Garden of your heart

Emotions!

Today I will be speaking on the topic of Emotions at Bible Study (it goes along with our study we are doing).  I think that this is an important topic for women.  First, because often times we think some emotions are bad.  In and of themselves, emotions are not bad. 

1,  Emotions are God given.  We were made in His image according to Genesis 5:3.  We can assume that Adam and Eve enjoyed emotions such as love, joy, contentment in the garden, until the Serpent came along and Eve became discontent.  After she ate the fruit they immediately felt shame.  After that I am sure there were many more emotions that they  felt like jealousy, anger, bitterness, rage, envy, sorrow, heartache, fear and the like. 

We find that God has emotions (we were made in His image).  The Bible talks about them....some listed that we normally think of as "bad" are jealousy (Ex. 20:5), anger (Joshua 1:7), Sorrow and Grief (due to man's great wickedness in Gen. 6:5-6).

2.  It's what we do with our emotions that matters. 

Here are some examples of poor choices of anger:   Cain angry at God, kills Abel.  (Genesis 4), Jonah angry at God pouted, sulked and wished he was dead (Jonah 4), Paul being falsly accused and wanted an apology (Acts 16),

Examples of righteous anger:Jesus cleansing the temple (John 21), God with Moses for his resistance to obedience due to unbelief (Exodus 4), God with the mistreatment of the helpless, strangers, widows and orphans (Exodus 22), God against those who turned from trusting and worshipping God to worshipping idols (Exodus 32, Deut 6), God with those who practice witchcraft and the like (mediums, fortune tellers, etc...in Deut 18)

Examples of poor choices when fearful:  Abram and Sarai (Gen 12) when they entered Egypt he was afraid they would kill him for her if they told him that she was his wife.  It heaped consequences on all of them.  Adam and Eve - were afraid...AFTER they at teh fruit.  Due to their sin.

Example of how to deal with fear:  David called out to God in his fear when surrounded by his enemy.  (Psalm 27)

Examples of poor choices of Jealousy:    Most times our jealousy leads to poor choices.  This is a strong emotion.  Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery (Genesis 37).

Example of a jealousy that is right   God (in Exodus 20:5-6) is a jealous God.  Therefore, we are not to bow down to any other idol.  What types of idols do we bow down to today?  entertainment, food, hobbies, etc. 

I just finished reading the book "Power Through Prayer" By E.M. Bounds.  one of the things that he pointed out was that "the apostles knew the necessity and worth of praye to their ministry.  They knew that their high commission as apostles - instead of relieving them from the necessity of prayer - committed them to it by a more urgent need.  They were exceedingly jealous when some other important work exhausted their time and prevented their praying as they ought."   That's why they appointed laymen to look after other duties.  That's a new side of jealousy, isn't it?

Examples of Sadness and Depression that resultes in poor choices or thinking:   Jonah (again in Jonah 4) was an example of someone who was depressed and wanted his life to end.  Do you notice why?  It was due to his anger and not getting his way.    Elijah (I Kings 19)  "It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers."  This was after waging and winning a huge struggle with God's help against the prophets of Baal.  Elijah was discouraged and depressed.  He was exhausted.  He became a fugitive from Ahab and Jezebel. 

Example of Sadness that is healthy to express:  Jesus Wept (John 11:35) when he saw Mary weeping over her brother.  It was out of sympathy for her.  Even though He knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead. 

3.  Choose to allow Christ (no your emotions) to rule your life.

When I was in my early 20's, I remember taking a "test" that determined how you made your decisions....emotionally vs. thinking.  To the shock of many, I tested as making my decisions 100% emotionally.    It was true.  I let my emotions rule me in everything that I did.  Now that I am in my early 40's, I have learned a lot.  Matter of fact, my husband says that I have improved on how I deal with my emotions and the impact they have on me about 70% in the past 10 years.  I think that is pretty good!  :)  It's those wonderful PMS times that I am still working on.  A couple weeks ago I had a Saturday I was incredibly irritable and often spoke due to that.  I was apologizing all day long.  Then the next day I was weepy and crying all day.  My poor husband turned to me and said  "you can't decide what you are feeling, can you."   

