An impulsive nature

An impulse nature is an enemy of your soul. It is a negative trait that brings you more harm than good. If you are a person given to impulsiveness you need to voluntarily enter the sanctuary and desperately seek the calming touch of God. Or else God will permit you to learn patience and sobriety in the wilderness school of loneliness, shame and humiliation.
God will have a difficulty using a person with an impulsive or fiery nature. The fiery nature must be tempered at all costs; if not by voluntary prayer, meditation and fellowship with God, then exile and desertion must do the work of tranquilising the fiery nature.
Perhaps you are not sure what impulsiveness is all about. An impulsive nature is a tendency to act suddenly without thinking about the suitability or possible results of what one is doing. It is a sudden urge to do something without deciding or planning in advance.
You have probably heard of impulse buying. Impulse buying has one common characteristic: you buy things that you do not really want.
Acting on impulse rarely leads to peace of mind, happiness and success. Acting on impulse or rashness almost always has something wrong in it. For example, every time you answer or judge a matter without taking time to hear the full details your answer or judgment will be a foolish one. When you react to situations instead of responding, you normally behave irrationally and irresponsibly. 
Hot or short temper is one of the major causes of impulsiveness. Agitation or irritation often causes one to lash out at others unnecessarily.
 The root cause may not be apparent but an impulsive nature reveals low self-esteem, self-dissatisfaction, and emotional instability.
A biblical character that illustrates well the folly of an impulsive nature is Simon Peter. That one had rough beginnings where character building was concerned. It may not be an exaggeration to say that Simon was an embodiment of impulsiveness. Here are a few examples of accounts in which he demonstrated an impulsive nature: he blurted out an unsuitable suggestion at Christ’s transfiguration (Matthew 17:4); he refused to have his feet washed by the Lord at the Last Supper (John 13:8); and he struck out wildly with his sword at the time of Jesus’ arrest (John 18:10).
The account of Peter’s striking off Malchus’ ear with his sword was the climax of his impulsiveness. But, as you may want to argue, was Peter wrong in trying to protect and defend his master? Was not his action justified as Jesus’ follower? Peter was wrong, not only in the impulse of defending his master, but in failing to catch the divinity of the purpose of the arrest.
 Peter was not Jesus’ bodyguard but a servant, a learner, a follower.  As a servant he must have waited for the master’s instruction on what to do in the given circumstances. As a follower he needed to let his leader lead him in what to do. As a learner he required to stand still and see and learn how his teacher would handle such a tricky situation.
He acted on impulse and invited the master’s rebuke. Have you ever felt how much it hurts to be rebuked by the very person whose cause you are trying to defend? Peter felt it at that moment. He probably felt discouraged, useless and unwanted. The most baffling thing was why did he have to carry the sword around if he could not use it even in the most suitable circumstances?
Perhaps you identify yourself with Simon Peter. You act impulsively and in most cases you think you are justified because the causes are good.
But like Peter, you must learn to catch the divinity of the purpose first. You are accustomed to looking at the outside of things but you must be now trained to estimate spiritual forces and values. God is always in control. He does not want you to run ahead of Him but to wait for His instructions.
But, as revealed in last week’s message on winning the battles of life, waiting is harder for us than running around. However, the master will change our restless, impulsive nature to one that is calmer and more tranquil even it means He has to take us through the school of hard knocks. Like in the case of Peter, God will use the fire of failures, shame, disappointments, desertions, lack, nagging people and other negative things of life to refine our character.
Your uncontrollable impulses and negative traits will only be turned into positive ones through much failure and sorrow. So begin to see the divinity of failure: it turns nasty characters into holy vessels fit for the master’s use.
But blessed are those who learn the same things easily by taking time to see the heart of things before doing anything.
– Mairos Mubvumbi is the founding pastor of Hope In Christ Ministries.
You can send your prayer request on 0772889766 or mairos78@yahoo.co.uk