Take Authority Over Your Emotions

Taking Authority over Your Emotions

Emotions are an area that many Christians don’t understand. Because of this, Believers often allow their emotions to lead them. As a result, emotionally-led decisions take them on a course that is out of the will of God for their lives. While God gave every human being emotions, it is critical that we get control over negative emotions and subject them to the Word of God. Make these daily confessions so that you can subject your feelings to God’s Word and make the right decisions:

"Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me healthy emotions. I declare that negative emotions will not impact my decisions, neither will they dictate my responses to difficult circumstances. I will submit my feelings to You in every situation that I encounter in life. You have given me authority over the power of the enemy, and I declare that nothing shall by any means hurt me, including people and situations that try to negatively influence my emotions. When I feel overwhelmed by life, or troubled by negative emotions, like Jesus, I will pray and keep moving forward. I bind depression, anxiety, worry, fear, doubt, anger, rejection and any other negative emotion that tries to attack my mind. I possess power, love and a sound mind. I thank You, Father, that I walk in peace, joy and the comfort of the Holy Ghost. I have the mind of Christ and my emotions are controlled by the Word of God. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen."

Scriptural references:
·Mark 14:33-35
·Luke 10:19
·2 Timothy 1:7
·Romans 14:17
·1 Corinthians 2:16

U2's new album is truly gospel Bono and his band spreading the good news of God's love and grace

March 6, 2009
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI CHICAGO SUN TIMES

Without a line on the horizon, we may feel like there is no limit to how far we can go. But it also makes the seas difficult to navigate.

That is, in many ways, where we find ourselves today. It's as infinitely terrifying as it is exciting. Where do we go from here and how do we find our way?

U2's 12th studio album, "No Line on the Horizon," gives a few great answers, if you have the ears to hear and the eyes to see them. (I hope you do.)

More than 25 years ago, when I dropped the needle on a U2 album for the first time, I heard the words of a familiar liturgy -- "Gloria in te domine, Gloria exultate!" -- punctuated by the keening sound of The Edge's guitar and followed by Bono's gnarly tenor shout-singing, "O Lord, loosen my lips!"

My soul did a backflip and kept on tumbling. ...

Earlier this week, while listening to "No Line on the Horizon," I felt that familiar movement in my spirit over and over again. First with the sacred anthem, "Magnificent," which tossed me into the air and sent me soaring. Listen to the words:

I was born to sing for you

I didn't have a choice

But to lift you up

And sing whatever song you wanted me to

I give you back my voice

From the womb my first cry

It was a joyful noise ...

Justified until we die

You and I will magnify

Magnificent

Some misled critics have booed Bono for that song, misinterpreting "I was born to sing for you" as a boast to his audience, rather than the prayer to his Maker that it is. (Mind you, this is the same lyricist who later on the album seemingly refers to himself as a "Napoleon" and cautions, "be careful of small men with big ideas.")

There is plenty of rock 'n' roll levity and grandeur on "No Line on the Horizon," but it is eclipsed by the heart and soul of this album -- perhaps the most dynamic gospel music I've ever heard.

With The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton, Bono began the odyssey that became "No Line on the Horizon" at a rented riad in Fez, Morocco, in June 2007 during the international festival of sacred music.

"[Bono] thought that our job was to create contemporary gospel music ... that we are essentially soul musicians that look for soul in what we do," Daniel Lanois, one of several producers on the new album, told Rolling Stone magazine recently.

Fez is "a holy city for music and musicians," said Bono, and the band was on a pilgrimage -- to listen and to learn -- to go wherever the music (and the Spirit) took them.

As he has for years, but not as explicitly so since 1991's "Achtung Baby," Bono, the band's chief lyricist, has laced "No Line on the Horizon" with the language and images of his humble Christian faith.

The result, however, is a work of gospel music -- "gospel" in its literal sense as "good news" -- for people of all faiths and none. The ecstatic language and imagery Bono evokes throughout could have been penned by the Hebrew King David or Sufi Muslim poets Rumi or Hafez, as much as by a latter-day Christ-follower from Dublin.

One of the most eloquent examples is "Moment of Surrender," which says in part:

My body's now a begging bowl

That's begging to get back

Begging to get back to my heart

To the rhythm of my soul

To the rhythm of my unconsciousness

To the rhythm that yearns

To be released from control

Faced with a horizon-less journey, isn't that what so many of us want right now -- to have someone else steer the ship? To lose control and surrender?

