Feelings

Desire and Willpower

Dr. Mike 2025 , , ,

If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”   Genesis 4:7

_____

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.   1 John 2:16-17

Where does evil that corrupts the world come from? How does one escape from it?

Don’t we all have the tenancy to point a finger at others when we notice they did something unrighteous? Yet when we do, are we also not pointing three at us?

I love the passage from 1 Peter 3:10-12. “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

We may all desire the good life, but how we manage ourselves forward is the challenge. We have the misconception that evil, sin, and the uglies are out there somewhere. That if everyone was more like me, this would be a better world. Yet when one meets Jesus, who is the reflection of the perfect God, one’s own mirror reveals otherwise.

There is not a person who ever lived on planet earth who is morally perfect with the exception of Jesus. HE had the immunity of the Holy Spirit from birth. His divinity gave him strength to resist temptations. The rest of us however have had our spirit corrupted with the sin virus. But those who have surrendered their kingdom to God’s kingdom are now being sanctified. We are being prepared for eternity through the workings of the Holy Spirit in us. But the process is slow.

It starts in the heart. We need to desire the good. This starts with first learning what good looks like. The anti-god crowd have their definition. But how does the Triune God define the situation? This is why coming to know God’s heart is important if you are a serious student of Jesus.

We discover God’s Truths through the pages of the Bible as well as throughout creation. This is the foundation of divine knowledge. As we begin to seek HIM through prayer and other disciplines, HE draws closer to us. HE begins to reveal HIMSELF to us. The more you seek HIM, the more you will come to know HIM. The more you come to know HIM, the more you come to know HIS ways. HIS desires. HIS values.

But then the work begins. No, you are not saved by your work. We cannot earn salvation. We are all saved through the grace of God. It is HIS gift to us. But as we are being saved , we exert effort to walk with HIM in doing good work. Where we fall short or fail, HIS grace sustains us. As HE molds and shapes our spirit from the inside/out, our behavior follows. We begin to exert energy for doing good. This is not an overnight change. Our character, until then, has been ignorantly shaped since our birth. Our habits and automatic responses need to be rewired. The hurtful pasts and painful triggers need to be reprogrammed. There is much healing that is needed.

Evil desires need to be replaced with holy ones. The Willpower needs to be reshaped and exercised to follow these new attributes. You may even join others in the gym of practicing spiritual disciplines. This helps you keep your mind and focus on Jesus in your daily routines.

Over time others begin to see more and more of Jesus’ reflection in you. God’s divine nature begins to shape you and prepare you for eternity. The evil desires are now replaced with a heavenly heart. Your heart begins to bloom with action. You become a servant of God’s kingdom doing good work that HE has prepared for you from the beginning of your birth. You are now living your potential for HIM. You begin to reap the benefits of a Christlike life.

Yes, it takes a lifetime to convert godly desires with habitual willpower into action. Otherwise, who are you going to become? As others who have gone before us have shown, the adventurous journey of transformation in Christ is worth the effort. Both for this life and the one to come.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Faith-Integrator, Encourager, Scribbler

“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,” (Colossians 1:9)

Books By Dr. Mike:

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-Present | Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Love Trap     

Dr. Mike 2022 , , ,

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

1 John 3:18

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

How can love be a trap? Isn’t love the most important attribute we desire?

And since God is Love, is God a trap?

You probably have also thought of other questions as your curiosity reads. But yes, love in all its supreme condition can be an illusion unless one is careful to build on the foundation of reality. Since God is real, and God is love (1 Jn. 4:8), than love is real. But lying to self is also a reality.

The love trap is falling into the crater of illusion confusing the attribute solely as an inner emotional feeling rather than an outward active response.

It is the young teenagers who love one another and want to quit school so they may marry and have a happy life. It is the infatuation taking the emotional control of a person without grasping at reality. It is typically narrowing love to a single event or person and forgetting everything else.

