You are letting Jesus take you through each of God’s power-attitudes. During this study on mourning, Jesus will add some more training on The Six Biblical Principles by looking at PRAYER. First, Jesus will use the textbook page to explain the truth about God’s power-attitudes of mourning. Then on the next page, He will use the workbook page to help you invite God and His power-attitude of mourning into your life through PRAYER. Even though this isn’t a new thing for you, this time there will be a little more attention given to the PROCESS of prayer.

Psa 6:6-9 (NIV) I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. You and the people around you have damaged your heart. Since your heart can’t be talked to and reasoned with, you and other humans can’t help it feel better; instead, it tries to heal itself. It builds up walls of protection that are totally inadequate for helping you with life. But, these walls can hinder you from being able to submit your attitudes and character to Jesus.

You could go around weeping, growning, complaining, having a heavy heart, and doing your best to get yourself feeling better; or, you could pray and take it to God. Mourning involves praying to God; it is a matter of you telling Him how you feel. As Jesus and the Holy Spirit start taking you back over mistakes, failures, errors, sins, and abuses, the memories are going to bring out sadness, feelings of guilt, feelings of remorse, feelings of shame, and many other negative emotions. But, IF YOU PRAY, mourning will bring supernatural healing to your heart.

The walls and defenses that your heart puts up are rigid and unyielding. They don’t have the ability to tell the difference between things like good criticism and bad criticism. Your heart just develops defense mechanisms against CRITICISM. That closes the door to the correction, training, healing, and cleansing of God. When Jesus tries to help you submit to right, good, and righteous attitudes and character, your heart sees it as criticism and blockes it off. It may defend itself with anger, it may just ignore anything new, it may try to justify its old ways, or it may go into a major down spin of guilt and shame. God’s power-attitude of mourning can melt these heart-walls and make it possible for you to submit to Jesus.

The world taught you to believe in yourself. It made perfect sense that if you didn’t believe you could do it, you wouldn’t even try. So, you started trying to believe in yourself so you could get the courage to at least do your best to win at something. Some people believe in their own abilities and evaluation (self-esteem and confidence). Some people believe in what others think of them (people-esteem and confidence). They consider themselves capable, if someone else tells them that they are valuable and capable. Some people look at their accomplishments or lack of accomplishments and evaluate their capabilities and value (accomplishment-esteem and confidence). But, Christians are to get ALL their esteem and confidence from God (God-esteem and confidence).

Phil 4:13 (NIV) I can do EVERYTHING through Him (Jesus) Who gives me strength. Christianity takes supernatural power and abilities. You won’t be able to do these Christian things using your efforts, your confidence, or your faith in yourself or faith any other person; but, you will be a VERY successful person in human life and in eternity if you get help from God. The way for that to happen is for you to accept a change of esteem and confidence. If you believe you are a bad person when you do bad, then you will resist mourning. If you are going to get healed, Jesus has to take you into examining your past deeds without YOU seeing YOURSELF as a bad person. Some of your deeds were wrong, bad, and evil; but, none of them are who you are, what you are worth, or what kind of person you are.

Jesus will be using mourning to show you a better type of attitudes and character. But, you have to see that your current attitudes and character need changing; AND, you have to be WILLING to change them. Rom 5:8 (NIV) But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You were MUCH more valuable to God than you were to yourself or other people, EVEN while you were still a sinner. Before you did anything good, believed in yourself, got other people’s approval, or accomplished anything great, God placed a value on you that you need to accept into your esteem and confidence.

2 Cor 7:10 (NIV) Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. In order to submit your attitudes and character to Jesus, you have to be open to truth. If your heart is sealed off because it is busy protecting itself, then those wonderful things Jesus is trying to get you to submit to, can’t come in. Mourning is helping you see what has been wrong, bad, and evil in your thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds. Not to hurt you, condemn you, or make you feel inferior. Jesus isn’t attacking you, He is asking you to join Him in attacking wrong, bad, and evil things that are substituting themselves for right, good, and righteousness in your life. For you to submit to Jesus, you must SEE why your heart is opposing the attitudes and characture Jesus is wanting you to submit to.

Jesus said in John 16:33 (NIV): “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take HEART! I have overcome the world.” Your heart is afraid; it is very concerned that it might get hurt again. It doesn’t understand that Jesus is going to protect it by using His knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, wisdom, and power. Your heart is still trying to protect itself. By using the prayer of mourning, you will bring the loving, peaceful, caring hand of Jesus into your heart. That experience will help your heart trust, believe, and relax in Jesus’ care.