As we receive love, joy, and peace from God and people and then practice extending them to others, our destructive feelings will become apparent. When they do, it won’t help to deny them or to dwell on them. Neither pretending to have joy nor berating ourselves for not having it will help. Instead, we identify destructive feelings and abandon them and then go back to drenching ourselves further in God’s love, joy, and peace and passing them on to others by God’s empowering grace.
TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Think about the possible images, ideas, and information of God’s love, joy, and peace that resonate with you. They might include something as simple as a hummingbird or as deep as the concept of atonement.
Jot down some words or phrases that come to mind. In the midst of this, consider destructive feelings that have come up in you in the last week—perhaps fear, anger, unsatisfied desire, woundedness, or rejection.
Don’t hurry. (If nothing comes to you, ask God to show you these things as you are adequately prepared to receive them.) Ask the Spirit to reveal the underlying settled conditions that keep these destructive feelings active (vengeance, contempt, self-pity, discouragement, inadequacy). Also ask the Spirit to reveal to you the ideas, images, or bits of information that nurture these feelings and that you keep in front of your mind (or in front of your eyes through media).
Finally, ask the Spirit to replace destructive conditions and feelings with settled conditions of love, joy, and peace (as well as confidence and hope) that will dwell in you. Consider the thoughts you will need to dwell on to cultivate settled conditions of love, joy, and peace. Close by thanking God for being the essence of love and for willing your good today.
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