When you speak or act in a way that you know in your heart to be wrong, you pay with your emotions. You chip away at your own self respect. But one of the most important principles that you can apply to your life is that your mental health is in your control. YOU are the one who must CHOOSE how to respond to individuals and situations in your life that are less than perfect.

You might say – if only this person would change, then all these wonderfully warm friendly qualities would be released in me. Not so. Nobody can cause you to be angry, stubborn, immovable, inflexible, and easily irritable. Your behavior is determined by your spirit, and your spirit involves you and God. It’s a unique relationship. It has nothing to do with anyone else.

Romans 13:1-2 says “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers for there is no power but of God and the powers that are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resists the power resists the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive unto themselves damnation” (KJV). The NIV puts it in a gentler way – “will bring judgment on themselves.” You see, your behavior makes a difference to you.

Don’t allow yourself to drift away from allowing the Lord to fill your heart with His Spirit day by day. Nobody can stop you from calling on God to fill you with His love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, and patience. Do what you’re doing and saying in His Name, as though He was right there with you. Let Him help you feel the relief of walking through life with a thankful spirit.

Philippians 2:2-4 tells us to “let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem the other better than themselves” (KJV).

Becoming preoccupied with the negative qualities of anyone or anything in your life causes you to lose sight of good things. The Creator of the universe laid down His life for you. He has chosen to put the emphasis on your spiritual life. He has chosen to give you of His Spirit, and to make your burden light. He gives you the ability to honor him in all that you do and say.

Take a step . . .
Are you presently holding onto a heavy burden? Open your heart to God’s Spirit and let Him fill your life with joy, peace, love, kindness, and gentleness. Take a moment to pray this prayer:

Lord, help me to be conscious of the fact that You have something to say about the way I interact with people and situations in my life. Help me to be more aware of my response to the tasks that are given to me and how I interact with people. Today I choose to commit what I do and say to You, looking to You for that spirit of joy that you died to give me, doing it in Your Name. Help me to remember I do this with You by my side. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.

Read Colossians 3:17; Romans 13:1-2; Philippians 2:2-4

>> Click here to TELL US how this has helped you.

This is a summary of Dr. Brandt’s message Biblical Behavior.

Want more? Click here…

>> Find life-changing insights arranged topically by need

>> Listen to dynamic audio messages by Dr. Brandt

>> Experience freedom and healing from sin problems

Maybe you struggle with some of these emotions, feeling you have a right to them because of how you’ve been treated. But Ephesians goes on to say, “Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”

Now being kind and forgiving someone is extremely difficult when your feelings aren’t so loving! However, at some point, even though you may not want to, you decide to try to love the one who has mistreated you. To your surprise, you discover that it doesn’t work! You can control what you say, the way you look at them, and the way you behave, but you can’t control your feelings. Why is that?

2 Corinthians 3:5-6 gives us an answer: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. Who also made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” So yes, you can possibly control your behavior, and the way you talk, but you can’t control your spirit. The Christian life isn’t a matter of self-improvement, or will power, or determination, it’s a matter of a changed heart, and only God can change your heart!

Ask God to change your heart!

Take a step . . .
Ask God in prayer to show you the real condition of your heart. Admit to Him your wrong emotions, desires, and selfishness. Tell Him you’re sorry and ask Him to forgive and cleanse you. Ask Him to help you to submit to Him and to fill your heart with kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness, and love.

>> Click here to TELL US how this has helped you.

This summary is from Dr. Brandt’s message entitled Marriage.

Want more? Click here…

>> Find life-changing insights arranged topically by need

>> Listen to dynamic audio messages by Dr. Brandt

>> Experience freedom and healing from sin problems

You can’t control what other people do around you. Neither can you control all the events of the day. How you respond will either build up or chip away at your self-respect and self-love, depending on how you manage what goes on underneath your skin.

When psychologists write about the inner life, they refer to pleasant and unpleasant feelings, or positive and negative emotions. There are two kinds of pleasant feelings and emotions.

