Dealing with Negative Emotions January 2013 Pinky Promise Study

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1 1. Pray in any prayer requests? 2. Introduce new members. Dealing with Negative Emotions January 2013 Pinky Promise Study 3. Shake it Off just start thanking God for your life & those who are in it. Clear your mind from the clutter and any distractions. 4. Heather Lindsey will be speaking on this topic soon; find the recording on & PART 1 Happy New Year!! I m praying that 2013 will be a year of growth, joy, and intimacy with God for us all! Let s start the year off with a super powerful study topic: Dealing with Negative Emotions a.k.a Telling Your Emotions to Shut Up! I really believe that the more we follow God s instruction in this area the more our lives will change. What are some of the negative emotions and thoughts I deal with? What God says about negative thoughts & emotions: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 OK, let s break this down: 1) The weapons of our warfare this lets know that there s a WAR going on. 2) are not carnal the war is not something we fight physically; it s inside. 3) mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. there are strongholds in our mind and God can pull them down!

2 4) Casting down imaginations against the knowledge of God some of our thoughts are pure imaginations- - simply NOT TRUE! We have the power to call out the LIE and shut it down! 5) bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ we have the power to GRAB our thoughts and MAKE them obey Christ s words. And, since thoughts produce actions, we can MAKE our actions obey Christ s commands. Sis, can you feel the POWER and FREEDOM in these verses?! Thank God! We don t have to be slaves to our emotions! We can rely on God s Holy Spirit in us to fight off the negative emotions and get out of our feelings. The world has us so convinced with all of this I m in a bad mood today and I m just keeping it real and speaking my mind! garbage. That very way of thinking is keeping you in bondage! When you internalize every thought, blurt out every word, or act out every impulse that pops into your head, you re being controlled by your feelings! Real freedom is grabbing negative thoughts that come to your mind and taking control of what you do with them! You take control through the Holy Spirit! He gives you the right and the responsibility to guard your heart and mind! What does 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 mean to me? Do I really believe I have the power to control my emotions and thoughts? I always think of guarding my heart and mind like a mom guarding her child. Imagine you re a mom watching your child play on the playground. You see a teenager walk up and yell at your child, then cock his hand back like he s about to hit him! What do you do? Sit back and watch? NO! You run as fast as you can and stop that attack! Whether it means catching that teenager s hand before it hits your child or scooping your child up and running to safety- you protect your child! Why? Because you have a responsibility and a right to protect your child! Same goes for your heart and mind. Let s look at exactly how grabbing your emotions and thoughts could play out in real life. According to the verses we read, there are 2 types of negative emotions/thoughts: 1) Lies 2) Thoughts that can give birth to SIN

3 LIES: How many times has your mind been hit with hurtful thoughts that make you feel depressed, envious, doubtful, angry or whatever else? You re stupid. You re ugly. God doesn t care about you. God isn t real. You aren t where you should be in life. You ll never find your purpose. Every man cheats. You don t have an Adam. Tithing is a scam. You ll be lonely forever. Your life will never be as good as hers. the list goes on and on. If we dwell on these thoughts they will eventually take over our emotions and determine our mood. BUT, if we grab the thought and ask, Does this agree with the Word of God?? we can reveal the LIE and fight it with the Word of God. So, when my mind says, God doesn t care about you, I grab that thought and remind myself of the TRUTH. This is when it really helps to have verses memorized so you can talk back to those negative thoughts on the spot! You might have to open up your Bible (or a Google search) and do some research to find God s truth that will destroy the lie. You just keep saying that truth over and over until it drowns out the negative emotions. Call on God to renew your mind; He will step in and do it! One lie I used to battle a lot was feeling ugly and wishing I looked like somebody else. When You re ugly attacked my mind, I eventually learned to say, No, I m fearfully and wonderfully made by God alone (Psalm 139:14) and a few other verses. I kept repeating it and calling out to God. He didn t magically come down and make me look different; He took the envy and insecurity away and gave me peace with the way I look. Now, Satan doesn t attack me with that lie anymore because He knows it s not going to work! What truth can I tell myself when a common negative thought attacks my mind? 2) Thoughts that can give birth to sin: Sometimes negative emotions flare up because of something somebody else does or says. Let s use anger for example. We have to remember that even anger when it s placed righteously is ok. Maybe you re angry about sin in this world. Or you re angry about a generation of teens that are falling into sex and unhealthy relationships. However, when anger creeps into your heart through other avenues like television, music or hanging around with an extremely angry person we have to guard our

4 hearts against it. You will get tested with negative emotions and you will have a decision to make if you re going to choose God s way or this worlds way. The world tells us that if someone makes you mad, it s natural to go off or lose it - - say mean things, curse, fight, backstab, etc. But TRUE freedom, Godly freedom is to STOP and GRAB that anger as it starts to flare up. Ask, Why am I mad? Is this really that big of a deal? Can I show this person some grace? Ask God what He wants you to do. Don t let your emotions run you! Imagine how many relationships have been damaged over words that were said in the heat of an argument! Imagine how many people are in jail right now over silly things they did because they were mad. I always like to ask myself Is this decision worth my eternity? Meaning, is it worth pushing Christ away and letting my anger or whatever other emotion control me? You have to take negative thoughts captive before they take you captive! Lust is another example of this. If a lustful thought pops into your head; you have a choice. You can either choose to continue to think that thought, dwell on it, go watch pornography or you can capture every thought and make it obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) It s your responsibility to grab that thought and give it to God before it grows. Do I take negative thoughts captive or do they take me captive? If you have a hard time grabbing your negative emotions and thoughts, try these solutions: v Fast once a week. When you fast, you re growing your self- control muscles. Those are the muscles you need to stop and grab thoughts before they take over. v Guard what you watch and who you hang around. If negative thoughts and emotions usually flare up over a certain TV show or person or website- - remove that influence! v Pray about it! Prayer changes things!

5 ACTION: What will you do to get better at dealing with negative emotions God s way? My Pinky Promise: