How can I best handle my emotions? - Emotions - TouchPoints

Proverbs 4:23Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.

Ezekiel 36:26And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you.

What we think about doesn’t just come from our minds; it comes from our hearts. The Bible says, “The heart is desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). It is the center of the battle between our sinful nature and our new nature as believers. It is also the center of our emotions. In other words, our emotions are constantly influenced and tainted by our sinful nature. This should make us cautious about trusting our emotions, because Satan is trying to get us to think our sinful feelings are right. Guarding your heart means rejecting Satan’s influences. For example, if you look at pornography, you let it into your heart, and then the healthy emotion of love becomes tainted by sin, turns to lust, and begins to convince you that you deserve to enjoy sinful, selfish pleasures. To effectively guard your heart, keep filling it with God’s Word, which comes from God’s heart and is good and perfect.

Job 7:11I cannot keep from speaking. I must express my anguish . . .

Keep an open dialogue with the Lord and others you trust so you are not covering up your emotions. God loves you, and he can handle your emotional honesty, just as he has listened to the pain, frustration, fear, and anger of countless believers before. Share your feelings with a few godly confidants as well so they can hold you accountable when you get off-track and help you re-direct your emotions from unhealthy ways to healthy ones.

Ezra 3:12-13But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance.

A single event can produce multiple emotions. While you celebrate a rainstorm for your garden, others may mourn because it rained on their parade. Try to understand that the feelings of others may be quite different from yours, even over the same event. Don’t try to force others to feel the way you do, and don’t be influenced to always feel the same way others do.

Ephesians 4:23Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes.

Romans 13:14But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don’t think of ways to indulge your evil desires.

Ezekiel 36:26And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you.

When you let Christ control you, he will direct your emotions into healthy behavior.

2 Peter 1:6Knowing God leads to self-control. Self-control leads to patient endurance, and patient endurance leads to godliness.

We often think of emotions in a negative sense, when they get out of control. But without emotions we cannot experience the power and deep satisfaction of a relationship with God. It’s hard to prevent our emotions from controlling us (worrying too much, getting caught up in doing the wrong thing, letting anger get out of control). Don’t deny your emotions, but don’t let them control you or cause you to sin. Use the emotions God has given you to deepen your relationship with him (whether they involve sorrow or joy, anguish or peace, anger or love, doubt or gratitude) and you will experience the drama and power of true Christian living.