The post "Three C's to Calming Your Emotions in a Crisis" first appeared on Tony Evans' Kingdom Life Weekly Devotional.
Living a life of peace and calm starts in your thoughts. What you allow yourself to think on will have a direct impact on the level of peace you experience in your emotions. This truth is why Satan seeks to influence and infiltrate people’s thoughts through music, movies, social media and so many other ways. Whoever or whatever controls the thoughts controls the emotions.
I want to give you three solid steps you can apply which will set you on the right path toward full emotional freedom. If you will faithfully commit yourself to these three steps, you will begin to enjoy a greater sense of peace and calm in your life. The first step is to challenge your thoughts. Then, if any do not align with God’s Word, you will need to change your thoughts. In addition to these two steps, you also need to charge your thoughts. Let’s look at all three steps in more detail:
Challenge Your Thoughts. Don’t readily receive all thoughts in your mind as being life-producing or calm-inducing thoughts. Challenge your thoughts by holding them up against the standard of God’s Word. If and when your thoughts do not align with God’s promises in His Word or in obedience to His commands, you can identify those thoughts as contrary to His will for you. Allowing them to remain will lead only to greater emotional turmoil.
Change Your Thoughts. Once you’ve identified a particular thought that runs contrary to God’s truth, you can make the choice to change it. A thought can be changed either through releasing it and letting it go, or by seeking out more information and clarity on the subject—based on God’s Word. Change your thoughts so that they are in sync with the truth of God and His laws of love. That will point you in the direction of peace.
Charge Your Thoughts. Make spending time in God’s Word a regular occurrence. Meditate on His Word. Read His Word for a greater understanding. As you explore God’s truth and what His perspective is on a matter, it will charge your thoughts with life-giving hope. Just like a car battery needs to be charged in order for it to fulfill its function, our thoughts need to be charged with the energy of God’s truth in order for them to produce the peace and calm we crave in our emotional lives.
As you go through your day, thoughts will come and go. Seek to pay greater attention to the thoughts you experience. While you increase your awareness of your thoughts, you will be in a better position to challenge them, change them when necessary and offer them an ongoing charge of God’s perspective on a matter. These three things are certain to elevate the level of peace and calm you are free to enjoy.
For His kingdom,
