How should I control my feelings?

Proverbs 4:23Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Matthew 6:21“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

We must guard what we permit into our minds and hearts. The thoughts and desires we dwell on direct the course of our lives. Growing our appetite for God and his goodness inspires us to follow him. Feeding our hearts with temptations and sin turns our hearts away from God.

Colossians 3:8-10Now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

2 Peter 1:5-6Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness.

As we come to know God more, it becomes easier to follow him and become like him. This gives us the self-control to avoid those emotions that might lead us into sin.

Romans 13:14Clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.

Galatians 5:22-23The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Ephesians 4:23, 26Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. . . . And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.

The Holy Spirit lives within us, and we ask him to keep our emotions pure. The emotions that come from the Holy Spirit are much more exciting, joyful, and satisfying than the emotions that come from our sinful nature.