Recently I threw a temper tantrum in front my husband. It was a real emotionally charged female temper tantrum, with tears and snot needing and wanting cuddles for comfort, it was all about “ME”. My husband told me that I was in the flesh and instead of showing any respect towards “ME”, he simply suggested I should renew my mind. He put the Bible in front of my nose and pointed out Romans 12:1-2, and after explaining the scripture and reminding me about my last 2 years in Bible College and previous Christian experiences, he left me alone.
So with my pride crushed and my attitude confronted I marched into the living room, on the way there, I picked up a book from my husband’s bedside cabinet – which I believe the Holy Spirit guided me towards– from an author called Graham Cooke.
I was so hurt that I had been chastised by my husband and was not coping with the realisation that the world did not revolve around “ME”, but I started to read the book trying to gather myself back together.
Anyway, to cut the story short and talk about Jesus now and not “ME”, here is something I really enjoyed in the book and it gave me a fresh revelation:
As newborn Christians, our soul – our mind, emotions and will – is always battling with our spirit. It always wants its own way, it wants self-gratification, is always seeking reassurance, and wants to meet with God on our own terms. As the apostle Paul said talking about the battle of these two halves in Romans 7:14-25.
I am a”worrier”; I always find something to be anxious about. This is my soul. If a situation comes, that I wasn’t prepared for, or I need to decide about a situation quickly, I always panic. Instead of looking to God I am looking at “ME” and my own resources.
Like the disciples in Mark 4. Jesus, the greatest weatherman of all time, saw a storm brewing on the Sea of Galilee and made a suggestion: ‘Let’s go for a boat ride!’ He and His disciples got into the boat and set sail. A few minutes later, Jesus was asleep in the back.
Almost everyone in the boat was an experienced fisherman, but they had never encountered a storm like this – a storm engineered by God for a particular purpose. Things were bad, the waves were fierce, and Jesus was asleep. How could He have been so undisturbed and tranquil? How could He sleep through this?
Many times if you put together a man living in his spirit and a man living in the soul, and subject them to the same experiences, the soulish man will accuse the spiritual one of not caring. Why? Because, a spiritual man will experience peace in the midst of a storm; how could he care if he’s not showing anxiety? We have made a virtue out of being anxious.
Actually a spiritual man does care, but he is caring from a different place. The soulish man experiences worry in his mind, emotions and will: the spiritual man experiences every circumstance in the presence of God.
Anxiety will never overcome anything.
Instead of worrying, we should do what Jesus did: speak to what is happening in the physical world from what we are experiencing in our spirit.
