Understand Your Reactions | Discover Change

Uniquely and wonderfully made. This is how we have been created by God. And when our thoughts, actions, and behaviors align with God, His wisdom and perfect plans for us follow. 

But we do not always follow this perfect plan, even when we want the will and ways of God to guide us…

So what is keeping us out of balance? Why do we react with things like anger, fear, or procrastination that keep us from God’s pathway? And why do these issues keep returning no matter how many times we try to remove them?

Join us as we explore how understanding our reactions can lead to opportunities for change!

Understanding Your Reactions Can Lead to Change!

As Believers we all desire to be more like God. We want to walk, talk, think, and be in alignment with who He is! This is a wonderful desire… one that our Abba God—our Father God—is proud of!

Yet, we all have issues we struggle to overcome. Known or unknown, short in duration or habitual… they can steal our joy, our peace, and our hope. They can even cause us to doubt that God will be able to use us. Or that we can discover freedom…

But God does not see things in the same way the enemy tries to filter our view through. Our God is bigger than that, and what we see as failure can become a pathway for change! No person is perfect, God alone is perfect. This means we have room to improve. And God, the Perfect One, is more than willing to take us on this journey!

But how do we improve? In fact, how do we know the areas we need to improve? And where do we start?

First, it is important to realize that there is no one way God takes us on this journey. The struggle we face, our relationship with God, the season we are in, and many other things all provide different requirements for the way we are to change. Sometimes God does the work in us without our even being fully aware. Other times He tells us quietly how we can grow and then helps us to exchange the bad for good. Or He allows others to direct us to the issue and then, through them or Himself directly, He gives us victory over the area! 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

—2 Corinthians 5:17

However, we are not required to accept His help. Sometimes we do not listen when He prompts us or when He uses others to prompt us. Sometimes we are too stubborn or ignorant to realize that we have an area ripe for improvement… let alone to allow Him to help us. But while God gives us a free will to choose, inaction or choosing against change are openings to the enemy—openings he is more than ready to exploit.

And what does the enemy do when he discovers we have a problem area we refuse to attend to? Poke it. Prod it. Pressure it. Until we burst… and the hole within our defensive wall grows. But it does not have to be this way!

As Kingdom minded Believers we do not want the enemy to take any territory! Our bodies are Temples of the Most High God! And when the Temple becomes defiled it ceases to perform its function properly. This is why we cannot allow issues to linger, let alone grow. We need to seek God’s healing power! But while this is effective even when our understanding is limited, we can be proactive and remove many of the barriers to change. And one way to do this is to understand where the issues are, but more specifically, what the root is—the underlying reasons behind them.

Down to the Root

Consider a weed or other invasive plant within a garden. Pruning back the unwanted plant will hide the problem for a time, but almost always it will grow back. In fact, too often this regrowth is swifter than the original growth, and the resulting plant is stronger! In other words, removing bad fruit—habits, thoughts, actions—can fool people into believing the problem is gone, but if the roots remain, it allows the life stealing fruit to grow again…

We need to get to the root of the problem so that it can be given over to God. So that not only the fruit or leaves are expunged, but so it can be destroyed down to the root! But how do we do that?

No matter if it is a loss of temper, misuse of our time, fear, thoughts contrary to God, or whatever unwanted fruit it may be, it can guide us to the root of the behavior. To the underlying cause. 

But what does this root look like? How does the fruit—the negative behavior, thoughts, or whatever—show us a root problem?

Consider a habitual loss of temper. If we want to discover why we are reacting with anger we need to follow it so we can discover where it is being fed, which is at the root. Now, anger can come from a few sources such as, emotional wounding, generational curses, or another door. But by first noticing that anger needs to be addressed, and then by seeking Holy Spirit to guide us to the root… we are able to work in tandem with God to destroy the root and replace that space with something better! Becoming free AND becoming more like our God!

“Since Abraham and the patriarchs are consecrated and set apart for God, so also will their descendants be set apart. If the roots of a tree are holy and set apart for God, so too will be the branches.”

—Romans 11:16 (TPT)

Step by step this might look something like:

• Asking God to show where we can improve
• Being open to His answer
• Praying for God to uncover the root issue
• Repenting and turning from the behavior with the help of God
• Giving the issue to the Lord so He can destroy the root
• Planting good things where the old root once was—asking God to guide the planting and to care for it
• REJOICING and THANKING THE LORD for the NEW FREEDOM!

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!”

—1 Chronicles 16:8

Deciding to take this journey with God is the catalyst to change! This is where we do the small thing and God does the big thing! Because intentional action, a true seeking of God’s will and ways, will allow us to improve. It will set us next to our God as He transforms what may seem an impossible journey into one that is easy. 

He is more than willing to take us on this journey. 

He joys in every step we take toward who He created us to be!

He has already bought our freedom! The question is are we ready to accept it?