wait to do things in his timing not your own! God hit me with this last night that’s why I had to Post it! Wait Part 2 comes Tomorrow Thank you Connie for being obedient, it rocked my world! With Love Jason