Trials, disagreeable people, and frustrating circumstances are potentially upsetting\u2014and the bad news is, they\u2019re not going away anytime soon. However, the good news is, they\u2019re not your problem! The fact is, it\u2019s not what happens to<\/i> you that determines your mood; it\u2019s what happens in<\/i> you! We imagine life would immediately change for the better if we could alter people and circumstances, but there would be new people and circumstances to deal with, right? <\/p>\n
Solomon had it right; it\u2019s not about controlling the world on the outside<\/i>\u2014it\u2019s controlling the world on the inside.<\/i> Proverbs tells us, \u2018A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls\u2019<\/i>; in other words, a city that\u2019s open to attack. The only way to guarantee your security is to forget about controlling people and things, and to focus on maintaining your protective walls. <\/p>\n
\u2018But people and circumstances can make me feel inadequate and vulnerable,\u2019 you say. The Bible tells us that \u2018God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.\u2019<\/i> (1\u00a0Peter\u00a05:5\u00a0NRS) In fact, recognising your own inadequacies is step one<\/i> on the journey to wholeness. Step two<\/i> is accepting that only God can empower you with self-control (see\u00a0Philippians\u00a02:13). Step three<\/i> lies in understanding that self-control doesn\u2019t come from teeth-gritting determination; it\u2019s a product of the Holy Spirit\u2014a fruit<\/i> of the Spirit (see\u00a0Galatians\u00a05:22\u201323). When you submit to the Spirit who lives in you, He will strengthen your walls and empower you to stand strong against the enemy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trials, disagreeable people, and frustrating circumstances are potentially upsetting\u2014and the bad news is, they\u2019re not going away anytime soon. However, the good news is, they\u2019re not your problem! The fact is, it\u2019s not what happens to you that determines your mood; it\u2019s what happens in you! We imagine life would immediately change for the better […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}