1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:1-2 (NIV)
We are in this series of creating space for wholesome longings that we refer to as “it”. Why the reference to “wholesome”? This is because our natural desire can sometimes be influenced by sin to long after that which is not supposed to be ours. James 1:13-15 (The Message version) puts it the following way:
Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood and becomes a real killer.
Wholesome desires, on the other hand are those David refers to when he writes:
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 NIV)
The apostle Paul puts it this way:
For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 AMP)
It is therefore the maturing work of the Holy Spirit to not only deposit wholesome longings within us, but then to furnish us with the tools necessary to accomplish those desires. For many, however, desires that are personal in nature can be difficult to acknowledge. Sometimes we think we don’t deserve good things, or we struggle with the embarrassment of acknowledgment, or we think that we are not being realistic or we think that feeling desire is selfish and “unchristian”. Whatever the reason, there can be significant internal stumbling blocks to creating the necessary space for God to work.
Recall the elements of C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N. framework as shown below.
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C |
Set the Context. Situations are neither ALL good nor bad. They are a mix of both. |
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R |
Engage your Rational mind to separate thoughts and feelings (they aren’t the same!). Allow for separate spaces to interact with these two aspects of self. |
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Exercise judgment in separating thoughts into two categories – (1) within your control, (2) outside of your control. |
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A |
For those thoughts that are within your control, what are the Actions that you need to take? |
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Consult with trusted others to determine the proper Timing and content of your action plan. |
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Include the God of the visible and invisible as you present your action plan to him in prayer. He will optimize it. |
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Occupy whatever space you are currently in. Do your best with whatever opportunity you currently have or in whatever situation you are in! Don’t lie down and die! |
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N |
Stay Near to God and others. Don’t abandon community. Don’t lose confidence in God’s goodness and his ability to create it for you! |
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Once we have established context for ourselves, we need to move to the point of voicing our feelings and thoughts in a structured and rational way.
Genesis 1:6 -8 – 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
There are many sophisticated definitions for the words “feeling” and “thought”. In the world of psychology, feelings are referred to as “emotions” and may be further categorized into those that are primary and secondary (we won’t go into that here). Thoughts are referred to as “cognitions” and represent internal statements that attempt to make sense of our experiences. For the sake of our C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N. journey we will use the following definitions:
- Feelings can be expressed using the sentence stem “I feel…”. An example would be “I feel anxious, angry, sad, happy…”. Feelings can be positive (“happy”) or negative (“sad”).
- Thoughts can be expressed using the sentence stems “I am…” “It is…” and “They are..”. An example would be “I am bright, smart, dumb, industrious, lazy…”…”It is difficult, easy, too late…”…”They are manipulative, willing, helpful, challenging…”. Thoughts can be positive (“smart, willing, helpful”) or negative (“dumb, difficult, challenging”).
As an example, if someone acknowledges their “it” as creating a broader network of social or professional support, they may feel worried, curious, inspired, tentative, uncertain and excited all at the same time. They may think “I am boring, uninteresting, unique, funny, ambitious…”; "It is too late, too hard, easy..."; "They are uncooperative, supportive, un/willing..." Positive and negative thoughts may co-exist at the same time.
To help with this step, I encourage you to walk through the questions below. Put aside some quiet time to do this reflection. Use the spaces provided to write your answers to the questions or use a personal journal. It is important that you write out the answers to these questions.
Discussion Questions:
- When you think about your “it” (write it down so that you can look at it), what feelings come to mind? Create your own system to tag feelings as “good” or “bad”. (Feel free to use this Feelings Wheel or something similar to help stimulate your reflection).
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- When you think about your “it” (write it down so that you can look at it), what “I am”, “It is” and “They are” statements come to mind? Be careful to not use “feelings” words, but those that are descriptive of how you view yourself, the situation and others.
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