Fear, doubt, anger and being the extension of God

Today, I would like share further thoughts on this subject. We are made in the image of God, no doubt about that. But there is this element of human flesh that we still carry around. This flesh can and will trip us up from time to time.

Luke 4:13  When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

This verse is about Jesus being led into the wilderness by the Spirit. In other Words, Jesus was connected to God the Father and was "allowed" to be led into the wilderness.

Often we are taught the angle of Jesus withstanding satan, tempting Jesus to use His Power and the divine side of Jesus to get out of the calamity he is in. And this is true.
I see this passage also as an example on how to respond when being tempted, by using the Word of God.

But let's be real here for a moment. This flesh of ours is a shell and we carry it still with us. Dragging us into all kind situations we should not be in. So, as a mere human being, we walk daily to lay down this flesh (our will) in order to pick up the image of Christ.

Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

If we were to be perfect after being saved (born again) , this scripture would make no sense. Why would we have to pick up the cross daily to follow Jesus? The cross was a symbol of death and resurrection. This also has to happen in our lives. We need to put to death our own will and being resurrected by the Power of God to be able to follow Jesus.

Let's look at this from the angle of the people around us. As we mature daily (hopefully) we are also to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, after loving God.

Matthew 12:31‘The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these!

In order to fulfill the commandment to become a disciple of Christ, we definitely need to fulfil the 1st and 2nd commandment. Loving our neighbor as yourself....wow that is almost impossible in our own strength. We may have some level of love to give, mostly with restrictions or expectations. So how then are we to be able to love our neighbor?

By being connected to the Power of the Holy Spirit and the Love of the Father. Jesus' teaching and example. Only by the Power of God are we able to love others the way He commands us to love. |The way He loves us.

If our brothers and sisters are displaying fear, doubt, unbelief, shame etc. our own ability to love is restricted. We cannot see into the heart of those, displaying these things. Only God can see in the heart of man! Only God can see what expression of Love is needed in any moment to bear the burden of our brothers and sisters. Now, this includes tough love, which is love nevertheless.

When someone around us is displaying a negative emotion, it is imperative to know how to respond correctly. The word of God clearly states that perfect love casts out all fear.  If one is gripped by fear, a response of anger toward this person is not helping. Nor is rejecting  this person helpful. It only takes a moment to connect with the Spirit of God to receive the Wisdom of God if we are willing and surrendered. The wisdom of God will help us to respond (minister) to the person in distress and therefore creates a lasting moment which then can turn into change for the person displaying wrong emotions. But the person in distress has to receive it too.

All to often, do we respond in our own weakness. For example: our preference on how our surroundings should be is often a factor on how we respond to others, wanting to control our surroundings etc. If we are flawed in any way, our response can never be perfect. But perfect love casts out fear...so which perfect love is the Bible talking about? It is the perfect love of God (Christ).

To summarize this, I would ask: As believers we have been given a supernatural ability to respond to this world in a way that is naturally impossible. But in order to possess the ability, we are asked to:

John 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

....remain in Christ!

Next time, we encounter a "difficult person",  let's just give God a moment to speak to our hearts and show us how to respond to this person. Better yet, lets step out of the way (metaphorically speaking) and let our loving Father respond. This should become a habit, like brushing your teeth in the morning. Good habits used regularly, become easy to continue.
By doing this, we do  NOT create chaos by assumption, nor broken friendships. We create the impossible: PERFECT LOVE.
And be become the true Church, the Body of Christ.


So long........ until next time.