Fighting against discouragement

"Most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself rather than talking to yourself."

- Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, (Spiritual Depression, It's Cause and Cure).

I have not read this book but I really agree with this statement. A lot of times when we let our minds just wander about a particular subject of incident it tends to go the negative route and think of the worst case scenarios. The Bible warns us regarding this in Philippians 4:8 and tell us to think on ".....whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable....".

So as you begin you week, here is just a reminder on what to think about. Don't allow your mind to let you down a negative and depressing path. Talk to yourself! Encourage yourself if you need to! Even King David had to do it!

Its a choice. Are you going to listen to yourself or are you going to talk to yourself?

Have a wonderful week!

How to develop emotional stability

Everyone of us need to have emotional stability. There is no arguing in that. Some need it more than others and it is especially vital to students to have more of it than others since they are faced with more challenges and need to make decisions with the right mindset.

Emotions are a part of life. They are neither good or bad just like many other things in life. The key is learning how to use them in the right way. We also need to make sure that we control them and not be controlled by them. Emotions change and vary based on the what a person is 'feeding' on. Emotions change by what you hear, see or read. Think of all the times your emotions changed because of something you heard, saw or read. Because of this it is very important to make sure that you are letting the right things enter into your mind and heart.

As a leader this is extremely vital because your decisions have a multiplied influence on the people following you and sometimes even on the people who are not following you.

Here are a few ways to develop emotional stability:

1. Have a firm foundation in the Word of God.

The most important foundation in your life needs to be the Word of God. This is where you learn who you are, what you have and what you can do In Christ. This is information that every christian needs to know!

2. Read and study the lives of great men and women.

"Reading biographies helps you build a vocabulary of overcoming incredible odds" - Peter Daniels. Reading and learning from and about the lives of great men and women helps you overcome difficult situations and circumstances in your own life because of what has already been done before. This helps with emotional stability as you will be less likely to react emotionally to situations.

3. Build strong relationships with strong and wise people.

You were never meant to live or lead by yourself. Relationships are a must in life. Be intentional in building relationships with strong and wise people that God has placed in your life. Cherish them. Don't take them for granted. Treat them with love and respect. They will be the ones who will help you stay grounded, have the right perspective and make a wise decision.

What are some of the ways that you have developed in this area?

Would really like to hear your thoughts!

Emotional stability & Patience

When we look at the life of Jesus and His ministry on the earth, there are many things we can learn from His life when it comes to leadership. Today I just want to focus on two areas that I have been studying and focusing on:

1. His emotional stability
2. His patience

Jesus had three years of active ministry on the earth and was on a mission to accomplish the greatest and most important thing in eternity. HIs job was to save the world and turn enough people into believers who were willing to lay down their lives even after He ascended into heaven.

The amazing thing is that Jesus accomplished all of this while remaining emotionally stable and patient with His disciples.

There were times when He did get frustrated with them regarding their lack of faith but he never blurted out things out of frustration. There was times when Jesus spoke sharply to both His disciples and the religious people of the day but there was never a time when Jesus had to regret what He said and never a time when He felt like He had to "take back" the words that He said or spoke to others (Mark 9:19).

We also see Him as a leader who was patient with His disciples. He continuously taught them, even when it seemed like they were not growing. When some of his disciples made emotional comments and commitments about never leaving HIm, He did not get carried away. When the same people who promised to never leave Him, said that they never knew Him, He did not give up on them. He was patient enough to meet with them after His resurrection.

As leaders we absolutely need to develop emotional stability in our lives. It is not just needed when we are in our office but in our houses as we lead our families. In the last few months I have seen leaders fail because they lacked emotional stability and have seen leaders succeed in difficult times and circumstances because of emotional stability.

Patience is another area that we need to develop in as leaders. As leaders, most of us like things to get done quickly and would like to see people around us move at a fast pace. This is of course needed in certain areas but when it comes to developing patience, it just doesnt work! As leaders we need to be more patient with the people that we are leading. We need to take the time to disciple them and coach them along the way.

What are your thoughts on these two areas? How have they affected or effected your life and leadership? Can you share any examples?

In the following posts I will talk about how we can develop emotional stability and patience.

Update!

Hello everybody!

Its been a month since I last blogged! I have been a little busy doing some traveling and attending a few conferences. Now that I am back I plan on being much more regular.

Thanks for being patient!

How has your summer been so far?