VISITORS TODAY
We were pleased to welcome Tim and Jessica Pierce to class this morning. The Pierces have three children: Mikagle McDaniel(2/7/2002), Sean McDaniel (9/19/2003), and Hailey McDaniel (7/21/2005).
We have been blessed all summer with a steady stream of visitors. Let's continue to welcome our visitors and make them feel at home. I always follow-up with a letter or e-mail to our visitors inviting them to join our class. If any of you would like to make contact also, just let me know and I will provide contact information.
In today's lesson, Dr. Gillham began with a story about a bear--a mean, man-eating bear in Alaska. He asked us to imagine that we were walking along the Alaskan prairie when we saw the bear galloping toward us at break-neck speed, intent on having us for lunch. As we consider our options, we run into a cabin made of railroad ties...in other words, it is sturdy and stable. We lock the door behind us and we notice a small window in the front of the cabin. The window is large enough for the bear to look through and to stick his front paw through. However, we are safe. The bear is unsuccessful in every effort to invade the cabin. The diagram above comes from the leader's guide to today's lesson and is the diagram that was shown during the lesson. It illustrates how our mind and our emotions influence our will and our actions.
Dr. Gillham states, "Emotions are a powerful force in our lives. We dare not ignore them, but neither should we be ruled by them. God intends that we 'walk by faith,'and faith is anchored in the mind, not the emotions." In this lesson, Dr. Gillham shares four steps to help us understand how not to be dominated by our emotions, but rather to walk by faith in consistent victory.
STEP 1--TRUTH
In the case of the bear story, you are safe in the cabin. But, unless you know that you are safe from the bear, you can still die from heart failure. All of our lives, we have heard the saying, "What you don't know won't hurt you." However, Bill helps us to understand that in the case of your spiritual walk, what you don't know can and will destroy you. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:6)
STEP 2--FAITH
As the bear story progresses and as time passes, you eventually begin to realize that you are safe inside the cabin. Bill calls this "cabin faith." Whether you are talking about "cabin faith" or Christian faith, the issue is not the amount of faith. The main issue is the object of your faith. You can believe you are safe inside the cabin and not act on your faith and still die from heart failure.
STEP 3--WORKS (behavior, performance): Act like you are safe.
If you were in the cabin and the bear continued to ram his head against the door, shaking every timber in the building and he continued to growl and swat his paw through the window seeking to reach your body and you continued to see his bared teeth as he growls, your emotions would still have great difficulty buying the fact that you were safe. As I mentioned in class, I would still be looking for more protection, more insurance....such as a high caliber weapon or a long, sharp spear...anything that I might use to fend off the assault. However, Bill points out that regardless of what your emotions are feeling, you can choose to act like you are safe, lining your behavior up with reality. As Bill mentioned, you could even choose to lie down on the floor and catch up on your Bible reading. Remember from last week the definition of a hypocrite. If you begin to act like who you are, "feeler" will not like it and sin will accuse you of being a hypocrite; but you will be walking by faith, believing the truth, living in reality.
STEP 4--FEELINGS--You finally begin to feel safer, sort of.
You will never gain total control over your emotions. Even Jesus dealt with emotions at Gethsemane, but He still had peace. Some people say that they have lost their peace of mind when things go wrong, but they never really had peace of mind in the first place; they had peace of feel. True peace, the "peace that passes understanding," is knowing that the Father has everything under control and that He is conforming you to the image of Christ.
Here is a challenge from this lesson:
Pray, "Lord, begin a new work in me. I'm going to feel weird when I act differently than I feel. I am trusting You to make my identity in Christ a reality in my life. You, not my emotions, are the essence of my identity. I do not want the truths I am learning to be just information. Right now, as best as I understand it, I offer myself as a living sacrifice to You to do Your will in me."
Have a great week. Don't hesitate to contact me personally if I can help you in any way.
Jimmy
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