EMOTIONS…It’s all so “logical”…NOT!!!!

  • Adoration, affection, love, fondness, liking, attraction, caring, tenderness, compassion, arousal, desire, lust, passion, infatuation, longing, amusement, bliss, cheerfulness, glee, joy, delight, enjoyment, gladness, happiness, elation, satisfaction, ecstasy, euphoria, enthusiasm, zeal, excitement thrill, contentment, pleasure, pride, triumph, eagerness, hope, optimism, rapture, relief, amazement, surprise, astonishment, aggravation, irritation, agitation, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness, exasperation, frustration, anger, rage, outrage, fury, wrath, hostility, ferocity, bitterness, hate, loathing, scorn, sprit, vengefulness, dislike, resentment, disgust, revulsion, contempt, envy, jealously, torment, agony, suffering, hurt, anguish, depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, sadness, unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, misery, melancholy, dismay, disappointment, guilt, shame, regret, remorse, alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, homesickness, defeat, dejection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult, pity, sympathy, alarm, shock, fear, fright, horror, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification, anxiety, nervousness, tenseness, uneasiness, apprehension, worry, distress, dread
  • It seems like no matter where you turn confusion is coming at you…you just wanna scream at the top of your lungs or run away….but really what good does that do? No one seems to care and nothing seems to be going your way…so rather than give up, run away or take it out on others…why not take care of your EMOTIONS the way God wants us to!
  • ….Can you imagine what we would be like if we had no emotions, if we never became emotional?.....We’d be just like Mr.Spock on my favorite show (Star Trek)…every response would be purely “logical”
  • Actually a Neuroscientist, AntonioDamasio, studied people who had received brain injuries that had had one specific effect: damage to the part of the brain where emotions are generated. In all other respects they seemed normal—they had just lost the ability to feel emotions. ….The interesting thing he found was that their ability to make decisions was seriously impaired. They could logically describe what they should be doing, but in practice they found it very difficult to make decisions about where to live, what to eat, etc…so at the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing
  • When it comes to emotions…we got aremember…God created us in His image…and since the Bible clearly shows us that God has emotions…then WE DO TOO!

EXAMPLES FROM SCRIPTURE OF GOD’S EMOTIONS:

  • DEEP PAIN or GRIEF:…Ephesians 4:30-32 “Do not GRIEVE the Holy Spirit of God…get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind, and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Paul is trying to teach us how to deal with strong and powerful emotions when it comes to COMMUNICATION…it GRIEVES the Holy Spirit when we talk negatively and refuse to forgive!)
  • DESIRE: James 4:4 says that “Friendship with the world is a form of adultery!!! Then in the next verse James 4:5 says “Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us ENVIES intensely?” (Do you get it…the Holy Spirit has a strong longing to CONTROL the believer’s life…sometimes we kinda forget to let him!)
  • JEALOUSLY: God is a jealous God…especially jealous for us when He sees how we get so caught up in the world instead of in Him…Exodus 34:14 “For thou shall worship no other gods for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…” and Deuteronomy 6:15 “For the Lord thy God is a jealous God among you…”
  • UNUTTERABLE GROANINGS: in Romans 8 it talks about “Life Through the Spirit”…it tells us that we need to expect to suffering in this life…and that part of being a mature Christian is the challenge of ‘going on’ in the face of the hurts and damages caused by others…Romans 8:26 even says that the “Spirit Himself intercedes for us with GROANINGS too deep for words.”
  • God LOVES, He feels COMPASSION, SORROW, ANGER….Jesus expressed FRUSTRATION (Luke9:41), AMAZEMENT in Luke 7:9, and JOY in Hebrews 12:2
  • The Bible has a lot to say about the emotions we experience…our emotions, just like our minds and bodies…are actually very much influenced by the fall of man into sin…not a good happy thing
  • But, if we have the Spirit of God living in us…there is hope!!!
  • …Because our emotions were not given to us to CONTROL us…but to ENABLE us to enjoy life!
  • The goal is not to be free from emotions…the goal is to be free from their CONTROL…..the only way to learn how to control emotions is by leaning on the Holy Spirit for help!
  • Romans 8:9-13 “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
  • 3 John 2 “Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.”
  • Your soul consists of your MIND, WILL, and EMOTIONS….so when God says He wants you to be prosperous in your soul…your EMOTIONAL life is included!!!
