And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not – Galatians 6:9.
God’s greatest desire is that, as believers, you and I progressively learn how to be led by His Spirit. However, there is a powerful enemy that stands in the way: our emotions as well as the Adversary.
Satan is the most powerful enemy we face externally, but internally, our emotions give us some of the biggest problems. Emotions are strong, complex internal responses that result in bodily changes. There are sometimes helpful and at other times hurtful. They come in positives and negatives. They are not evil, but they also are not holy.
Emotions can make you laugh for one hour and cry the next. Not wanting them doesn’t stop them from coming, and wanting them doesn’t make them come. They are apt to quit on us when we need them most and flare up when we wish they would go away. The truth is, we’ll always have emotions, and having them is not a sin. It’s when we follow them that we often get into trouble. If we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, you and I can recognize our feelings and realize where they are trying to take us. Emotions, or feelings, are part of our soulish realm.
We’re a spirit, have a soul, and live in a body. Our souls are the intangible area between our spirit, the place where God lives, and our physical body. It is made up of our mind, will, and emotions. It tells us what we think, what we want, and how we feel. Of these three areas of the soul, our feelings get stirred up the fastest and can lead us into temptation the quickest.
Once our emotions get stirred up, they can quickly deceive our minds. After this happens, the voice of our conscience, which operates out of our spirit, is denied its normal standard of judgment. In other words, our God-given inner voice of insight and understanding becomes drowned out by the cries of our emotions. We don’t know God’s will for our lives in this unstable state. We become confused about what we should and shouldn’t do. As a result, of our confusion, we commit to things that God doesn’t want us to commit to, we quit doing things that God wants us to remain a part of, and we say things that damage our relationships.
Whether we’re Christians or non-Christians, being led by our emotions can be detrimental to us spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, and with our relationships. Christian women must have the discernment that comes through the Holy Spirit. The difference between our feelings and discernment is that feelings are of the flesh; they are shallow and constantly subject to change. Discernment, on the other hand, is knowing in the spirit something that comes from deep inside and is given to us by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is something that all Christians must have; it’s the Spirit of God living within our spirit. He’s our teacher, director, and guide. He will lead us to the truth when the word or action is a lie. He will direct us in what to say, when, and how we say it. Emotions have caused many women to marry people they knew within their hearts; this wasn’t the right person to marry, but because they were in such a rush to marry, they married them, and many are now living in torment.
Emotions have caused women to commit fornication and adultery because they didn’t have control of their emotions and didn’t want to be alone. God wants us to be led by His Spirit, not our emotions. Prayer can bring emotions under control, allowing the Holy Spirit to be in control and conscientious of our behavior and character.
Usually, the voice that speaks the loudest is the lie that is trying to influence our emotions. Whether it’s fear or anger. Sometimes our emotions will have us thinking and seeing things that aren’t true. Say, for instance, someone may pass you by without speaking. Your emotions will say the person doesn’t like you or they were ignoring you, while the person that passed you by could be going through something traumatic or dealing with problems at home or on their job. They are so in tune with their thoughts that they didn’t see you.
Take control of your thoughts; then, you can take control of your emotions. Emotions are what cause us to get into financial debt, bad relationships, and disunity between family members and church families. Emotions can be good, and they also can be detrimental to our health and wellbeing. As you pay attention to your thoughts, you can control your emotions.