Hi there,
So something that has helped me tremendously in my walk with Christ, has been identifying where I need to do an about face. An about face is where you acknowledge that you have been heading in the wrong direction (down the wide road to destruction), and you hold still and turn around, so that you are heading away from the wrong direction to the right direction (the narrow path). The purpose of this is to get you on the right path. What is less clear, is that it requires you to navigate your emotions, so that your feeling agrees with your conscience. It's ok to entertain heading down the wrong path, but when our emotions trap us, because we start to feel guilty about what we find heading down the wrong path, then we have a problem. This can be fixed.
To fix our emotions, we need to establish a foundation in Christ. Christ is the object of our faith in this life and if in our heart we believe this, as much to the end as He permits, then we will have a way to gauge whether we are heading in the right direction. The trick is, you have to start bringing in your emotions under the command of Christ. We may be guilty of sin, and repent and even start to turn away, but if we are really going to make a change, then we need to dig deeper, emotionally. In relation to our sin, this means being "angry" that we have sinned the way we have. You may have stolen a marble from someone, for example, identifying it is theft is part of the repentance, but if we find that other marbles are catching our attention, then we have iniquity in our heart - we need more of the power of the Holy Spirit! In terms of turning away, this means getting angry that we have stolen that marble. If we are angry and have Christ's sacrifice in mind, then we will start to feel our heart turning not just away from a marble, but from anything that would make it seem like stealing marbles was ok.
Once we have done something about the damage sin has been doing in our life, allowing temptations in and guilt, then we can start to work with the Holy Spirit to undo the damage done in our world. This - our relationship to the world - is something that is negotiated by our conscience, as according to the emotions we feed it with. We have put a stop to stealing marbles, but now we are living with people who think that stealing a marble is no big deal in part because they have seen us do it. This is where the Holy Spirit must shine out of the world, to the place in Heaven that is safe from marbles. We can help this! We can help it by being "bitter" that the people of the world have learned to sin the way they have, from our sin, not just for a moment, but for the rest of our lives. The reason we protract the length of time we are prepared to remain bitter, is that we need to restore the power of the cross, in our hearts and lives and minds. It's no good turning to Christ for salvation, but then neglecting to set an example of our sin, over those things that have tempted us. We must shine the light the Holy Spirit shone, not just for a moment, but for life on the Cross. Our example must become His example. Our bitterness must refuse to die!
Now, you might think "I can do this" or "it seems like a lot of work", but actually the best response is that you "will wait for the Holy Spirit". We are mortal, we are flesh and blood, knowing if there is even time to get emotional can be a tricky question. Our walk with Christ continues, but it can be daunting to deal with concepts like "anger at sin", "bitterness at bad teaching", out of where do these things come? Right? This takes a walk with the Holy Spirit, which we can strengthen by thanking Him "for the clarity He has given our path", that is, the light here for the end of the path "up there" in the kingdom of God. Nothing God gives us is without being mindful of the sacrifice that must be made, therefore we must always be grateful to God for that which we receive, whether great or little sacrifice is needed. In time, it will become second nature to thank the Holy Spirit for His help; what is great is that it helps us in this life, to remember to adjust our emotions to what they should be, regarding our judgment of things that are or are not relevant to the righteousness we attempt to walk out our lives with.
The Devil has a dickens of a time trying to keep up with someone whose emotions are in check and serving well. We must be mindful to direct the Devil where we can, as to what his path through Hell to Death should be, but also we must compel him to keep his distance, lest he come foul of his own snare. In this we know that we overcome the world, having oil ready for our lamps, till the Lord come. I hope this has been of some use, that the Holy Spirit is fighting for you to get control over your emotions and to develop charge in the Holy Spirit, to work the miracles that the Lord set out for us to follow Him with. Be mindful. Be true to yourself. But above all, wait for the Holy Spirit.
So something that has helped me tremendously in my walk with Christ, has been identifying where I need to do an about face. An about face is where you acknowledge that you have been heading in the wrong direction (down the wide road to destruction), and you hold still and turn around, so that you are heading away from the wrong direction to the right direction (the narrow path). The purpose of this is to get you on the right path. What is less clear, is that it requires you to navigate your emotions, so that your feeling agrees with your conscience. It's ok to entertain heading down the wrong path, but when our emotions trap us, because we start to feel guilty about what we find heading down the wrong path, then we have a problem. This can be fixed.
To fix our emotions, we need to establish a foundation in Christ. Christ is the object of our faith in this life and if in our heart we believe this, as much to the end as He permits, then we will have a way to gauge whether we are heading in the right direction. The trick is, you have to start bringing in your emotions under the command of Christ. We may be guilty of sin, and repent and even start to turn away, but if we are really going to make a change, then we need to dig deeper, emotionally. In relation to our sin, this means being "angry" that we have sinned the way we have. You may have stolen a marble from someone, for example, identifying it is theft is part of the repentance, but if we find that other marbles are catching our attention, then we have iniquity in our heart - we need more of the power of the Holy Spirit! In terms of turning away, this means getting angry that we have stolen that marble. If we are angry and have Christ's sacrifice in mind, then we will start to feel our heart turning not just away from a marble, but from anything that would make it seem like stealing marbles was ok.
Once we have done something about the damage sin has been doing in our life, allowing temptations in and guilt, then we can start to work with the Holy Spirit to undo the damage done in our world. This - our relationship to the world - is something that is negotiated by our conscience, as according to the emotions we feed it with. We have put a stop to stealing marbles, but now we are living with people who think that stealing a marble is no big deal in part because they have seen us do it. This is where the Holy Spirit must shine out of the world, to the place in Heaven that is safe from marbles. We can help this! We can help it by being "bitter" that the people of the world have learned to sin the way they have, from our sin, not just for a moment, but for the rest of our lives. The reason we protract the length of time we are prepared to remain bitter, is that we need to restore the power of the cross, in our hearts and lives and minds. It's no good turning to Christ for salvation, but then neglecting to set an example of our sin, over those things that have tempted us. We must shine the light the Holy Spirit shone, not just for a moment, but for life on the Cross. Our example must become His example. Our bitterness must refuse to die!
Now, you might think "I can do this" or "it seems like a lot of work", but actually the best response is that you "will wait for the Holy Spirit". We are mortal, we are flesh and blood, knowing if there is even time to get emotional can be a tricky question. Our walk with Christ continues, but it can be daunting to deal with concepts like "anger at sin", "bitterness at bad teaching", out of where do these things come? Right? This takes a walk with the Holy Spirit, which we can strengthen by thanking Him "for the clarity He has given our path", that is, the light here for the end of the path "up there" in the kingdom of God. Nothing God gives us is without being mindful of the sacrifice that must be made, therefore we must always be grateful to God for that which we receive, whether great or little sacrifice is needed. In time, it will become second nature to thank the Holy Spirit for His help; what is great is that it helps us in this life, to remember to adjust our emotions to what they should be, regarding our judgment of things that are or are not relevant to the righteousness we attempt to walk out our lives with.
The Devil has a dickens of a time trying to keep up with someone whose emotions are in check and serving well. We must be mindful to direct the Devil where we can, as to what his path through Hell to Death should be, but also we must compel him to keep his distance, lest he come foul of his own snare. In this we know that we overcome the world, having oil ready for our lamps, till the Lord come. I hope this has been of some use, that the Holy Spirit is fighting for you to get control over your emotions and to develop charge in the Holy Spirit, to work the miracles that the Lord set out for us to follow Him with. Be mindful. Be true to yourself. But above all, wait for the Holy Spirit.
