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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Bold (emotionally) (08/30/07)
And God Said, “No”

Through out our lives we will exercise emotional boldness as we work within widely divergent extremes of the accepted norms of behavior. We will exercise boldness and courageousness as well as being gentle, forgiving, confident, and loving. We will try hard to avoid being malicious, greedy, rude, aggressive, meek, complacent or cowardly, because we know this is the will of Jesus Christ.

Our emotion can be our love for another person or the state of strong feelings such as fear, anger, grief, surprise, disgust and joy. We become emotional when we have more than the usual emotion.

We can advertise our boldness or emotional boldness by doing little things daily to show others that we are Christians. When celebrating the anniversary of our national freedom let each of us loudly and boldly celebrate and draw attention to our independence and freedom as Christians. (Galatians 5:1, 13) “For freedom Christ has set us free! For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.” Freedom in Christ is an obligation to do or to be something for Christ. We must boldly proclaim Christ in all we say and do.

With our eyes wide open most of us will see someone we like or love who is in an emotional abusive relationship. This abuser may be a mate, a family member or a supervisor. This is indeed a time for any Christian to be emotional and act boldly and do something.

Its logical to assume that a change in either the abused or the abuser can result in a positive change in the relationship. Jesus has given us many tips to heal the wounds of emotional abuse. Its now the time for all of us that are aware of this type crises to boldly approach the problem. Each of us can gain strength by praying. We can pray anytime, day or night, while working or while playing…even when ironing and folding clothes.

Encourage your friend or loved one accept the reality, stop the denial, pray, reach out to God and prepare to forgive. Most often serious emotional abuse requires long term professional help and guidance to assess the situation and to develop a plan for change. If necessary be so bold as to suggest a trial or permanent separation.

Too often emotional abuse does not leave evidence that is visible to others. This is when only our heart sees and feels the abuse. We then must ask ourselves what is it that makes us endure abuse to be happy. This is when we must believe that God does not want us to be unhappy and let Him put His love in our life.

So what is the answer? Likely the best advice is to boldly refuse to get involved in a weak or questionable relationship. Wow! That is difficult. Perhaps we must first think of the self concept…or the overall reputation we have of our self. In otherwise, how do we see our self? This self concept started from a young age when we began forming opinions and beliefs from other people as we grew up.

Then we must boldly look at how we feel about our self, our abilities, physical features, and our life overall. This is called Self Esteem. Now is the time for spiritual surgery on both our self-concept and self-esteem.

When we get close to Jesus we develop the ability to stop lying to our self and reject behavior that our heart knows is wrong. When we emotionally and boldly build a deeper relationship with God, we develop the ability and courage to only accept the best. God will advise us when to avoid or leave a bad relationship.

“If you bring forth what is inside of you,
What you bring forth will save you.
If you don’t bring forth what’s inside of you,
What you don’t bring forth will destroy you.”
-Jesus of Nazareth
(From Integral Health and Well-being, © 2007 Mariana Bozesan)

God exercised the deepest emotional boldness when he sent His Son to die on the Cross for our salvation.

With ultimate emotional boldness Jesus painfully offered Himself to the Father’s will.

Jesus prayed, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)

With ultimate pain and emotional boldness God said, “No”.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Jan Ackerson
09/08/07
The center section of this is very strong...the part about the abusive relationships, and the need to act boldly.

I wonder if you could eliminate much of the introductory material, and lead with that section. Might pull your readers in more quickly.

I really like your title.