In addition, culture has cheapened love. Advertisers demonstrate that “love” is obtained through a product. Our toys, cars, and kitchen appliances are the articles that express our intense “love” as consumers.

Hollywood portrays sex as the ultimate expression of “love”. Two strangers meet in the hotel lobby and then find themselves passionately “making love” one hour later.

Culture may create illusions of love, but Jesus reminds us throughout his life that real love is sacrificial service for the sake of others. Love is action rather than a feeling. Love is outward concern for the other rather than self-rewarding.

Love is demonstrated by the strong helping the weak. The wealthy uplifting the poor. The educated teaching the illiterate. The mother or father sacrificing a career for the sake of raising children. Throughout history, those who have sacrificed for the sake of others have experienced real love without seeking it.

A husband who sacrifices his desires to please his wife and the wife who sacrifices her desires to please her husband demonstrates God’s love in action.

When leaders seek to serve their followers through deeds built upon the truth of reality rather than propaganda or market spin, exhibit God’s love in action. 

Love is not rhetoric nor an academic expression of feelings. Love is outward action built upon eternal values of reality.

We are thankful Jesus established a new standard to measure love: HIMSELF. His example of sacrificial service for others is the real standard of love.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Author of e-Books 

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-Present | Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved

Feeling Filter

Dr. Mike 2022 , , ,

John 8:32

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Inflated Feelings Face Filter | wadeandleta.com

Some people, if not many, operate from a base of feelings. They use their feelings to measure and evaluate the circumstances they are in. They believe their feelings are accurate and reflect reality at the moment. Yet scientists recognize feelings in many cases are deceitful.

We may incorrectly witness a situation which causes us to misread the event and fling our mind and body into unnecessary fear mode. Or we may likewise see something which we interpret as pleasant and smile at the situation not realizing that a most horrific event just occurred. If we evaluate and discern reality solely through the filter of feelings, we of most people will be walking in a state of mental confusion.

I recall once consulting with the President of a national company asking questions to determine his style of leadership and management. His answers initially shocked me but gave us the direction of the type of facts we needed to gather to either confirm or deny his statements. After collecting data, facts, and survey results, our hypothesis proved correct. His fear-mongering leadership style and managing operations based on feelings has led the company into a destructive position which required an outsider to provide solutions to help the Company survive. We did.

When you are ruled by your feelings, you may be correct fifty percent of the time simply from a probability perspective. However, if you want to be correct most of the time, then you need to filter your feelings with logic and reasoning built on evidential facts. And that requires a proven value system, a strong understanding of human history and its behavior, along with analysis of the situation. All these skills are available to be developed if one chooses.  

In addition, God has also given each of us a conscience to discern moral implications. But it needs to be exercised under HIS domain or over time will become harden into a destructive, blind, and ineffective instrument. Our conscience is God’s gift to us. When followed along with HIS words of Truth enlighten our decision-making abilities.

As we gather facts of the matter and weigh the facts against the event, we slowly develop the real picture of the situation. This is why it is dangerous to make quick decisions on a matter when it is not necessary. One needs to gather facts from all sides to properly determine what actually happen.

Our feelings may play a part of the equation, but most often they are only the warning bell. And like the story of the boy hollering “wolf” so often, basing one’s conclusion simply on feeling has led many of us down the wrong path. We need to filter those feelings against solid evidence. Otherwise, we will get into an ugly habit of being thrown from one wall against another based on our emotional roller coaster ride.

Feelings require facts and facts need emotional feeling. Both are necessary to properly evaluate reality and generate a proper response. When you study the life of Jesus as displayed throughout the gospel accounts, one finds a person who balanced facts with feelings and feelings with facts. He demonstrated the healthy and effective way of managing the human relationship. Let’s use HIM as our role model to learn the best way of filtering our feelings. When you learn from the best, you gain the most.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Author of e-Books

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

Encourage a Friend…Share Today’s Message!

Copyright 2013-Present | Abbaco LLC | All Rights Reserved