  • EMOTIONS are not unbiblical…but they are indicators of what is in our hearts…
  • Luke 6:43-45 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings up evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
  • Proverbs 16:32 “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, he who RULES HIS (OWN) SPIRIT than he who takes a city.”
  • God wants us to have the peace and joy that comes with knowing how to control emotions.
  • Sometimes we start to thinking that we have absolutely no control how we feel….we get into a situation and a huge wave of emotions comes over us and we feel totally powerless to change them…but just because our emotions feel powerful…does not mean that they are ALL powerful….
  • Just because you feel them, does not mean that you have to ACT ON THEM!!!
  • The truth is…we cannot be SPIRITUALLY mature unless we are EMOTIONALLY mature
  • The Holy Spirit inside of us can help us bear good fruit…meaning the fruit of the Spirit…Galatians 5:22-23 “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
  • There is a price that we pay if we “cater” to our emotions…Romans 8:8 says “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”
  • Romans 8:6-7 “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”
  • This means that if you and I follow the demands of our flesh…what we want, when we want it….we have a price to pay…WHY?...because the mind of the flesh is HOSTILE to God…..so part of the price we pay for catering or giving in to our emotions is not being able to live the Spirit-filled life….
  • Romans 8:5 “For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit.”
  • The Bible clearly teaches that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit is opposed to the flesh…they are continually fighting each other…this means that we cannot be led by our EMOTIONS and still be led by the Holy Spirit…so we HAVE TO MAKE A CHOICE!!!
  • Now…just because sometimes we go “off the deep end” and we cater to our emotions…that does not mean that God doesn’t love us, or that we are not going to heaven…it just means that God is not pleased with what we are doing…with the way we are living. WHY?....because it puts Him in a position in which He cannot do for us what He would like to do
  • WWJD….when all else fails….WWJD always works!!!!....check out Mark 14:32-34 “They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, “Sit here while I go pray.” He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and HE became DEEPLY TROUBLED and DISTRESSED. He told them, “My soul is CRUSHED with GRIEF to the point of death.”…………………..this was all right before His crucifixion……………can you even imagine all the EMOTIONS He was going through…..and WWJD?????...when He realized that His emotions were raising up against Him…He PRAYED…Mark 14:35-36 “He went a little farther and fell to the ground. He PRAYED that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting Him might pass Him by. “Abba, Father,,” He cried out, ‘everything is possible for You. Please take this cup of suffering away from Me. Yet I want Your will to be done, not Mine.”
  • Jesus felt the FEAR…but He didn’t allow His emotions to control Him or get in the way of God’s will…
  • Our emotions are NOT THE LAW!!!!....
  • In fact, many times the emotions that we feel are being manipulated by the ENEMY to stand in the way of God’s will for our lives. He knows that, if he can keep us bound up by fear and anger…he can keep us from walking in all that God has in store for our lives.
  • Look at 1 Corinthians 3…Paul is talking to the church at Corinth about how being CONTROLLED by “worldly things”…or by our “flesh…emotions” rather than by the Spirit of God…it leads to all kinds of evils such as jealously, envy, strife…it causes all kinds of divisions and factions among us….in fact…my Bible titles this chapter…”On Divisions in the Church”
  • If we look at Galatians 5 again…right before the list of the fruits of the Spirit…God tells us what the acts of the sinful nature are…”sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealously, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like..I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (v. 19-21)
  • These are directly OPPOSITE of the fruit of the Spirit…directly opposite…and deeply EMOTIONAL
  • We cannot be spiritual….we cannot walk in the spirit…and be LED by EMOTIONS
  • EMOTIONS can be an enemy in the life of the believer if we are CONTROLLED by them!
  • EMOTIONS will not go away…but we can learn to manage them…we have to deal with them…but we CANNOT TRUST THEM!!! Satan uses our emotions against us to keep us from walking in the Spirit !!
  • We have to realize that the EMOTIONAL part of our being coexists with our intellectual, physical and spiritual parts…feelings are important…BUT they are NOT the most important…because you are not your feelings…for that matter…you are not your body or your intellect…you are fundamentally a SPIRITUAL being!
