How to be a spiritual person (Part 1)

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."  The Lord Jesus

You can't be spiritual without The Spirit.  You can't flow with the wind without The Wind.  
God's Breath in you is your spirit.  This is the key to the beginning of being a spiritual person.  
Let's begin being a spiritual person.  If you agree, flow with me.

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

You heard it and felt it: your breath, your spirit, your life, your essence.
Your breath came from God's Breath--His Spirit, His Life, His Essence.

Before you think, speak, or act, breathe.
If you agree, flow with me.
Do it now.

Breathe in.
Breathe out.

When Moses asked God His name, God replied:  I am who I am.
When you breathe in and breathe out, you are like God:  You are who you are--God's creature.
Make no mistake.  You are not the Creator, nor the same as the Creator.  
You are a creature, made in the image and likeness and glory of our Creator.
When you breathe in and breathe out, you are who you are.

This is how to be a spiritual person: 

Breathe in, breathe out; be who you are where you are wherever you are.

Accept your Creator and yourself as His creature; accept that your breath is His Breath.
Click here for part 2.

How to be a spiritual person (Part 2)

"Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Paul, and ambassador of Jesus

You can't be spiritual without a Spirit focused mind.  
The Spirit's desires must be your own.  
Your mindset must be a Spirit led mindset.  

This is my favorite definition of mindset: 

A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations.

Apply this to a spiritual mindset, or a Spirit led mindset: 

Spiritual mindset is a fixed mental disposition that predetermines 

a spiritual interpretation and response to situations.  

It means when you have an encounter in any situation, you allow the Spirit to interpret the situation, and in that situation, you respond in obedience to the Spirit.

This is how to be a spiritual person:  Have a spiritual mindset.

Have a fixed mental focus that predetermines 

(before any situation) a spiritual interpretation and response to that situation.  

Here is an illustration.
I have a friend named Yusef who is discouraged.  I want to encourage him but I don't know how.  So, having a fixed spiritual focus, I ask the Spirit to interpret Yusef's discouragement, and to tell me how to respond to his discouragement. The Spirit tells me to take Yusef on a drive at night, in a neighborhood with big beautiful houses. while listening to jazz music.  I hesitate because I don't think Yusef will like doing this.  I have a choice:  Follow the Spirit, or follow my reasoning.  I choose to follow the Spirit, and I take Yusef on the drive as the Spirit led me to do.  Yusef asks, "Why are you doing this?"  Afraid, I say, "No reason."  Yusef says, "I used to do this all the time by myself:  I used to go driving at night in neighborhoods with big houses listening to jazz.  But I never thought anyone would want to do this with me."  I told Yusef that the Spirit led me to do this.

You can experience the Spirit's leading in your life just like I did.  You can be a spiritual person.

Practice having a spiritual mindset for an hour, and let me know how it went in the comments.

Using the Power of Order in Your Life

Whenever you encounter disorder you encounter the devil.  Satan is always behind disorder wherever it is, directly or indirectly.  But God is always the source of order.  God's children promote His order; Satan's children promote disorder.  As it is written,

"Blessed are the peace makers,

for they will be called the children of God."

As a child of God, you should establish and maintain order, wherever you go, and whatever you do, in specific contexts of authority:

• If you're a husband, your focus is submission to the will of the Spirit of Christ.
• If you're a wife, your focus is submission to your husband in submission to the Lord.
• If you're a parent, your mission is submission to the will of your heavenly Father.
• If you're an employer, your mission is submission to the will of your heavenly Employer. 
• If you're a teacher, your mission is submission to Jesus, your heavenly Teacher. 
• If you're a child, your mission is submission to the will of your father and mother. 
• If you're an employee, you mission is submission to the will of your employer. 
• If you're a student, your mission is submission to the lesson given by your teacher.

You're the difference in these situations between the presence of God and Satan.  As it is written, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 

Chaos and disorder destroy freedom. 

We are only free when there is order. 

God is not the author of disorder but of peace. 

You are a child of God.  

Wherever you are, there should be order.

 

How am I Supposed to Feel? (Part 3)

John sees Jane hugging a man very tightly.  His fists clench and his face turns dark red.  John quickly walks up to Jane and the man and yells, "Get your hands off of my wife!" 

"John, he's my brother. I haven't seen him in 10 years."

***

Jane sees John writing at his desk; he never takes his eyes off of his pen and paper.  She feels tears well up in her eyes; the same tears she felt when her boss yelled at her.  Jane walks over to John's desk and says, "I feel like you don't even know or care that I'm home."  

"Oh hey Sweetheart.  I'm sorry.  I was writing you a love note because I know you've had such a hard day."

***



If John knew Jane was hugging her brother, and if Jane knew John was writing her a love letter, both would've felt differently.  In other words, if they knew the truth, it would have set their feelings free.

