1. 1 Consider this graphic that depicts what happens when we run the world’s self-defense system in our attempt to escape events we don’t like. So what are we going to do with all this regarding our emotional triggers? We have seen how easily and quickly we form emotional triggers, and we have also seen that if we practice trusting in them as our protector in the place of God, we can very quickly become enslaved by SELF-CONFIDENCE for the rest of our lives.

2. 2 Emotional Trigger I have been here before! If I don’t do something to protect myself right now I am going to suffer enormously! Choice I’m going to show my wife who wears the pants in this family! EVENT Resultant Reaction Bad Experience I HATE my miserable life! I wish I was DEAD!

3. 3 Emotional Trigger I have been here before! If I don’t do something to protect myself right now I am going to suffer enormously! Choice I’m going to show my wife who wears the pants in this family! EVENT Resultant Reaction Bad Experience I HATE my miserable life! I wish I was DEAD! What is the cause of the misery?

4. 4 If we don’t want to finish our lives as the slaves of the sin of others, or unintended tragedy, we are going to have to find a system that is bigger than our addictive “Emotional Trigger” quagmire that comes so easily upon those thrown upon themselves. There has to be something more effective and less reactive than the fleshly inspired, dependent Emotional Triggers that commandeer the ability to choose solutions that don’t destroy life.

5. 5 In order to experience a godly life there should always and only be only one thing that precedes our Emotional Triggers, that calms them, makes them inert, and then invades our choice and impacts our interpretation of experiences. Do you know what that is? When you take choice out from under the purview of the flesh, you begin to experience freedom and peace.

6. 6 Let’s understand how REAL life develops. EVENT Bad Experience Choice For the most part, in the beginning we run our fleshly routine which begins with our protective Emotional Triggers. Emotional Triggers We give permission to those Triggers to determine our Choices. And we conclude with our typical Bad Experiences.

7. 7 Let’s understand how REAL life develops. EVENT Bad Experience Choice But then the Lord intervenes by injecting His truth into our reasoning process, usually after we have acknowledged our own failure and subsequent misery. Emotional Triggers Truth At that introduction, we experience the one thing that can originate ONLY with Jesus – and that is a true CHOICE!

8. 8 Let’s understand how REAL life develops. EVENT Bad Experience Choice This is important for us to see because we identify our Emotional Triggers as “ME” and are inclined to blindly support and trust in that system. Emotional Triggers Truth That being the case, it requires Someone, Something outside of “ME” to deliver me from “ME”.

9. 9 Satan offers what he calls choice, and it goes something like this. “Oh yes, that’s right you are a child of God and you want your choice. Ok – Let me offer you a choice.” “Do you want to die by hanging, drowning, firing squad, poison or beating? How’s that for choice?” Is that really choice if you get to choose between methods of dying?

10. 10 Jesus is really the only One who offers choice. He walks by and says, “Do you want to escape death and live with Me or would you prefer I leave you where you are?” You must possess life if you want to share it, and Satan clearly does not possess life in any form, nor is he interested in sharing life. So to look to the world’s system for a choice is simply foolishness. Do you realize the full implication of that statement relative to leadership?

11. 11 A husband who is not living the life of Christ – will not be able to share Jesus’ life with his wife. A father who is not living the life of Christ – will not be able to teach his children how to live. If a mother is stressing over life because of a divorce or other pressures, who is doing the best she can to manage – will not be able to convey the life of Jesus to her children. Even teachers, preachers, evangelists and counselors who rely on training rather than the Holy Spirit – will not be able to communicate Life! You can only get life out of Life. Everything else is only information with spurious origins.

12. 12 If we are truly looking for an escape from our misery, we are going to have to use God’s ladder. Truth must always be the first rung on our ladder. Every step of our ascent, every choice we make must begin with and remain dependent upon truth as the defining pillar of our mental process. Let’s consider a graphic depiction of this fact.

13. 13 Truth I know that everything that touches my life comes from God in the work of conforming me to the image of Jesus! Emotional Trigger What a peace to know that only God’s good purposes can take hold of me! EVENT Notice that Truth sets the direction, attitude and interpretation of all following processes. Notice also that here, as in all following rungs, Truth continues as the foundational origin of all ascending progression. Truth is fundamental. Truth can become profitable in establishing “Godly Emotional Triggers” that drive us to react in Faith rather than having to rehash the destructive process of enemy assessment, resource availability, fear or frustration, which is fundamental to the flesh system. It was a “Godly Emotional Trigger” that drove David to kill Goliath when he heard Goliath’s blasphemy. He didn’t even have to think. He knew the outcome for Goliath and he ran to make it history by God’s power. It never occurred to David to consider the same information that paralyzed Saul and his army. The fact that Goliath was a giant and a skilled killer only meant he would hit the ground a lot harder when David finished with him. Because of David’s Emotional trigger, there was only one course of action to take. I want you to see the difference between David, on the one hand, and Saul, his army and Eliab, his brother on the other. All are subject to the same neutral EVENT, but look at the difference in responses because of Emotional Triggers.

14. 14 Truth I know that everything that touches my life comes from God in the work of conforming me to the image of Jesus! Emotional Trigger What a peace to know that only God’s good purposes can take hold of me! EVENT Choice I AM going to trust the Lord in this and I choose to rejoice in the midst of my trial! ABIDING PEACE

15. 15 Emotional Trigger I have been here before! If I don’t do something to protect myself right now I am going to suffer! Choice I’m going to show my wife who wears the pants in this family! EVENT Resultant Reaction Bad Experience I HATE my miserable life! I wish I was DEAD! Truth I know that everything that touches my life comes from God in the work of conforming me to the image of Jesus! Emotional Trigger What a peace to know that only God’s good purposes can take hold of me! Choice I AM going to trust the Lord in this and I choose to rejoice in the midst of my trial! ABIDING PEACE Which do you want? It really is always your choice!

16. 16 Don’t be like Saul – so focused on your circumstances that you don’t see the switch in the track and allow circumstances to rob you of God’s constant victory and blessing. So let’s finish this thought with this conclusion and never forget it. When you blend the human choice with the power and will of God and His promises, you have an absolutely unstoppable force that will never fail to see the completed desire of God! Do you see each and every situation of life as a divine opportunity?