Holiday Survival Guide - 2 - CTC Soul Care Genesis 4:1 1 Eve became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, With the Lord s help, I have produced a man! 2Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Some translations say Cain brought an offering. It was expected by God that these two brother would present their best to the Lord. Can I ask you this? Do you give your BEST to your families and your relationships? I have No doubt you DID at one time. That s how you got the person to marry you in the first place. Thats how you get them on a date. Thats how it starts out But today. Years later.. Do they get your best? 4Abel also brought a gift the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. Abel gave the best. Who doesn t enjoy the best? I m not asking if you have the money to buy the best But given the option same price you will choose the best over the worst.
Which one has the best customer reviews on Amazon yes I ll take that one. One bad review I don t want that. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected. 6 Why are you so angry? the Lord asked Cain. Why do you look so dejected? Here is where we will study today 7You will be accepted if you do what is right. Here is an opportunity. This is your choice Cain. The power is in your hands. Choose whats right. Is it easy to do what s right even though all sorts of things feel wrong inside? No it s not easy. You ve been holding some sort of pouting grudge against someone and you may even be correct in the conflict But you know the Lord would want you to let it go and move on But YOU CHOOSE to keep it going. All sorts of bad things are waiting right here at the door it s your choice choose life in this relationship or choose death. Cain I m warning you I see that sin is trying to over take you But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master. Here s the answer here is the tool Subdue these emotions and master them.
Master your emotions. Take control of this hurt. But why can t he? Why can t we? Because wee really haven t taken the time to understand what it is we are actually experiencing. Can I help a little today Here s a tool when you find yourself getting emotionally charged like Cain did. Label Your Emotions Before you can change how you feel, you need to acknowledge what you're experiencing right now. Are you nervous? Do you feel disappointed? Are you sad? Keep in mind that anger sometimes masks emotions that feel vulnerable--like shame or embarrassment. Was Cain embarrassed? Jealous? Did He feel rejected by God? Someone feeling rejected by God is going to hurt others Whatever he was actually feeling, he expressed it as Anger So pay close attention to what's really going on inside of you. Put a name on your emotions. Keep in mind you might feel a whole bunch of emotions at once--like anxious, frustrated, and impatient. Labeling how you feel can take a lot of the sting out of the emotion.
It can also help you take careful note of how those feelings are likely to affect your decisions. And how they affect others This is a choice Once I recognize WHAT I m feeling with the correct label I can then choose what my next response is going to be. The second thing Cain could have done in order to handle this situation better would have been to: Reframe Your Thoughts Your emotions affect the way you perceive events. If you're feeling anxious and you get an email from the boss that says she wants to see you right away, you might assume you're going to get fired. If however, you're feeling happy when you get that same email, your first thought might be that you're going to be promoted or congratulated on a job well done. In Cain s situation this could have been an opportunity to get it RIGHT Go make a few corrections and all is well How can we look at the situation we are in differently. Philippians 4:8 'Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. '
Reframe your thoughts to these attributes. True, Noble, Right, Pure, Lovely, Admirable, Excellent, Praiseworthy This is the bench mark But this takes work and it takes time Cain did not choose to do this Instead He allowed the sin of whatever he was feeling to overtake him He murdered his brother All along God was trying to protect Cain from the consequence of this situation. So Cain kills his brother Able God asks Him Where is your brother. IDK.. Am I my brothers keeper.. Yes Cain you are Look what God says to Cain Genesis 4:10 10The Lord said, What have you done? Listen! Your brother s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother s blood from your hand. 12When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth. What have you done? I gave you a way out of this I gave you the instructions on how to fix this Now you are under a curse Look what Sin has done to you. Here are the consequences to these actions
Everyone hates the consequences. This could have been avoided The ended marriage could have been avoided Your children hurt could have been avoided We could have cared for the souls of others, if he had cared for our soul and protected our hearts Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it flows the issues of life. Pray