“It is imperative that we allow God to help us get Our emotions under control. If not, we will live a very isolated and miserable life. As the verse in Proverbs says, not only will we have all kind of emotional walls to keep everybody, including God, out, but we will also be imprisoned by our distorted and wounded emotions.”
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Victory and My Emotions
By James Holland Sr.
“For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power [victory] , and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7).
Let’s face it, there are a lot of emotionally damaged people even in the ranks of believers. Beneath our pasted smiles and pleasant greetings, we hide the emotional struggles with which we are doing battle. We have become very professional in covering our wounds that the enemy continues to infect, the emotional nightmares that play themselves out within our spirit. Those feelings that are distorted and, in some cases, perverted haunt us like night creatures. It goes without saying that if you are a card-carrying human being, you will do battle with these feelings.
“A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle” (Proverbs 18:19).
Where does victory come into play when it comes to my emotions? Don’t kid yourself. We are all emotional beings. It is unrealistic to expect no Pain When there is disappointment or rejection. No matter how spiritual we may be, when covenants are broken and trust betrayed, even the most stoic person will flinch at the pain! While we understand that we walk by faith in God and His Word, we cannot deny that We are affected by how or what we feel. In fact, life Without feeling is like a riverbed without water. The Water is what makes the river a place of activity and life. You don’t want to destroy the water but you do want to control it. Feelings that are out of control are like the floodwaters of a river.
It is imperative that we allow God to help us get Our emotions under control. If not, we will live a very isolated and miserable life. As the verse in Proverbs says, not only will we have all kind of emotional walls to keep everybody, including God, out, but we will also be imprisoned by our distorted and wounded emotions.
Is This What God Wants?
Not according to the Scripture. So what does God want? We need only to go to His authoritative Word to find out. We have been talking about bringing our thinking processes in line with what God would have us to think so that what we think agrees with what is in our hearts. Then, when we speak, there is agreement with God.
Remember, transformation of the mind begins with ideas; ideas are reinforced by mental images; and feelings are the product of both. Once set in place, feelings can be the most powerful force of all.
The goal of transformation of the mind is the mind of Christ. That means we want to acquire the ideas of Christ and we want to feel what Christ feels. Feelings live on the front row of life.
Willpower will not conquer feelings. We are almost helpless in their path. Many people just try to block or stuff their feelings out of sight. Yet Scripture offers a different way. Rather than trying merely to control or stuff them, God actually says we can change them. He says we can feel about life what Jesus feels about life. Is that victory or what?
Passions and desires (also known as feelings) are the most used and powerful tools that trigger sinful action. Many sincere believers suffer in their walk because they made commitments prompted by their feelings. You walked off the job in anger or you burned a relationship over a silly disagreement. You said some things to friends that no one will be able to forget. The truth is that people of all ages can be enslaved by their feelings of anger, anxiety, malice, and bitterness. Through the channel of our feelings, Satan seeks to provoke the sins of pride, worry, discouragement, self-reliance, worldliness, lying, and unforgiveness, just to name a few.
Wouldn’t you much rather have feelings of contentment, peace, satisfaction, and the love of God to rule your life? Healthy feelings are essential to a victorious life. We must take care of our feelings; they don’t just happen.
