Negative Emotions: Window to Father's Love

No one enjoys negative emotions like:  anger, shame, bitterness, disappointment, discouragement, loss, guilt, depression, inadequacy, failure, anxiety, fear, or worry.  Yet in a turbulent wold these emotions are all to common of our human experience.  With the stock market taking wild swings, rumors of war in Korea, and mass shootings we are continually assaulted with events that could trigger negative emotions.

We need to reframe our negative emotions to see them the way Father does, each one of these emotions are a window for us to experience Father's love.  Yet if we do not see them the way He sees them, we will end feeling and believing we are in a worse place.  What if I told you that your brain is actually designed to lead you into experiencing God at new levels every time you experience a negative emotion.  We must be prepared to learn how to partner with God in this journey.  Every one of us when we experience an emotion, also then are led to a context for that emotion we will call this memory.  The problem for many of us is that we believe our experience of a negative emotion is because of what is happening now.  In reality we are feeling what we believe but this belief has it's context in memory.  Let's say I feel inadequate, which as I look deeper is really a feeling of "I am not good enough."  The context of this belief turns out to be a memory where an earthly father displays disappointing looks as I fail to make the shot in a game on the 4th grade basketball team (made up scenario).  The next component, truth, of going into the window of Father's Love is to ask Jesus His perspective in this context and regarding this belief.  As I look to Jesus I see that He says that He is always pleased with me and always proud of me.

The final dimension to this process is transformation, where this new revelation of truth and who Jesus is for me brings about renewing of my mind and then transformation.  Seeing that Father's love for me in this place is greater than the lie (I am never good enough) I once believed.  What if instead of fighting our negative emotions, seeking to medicate the pain associated with the negative emotions, or trying to stuff our feelings we could see a window into Father's love.  Every negative emotion in our life if we position our hearts to align with God's purpose could be an amazing opportunity to experience truth and thus freedom on new levels.

It has been said that 80% of Christians thinking is negative.  Could it be that we have not positioned our hearts and reframed these thoughts to experience God.  In a world that is increasingly negative in it's thinking, news, and perspective that we as believers need to rise up in our true identity to see from a new perspective.  I know for me after having a father commit suicide when I was 6, I learned early the bitter pain of life and thus adopted a very negative perspective.  I am learning to see as Father sees, so that I can experience His love in new dimensions.

Reframing the negative,
Bret

Your Incredible Value to Father

When I review my walk with God, and reflect on various revelations that have impacted me deeply
regarding experiencing more of Father’s love, understanding my value to Father is, without a doubt, one of the top three revelations.  You may ask, “Why is understanding value so important when it is an experience of Father’s love that I am pursuing.”  The answer to that question is, only when you gain revelation of your value to Father will you be able to open your heart to greater depths of the
experience of His love.  Understanding value steers us toward an accurate perspective when it comes to comprehending the magnitude of Father’s love.

1 Peter 1:18-19 states, “knowing that you were not redeemed (bought back) with perishable things like silver or gold…but with precious blood…the blood of Christ.”  These verses speak of an exchange that occurred in order to purchase our salvation and entrance into the Kingdom of God.  This transaction, or redemption, was paid through the death of Christ on the cross and the spilling of His blood.  But, what does this really tell us regarding our value to Father?  Our minds can usually grasp that Christ’s death is critically important and was necessary for our salvation.  But, again, what does that really mean in light of our value to Father?  Let me further clarify by reflecting on the principle of redemption.

Let’s say that I have a really nice gold ring that has significant value to me both monetarily and sentimentally.  However, I fall on hard times financially and I decide that I’m going to sell the ring for some quick cash.  I hop in my car and head down to the nearest pawn shop in order to take care of the transaction.  I present my ring to the man behind the counter and ask him for top dollar for my precious ring.  He states he will give me $75 for the ring.  I think the ring is worth much more than this but need the cash, so I agree to follow through with the transaction.  As I drive back home and into my driveway, I begin to be overwhelmed with regret.  I begin to think about all that the ring means to me and come to the strong conclusion that selling the ring was a huge mistake.  So, I start my car up again and drive back to the pawn shop in order to get my ring back.  I walk through the front door and to the counter to speak with the man who handled my original transaction.  I begin apologizing to him for selling the ring and let him know how much the ring means to me.  I tell him that I would like to have the ring back.  The pawn shop associate looks at me and says “That will be no problem” as he, additionally, states, “That will be $150”.  This example illustrates the principle of redemption.  The price of redemption always exceeds the value the item was originally sold for.

