Many people live their lives from the outside in. They find themselves reacting negatively to situations and events that are going on outside of themselves. They become enraged if someone cuts them off in traffic, or if a person says the wrong thing to them. No longer do we bypass simple offenses. In today’s environment, many of us are easily offended and wear our feelings on our sleeves, so to speak. When it comes to this trend of reacting to negativity, the list goes on and on. We’ve approached a level of extremes in our society, and people have adopted a very negative outlook on life because of it. So many are ill-tempered and constantly in a bad mood. This kind of pessimism is corrosive to the blessings that many of us desire to flow our way. A happy life with a wonderful spouse is absolutely achievable for the woman of God that desires it, but it’s not going to square with a negative outlook on life.
God is opening His heart to us in amazing ways. Our privilege and responsibility is to take on His mind and nature. This is required to have the relationship with Him that He desires with us. If we love someone, one of our chief desires is going to be for this person’s well-being. We want them to be happy, to grow, and to be productive in life. If we are at a level of abounding in the things of God, and we are witnessing His wonderful abundance, we want this for everyone else that we know. This is one aspect of how love behaves.
The love of God in Christ will motivate us to want to see others rise to greater levels of growth and prosperity. This is multiplied to uncalculatable levels when it comes to God’s heart for us. We are His children! We’re Kingdom Kids, and as such Heavenly Father desires that we grow in His nature. In Ephesians 4:13 (NLT), God tells us the end goal is that we measure up to the full and complete standard of Christ. In other words, the more of God’s nature that we take on, the more like Christ we become. Heavenly Father can then share more with us; and not only this, but spiritually we get to a level where there is such an ease in our communication and fellowship with Him.
When other things, situations, and people are dictating our mood, it means that we are developing a habit pattern of internalizing potentially hazardous stuff. The Holy Spirit abides inside of us. Our bodies are his temple. God’s love and power is within, so when the outside and the flesh begins to govern how we respond to life, we’re in big trouble.
Ephesians 4:30-32 The Message (MSG) tells us, “Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted. Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.” I know you have heard many Christians refer to the indwelling Holy Spirit as a gentleman. For some of us, it may seem odd to our ears to hear this, but with respect to sensitivity and compassion it is so true. The Holy Spirit is very gentle and loving. He rejoices in those things that delight the Father, and he is grieved by those things that do not.
The Holy Spirit partners with us when our actions are those that represent heaven. These are the times when we really see his power in operation. The bottom line is that we can’t thrive when our hearts and minds are not conducive to the lively loveliness of the Spirit. God is interested in what is going on with our souls, because the flourishing of our souls is part of the reason that He placed the Spirit on the inside of us. So we’ve really got to come into consciousness about how we’re reacting to the world around us. If we’re in a bad mood all the time, and we’re angry or disappointed, we need to talk to God about it honestly. We need to pray and trust that He’ll help us reroute ourselves, so that we can begin to attract blessings and make the indwelling Holy Spirit feel right at home.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Don’t Break His Heart”, written by Kim Times, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2017. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.