First, when there is a highly pleasurable and satisfying response to people or circumstances, we describe ourselves as excited, elated, thrilled, ecstatic, or exhilarated.

Second, a person can be described as living heartily, joyously, or happily when the inner life is described as calm, still, and quiet. Muscles are relaxed, heartbeat is normal, digestion is normal. There is freedom from anxiety. All these words describe an inner condition that can be summed up in one word: peace.

Feeling good and pleasant today is not a sure test of whether the feelings are built on a firm foundation. One can be filled with elation, pleasure, and joy over successfully cheating, stealing, lying, deceiving, sensuality, breaking the law, going through a divorce, expressing cruelty and selfishness. In the long run, good feelings not based squarely on God’s commandments will turn to ashes.

The person who experiences unpleasant feelings and negative emotions can be described as being filled with anxiety, restlessness, tension , and frustration. He probably has tense muscles, a pounding heart, faulty digestion and nervousness. These words describe an inner condition also, and can be summed up in one word: misery.

We can’t endure misery. Something must be done about it. Peace must be restored.

There is general agreement among physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, and ministers regarding the destructive effect of the so-called unpleasant feelings and negative emotions that result from the absence of peace. The emotions that cause anxiety, tension, and frustration are:

• hatred
• self-centeredness
• resentment
• ambition
• rage
• envy
• frustration
• jealousy
• love need
• sorrow
• shame
• fear

Take a look at some Bible verses that describe the same responses as violations of God’s commandments and therefore, when they exist within, this condition chips away at your self-respect and self-love. Modern-day research has only confirmed what this ancient book has described centuries ago:

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; fret not yourself, it leads only to evil doing (Ps. 37:8-9).

A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones (Prov. 14:30).

Let up not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another (Gal. 5:26).

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing (James 3:16).

Even the simple details of life will stimulate such reactions if they are within us. Why must we find a way to eliminate them? Because they are intolerable, too unpleasant to live with, and the bodily changes that go along with them are too painful and uncomfortable to ignore. We are forced to find relief, peace, and quiet.

When speaking to His disciples, Jesus once said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives…” (John 14:27).

Jesus said that in this world we can find peace, but He made it clear that it’s not His peace. In this world we can find release from anxiety in mind and body.

There are many avenues we try to follow in order to experience peace:  sports of many types, study courses of every kind, books, music, entertainment, hobbies, work, education, relationships, private therapy and group therapy, prescription and non-prescription drugs, and even church activities. Many individuals seek peace by living it up, asserting their independence, doing their own thing, discovering themselves.

What a fascinating list of ways to deal with today’s anxieties. Yes, it’s a great world, with endless ways to find peace. However, we can use any one of these things to run away from our problems.

King Solomon, who is described in the Bible as the wisest and richest of men, wrote of his efforts to taste of everything life has to offer. He sampled wisdom, mirth and pleasure, wine and folly; he built houses, vineyards, orchards, gardens. He had servants and maidens, silvering gold.

The Book of Ecclesiastes contains twelve chapters describing his quest. He concluded:
“Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wild and there was no profit under the sun” (Eccl. 2:1 1).

Sooner or later, all our efforts to find peace from this world turn to ashes. When we slow down or are trapped by circumstances and people, the anxiety, tension, restlessness, and frustration return.

The activities available to us can help relieve the effects of unpleasant feelings and negative emotions, but can’t remove them.

There is a deeper kind of peace than the kind that simply relieves body and mind. It comes when you yield yourself to God and let His peace invade your soul. Jesus said:

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humblers heart; and you shall find restful your souls (Matt. 11:28-29).

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full (John 15:11).

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

The apostle Paul, too, points us to God’s peace:

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13).

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your heads and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:6-7).

Strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously (Col. 1:11).

Click here to let us know how this helped you.

This is an excerpt of chapter 7  from Dr. Brandt’s book I Want Happiness Now! currently available as an e-book.

