Stop listening to your heart!

     Imagine your heart like a pitcher. You know, the kind you make tea or Kool-aid in. 
     Whatever ingredients you put in it, that determines the taste. No matter what you may want to taste or expect to taste, when a glass is put in front of it, what comes out of the pitcher is determined exactly by what you put in it.
     That's exactly what happens when you pour something into your heart. That's exactly why it's SO DANGEROUS to listen to your heart!
     Jeremiah 17:9 says:  The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

     When you pour hate in your heart, you will pour out hate on others — or even yourself. When you pour anger, resentment, fear, jealousy, pride, or bitterness on your heart, it will leak out somehow. Even if you try hard not to let it. 

     It makes me think of verses I heard in Sunday school from Genesis 4:6-7: Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

     What a scary thought? Sin is crouching at MY door and desires to HAVE me! I MUST master it!! 

     Whatever is causing you to put negative feelings in your heart, that's not from God. That comes from you, rooted in sin that you are responsible for mastering. Nobody else!

     Whether you are dealing with a boyfriend, gossip, bullies, your best friends, your siblings, it's so important that you MASTER YOUR EMOTIONS. Otherwise, they will rule over you. (You can learn more about this in the current issue of Mighty Strong Girls.)

     "But it feels right to be angry," you might say. Especially if it's a social injustice you are fired up about. And that's right, it's OK sometimes to be angry. 

     Before you soak your heart with the emotion, line it up with the one source of TRUTH you have been given from the Lord — His word. It is your guide for all the ingredients God desires for you to pour into your heart, so you can in turn pour it out onto others. 

     God isn't responsible for our hearts. We are. He offers us truth. We can find it in His word. 

     

Day 26: Act out your anger

Today's reading — Proverbs 14

My morning devotion — delivered daily to my email in-box (you can sign up to have ours sent to your email, too!) was all about anger. Then I opened up Proverbs to our place today, and guess what? 

It seems today's theme is anger. 

So let's chat. What makes you mad? Bullying? Gossips? Peer pressure? Ungodly behavior among your friends? 

Anger....well, I don't necessarily think the emotion of anger is a bad one. It's what you do with it that can cause you to stumble and sin. 

Take a look at how it's discussed in Proverbs 14. 

From verse 16, it's clear that hotheaded and reckless behavior are considered foolish. But the wise fear the Lord and "shun evil."

Later, in verse 22, it says that if you plot evil you will go astray. So it's unwise to use your anger to do "bad things." 

But I believe you can take the anger and use it for good — developing a plan for love and faithfulness, also from verse 22. 

As I write this, it kind of reminds me of Mighty Strong Girls. It's pretty easy to get mad when you think about how girls are portrayed in the media as sexual objects, how they are shoved into a box with all the expectations and stereotypes for our gender, how they are second-class citizens. It's angering to learn about how prevalent female genital mutilation still is in most African nations. It's downright disgusting that many women are pressured to have abortions or even kill their newborn babies — simply because they are girls. 

Most people believe these facts justify a plan for evil against those who would commit such atrocities. But God. He says NO. He says make a plan that is written in love and faithfulness. 

So instead of attacking the enemy, Mighty Strong Girls is attacking the problem by offering a positive alternative. We aren't the only one. There are so many wonderful organizations doing great and awesome things out of love and faithfulness to help girls RISE UP!

My dear girls, you can do this with the anger in your lives, too, no matter the situation. Pray about it. Think about it. Don't be hotheaded and act out your anger with immediate hatred. Instead, take that energy and pour it into something positive. Be the change you want to see! 

{xoxo}
Amy