Simple obedience

In the last year, God has really taught me about my emotions. I have learned that we are to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). More than that, He's taught me how to apply that verse in real life situations.

I've heard it said a few times that the Word is objective. God's Word never changes. My life and my emotions are subjective. They change constantly. I have been a given a choice about what to do with my feelings. When a situation happens and I feel a certain way, I still have a choice about how I'm going to respond. Emotions happen without me thinking about them, but I still get to choose how I respond to those emotions.

I'm working on practicing this on a daily basis, but one situation stands out in my head. My principal made a choice that affected my classes for the day and involved me in a project without my say. I felt quite frustrated about this. I responded by standing up for myself, taking on the new responsibility but also taking back say over my classes. I also involved my boss and asked for help. As I started working to change the decisions my principal had made (walking around the school to speak with teachers), I realized I had a choice. I could be really frustrated and share my frustrations with everyone and let the situation ruin my day, or I could choose joy. I could choose Christ, being thankful for my bosses helpful ideas and for the opportunity to practice love. So that's what I did. I still had a lot of work to accomplish, but it all came together and my day wasn't ruined because I chose to follow Christ and let Him be my joy instead of my situation.

In discussing this choice with a friend, a question was brought up. I don't remember what the wording was exactly, but it was something about praying to get to that decision, or praying more in that situation to be able to make that choice. The Holy Spirit reminded me of these simple truths. I had already spent time in "prayer." Prayer is communion with God, whether that be through reading His Word, talking about Him with friends, worshiping Him at church, or something else. Because of my time in prayer, I already knew what God's will was for that situation. I didn't have to pray more. The choice was now mine: would I be obedient to His will or would I choose my emotions instead?

This is something I'm continually working on practicing, but those 3 steps are ones I never really realized.

1. His Word - When we spend time in the Word, we're spending time with God. (John 1:1)
2. His Will - Ask the Holy Spirit for understanding of His Word.
3. Choose obedience - My response doesn't need to be more prayer, my response now needs to be obedience to what I know according to His Word.

This is simple truth. So I encourage you to know His Word so that when you come across any situation in life you will know His will. And then I encourage you to be obedient to what His will is. He that is in us is greater than He that is in the world (1 John 4:4) and provides all the power and strength we need to walk in obedience.