"If the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you." (Romans 8:11)
..........
Think to yourself a minute, OK? Who are the people who seem to be able to push your buttons? Your spouse? One of your kids or your sisters' kids? Or your maybe the neighbor? How about a certain co-worker, or maybe even somebody on this very website? Almost ALL of us have SOMEBODY, right?
I personally think that EVERY ONE of our button-pushers are surely our greatest teachers, because these people are directly showing us, if we choose to look, that we really need to look at ourselves. The fact is, if someone irritates you it's because you are letting them control you, right within those moments of your irritations. They are our reminders that we need to work on our self-esteem issues.
Please remember to remember this: Anyone whom you have given authority, to remove you from your basic state of peace, is the one who is in the position of reminding you that you need to be more like Jesus.
Basic Psych 101 teaches that when someone upsets us it's because that person, within this particular persons' demeanor or looks, or whatever which we are perceiving, is actually a wonderful representative of our own particular weaknesses. Does that sound crazy or what??
In other words, when we are unable to dismiss someone's actions or words, then we are showing to ourselves the lack of confidence we have that Jesus is in control of our lives, and not us.
..........
Heavenly Lord, thank You for reminding me so very often that when I get upset I need to remember that I haven't passed another simple test of Yours. You have placed these people in my path to remind me that MY love for You should be radiating outward and not inward! Thank You SO much, God, for wanting to teach me the Way back to You! Amen.
..........
As a suggestion I recommend that, in the those moments of frustration and irritation with others, you tell yourself out loud (yes, OUT LOUD), "I choose the Peace of God over my own personal distress." You see, my Friend, habitually NOT being an instrument of God will keep you immobilized and upset. You will, THROUGH such habits of being irritated, be serving satan. You will, in other words, set up house-keeping right within one of his strongholds within you. HE is the one who is laughing at you when you're irritated, because he then knows that you're listening to him, and not to your Father God !! Yes, satan lives in our anguished states of mind. THIS is where he does his best work, RIGHT WITHIN OUR VERY WEAKNESSES.
Become an agent of our God in Heaven. Tell God that you want to stop searching alone for your personal peace of mind. Let HIM capture your attention. Remind yourself as often as you can that God and personal peace are synonyms.
..........
The point of this post is that, when we work each day at being in God's Peace of mind, regardless of what's going on around us, we open up ourselves to spiritual solutions to our problems. THEN our fretting over anothers' actions becomes so silly. Even though the facts of your individual situations might not change in the least bit, being closer and closer to God's Peace allows you to process YOUR problems from a new awareness. Yes, the awareness that God is teaching you daily THROUGH your little irritations and frustrations, and even your fits of anger or depression. Once you begin to realize that true peace can only be found in Christ Jesus, do you begin to be guided to think AND act more reasonably and sensibly. Problems are inside, my Friend, not outside of us.
So maybe, don't you think, that when we feel those irritations creep into our awareness, that we need to say, "Thank You, Lord, for reminding me of Who to put my attention upon ........... YOU, God, and not me and my petty little problems."
Amen?
..........
Think to yourself a minute, OK? Who are the people who seem to be able to push your buttons? Your spouse? One of your kids or your sisters' kids? Or your maybe the neighbor? How about a certain co-worker, or maybe even somebody on this very website? Almost ALL of us have SOMEBODY, right?
I personally think that EVERY ONE of our button-pushers are surely our greatest teachers, because these people are directly showing us, if we choose to look, that we really need to look at ourselves. The fact is, if someone irritates you it's because you are letting them control you, right within those moments of your irritations. They are our reminders that we need to work on our self-esteem issues.
Please remember to remember this: Anyone whom you have given authority, to remove you from your basic state of peace, is the one who is in the position of reminding you that you need to be more like Jesus.
Basic Psych 101 teaches that when someone upsets us it's because that person, within this particular persons' demeanor or looks, or whatever which we are perceiving, is actually a wonderful representative of our own particular weaknesses. Does that sound crazy or what??
In other words, when we are unable to dismiss someone's actions or words, then we are showing to ourselves the lack of confidence we have that Jesus is in control of our lives, and not us...........
Heavenly Lord, thank You for reminding me so very often that when I get upset I need to remember that I haven't passed another simple test of Yours. You have placed these people in my path to remind me that MY love for You should be radiating outward and not inward! Thank You SO much, God, for wanting to teach me the Way back to You! Amen.
..........
As a suggestion I recommend that, in the those moments of frustration and irritation with others, you tell yourself out loud (yes, OUT LOUD), "I choose the Peace of God over my own personal distress." You see, my Friend, habitually NOT being an instrument of God will keep you immobilized and upset. You will, THROUGH such habits of being irritated, be serving satan. You will, in other words, set up house-keeping right within one of his strongholds within you. HE is the one who is laughing at you when you're irritated, because he then knows that you're listening to him, and not to your Father God !! Yes, satan lives in our anguished states of mind. THIS is where he does his best work, RIGHT WITHIN OUR VERY WEAKNESSES.
Become an agent of our God in Heaven. Tell God that you want to stop searching alone for your personal peace of mind. Let HIM capture your attention. Remind yourself as often as you can that God and personal peace are synonyms.
..........
The point of this post is that, when we work each day at being in God's Peace of mind, regardless of what's going on around us, we open up ourselves to spiritual solutions to our problems. THEN our fretting over anothers' actions becomes so silly. Even though the facts of your individual situations might not change in the least bit, being closer and closer to God's Peace allows you to process YOUR problems from a new awareness. Yes, the awareness that God is teaching you daily THROUGH your little irritations and frustrations, and even your fits of anger or depression. Once you begin to realize that true peace can only be found in Christ Jesus, do you begin to be guided to think AND act more reasonably and sensibly. Problems are inside, my Friend, not outside of us.
So maybe, don't you think, that when we feel those irritations creep into our awareness, that we need to say, "Thank You, Lord, for reminding me of Who to put my attention upon ........... YOU, God, and not me and my petty little problems."
Amen?