Want more? Click here…

>> Find life-changing insights arranged topically by need

>> Listen to dynamic audio messages by Dr. Brandt

>> Experience freedom and healing from sin problems

Character is forged from encounters with life that tempt you to do wrong. The erring attraction is always present. Paul reminded the Corinthians: “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).

Taking the way to escape is your choice, and God is always ready to help you make that choice. But you must remember that your decision on whether or not to yield comes in the face of a wrong action that is so seductive, so plausible, so pleasurable that it takes a conscious act of the will to reject it. The desire to do what you want to do, even though it is wrong, is very strong.

Jesus gave us a strange-sounding formula: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25).

All men are tempted to please only themselves, but the pathway to inner peace is to lose yourself in God’s way, to follow Him and do His will at all costs. Inner peace comes to those who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33), to those who “pursue righteousness [and] godliness” (1 Tim. 6:11). To enjoy God’s peace, you must “pursue the things which make for peace” (Rom. 14:19).

How do you approach the God who can give you inner peace? “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). Also, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1).

You must approach God by faith. You must trust Him fully, with your mind set on Him and His ways. “You [God] will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Jehovah, the Lord, is everlasting strength” (Isa. 26:3-4).

Click here to let us know how this helped you.

This information is an excerpt of chapter 10 from Dr. Brandt’s book The Struggle for Inner Peace currently available as an e-book.

Want more? Click here…

>> Find life-changing insights arranged topically by need

>> Listen to dynamic audio messages by Dr. Brandt

>> Experience freedom and healing from sin problems

You have to live with yourself. But what about the rest of the world? Your behavior toward others is just as important to building self-respect. Interacting with people often reveals unexpected, self-centered behavior.

There are a few basic principles that can help us to get past our self-centeredness.

First, we need to be committed to following Biblical principles as our guide for living. Second, we need to consciously act on our commitment. Here are two verses that give us some guidance:

1. Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (Eph. 5:21).
2. The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way (Prov. 8:13).

If you put these verses together, they simply mean that those who “fear Christ” are not two cringing, fearful people, but rather two individuals who want to clear away any evil, pride, or arrogance that is revealed between them and figure out a mutually agreeable way to get along.

Knowing that our hearts are deceitful, and knowing that God will search our hearts and test our minds, it is only logical to continuously submit our choices to the test. But how? The psalmist gives a clue:

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way (Ps. 139:23-24).

James says it also:

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was (James 1 :22-24).

You can know your heart, if you allow the Lord to show you yourself reflected in His Word. On the basis of what you see, you can act on His instructions:

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon (Isa. 55:7).

The apostle John points the way to a carefree life:

Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth. We shall know by this that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before Him, in whatever our heart condemns us: for God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight (1 John 3:18-22).

The Bible gives some guidelines for making choices:

1. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

Jesus said:

“And just as you want men to treat you, treat them in the same way” (Luke 6:31).

2. Be a leader.

The apostle Paul says:

“The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in Me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:9).

3. Thankfully make choices as though the Lord were beside you.

The apostle Paul says:

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Col. 3:17).

4. Carry out your choices heartily, and desire to please God.

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve (Col. 3:23-24).

All of us have no choice about many of the duties we must perform. Everyone can ask God for a hearty spirit toward the task if he wants to. How wonderful to enjoy what you are doing–to do it heartily–to do it as an act of worship!

Everyone, every day, faces a multitude of choices. Your sense of self-respect, of loving yourself, depends upon making those choices within the framework of commandments you choose to follow.

Finally, consider these words:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

If you use God’s commandments as the basis for your behavior, you are on the way to becoming indestructible.

>> Click here to TELL US how this has helped you.

This is an excerpt of chapter 5 from Dr. Brandt’s book I Want Happiness Now!

Want more? Click here…

>> Find life-changing insights arranged topically by need

>> Listen to dynamic audio messages by Dr. Brandt

>> Experience freedom and healing from sin problems