Does your serenity, peace of mind, and joy depend upon a choice another person makes?<\/p>\n
Think of your favorite person. They have good points and faults. You don\u2019t have problems with their strengths, but when they won\u2019t do something that\u2019s important to you, you have a choice to make. One of your options is to resent them, become bitter, and\/or dwell on the fact that there\u2019s some little thing this person isn\u2019t doing that you want them to do, and it can ruin your relationship.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr. S. I. McMillian, a physician, in his book None of These Diseases<\/em>, says, \u201cThe moment I start hating a man, I become his slave.\u201d<\/p>\n Has this happened to you? A person you dislike begins to control your work time, pleasure time, sleep time, etc., because they\u2019re controlling your thoughts. If you want to be free, and not be a slave to what others do, you need to be happily aware of the whole person, including his strong points and his weak points.<\/p>\n King Solomon must have had a similar experience, for he wrote in Proverbs 15:17, \u201cBetter a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred\u201d<\/em> (NIV).<\/p>\n The Apostle Paul, trying to be helpful to his friends, the Corinthians, said to them, \u201cI brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal\u201d<\/em> (1 Corinthians 3:1, KJV). In verse 3, he describes what he means:\u00a0\u201cIs there envying?\u201d<\/em> That is, if you\u2019re annoyed, disgruntled and uncomfortable over somebody else\u2019s success, opportunities, or their wealth, and you can\u2019t enjoy these folks because you envy them, that\u2019s carnality. Carnal behavior also displays itself through arguing, quarreling, striving, divisions, and unresolved conflicts.<\/p>\n We need to live our lives \u201cspiritually\u201d \u2013 as men and women who have at our fingertips, in our inner lives, the resources of God.<\/p>\n Maybe you\u2019re crying out to God for help, and He doesn\u2019t seem to hear you.<\/p>\n Isaiah 59:1-2 says,\u00a0\u201cThe Lord\u2019s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear\u201d<\/em> (KJV). He does hear you!<\/p>\n Approach God, not in terms of telling Him about someone else, but in terms of yourself.<\/p>\n Isaiah 53:6 (KJV) says,\u00a0\u201cAll we like sheep have gone astray; and we have turned everyone to his own way.\u201d<\/em> Do things always have to be your way? The remainder of this verse says,\u00a0\u201cThe Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.\u201d<\/em> Jesus has paid for our selfishness and desire to always have life on our terms.<\/p>\n Each person needs to come face-to-face with the fact that each one of us has a tendency to want our own way. And the only way to deal with that tendency is to come to Jesus Christ. That\u2019s why we need a Savior \u2013 to be saved from ourselves, from having our own way.<\/p>\n Take a step . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n If you haven\u2019t already done so, invite Jesus Christ to come into your life as your Savior. Confess wanting to have things your own way, asking God to forgive you. Ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and to give you the power to let go of your tendency to want your own way.<\/p>\n[This summary is from Dr. Brandt\u2019s message A Free Spirit<\/em>. Click here<\/a>\u00a0to listen to the audio or read the transcript.<\/em>]\n [Go to\u00a0Discover Inner Peace<\/em>]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Does your serenity, peace of mind, and joy depend upon a choice another person makes? Think of your favorite person. They have good points and faults. You don\u2019t have problems with their strengths, but when they won\u2019t do something that\u2019s important to you, you have a choice to make. One of your options is to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[11,5],"tags":[96,122,83],"author_meta":{"display_name":"ddunn","author_link":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/author\/ddunn\/"},"featured_img":null,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Biblical Mental Health<\/a>","Inner Peace<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Biblical Mental Health<\/span>","Inner Peace<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["attitude<\/a>","freedom<\/a>","human relations<\/a>"],"unlinked":["attitude<\/span>","freedom<\/span>","human relations<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 12 years ago","modified":"Updated 4 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on November 18, 2009","modified":"Updated on July 2, 2017"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on November 18, 2009 9:08 pm","modified":"Updated on July 2, 2017 6:39 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"ddunn","author_link":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/author\/ddunn\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6890,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions\/6890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalcounselinginsights.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}