Today I just have a thought to tell you about what God is teaching me. I have been learning to let go of things. I have a real tendency to be angry about things... which leads to bitterness. I used to just get depressed when bad things happened, but recently I've started getting angry. I've been watching a series of sermons on DVD by Paul Tripp called, "How to Be Good and Angry," and it has really been good for me. I realized that the reason people get angry is that we make our normal desires into demands. God has given us desires... that's completely normal and good. The problem is when a desire becomes a demand. We HAVE to control our desires! We all have a sin nature, and our desires can very easily take control of us. The human heart is an idol factory. We have to keep laying our desires down before God and not let them become controlling. I've been learning to keep returning all of the things God gives me to Him, and also learning to rise again after I fall and mess up. When you sin, don't fall into a pit of despair. It is right to feel grief over your sin, but don't wallow in it. Repent and keep going on to do what's right. Thankfully, God is SO merciful and good as I go through the process of learning these things!
"For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity." Proverbs 24:16, ESV
Thanks for taking the time to read! God bless you all; have a great Christmas!
"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." Philippians 1:3-5, ESV
Showing posts with label anger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anger. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Busy, busy!
Whew! I am exhausted! It's actually almost 11 at night as I'm writing. So, yesterday I had my friend, Vicki, over from about 2-8 PM and we had an absolutely awesome time! Mostly what we did was talk. Which, if you know me, you know that talking is what I do best! And we looked at funny pictures and cracked ourselves up, and we took a walk. So it was really, really good to be able to see her.
Then today my friend, Courtney, came over and we talked, then went for a walk and talked some more. When we were about half a mile from home, one minute it was sunny, and then Courtney looked up and said "Is that rain?" and, sure enough, it was sprinkling. Then about a minute later, it started to DOWNPOUR! We ran into the woods, but still got soaked. When we got back we changed into cozy PJ's and were gonna make hot cocoa, but we didn't have any, so we made coffee. (I don't really like coffee, but with enough cream and sugar in it, it's good lol) Unfortunately, I accidentally put the filter in wrong and it got filled with grounds. So we had to re-filter it! haha. It was about lunch time so we thought we'd get some food, but we were really in need of groceries! And I mean REALLY in need of them! So after a lot of searching we came up with rice, cottage cheese, baked beans, and broccoli for lunch. haha. It was a CrAzY day!! So I have had an AWESOME 2 days!
I also learned a lot. I read Isaiah chapter 1 today and if you've not read it recently, GO READ IT!!! It was so convicting, it made me almost cry. It is God telling Isaiah what to tell Israel, and it's all about their sin. But He doesn't leave them hopeless, He promises to be with them and to forgive them if they will put off their sin and follow Him. It was really a great encouragement and very convicting.
I also started to watch a lecture thingy on DVD by Paul Tripp, and he was talking about how the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart, and it was, again, very convicting. We often say, "If my circumstances were better, I wouldn't be having an angry outburst." Well, maybe you wouldn't be at that moment, but that's not the problem. For example: A man is in a traffic jam. He is angry because he's already late for work. He hits the dashboard and yells, "If I weren't in this traffic I wouldn't be so frustrated!" Well, if it's the traffic's fault, then you would think everyone in the traffic jam would be upset. But then, there's a woman in the car in front of him and she is just SOO happy! You see, she's putting on her make-up, so she is really grateful for the extra time! The reason the man is angry is because something is getting in the way of what he wants, and he is choosing the wrong response. If He were more focused on living for Christ, he could be in the traffic and be joyful. We are, by nature, worshipers. We were created that way. Now, not everyone worships the right thing, but everyone worships. Some worship food, others money, others appearance, etc. We don't realize it, but we are often worshiping things in subtle ways. The way to tell if something has become an idol is to stop and consider if you would be upset if you didn't have it or it didn't work out right, or whatever. If you would be, it has an unhealthy hold on you. Wow, isn't that a scary thought! That means for every time we get upset, we are worshiping the wrong thing! So I have been very challenged, especially today, to keep my focus on JESUS not ME. Tough, but SOOOO worth it! And I could really use prayer, so please do pray for me as I am growing in Christ and living out life.
That's all I have to say now, so thank you to anyone who took the time to read it! =]
Then today my friend, Courtney, came over and we talked, then went for a walk and talked some more. When we were about half a mile from home, one minute it was sunny, and then Courtney looked up and said "Is that rain?" and, sure enough, it was sprinkling. Then about a minute later, it started to DOWNPOUR! We ran into the woods, but still got soaked. When we got back we changed into cozy PJ's and were gonna make hot cocoa, but we didn't have any, so we made coffee. (I don't really like coffee, but with enough cream and sugar in it, it's good lol) Unfortunately, I accidentally put the filter in wrong and it got filled with grounds. So we had to re-filter it! haha. It was about lunch time so we thought we'd get some food, but we were really in need of groceries! And I mean REALLY in need of them! So after a lot of searching we came up with rice, cottage cheese, baked beans, and broccoli for lunch. haha. It was a CrAzY day!! So I have had an AWESOME 2 days!
I also learned a lot. I read Isaiah chapter 1 today and if you've not read it recently, GO READ IT!!! It was so convicting, it made me almost cry. It is God telling Isaiah what to tell Israel, and it's all about their sin. But He doesn't leave them hopeless, He promises to be with them and to forgive them if they will put off their sin and follow Him. It was really a great encouragement and very convicting.
I also started to watch a lecture thingy on DVD by Paul Tripp, and he was talking about how the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart, and it was, again, very convicting. We often say, "If my circumstances were better, I wouldn't be having an angry outburst." Well, maybe you wouldn't be at that moment, but that's not the problem. For example: A man is in a traffic jam. He is angry because he's already late for work. He hits the dashboard and yells, "If I weren't in this traffic I wouldn't be so frustrated!" Well, if it's the traffic's fault, then you would think everyone in the traffic jam would be upset. But then, there's a woman in the car in front of him and she is just SOO happy! You see, she's putting on her make-up, so she is really grateful for the extra time! The reason the man is angry is because something is getting in the way of what he wants, and he is choosing the wrong response. If He were more focused on living for Christ, he could be in the traffic and be joyful. We are, by nature, worshipers. We were created that way. Now, not everyone worships the right thing, but everyone worships. Some worship food, others money, others appearance, etc. We don't realize it, but we are often worshiping things in subtle ways. The way to tell if something has become an idol is to stop and consider if you would be upset if you didn't have it or it didn't work out right, or whatever. If you would be, it has an unhealthy hold on you. Wow, isn't that a scary thought! That means for every time we get upset, we are worshiping the wrong thing! So I have been very challenged, especially today, to keep my focus on JESUS not ME. Tough, but SOOOO worth it! And I could really use prayer, so please do pray for me as I am growing in Christ and living out life.
That's all I have to say now, so thank you to anyone who took the time to read it! =]
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