emotional sobriety of spirit

Let’s look at letting go of our emotions, sounds insane, maybe, but really if you could operate your life out of emotional sobriety, imagine all you would do. God is our sober partner in life and because of the Holy Spirit living within us, we have access to God’s immeasurable steadfast sober minded guidance and grace. Life can look like a tornado of emotions that runs around ravaging the world around us, making rash decisions or otherwise muddied choices not rooted in Truth. Life’s emotions can also have a toilet bowl effect on our mind, a negative downward spiral that we can’t seem to stop no matter what we do. These are two ways that our emotions can take control of our life and swing the spectrum of feelings about a situation or person to an extreme. One way is inward and suffocating like you can’t escape your mind and the other is outward towards the world making hash of the things around you, either way, neither is a healthy place to be, and not how God intended us to live. Now take your season of life, look at it, and see where emotions got in the way of walking in God’s will and made you operate out of frustration, anger, confusion, sadness, depression, anxiety, addiction, or generally irrational behavior. If your emotions have kept you from operating out of sobering, yet quietly confident truth, no matter what the situation is, then you’ve given them too much power, and Satan has entered the scene twisting your world. The worst part about this, is Satan has now completely muddied your spiritual eyes, seeing God’s will and, operating under His guidance has become impossible. Then you are left to rely on yourself to handle whatever mess you are currently sitting in…

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-20

Paul calls us to humble ourselves before the Father and kneel before Him, why? We kneel in humility to show our acceptance of needing our Heavenly Father, so we surrender and let go of ourselves, and in turn, the Father can speak into the depth of depravity in our souls. We have to empty our hearts before Him, empty ourselves, of ourselves so we can be filled with Him. If we are not filled with God in our hearts and minds then we allow the world to wreak havoc, because the only impenetrable thing about us is the Holy Spirit in us. Satan can twist your heart and your mind to think all kinds of messy things that don’t really line up in your mind or your heart. When God is filling your life and you are pressing into the Holy Spirit through a quiet humble spirit, then you can find peace and clarity over every circumstance. Then you will find rest for your soul, and your sea of emotions is calmed to an idyllic water where God is waiting to speak into your life.

Paul is also writing here about the strength we are freely given by God at all times, especially when we look at Him in the middle of our mess. With this strength we are rooted and grounded in love, a perfect love, the perfection of Christ’s life and love for us. So instead of tapping into our own knowledge and strength to solve our problems, we are meant to put faith in something greater than ourselves, our Lord God, the unwavering standard of truth. When we turn from ourselves, thoughts, emotions, and usual way of thinking and instead press into what God is speaking into our lives through scripture, prayer, and Godly advice from other believers, we can immediately do a 180 degree turn on our inner turmoil.

The greatest fight in our lives is the unseen spiritual war that goes on in the heavenly realm. We may not be able to see spirits, demons, or Satan, but you better believe they are at work in your life trying to distract you from the life you were made for. If you’ve ever felt constantly on edge, angry all the time, easily upset, bitter towards another person, or otherwise overly negative about an aspect in your life, there’s something unseen at work, and its not just some emotional rut. Satan’s job is to come and steal your life from you, especially your eternal one, and he’s darn good at it. Satan is sneaky and generally diligent in trying to make your life get derailed in some way shape, or form. Any way he can, he will separate you from living a beautiful fruitful life, living for our Heavenly King. The enemy plans to scheme against you, assault your emotional spectrum, come after your family and relationships. He plays dirty and that stops right here if you are committed to telling the enemy to take a hike and let God reclaim your life, but that is your choice. You must actively choose to FIGHT for your serenity and clarity; Jesus life and death made you a VICTOR over Satan, so live as one.

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 4:25-32

Diving into scripture and living a life of prayer is your greatest and most powerful weapon against any and all attacks against you in your life. Scripture is the pillar of Truth in which you can rely on God to show you if you are walking upright in Spirit. Prayer brings Heaven down to earth and allows you to partner with God in His plans for your life. Prayer is a two way communication line between you and Him. Prayer stands as a great weapon against the enemy, because you have the power and authority, through Jesus name, to cast out any and all spirits oppressing you or people you know. Your greatest tools in regaining control over your emotions and health of your soul is time in prayer and scripture.

One very important model of prayer is always operating out of a constant state of forgiveness to those around you. If we operate our lives in unforgiveness we do two things, one, allow Satan in the door to stir our pot, two, God allows this because we are basically saying we are a better judge than God, even though God already forgave each and every one of us for everything we could ever do through Jesus Christ. So if you choose to hold resentment towards a person or situation you open yourself to attack from Satan at all corners. How do you stop it? Repent. Ask for forgiveness, and forgive whomever it involves in front of the Lord your God. That literally slams the door in Satan’s face, and if those feelings come up again and Satan comes knocking at your door, you can openly rebuke him and tell him you are forgiven and you have forgiven.

Another place we must utilize our prayer life is repentance for sins. If we outwardly sin on purpose towards anyone or any situation, then repentance is a must. We must come before the Father with all humility and ask for Him to forgive us and change our hearts. Otherwise once again, we leave the door unlocked to the enemy so he can come in and have his way with our inner spiritual life. Your emotional waters will be stirred and muddied by him and clarity is gone. God wants to heal those ugly places in your heart, but we have to reach out to Him so we can fully understand how He is at work. God is at work in your ugliest places, but you have to come to a place where you want to humble yourself enough to meet Him and accept the gift of Christ that was freely given. Jesus came and died so you could live, and living to the fullest requires God healing all the places we have messed up our hearts and souls.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints

Ephesians 6:10-18

Pray to God for all of the things He has ever put on your heart, for all He has ever set you out to do. You are a victor in this unseen war, so deploy your greatest weapons, scripture and prayer. The enemy can’t read your mind, can’t be all places, has already lost, and hoping to just drag people down with him at the end of the day. So literally call out the enemy (must say it out loud) and tell him he has no place in your life, and nor does anyone that does his dirty work. Reclaim your life, put on the armor of the Holy Spirit, which God has freely given to you. Avoid worldly temptation and trends, walk an upright path, and find your peace in a Heavenly Father who wants to see you do GREAT things with Him in this life and in the next. If you just don’t know where to start or life just feels too hard, get in community, seek out wise counsel who will pray with you and speak over your life. You were created to operate out of the gifts of the Spirit, with the same access to Heaven as Jesus, but you have to actively seek it out. You are created for more than what your physical body can do; walking in step with the Spirit gives us supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. So, step out of your own strength, let go of your control, and your emotions. Let God bring an eternal wisdom to your life and let it overflow into the world around you. Emotions are created to be felt to the fullest and filtered through the wisdom of God. He created us to be able to completely feel the world around us, bring it back to Him, sit with Him in it, and then walk back out to the world with His vision of what to do with it. It is a daily walk my friends, but a doable one, so let go of you, and say yes to the Father’s calling of let’s go.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do^e such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Galations 5:16-25