  • There are dangers when we build our lives on our FEELINGS…we’ve already talked about a couple of reasons…Satan can cause them and manipulate them….sometimes we even have a way of feeling what has been FORCED upon us rather than what truly is in us (like people manipulating you for a response…or at church for an offering…etc…)….feelings or EMOTIONS can also change in an INSTANT!.....the danger of building our lives on our feelings…is that we may not feel the same way about a situation tomorrow as we feel about it today!
  • As a Christian…we have to CHOOSE to believe God’s Word over what we hear, feel, or even experience
  • Whenever Satan tries to plant a thought or EMOTION in my mind…the first step I have to take is to recognize it as a THREAT! It’s a threat to my joy, my peace, and my relationship to God and to others
  • Look what Jesus says…Luke 10:19 “Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you.”
  • God even says for us to “hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:16)
  • EMOTIONS are not all bad though…our emotions actually motivate us to do stuff…motivations are felt in the body…our muscles tense or relax…our blood vessels dilate or contract…when we feel emotionally, we also feel physically…our emotions can make us feel uncomfortable or comfortable…they send us signals to do something urgently or to stay in our comfortable seat
  • EMOTIONS also are used for internal signals within us…if we think about something that contradicts our values…our emotions will tell us that it is bad…when we think about something that could hurt us…our emotions will tell us that this is not a good idea…just by imagining what might happen…our emotions help us make better decisions…
  • EMOTIONS also give us social signals….we wear our emotions on our outward bodies…especially our faces…did you know our faces have 90 muscles…30 of these muscles have the sole purpose of signaling emotion to other people….this is a very useful thing…they help others decide how to behave towards us…if someone is looking angry...we tend to stay away from them…if they are looking afraid…we seem to want to go and comfort them…
  • Our mind is a battlefield!!!
  • Remember the evil spirits we just learned about and how there is one that loves to try to totally bypass the MIND so that the EMOTIONS can rule…it shuts down the JUDGMENT part of our brain…our mind can become deceived
  • So how do we know if it’s our EMOTIONS speaking or if it’s God speaking…..think about it this way…..EMOTIONS urge us toward haste…they tell us that we have to do something and we have to do it NOW! But godly wisdom tells us to wait until we have a clear picture of what it is we are to do and when we are to do it
  • Proverbs 28:26 “He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.”
  • Proverbs 18:2 “A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.”
  • Proverbs 29:11 “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”
  • We have to get to the place where we back away and view the situation from God’s perspective….to make decisions based on what we KNOW rather than on what we FEEL…..totally easier said than done!
  • We have to learn how to deal with our emotions…it is so super critical to our spiritual life….the Holy Spirit is here to help us learn to mold our emotions so that they- are Christ-like
  • To learn how to manage our emotions…we have to realize that it first involves our imaginations…how we think…what we imagine …Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.”
  • It then involves our mind…what our perspective is…Romans 8:5-7 “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature DESIRES, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit DESIRES.” Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…
  • When we have the correct perspective on things…we can work on controlling the MEMORIES that sometimes come with certain EMOTIONS…Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is TRUE, whatever is NOBLE, whatever is RIGHT, whatever is PURE, whatever is LOVELY, whatever is ADMIRABLE—if anything is EXCELLENT or PRAISEWORTHY—think about such things.”
  • How many times to we DECIDE to dwell on the NEGATIVE emotions instead of the POSITIVE ones…EX: how many times to you react to something a certain way because you have always reacted to it like that in the past!!!?...EX: if you are a fearful or anxious person…then you choose to select from experiences only those things that can be linked to the past trauma and dread when you could just as easily take the positive, noble, and happy experiences instead!!!!
  • Memories of traumatic events, situations, or conversations can burn major NEGATIVE emotions into your being…in order not to dwell on the negative…you may have to confess and repent of past sins…then accept God’s forgiveness…ask God to help you forgive yourself and others and how they’ve hurt or offended you…
  • You probably won’t feel like forgiving others…but if you decide to obey God…He will definitely help you on this….
  • Refuse to let your mind dwell on traumatic memories…replace them with Scriptures
  • You might even have to simply remove your self from situations or even avoid them….ask yourself “is this situation really worth the emotional stress?” “Is this person worth losing my temper over?”…..this may help you get the right PERSPECTIVE on things!
  • THINK ON THIS: How we relate to people and to God is based on how we imagine the world to be and God to be and our attitude about our outlook on life itself…….either NEGATIVE or POSITIVE
  • Luke 1:37 “Nothing is impossible with God.”

Let’s dissect this passage of Scripture: