Living in the Scriptures

One of the things we encourage for our Fellow Warriors is to take the “knowledge” of emotions and learn to apply them to our lives so we can grow closer to God. Here I want to take the knowledge of emotions and use them to make the Scriptures come alive.

First, I want to recognize that God is the ONLY CREATER — there is none other! Let me also recognize that there wouldn’t be any emotions if God hadn’t created them, along with giving each of them a name. Yet may I draw attention to (especially compared to women) how normal it is for men to be emotionally dysfunctional. Isn’t it reasonable to conclude that God did not create men without emotions? Nor would He exclude men from living in the emotional realm. So why are men typically not living in the emotional realm? And please don’t hear me saying that we men don’t experience any emotions at all.

But have you noticed, almost all men (and may I focus on husbands) have not received any instructions from their father about how to become emotionally competent, like Jesus? Then too, neither men nor women are being taught to understand God’s specific purposes for emotions so we can understandingly apply His purposes to the emotions we experience in our everyday lives. That being the case, how is it possible for us to “…know that all things (even emotions) work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJ21) Especially if no one is teaching us men/husbands to understand and apply God’s specific purposes for each emotional situation we face? (Above parenthesis mine.)

Then too, because God wants us to learn how to be as expert emotionally as His Son is (proven in Hebrews 4:15 NIV) “For we do not have a high priest (Jesus) who is unable to empathize [emotionally identify with us] with our (spiritual) weaknesses.” (Parenthesis and brackets mine.) 

So, He offers us a bridge that allows us to crossover the river of ignorance so we can become emotionally functional. It’s found in Romans 8:26 (NKJV). Since the Holy Spirit is completely competent and emotionally functional, we’re told that “…the Spirit also helps in our (emotional/spiritual) weaknesses. For (if we are emotionally dysfunctional) we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes (prayerful) intercession for us with (emotionally charged) groanings which cannot be uttered (because they’re not common words — they are a purely emotionally charged language).” (Parenthesis mine.)

One of the many goals we have for the Fellow Warriors in the Christ Quest Institute is to teach husbands how to be as emotionally mature as God’s Son Jesus the Christ is. Let me again requalify with Hebrews 4:15 (KJ21).

Now we can get into a few illustrations of how and why I, and every Christian man, needs to emotionally project ourselves into the Scripture we’re reading and then entering into the emotional realm with the people we’re reading about — it makes the Scriptures come alive. With that preparation, please join me in the following scriptural examples.

Here are some emotional preparation: Romans 12:15 (KJ21) instructs us to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Let me mention that rejoicing and weeping are the beginning emotions in life. Here’s what I mean. What are the first two emotions a newborn baby automatically displays before even knowing what words are? Crying and smiling.

It’s easy for babies start there, but there is a full gamut of emotions that they’ll experience as they grow between their initial crying and smiling — and God wants them to identify with as many as possible. And I’m convinced, that’s the job God requires of a husband/father — the spiritual leader of his home. Isaiah 38:19 (KJV) validates that when it says, “…the father to the children shall make known thy (God’s) truth.” A father must have diligently pursued becoming fully emotionally operational himself. That way, as his child watches him while growing up, operating in the emotional realm — which includes experiencing and using the emotional language — just as the Christ can/does. That father’s child will grow up operating in that emotional/spiritual realm — following its father’s example. (Above parenthesis mine.)

Here's more to consider about the valuable influence of emotions: Notice how attentive and governed by her baby’s emotions a mother can be; how stimulated into action they can be about caring for the baby’s spirit — where emotions originate. Need I also mention that moms, being wives are also governed by their husband’s emotions — is he Christ-like or unlike… the Christ?

More proof in, Ephesians 6:4 (AMP), “4 Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.” Notice all the emotional words I have highlighted in that verse.

Then too, tying Deuteronomy 6:6-7 (AMP), “6, These words, which I am commanding you (fathers) today, shall be [written] on your heart (your spirit) and mind.” 7 You (fathers) shall teach them diligently to your children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts (their spirits) with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and  when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” Then, Isaiah 38:19b (AMP) “A father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.” (Parenthesis mine.)

All of this is to serve the purpose of preparing you for emotionally joining the real situations found in each of the following, particular Scriptures. The goal being, that as you become a participant in a particular Scripture, you can experience them come alive because you’ve emotionally projected yourself into the situation, as though it’s happening right now. I’m going to join you there.

Here we go: You and I are standing next to Jesus’ grieving mother and you’re switching back and forth between looking at Jesus upon the cross and then her. You see her being tormented with a mountain of emotions by seeing her Son covered with blood after she, you and I watched Him being beaten half to death. You also see Him looking down and watching his mom struggling with GREAT GRIEF. He also notices you and me along with His disciple John standing there with her. And you’re amazed as you watch — because even being half dead, He’s still emotionally functional and is experiencing deep concern for her. So much so, that in John 19:26-27, (AMP), we’re told, “26 So Jesus seeing His mother, and (you and I, along with) the disciple whom He loved (esteemed) standing near, (and you hear Him, though starving for oxygen, He weakly) said to His mother, ‘[Dear] woman, look, [here is] your son!’ 27 Then (you hear Him instructing John as) He said to the disciple, ‘Look! [here is] your mother [protect and provide for her]!’ From that hour (on you observe also that) the disciple took her into his own home.” (Parenthesis mine.)

And while you and I are watching all of that taking place! You and I also observe that Jesus, being half dead, still, totally emotionally mature — being completely spiritually functional — even while being in the throes of death (none of which caused Him to lose His emotional capacity) He’s caring for His mother, because that’s Who He was/is, even though half dead — He’s alert to her emotions.

That’s the brand of Christianity the apostles were willing to die for. Are we?

Here's more proof of the Scriptures coming alive: You literally step into Luke 7:12-13 (ASV) with me. It’s a pleasant day as you and me along with the disciples are listening to Jesus speak (because everything He says is so captivating) while we’re walking toward the town of Nain. Verse 12 tells us, “Now when he (Jesus, along with you, I and His disciples) drew near to the gate of the city, behold, (you and I notice that) there was carried out one that was dead, (you overhear them saying that he’s) the only son of his mother, and (they also acknowledged that) she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13 And when the Lord (along with you and I) saw her, he had compassion on her, (you watch Him become completely immersed in and overwhelmed with compassion at her grief) and said unto her, Weep not.” (Parenthesis mine.)

Remember, you and I are actually experiencing all this!

The word compassion is from Old French and Late Latin origins meaning: to suffer with, it signifies a feeling of sorrow or deep tenderness, being fully emotionally functional. Did you know that you cannot have compassion if you’re emotionally dysfunctional!

Based on her staggering loss, you and I, watching this take place, might have a wrinkled expression of wonderment on our faces, questioning why Jesus would say to her, “Weep not”? But here’s why. Being totally emotionally mature — and so completely spiritually functional, you and I watch Him instantaneously become overwhelmingly immersed in her grief (don’t forget He’s absolutely able to, “Weep with those who weep”) so you and I see Him so benevolently filled with compassion that he instantly planned to give her (and Himself) emotional relief — He felt compelled to bring her son back to life. You and I watch Him as He walks over to the dead son, and we’re amazed as we watch Him put her son’s spirit back in him, (remember Genesis 2:7) which brought him back to life. Next, we witness her as she’s overwhelmed with grateful tears as He places her son back in her arms. Remember, I’m watching this with you… Look at how amazed, astounded and grateful she is — along with the entire crowd as well as the disciples — that He could do that!

Surely you don’t believe that Jesus and his disciples just stumbled upon this funeral procession. No, no! God orchestrated it, so that He could show everyone the Spiritual maturity and power His Son has!

Here’s another example of Scriptures coming alive: This time, join me on the shore of a sea with Moses who’s standing on a high spot as he prepares to take command of its waters. Neither you, I nor Moses have any idea about what to expect. As you and I join him in this adventure, we don’t have a clue of what’s about to happen. Neither does Moses nor the millions of desperate people gathered behind him. But here you, me and Moses are, standing on a high place; we watch him facing the sea with his arms outstretched and holding a rod in his hand — he’s following the instructions God gave him as he sets out to part the sea — whatever that means. We’re all AWESTRUCK as the waters start to part. We’re watching him as he uses the power God is exercising through him. Walls of water are building as they stand up on both sides of the separation. Even Moses is aghast and startled along with you and me. He’s awestruck, with overwhelming, shocked amazement. Yet just like you and me, he is thrilled at the sense of the power of God flowing through all this while we continue to watch the sea of water VERY DRAMATICALLY part. We’re further fascinated as we see a wind sweep through the sea floor drying it enough for hundreds of thousands to cross upon to the other side.

It's extremely difficult for our minds to wrap around something like that because neither you, me, Moses, nor anyone else, has ever seen anything like that before!

But here is the thing that I’ve got to mention. We at Christ Quest Ministries are committed to husbands catching up with their wives who are normally able to visualize like we just witnessed. Learning to do that would fulfill God’s goal that we men/husbands will be living with our wives in an understanding way through being as emotionally functional as the Christ is. I hope you really were there with me in each of those situations and were as emotionally affected as I was/am. This is what we want for every man we disciple, to experience God’s Word as He has designed it for our spiritual maturity — emotions.

Let’s Talk About Emotions

Yesterday, the 6th of this month, Nancy noticed a nail in the tire of our car.

When I went to the tire company they said since it was not in the tread area but into the side, it couldn’t be repaired. Guess how that made me feel? Agitated, depressed, worried, displeased, since I was going to need him to only replace one tire. That would mean they would be unmatched. He then checked the tread of each tire. Each tire only had a little under a sixteenth of an inch of tread left on them (Uh-oh, I just revealed how often I check my tires) which would cause me to have to buy an entire set of tires. He quoted that it was going to cost me $623.56. Guess how that made me feel? Surprised, troubled, concerned, burdened, bothered, upset, to name a few.

But you know the verse in Matthew 10:30 where God knows the number of hairs on our heads? Well, He doesn’t have to spend but a couple of seconds on my head anymore. Because of that, I wear a hat to protect my head from the Arizona sun, and my favorite hat is my Navy Veteran’s hat.

Thankfully, I wore it to the tire store, and the salesman saw my hat and gave me a $100 discount saying, “Thank you for your service.” To which my response is, “You were worth it!”

Guess how that reduction made me feel? Surprised, appreciated, pleased, cared for, encouraged and many more.

Another emotional event: I think many of you know from a past newsletter that I got some bees. Did you know a beehive can hold 40,000+ bees with only one queen?

Anyhow, recently upon inspecting them, I got a bunch of honeycombs out of the hive and after giving five neighbors a 4” x 5” x 1” thick chunk of honeycomb that they could cut to bite sizes and chew on till the honey was gone. This allowed them to enjoy the best honey around (because it was my bees that manufactured it) and I was still able to drain three quarts of honey out of the remaining combs.

Guess how that made me, and my tastebuds feel? Satisfied, elated, pleased, joyful, benefited, motivated, anticipating more, plus other emotions.

And yet another emotional event: In 1986, I wrote the companion book to Discovering the Mind of a Woman, titled, Discovering the Heart of a Man. The book pictured on the right was my original cover. Notice the woman is picking petals from the flower questioning, “He loves me, he loves me not.”

This year, my daughter Kristy got it ready to be published by Amazon so it could get world-wide exposure like Discovering the Mind of Woman has. Once she got it ready and submitted it to Amazon to publish, they told her they could not do that, because another person had already submitted my book to Amazon without my acknowledgement or permission, and received Amazon’s publication rights.

That person is charging $52 a book, whereas we sell it for $15. We have submitted to Amazon pictures of my copyright and ISBN numbers, and yet we are still trying to get this resolved. We are concerned about having to hire lawyers and whatever else!

Guess how this has made me feel? Stolen from, annoyed, betrayed, deceived, disrespected, heavy-hearted. Expectant too, because this didn’t catch God off guard. He doesn’t have His hand over His mouth a with a surprised look on His face saying, “Oh no Ken, I didn’t know this was going to happen! I need to apologize to you. Could you forgive me!” I know the lesson God has in this for me will be beneficial.

If you want to know what His lesson is when it happens, write me and ask.

Symbolism Personified.

I’m going to focus on four words in the following verse: Matthew 16:24 (KJV) “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Underlines mine.)

While reading that passage it wouldn’t be difficult for most Christians to imagine the cross that Jesus was crucified upon and keep reading because they can’t identify with hanging on a cross like He did. Maybe they can imagine themselves struggling under the load of the cross but not being crucified on it like He was. It seems like it’s difficult to get a clear message as to why Jesus would even invite a Christian to also participate in a crucifixion — by literally taking up a cross of their own with that in mind.

I’m going to add another verse to that scenario. It’s in Galatians 2:20a (KJV) and it says, “I am crucified with Christ…” (Underlines mine.)

In either case, since God is Spirit, and the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, Who then, prompted the spirits of men to write it. May I emphasize this, God’s purpose is and always will be to emphasize His spiritual guidance.

Here’s an example of me drawing attention to God’s spiritual focus, which includes the spiritual significance of His Son’s crucifixion/death. Philippians 2:7-8 (NIRV), “7 …he (Jesus) made himself nothing. He did this by taking on the nature of a servant. He was made (fully) just like human beings. 8 He appeared (completely) as a man. He was humble and obeyed God completely. He did this even though it led to his death. Even worse, he died on a cross! (Parenthesis mine.)

Here’s the spiritual comparison I see: Matthew 6:23 (AMP), “But if your (human) eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!”

Then, being a complete and fully, a human being, Jesus did not pursue any normal to human being aspirations; He set aside his human will to be absolutely obedient to God. He did so to accomplish God’s purpose to save sinful man from hell — if they accept the Christ’s being sacrificed for their sins.

Symbolically, that’s exactly what Galatians 2:20b is explaining to me, “…nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ (that is, His ways) liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith (in and) of the Son of God (and His ways), who loved me, and gave himself (died in my place) for me (that when I accept Him as my Savior I’m to stop living carnally to achieve God’s spiritual human aspirations for me, I crucify my flesh’s aspirations — now I live, to accomplish the same spiritual purposes Jesus did — God’s will). (Underlines and parenthesis mine.)

Just as Jesus did, each Christian husband (as the spiritual leader of his home) is to stop living his life according to his own carnal will (which will include laying down his life for his wife — and family) dying to himself. That’s the exchange he makes with Jesus: He represented me in death for my sins and I’m to live my life as His representative. His obedience provides us with access into Heaven — when we accept Him as our Savior. Therefore, we are to stop living our lives for ourselves (rather, die to ourselves) making an exchange — our life — for His life — in obedience to God!

Did I mention reading the Bible from cover to cover? 

Christ Quest Ministries’ purpose is to disciple men with the goal by providing specific steps to accomplish their yielding to Christ-likeness in every aspect of their lives.