Wow…go to the store or get on Amazon tonight to pick up Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley. Andy digs in right away talking about breaking free from the four emotions that control you: guilt, anger, greed, and jealousy. God definitely used this book to help me gain victory over some things that were going on in my heart that I needed to address. Great read…convicting…but necessary!
Here are some things I highlighted while reading…
- Your heart is out of sync with the rhythm it was created to maintain.
- Eventually your heart-the real you-will outpace your attempts to monitor and modify everything you say and do.
- What’s in your heart comes out at home, where you’ve turned off the “safety” and let down your defenses. That’s when the heart exposes itself in the most negative ways to the people you love the most.
- “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23
- How do we monitor what’s going on in that secret place that has the potential to go public at any moment?
- When our embarrassment level is exceeded by our desperation level we are a candidate for God’s grace.-Peter Lord
- Four enemies of the heart: Guilt, Anger, Greed, Jealousy
- Guilt, anger, free, jealousy-each results in a debt-to-debtor dynamic that always causes an imbalance in any relationship.
- Guilt says “I owe you.”
- Proverbs 22:7 says the “borrower is slave to the lender.” In other words, authority belongs to those who are owed, not those who owe. This is true for moral authority as well.
- Anger says “You owe me.”
- It is when our hearts are stirred that we become most aware of what they contain.
- Greed says “I owe me.”
- Jealousy says “God owes me.”
- The most powerful agent of growth and transformation is something much more basic than any technique: a change of heart.-John Welwood
- You don’t wait until your heart is healthy to exercise; you exercise to get and keep your heart in shape.
- You cannot be in Fellowship with the Father and out of fellowship with others over something you’ve done.
- The grace that was showered on us at salvation did not provide us with an escape hatch from our responsibility to others.
- God’s forgiveness doesn’t exempt you from the responsibility for confession and restitution. On the contrary, his forgiveness is the very reason to confess. God paid a high price to reconcile you back to him, and now he’s calling on you to pay the price to reconcile yourself to others.
- “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Ephesians 4:31
- In the shadow of my hurt, forgiveness feels like a decision to reward my enemy. But in the shadow of the cross, forgiveness is merely a gift from one undeserving soul to another.
- In a world where neglect, insensitivity, and injustice are the norm rather than the exception, forgiveness must become a habit in our lives.
- Guilt is conquered with confession.
- Anger is conquered with forgiveness.
- Greed is conquered with generosity.
- Jealousy is conquered with celebration.
- God wants you to know him as the source of all good things. And when he says no, he wants you to trust him.
- Expressing the truth helps to free you from the emotional bondage that’s such an integral part of jealousy.
- Home environments mirror the hearts of those who head the home.
- The questions you ask your children communicate to them what’s important to you. The questions you repeatedly ask communicate what’s most important to you in life.
- Is everything ok in your heart?
- Whose failure would you secretly celebrate?
- Unresolved anger serves as an avenue through which Satan can access any part of your life.
- Confess, forgive, give, celebrate.
- Confession allows us to come out from hiding. Forgiveness allows others to come out from under cover. Generosity allows us to partner with God as he shows himself in tangible ways to the world around us. Celebrate makes us a vehicle through which God communicates his pleasure.