***

John sees Jane hugging a man very tightly.  He pauses and breathes because he feels blood coming to his face.  "God please help me to find out what's going on with Jane so I can respond the right way."  After feeling the blood leave his face, John walks up to Jane. 

"John, I want you to meet my brother.  I haven't seen him in ten years." 
John smiles and shakes his brother-in-law's hand, glad to finally meet him.

***

Jane sees John writing; he doesn't look up at all.  She pauses and breathes in, not allowing herself to cry just yet.  (She's had a very hard day.)  She prays that God will help her to find out what John is doing without coming to wrong conclusions.  She touches John on the shoulder and he takes her hand. 

"Hey sweetheart. I was just writing you a love letter, hoping your day got better." 

Jane let herself cry, but now with tears of love.

***

 



How are we supposed to feel?  We are supposed to feel whatever the truth dictates at the moment.  But the truth is the key.  We have to know what is actually going on before we speak and act.  This brief time period to find out the truth is the whole point.  As the apostle James said, we have to "be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to (express) anger."  I added "express" because that is the feel of what James is saying.  Paul said to be angry, but not to sin, or DO something wrong, excusing our wrong doing because of our anger.  We are supposed to feel whatever we feel in the moment, but we are not supposed to act on that feeling until we know the truth. 

How am I Supposed to Feel? (Part 2)

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."~The Lord Jesus

Remember how I said I wanted to be as free to feel as God is?  Remember I also said that sometimes God does things He doesn't like or want to do?  Now I'm thinking two things. 

1.  God always knows the truth about everything, so His feelings are always perfectly accurate and based on the facts.  That's why He can feel freely.  He sees clearly.  When God does something He doesn't want to do,  it's really Him doing something less preferable, or something that has to be done at the time that the facts dictate, even though He would want the situation to be different.  It's like parents who have to put their child out of the house.  They don't want to do it, but the facts show that it's necessary.  So they aren't really forcing themselves to act against their wills.  They are doing something they wish they didn't have to do. That was my first thought.

2.  The parents put their child out of the house because they know the truth.  They know that unless they put their child out, more harm will come to him or her than if they let the child stay. The parents' choice is based on these facts.

I believe this is the path to emotional freedom; this is how I am supposed to feel.

The reason I need to breathe or pause before speaking and acting is not because I want to repress the emotion.  I don't want to lose control and explode in a rage, nor do I want to be a cold robotic man.  I want to feel, yet be in control. 

How do I do that?  By knowing the truth.  The truth is the key to choosing and feeling.  I choose to focus on the truth so that my feelings can be true and intense. By knowing, speaking, and acting upon the truth, I can express all of my feelings. 

Click HERE for part 3.

How am I Supposed to Feel? (Part 1)

Have you ever asked yourself, "How am I supposed to feel?"  What was your answer? 

I know that I want to know how to feel in every situation.  I want the freedom to feel without regret.  I want to say and do what I feel, but at the same time be in control of my feelings.  I don't want to feel like I lost some emotional battle when someone tells me to "calm down" in an emotionally calm and condescending way.  I hate when that happens because I feel embarrassed to feel what I'm feeling in front of someone who is so "in control."  So how do I do it?  How do we do it?  How are we supposed to feel?

I want to be as free to feel as God is, and for my feelings to be as perfect as His.  Imagine that.  I can just "be angry but not sin" as the apostle Paul says...just like God.  Now God can pour out his wrath and let his anger out.  But He is also patient, slow to anger; He is perfectly just in His expression of anger.  How can I be like that?  Genuinely like that? 

One thing that helps me is realizing that God basically does the same thing we do when we get angry.  It's not as easy for Him to be sinlessly angry as I thought, which used to bother me. I thought it was unfair for God to want me to do something that was hard for me but easy for Him.  But there is a scripture that says, "God does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men."  So if God doesn't willingly afflict or grieve people, then that means He does it unwillingly.  In other words, God is doing something that He doesn't want to do.  The prophet Ezekiel also says, "God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked or of anyone."  But God is the one in control of life and death.  So when the wicked or anyone else dies, God is responsible as the Creator and Sustainer of life; yet He is doing something, or allowing something, that doesn't feel good to Him.  Just like I have to do sometimes, or just like you do. 

So our will seems to be the answer.  Not forcing ourselves any more than God forces Himself to do anything.  But being in control of our choices...not in the bad sense of control, but in the sense of being genuinely free to choose what we say and do.  We take a breath, or pause, or whatever we have to do to get a handle on our wills, our thoughts, and our feelings.  We  don't do this to suppress our feelings, but instead to fully express them in words and actions that we choose for the situation.

Emotions fuel action, and actions assume a goal, a goal we should understand with our minds.

(Click HERE for part 2.)