The Spirit feels like the unnamed fifth member of the band on this album more than any other. Its presence is subtle, but powerful.

Whether it's as an unknown caller (or perhaps the one the unknown caller is dialing), a comforting father who frees us "from the dark dream" and hands us "candy floss" and "ice cream," to the one who challenges us to walk into the frightening world with open arms (and hearts), God's love and grace are present.

"God is love, and love is evolution's very best day," Bono sings in "Stand Up Comedy." "I've found grace inside a sound, I found grace, it's all that I found," he sings on "Breathe."

In a beautifully confessional song (with a tune based on the 16th century hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel"), Bono seems to say that even when it feels like we've lost sight of what matters, what's real and enduring, it's right there. "White as Snow," which Bono says was written about a dying soldier's last moments in Afghanistan, says:

Once I knew there was a love divine

Then came a time I thought it knew me not

Who can forgive forgiveness where forgiveness is not

Only the lamb as white as snow

U2 intends to release another album by year's end, one tentatively called, "Songs of Ascent." Bono has said it will be "a more meditative album on the theme of pilgrimage."

I'd guess it'll be for a place that has to be believed to be seen.

My bags are packed.

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‘The End-Time Generation Of Grace’ In The Benjamin Generation - by Pastor Joseph Prince


THE LAST GENERATION
We are living in prophetic times. In times like these, God is revealing prophetic truths that are going to be a great blessing for His church. You see, prophetic teaching has the ability to pass on what was spoken hundreds, even thousands, of years ago into the “here and now”. What was spoken of back then becomes relevant for us today.

One key prophetic truth that I believe God wants to make known to us is that before Jesus comes again for His people, the last generation will become known as the Benjamin Generation. In fact, the Lord spoke to me and said, “The Benjamin Generation is here.”

Now, I’ve heard about the Joshua Generation, but I’ve never heard of the Benjamin Generation. So when God said that, I immediately remembered that Benjamin was the last son of Jacob. I began to realize what the Lord was saying – that the Benjamin Generation will be the last generation before Jesus comes again!

A GENERATION OF GRACE
When I received this revelation, I began to study the life of Benjamin and I found that the Benjamin Generation is a generation of grace. Today, God wants His people to know that the end-time church is the Benjamin Generation. And what marks this generation is not God’s judgment, but His grace.

Grace is unmerited, unearned and undeserved favour, In these end times, God wants to emphasise to His people that His blessings come by grace alone.

You will find that Benjamin’s life was a life of undeserved favour and blessing. When Joseph and Benjamin were reunited, the first words Joseph spoke to Benjamin were words of grace. When Joseph saw his youngest brother, he said, “God be gracious to you, my son,” (Genesis 43:29)

Another important feature of Benjamin is that the number five is stamped all over his life. The number five speaks of God’s abundant provision through His grace. Though all the brothers ate at Joseph’s table, the Bible says that “Benjamin’s serving was five times as much”. (Genesis 43:34) Later, in Genesis 45:22, we see reference to this number again – “to Benjamin he [Joseph] gave…five changes of garments”.

Whenever the number five appears in the Bible, you will see God’s grace being manifested. The children of Israel offered five offerings. (Leviticus 1-7) David brought five smooth stones with him when he went to face Goliath. (1 Samuel 17:40) And Jesus multiplied five loaves to feed 5,000 people. (Mark 6:37-44)

So we see that Benjamin symbolizes God’s grace. Likewise, the last generation before Jesus returns is a generation of grace. And if grace is God’s unmerited, unearned favour, then we are the generation that will experience His undeserved favour, His grace.

Even the way in which Benjamin received his name shows us a picture of God’s grace. When he was born, his mother Rachel named him Ben-Oni, which means “son of my sorrow”. But his father Jacob intervened and changed his name to Benjamin, which means “son of my right hand”. (Genesis 35:18) We know that the right hand is the hand of favour, the hand which brings His help. The psalmist declared, “Your right hand upholds me.” (Psalm 63:8)

Isn’t that beautiful? When we were born, our destiny was to be Ben-Onis, sons of sorrow. But because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are now Benjamins, sons of His right hand. Jesus took our place at the cross because Isaiah 53:3 tells us that He became a “Man of sorrows”. He did that so that we might become sons of right hand, seated in the place of favour. Ephesians 2:6 declares that God “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. This is what marks us, the end-time church, as the Benjamin Generation.