Here are some things that I have learned over the years in helping me control my emotions, not my emotions control me:

*When I sin, confess and repent quickly.  Seek accountability from someone if I am struggling to overcome a sin.  Make things right as soon as possible if I have sinned against them.

*When I have been wronged by someone....FORGIVE! 

*When confused or afraid, CHOOSE to trust the Lord.  The psalms talks about this a lot.  If you are struggling in this area, I encourage you to read 5 chapters a day for the next month of the book of Psalms.  You will have finished reading the entire book, and hopefully see how to change fear into trust.

*Before going to someone else to talk about my emotions, the circumstance, your worry, etc ...go to God

*Surround myself with godly people that will not just tell me what I "want"  to hear, but tell me what I "need" to hear.  When seeking counsel (with friends, laymen, or professionals) choose someone who will hold fast to God's Word 'first and foremost.'  Don't settle for receiving wordly advice, and don't settle giving worldly advice!  I am blessed with two very close friends (Leslie and Monette) and a sweet godly husband who will do this for me.  It keeps me on track!  They do it with love and my best interest at heart.

*Be in the Bible on a daily basis, so that my guidance comes from the Lord, now how I feel.

*When you need wisdom, ask of God (James 1).  Also, read the book of Proverbs in a month.  Read one chapter a day.  I actually need wisdom so desperately, that I read a chapter of Proverbs every day as part of my normal routine in scripture.  There are so many nuggets in there.

*Physically:  Get enough rest, limit caffeine if needed, eat healthy (lots of fruits, vegetables and fiber), drink plenty of water, exercise (I need to work on this one again), and take my multi-vitamins to help with any deficiencies in my body.

*Retrain my thinking pattern (as per Philippians 4:8-9).  Here is an example of how I used to think and how I have retrained that.  I would spill a glass of milk.  Immediately I would think and often say outloud, 'I am so stupid, what an idiot, you can't do anything right, you might as well not be here, I wish I could die."  See the progression?  Instead what I do now.  I spill the milk (I am quite clumsy especially around my PMS time).  I will say "oooops, I just spilled.  That's okay, it's no big deal.  I will just clean it up.  No damage done."  I clean it up and am ready to continue what else I was doing.

*My thoughts on anti-depressants":  I think that one of the problems with these are that it is the FIRST place that everyone goes when they are depressed.   Depression can be a result of deep seeded anger (this was the case for me), sin, disappointment with things not going the way we want (our expectations) and yes sometimes due to a chemical imbalance.  Lots of people who are on the medicine would benefit from dealing with the things in their life and be able to get off of them.  However, I am also aware that there are some that do have a permanent chemical imbalance that requires meds.  Pray and seeking godly counsel that may help in determining this!

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05:10, Tuesday, October 30, 2007 .. Posted by gokings13

Great post.
Thank you
Laura

wow

11:30, Tuesday, October 30, 2007 .. Posted by g

Debbie, if I didn't know better I would think that you're spying on me. This is a WONDERFUL outline of dealing with our emotions in a Godly manner vs. a fleshly/worldly manner.

I especially loved your suggestions about reading the Psalms and Proverbs for wisdom and learning how to trust God and not fear. Those are ALL areas in which I need help!

I also loved how you backed up everything with scripture and excerpts of what the Biblical person did in the situation. I am so blessed right now from this! A friend of mine just came over this morning and we were talking/crying together about this very thing...that we are both struggling with healing over past things, and so often our emotions run the show, leaving nothing but rubble and scars on those we love.

The only answer is turning to God, keeping our focuss on Him, and Him alone, then I believe the overflow is everything, including our emotions falls into line. THANK YOU so much again for this!

You must know that if we lived there, I'd be in your study as well! God is using you Debbie....stay surrendered!

Love,
G

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07:57, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 .. Posted by Deblyn

Thanks! :) This was a fun topic for me to teach on. As I prepared it my heart was encouraged to see how far God has brought me. Praise to Him and Him alone! :)

g, I wish you were here! We could have some great times together. I guess we will have to settle for the blogs for now!