Through the fall of Adam, we know that we (all humanity) were sold into bondage to sin (Romans 7:14) and, being under sin, Satan had dominion and ownership over us.  But, from the very beginning, God the Father had already devised a plan of redemption (Genesis 3:15).  Let me provide you with an illustration that, while not accurate, does an excellent job at depicting our value to Father.  It’s as though Father looked down on fallen humanity (you, me, all of us) and stated, “My loved ones, my cherished ones, have sold themselves into my enemy’s hands.  I will not stand for this.  I must have them back for Myself.  But where will I find something of enough value to pay in order to redeem them?  What do I have that is of enough value to pay the ultimate price?”  First Father looked among His angels, but could not find an angel or angels with the value to redeem humanity.  His eyes scanned all of creation, but He could not find anything of sufficient value to buy us back.  In fact, Father saw that not even all creation, both in the heavenlies and in the natural realm, was of enough value to redeem those created in His image.  And with that, He looked at His only Son, Jesus, and stated, “Son, You are the only One who can pay the ultimate price.  You are the only One of high enough value who can redeem My beloved children back to me.  Will you go so that I can, once again, have the sons and daughters who will choose Me?  Without hesitating, Jesus looked into His Father’s eyes, burning with zeal and love for all humanity, and stated, “Yes, Father, I will go, and it is going to be worth it”.  And, for this joy set before Him, Jesus endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2).

You see, Father demonstrated the quality and expanse of His love—our value—while we were helpless, and while we were in our sins (Romans 5: 6 & 8).  How much more, then, does He want us to experience His love when we have made the choice to become His sons and daughters.  We must be willing to let go of wrong judgments toward God and choose the truth that a Father who values and loves us this much is good in every sense of the word.  As we begin to conform to this truth, Father has even promised to cause all things seemingly bad and destructive in our lives to work together for our good.  As we pursue and meditate on our indescribable value to Father, we open our hearts wider and wider to receive greater experiences of this incredible love that He has freely given to us.

Blessings,

Jeff C Eger

Healing the Wounded Heart

One of the biggest barriers to experiencing and walking in Father's love is wounding of the heart.  There is a great danger in talking about woundedness because then we tend to focus on our hurt and on ourselves, rather than who Christ is for us.  The other side of the ditch is that we ignore and deny that people are wounded by sin, then we have many people who are stuck and not growing due to not finding healing for their wounds.  When important people sin against us, particularly as children, then there is often a wound which gives rise to a lie about our identity.  If the person does not give access to the wound to Jesus, then the lie remains until it is triggered by relationships or circumstances.

The most common way that wounding is caused is by some form of rejection, abandonment, neglect, or abuse.  An important role of parents in our lives is to represent the love of the Father to us, when they misrepresent His love then wounding and hurt can give rise to lies.  Love is connected to being valued, when our value is diminished by those entrusted to growing us up valued and loved then there is wounding.  In Charles Solomon's 1991 book "The Ins and Out of Rejection" he says that 98% of Christians are not walking in their identity "in Christ" and it is primarily because they find their identity into woundedness.

Jesus was deeply wounded while He walked the earth but there was purpose for His wounding.  The prophet Isaiah reveals the Messiah's purpose for being wounded in Isaiah 53:3-5 says "He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed."  Jesus identified with us in our brokenness, grief, wounds, and hurt so we could identify with Him in His wholeness and freedom.

As we give Jesus access to the most wounded places in our hearts (rejection, abandonment, abuse, and neglect), then we receive truth from Him which removes the lie and heals our hearts.  From this encounter we can bring healing to others, so our wounds become not only a place of healing for us but also for others.

In His Healing for our wounds,
Bret

His Desire

Many times in the Body of Christ there is an emphasis on us seeking God, certainly Scripture is filled with verses on the subject.  Is this overemphasized in our Christian culture because there is another important truth and that God is seeking us.  God being the Creator is the initiator of all life, He is the One who sought out His people, pursued Israel even when they had fallen into idolatry, and is the One who initiated our complete salvation in Jesus Christ.  I would even venture to say God's desire is truly one of the greatest truths throughout the whole of Scripture and time.  Whatever begins with man is only going to end with man, the initiation by the flesh will only result in the fruit of the flesh.

In our postmodern, technologically advanced, and faced-paced world often the most pressing question is "what do I want?"  There is a great frenzy to discover what we want but even more frenzy to offer a myriad of choices with the promise of fulfilling our desire.  Commercial seek to awaken our desire, only to offer a product that will scratch the itch.  All of this can lead us to become incredibly self-focused, where God invites us to become focused on who He is and His desire.

I was struck by Jesus statement in John 4:23-24, " But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”  The Father's desire here is that people would be so caught up in the beauty, majesty, sovereignty, and glory of who God is for them that they would be transformed into worshipers.  These are not necessarily worship leaders, singers, or those who are up front but those who whole life glistens with magnifying who God is for them.  The Father is actively seeking those worshipers, He does not idly wait for us to seek Him but is calling out to us to come into an intimate place of worship, fellowship, and covenant.  In this place His desires become our desires, His qualities become our qualities, we become conformed to the image of His Son, and His concerns become our concerns.  In this place there is no room for self worship but only worship of the One who is worthy of it all.

Will you enter into a new depth of our covenant in Jesus Christ, giving yourself over to God's desire for you and being caught up in who He is for you in every dimension of your life.

Worshiping the One,
Bret