Allow me to strengthen your faith some more by looking at 1st Peter 1:2-4.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3According as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue. 4Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Did you notice in verse 2 that grace and peace can be multiplied to you? Well listen, when we are facing physical challenges in our bodies, that is the time when we need grace and peace multiplied! God’s grace is sufficient for us to overcome every hardship, and His peace will keep us emotionally stable right through them.
So, how do we get the multiplication factor to work during our physical challenges? We are told in verse 2, it is “through the knowledge of God and of Jesus.” Verse 3 tells us that God’s divine power has given us “all things” that pertain to our lives. And, once again, they are obtained through the knowledge of Him. Verse 4 tells us that the knowledge of Him will give us “exceeding great and precious promises” and that we can use these wonderful promises to “partake of His divine nature.”
Wow! Did you hear that? We can partake of the very nature of our Father God! I wonder if He ever flies off the handle, feels like quitting, throws a pity party or decides not to love us anymore? Of course not!
Then we don’t have to allow those feeling to control us either! No matter what our bodies are going through, God’s Word is still true and it works. And, according to God, it works for whosoever, any and all! If you fall into one of those categories, then you qualify! Therefore, since God said that we can partake of His nature—we can! And He didn’t say that His divine nature is not available during times in our lives when our bodies are going through changes or experiencing pain.
Now remember, I am not belittling what you or anyone else is going through, especially a woman who is facing menstrual disturbances or one who is going through menopause. Obviously, I am a man and don’t have to deal with the same chemical and biological issues that women do. It is virtually impossible for me to understand or feel the way a woman does. However, one thing is for sure, GOD AND JESUS UNDERSTAND IT ALL!
The Scripture reveals that God is Omniscient. Omniscient is a word that means knowing everything. Scripture declares that God’s eyes run everywhere, and He searches all hearts and observes everyone’s ways. In other words, He has complete knowledge about everything and everybody at all times! So don’t you think He understands your hormones and your feelings? Of course He does. And don’t you think that He has made a way for women to overcome those things in their bodies, even when those things are trying to influence their emotions? Of course He has. Look at what He said in 1st Corinthians 10:13 from The New Living Translation.
But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.
Listen, all of us, both men and women, are going to face life’s pressures. They will tempt us to act in a way that is contrary to the way the Bible tells us to act. But God has made a way of escape for every single person—male and female!
If you will go back through this book, you’ll find out that God didn’t exclude men or women who were going through the changes of life, from experiencing His peace and joy on a continual basis.
For example, we looked at Galatians 5:22. Notice God didn’t say, “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, and peace—unless you are a man going through your mid-life crisis.”
We also looked at Romans 8:6. Notice God didn’t say, “To be spiritually minded is life and peace, unless you are a woman going through menopause.”
God didn’t exclude anyone, at any time, from enjoying His divine nature on a continual, uninterrupted and never-ending basis!
Isn’t that good news? Yes and Amen!
Let me say it again, WE HAVE DOMINION OVER OUR BODIES. But we can’t dominate our bodies without the Word of God. Turn over to James 3:1, and let me show you something else in this regard.
If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Look at what the Amplified Bible says, “And if anyone does not offend in speech [never says the wrong things], he is a fully developed character and a perfect man, able to control his whole body and to curb his entire nature.” In other words, if we don’t say the wrong things, we can control our whole body, and restrain (or keep in check) our entire nature. So, if we fill our heart with God’s Word and keep it full, then our mouths will speak out of that abundance, and release life-filled words that control the whole body—which includes our hormones! Glory! However, if we just say what our bodies say, and what the doctors say, and what human nature says, then we will not be able to rule our bodies and bring them into subjection.
In this same chapter of James, we are told that we shouldn’t have blessings and curses coming out of our mouths. In other words, when we are feeling good we talk kindly, but when we are feeling bad we speak unkind words. James tells us that this kind of action should not be taking place in our lives.
Proverbs 18:21 tells us that our tongues can release life-filled words, or words that are filled with darkness and despair.
Joshua 1:8 tells us that if we will speak God’s Words, meditate upon them continually, and act upon them, then we will prosper and be successful in everything we do.
Proverbs 6:2 tells us that when we guard our tongue, we will be in charge of our lives.
Proverbs 18:7 says, “A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.”
Proverbs 21:23 informs us that when we guard our mouth and tongue, we keep ourselves from trouble.
The list goes on and on. So let me ask you this: Do you think God would tell us to guard our words if we couldn’t control them? I don’t think so. Therefore we have the means to control our emotions no matter what is going on inside OR outside our bodies.
Now remember, our words are controlled by our thoughts. So, if we allow ourselves to get mad, and display ugly emotions in front of some people but not in front of others, then during those times of emotional disorder we are choosing the wrong thoughts. However, God has equipped us and given us the ability to think positive, helpful, and lovely thoughts all the time, and to bring captive the ones that are not godly.
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
The Good News Translation says it this way: “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” The New Century Version says, “Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.”
Simply put, WHAT YOU THINK IS GOING TO CONTROL WHAT YOU SAY AND DO (i.e. YOUR ACTIONS).
So, what do we need to do so that we think and speak the right things, and so that our bodies do not control our emotions? Well, since Proverbs and James both tell us to control what we say, let’s glean from their wisdom.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our thoughts, but the previous three verses tell us how. They tell us to pay attention and make a continual effort to hear God’s Words, to never lose sight of His Words, and to keep our hearts full of them.
James 1:25 calls God’s Word “the perfect law of liberty.” And it tells us that if we want to be happy and blessed, we must fix our eyes upon God’s Word and always keep it in view. We must keep looking at it, no matter what is going on inside of us or outside of us. That is, we must persevere, remain faithful, and be committed to seeing what it says, and then applying it to our lives.
We must act like the Word is true no matter how we feel, and regardless of the actions of others!
At this point I will remind you of a verse that we already studied in this book. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think upon things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of a good report, virtuous and praiseworthy.
The only way we can continually think these kinds of thoughts is to continually hear and speak what God’s Word says. In fact, this is how we “cast” our cares upon the Lord. Remember 1st Peter 5:7? The Greek word for casting means to throw off. The same word is used in Luke 19:35 when it says, “they cast their garments upon the colt.” That means there is action involved.
So, what is the action that we must take in order to cast our cares? Well, how did those cares come to us in the first place? They came through our minds, in the form of thoughts. Therefore, when we don’t take those thoughts, but rather replace them with God’s thoughts (through our words and meditations), that causes the wrong thoughts to be cast away and keeps us living carefree!
If we will make the choice to do what the previous verses in James, Proverbs and Philippians tell us to do, it will bring us into a life that is full of peace and joy. And it will take us far from a life that is filled with worry and stress.
Making that choice will enable us to control what we think, what we say, and how we act, even during those times when we are in pain, on medication, tired, or going through hormonal changes.
Wow! This revelation is truly life changing!