feelings – ThrivingBranch

Healing, Faith, Facts, and Feelings (#2)

February 12, 2023February 11, 2023Leave a Comment

Last week we began a new series on healing — specifically regarding the three primary components, faith, facts, and feelings.

We spent a lot of time in part one dealing with the foundation of knowing God’s will, because that’s one of the most common areas of doubt for many believers. I’m not going to go over that again today, so if you haven’t yet seen part one, here’s a link for you to see part one first, and then return here for part two.

Today we’ll continue from last week’s principal of Jesus being the revealed will of God, and discuss how to practically apply that knowledge in daily living.

The Blessings and Promises for You (#4): Guarding Your Treasure

July 25, 2021July 25, 2021Leave a Comment

Welcome to part four of our series about the blessings and promises of God for you. So far, we’ve seen quite a lot, ranging from our foundation in Christ, to a greater awareness of the the totality of salvation.

Now, with this information in mind, we will explore how to guard and keep these things. Knowing about your blessings and promises is the first step, but even that doesn’t mean much if you are being robbed of them constantly.

Fortunately, the scriptures have us covered in this regard as well, and today we will be looking at how to effective keep and guard your treasure of blessings in Christ.

How to Handle Emotions, Thoughts and Feelings

August 25, 2019November 17, 2018Leave a Comment

The title of this study today, is honestly a topic that people have struggled with from the very beginning of time. When a thought, emotion or feeling comes your way, especially a negative or even oppressive one, what do you do about it? How do you handle it?

For some, thoughts, emotions and feelings can be controlling and even rule their life. Some people are held captive by their emotions, and allow their feelings to rule their life. But what can be done about it?

Well, in-fact God has quite a bit to say on the subject, and we are going to answer these questions today, as always by looking at Jesus, and seeing the reality of His finished work for us.

Jesus Loves You (Even When You Don’t Feel It)

July 9, 2017July 9, 2017Leave a Comment

The phrase “Jesus Loves You” is powerful. Never has there been three simple words that have the ability to break bondages and transform lives like this one phrase. I have been in situations where this one simple phrase has totally delivered people, broken down emotional walls and set captive hearts free. And I have also been in situations where the phrase has been mocked, snickered at and downplayed to be less than what it is. The sad reality is that much of the latter, has actually happened by church-goers.

In many Christian-circles, we have reduced the powerful phrase “Jesus Loves You”, and we see it is something less, because our own vision and understanding of it has been lessened. I have talked to believers who respond to the phrase “Jesus Loves You”, with a “Yeah but…” – I know He loves me, but I still need more, kind of mentality. We fail to see the vastness of His love, and all that it includes. Today we will be looking at the wonder and majesty that is the love of God, demonstrated in Jesus Christ, and by seeing the truth, we can receive it for all that it is.

Understanding Strongholds and Freedom

June 25, 2017June 25, 2017Leave a Comment

As believers, when we hear the phrase “stronghold” most of us think of demons, evil powers and maybe even demonic possession. The term stronghold has come to be used in our language as an almost blanket term for the things I just mentioned, and many times people use the word almost as a default for when they cannot label a bondage to be something else. This practice has led to a lot of confusion, frustration and even fear over the years as people begin wondering if they have a stronghold, and if so, are they demon possessed, or oppressed.

I have actually had people ask me flat-out if they had a demon (either through possession or oppression). The very fact that they would ask such a question, is an indicator that these subjects are not being talked about or clearly taught well enough. So today we will be studying the topic of strongholds, to see what the Bible actually says about them, and how to be free from them through Jesus Christ.

Taking Up Your Cross in the New Covenant

December 18, 2016November 13, 2017Leave a Comment

A phrase which makes a lot of people uneasy, is when Jesus said to “Take up your cross”. It makes people uneasy because the cross is an instrument of torturous suffering, terrible pain and an agonizing death. It is certainly not a pleasant image to have in our mind, and it generally doesn’t fill us with peace or confidence to have this image imprinted on us either. This situation is exasperated further when religious teachers use this phrase as a way to hammer legalistic, performance-driven ideas into our brain either; as is often the case in many churches today.

So today in this study, we will be examining this phrase from the perspective of the finished work of Jesus Christ, and what this statement means for us today. Jesus obviously said it for a reason, and it wasn’t to frighten or intimidate people – He knew what He was doing and He knew what He would do for us. As we see the truth of Christ in this area, it will free us from the irrational fear that this statement causes due to lack of understanding of what Jesus truly said.