Dear Tabernacle Family,
This past weekend I sat in a virtual conference featuring Christine Caine and she gave an anointed and challenging message. Her message paired well with the devotional time I have been having with the Lord regarding Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual Maturity as both of these go hand in hand.
Emotional Intelligence is the capability to recognize one’s own emotions and those of others; discern and label the emotions appropriately, use this information to guide thinking and responses, and manage and adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one’s goals. A higher Emotional Intelligence leads to greater mental health, job performance and leadership skills.
The Bishop of Canterbury is quoted as saying, “Emotional Intelligence is a wonderful adjunct faculty to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” All of me and all of creation is subject to the power of the Holy Spirit. When we become less full of ourselves and yield to the power of the Holy Spirit, we can discern what the Holy Spirit is doing in us. Do I need to press forward or yield? Do I need to get quiet and find the deep stream of God’s grace before moving forward?
Paul, the apostle, posed himself as an example to believers. The study of his life shows the power of yielding along with emotional and spiritual maturity in the journey of a believer. The Paul of later years says in Galations 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
As we develop our ability to read our emotions and those of others and develop a greater spiritual “tuning in” to the deeper level of listening and yielding, we grow our Emotional and Spiritual Maturity. As we develop the devotion in the deeper places of God, the “I” in me is yielding to the “I” in the “Great I AM.”
Blessings,
Pastor Sharon Baldwin
Preschool Ministries and SWDC Director