1 Peter5:7-8 : Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Our soul/spirit was designed to function in union with our body. The obvious correlation is between the brain and the mind.
我们灵魂原本的设计是要与我们的身体和谐运作的。 最明显的相互关系是在大脑和心灵之间。
The brain functions like computer hardware. The mind is like the software. In the Bible the overwhelming emphasis is on the mind: choosing truth, believing the truth, taking every thought captive, and so on.
We cannot directly control our feelings but we can in fact change our emotions over time by choosing to change what we can control: what we believe and how we behave.
Our emotions are to our soul what our ability to feel pain is to our body.
If what you believe does not reflect truth, then what you feel will not reflect reality. Life’s events don’t determine who you are or what you feel – it’s your perception of those events.
The more we commit ourselves to the truth and chose to believe what God says is true, the more we will see our circumstances from God’s perspective and the less our feelings will run away with us.
The main cause of stress is that we have come to believe through past experiences or failures that we are helpless or hopeless. But no Christian is helpless or hopeless.
Do you agree that it’s not your circumstances that determine how you feel but how you see those circumstances?
If you tend to feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, how might you start to make sure that you are looking at your circumstances in a healthy way that reflects what is actually true?
你是否相信,不是你的环境决定你的感觉,而是你如何看待环境,决定着感觉?
如果你容易被负面情绪压倒,怎么可能确信,你会以一种健康的反映真实现实的方式来看待你的环境?
Following Feelings Makes Us Vulnerable To Attack
跟随感觉使我们脆弱难以承受打击
You don’t feel your way into good behaviour. You behave your way into good feelings 。 We start by choosing to believe the truth which works itself out in our behaviour. This then over time leads to a change in our feelings.
A failure to handle emotions such as anger (see 1 Peter 5:7-9) and anxiety (see 1 Peter 5:7-9) in the right way sets us up for problems.
Suppression is when we consciously ignore our feelings or choose not to deal with them. There are two problems with that---- it’s unhealthy and it’s dishonest.
压抑是我们有意识地忽视我们的感受或者选择不去解决它们。这有两个问题 ---- 不健康,不诚实。
Explode (Indiscriminate Expression)
爆发(不区分情况的任意表达)
Indiscriminate expression is unhealthy for those around us 。
“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”(James 1:19, 20).
The healthy response is to be honest and acknowledge how we feel, first to God, but also to others.
健康的反应是诚实,向神,也向别人承认我们的感受。
Pause For Thought 2
思考问题2
Look at Psalm 109:6-15. Have you ever feel like David? Have you ever prayed like that? Would it be right to pray like that? Is there anything that you feel you could not say to God that He does not already know?
God doesn’t want emotional pain from our past to influence us negatively today.
Children of God are not primarily products of their past. They are primarily products of Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection. Nobody can fix our past, but we can be free from it. We can re-evaluate our past from the perspective of who we are now in Christ. God sets us free as we forgive from our hearts those people who have offended us.
If you are feeling angry, anxious or depresses, do you think it would be better not to let that show to non-Christians around you in case you are a bad advertisement for Jesus Christ? Or do you think it might be better for them to see you as you really are?
1. Suppose someone has the power to take away the sensation of pain and offered it to you as a gift. Would you receive it?
2. Do you agree that it is not your circumstances that determined how you feel but how you look at those circumstances?
3. If you tend to feel overwhelmed by negative emotions, how might you start to make sure you are looking at your circumstances in a healthy way that reflects what is actually true?
4. When something triggers a strong emotion in you do you tend to cover it up, explode or acknowledge it?
5. Read Psalm 109:6-15. Does it surprise you that something like that is in the Bible? Remember this is the holy, inspired, perfect word of God! Have you ever felt like David? Have you ever prayed like that? Would it be right to pray like that?
6. Is there anything that you feel you could not say to God that He does not already know?
Consider the emotional nature of Apostle Peter. First, have a look at some occasions where he let his emotions run away with him and acted or spoke too hastily: Matthew 16: 21-23; Matthew 17:1-5; John 18:1-11. Second, look at how Jesus was able to look beyond these emotional outbursts and see his potential: Matthew 16:17-19. Finally, see how that came true when Peter, under the power of the Holy Spirit, became the spokesperson of the earthly church: Acts 2:14-41. Nothing in your character is so big that God cannot make something good out of it!
Big Questions (to consider before the next session):
思考问题(下一课之前思考:
Think of the worst thing anyone ever did to you ( you will not be asked to share it). Why should you forgive that person? Can you think of any good reasons why you shouldn’t forgive someone?