1 Kings 8:39
…for you alone know each human heart.
We usually associate the heart as being the seat of our emotions. Our emotions play an important role in our transformation from being a person living in rebellion to God’s will into someone who walks in His will daily. Let’s face it—We are emotional creatures. Our transformation will include a change in how we respond emotionally to what happens as we walk this journey through life.
You might be thinking that you can’t remember emotions being talked about much in scriptures. However, emotions appear everywhere in scriptures. Here’s a brief list of some emotional responses found in the Bible:
Deuteronomy 19–“hot heart” from revenge
Judges 19–enjoyment from feasting
1 Samuel 21–fear of harm from man
2 Chronicles 26–pride
Proverbs 14–bitterness
Matthew 14–terror of the unknown
Matthew 17–frustration
Luke 21–anxious fear of future events
John 10–curiosity
Philippians1–yearning or desire
When God created us, he gave us the ability to experience these emotions, and many others. Our emotional responses to life are part of what makes mankind special creatures in this universe.
Our emotions and their effect on our behavior have been studied for hundreds of years. We still don’t know everything there is to know about them, but there are a couple of Biblical concepts about our emotions we need to take into account as we progress in our transformation to becoming more like Jesus every day.
The first concept is that Jesus knows how you feel when things happen to you.
Philippians 2:5-7 KJVS
[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: [6] Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: [7] But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
When Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us, He carried in His physical life the same characteristics we have. He didn’t just look like a human. He also had emotional responses like us.
He felt anger, frustration, compassion and pity. He responded to other people with love and understanding because He really was walking a mile in our shoes. He experienced rejection from family members. He experienced sadness over the loss of someone close to Him. He experienced the pain of betrayal and He experienced the confidence of loyalty.
He also experienced the joy of sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the midst of a trial. He experienced the power of the anointing to heal. He experienced burden of responsibility and the victory of fulfilling that responsibility.
Jesus experienced life’s challenges just like we all do. And with those challenges came the same emotions we feel when we have to face them, too. This reality brings us to the second concept about out emotions we need to understand.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can train ourselves to respond like Jesus when things happen to us. Last week I shared how we can train our physical body to line up with the spiritual transformation that happens when we are born again spiritually and are forgiven of our sins. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we learn to live like Jesus lived in the physical realm. We can do the same kind of thing with our emotional responses to life’s temptations and trials that create those emotional responses in our hearts.
1 Corinthians 10:13 KJVS. [13] There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Hebrews 2:16-18 KJVS. [16] For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. [17] Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. [18] For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour (help) them that are tempted.
God helps us overcome the temptations we face by providing a way of escape from the temptations. Every trial of faith we encounter is common to everyone else. Those trials will include how we respond emotionally to the trials. Since Jesus faced all the same kinds of trials and tests we face, and because He became just like mankind while on this earth, He also had to deal with the emotions those trials and tests create within us.
I repeat myself—Jesus completely understands the trials we all face, and He completely understands how those trials make us feel when we face them. He knows how to help us escape, overcome, and conquer the trials, along with the emotions they generate in us.
Jesus can help us overcome anger or sadness. He can help us escape from lust or jealousy. He can help us conquer frustration or fear.
You might want to ask, “Just how do I find the way of escape Jesus provides in trials and my emotions during the trials?” The answer to your question lies in seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In order to seek His guidance to escape or overcome trials, we have to train ourselves to seek Him first when we find ourselves being tempted, tested or tried.
Allow me to give you an example from my own life. I’m an emotional type of person. There have been too many times when the devil would work to frustrate me and get me to focus on a problem I was having, instead of on God, who is the problem solver. Frustration and anger go hand-in-hand. I would become angry and my anger would motivate me into rash behavior.
I haven’t completely become frustration free yet, but I have learned to tell myself to just “chill” when I find myself becoming angry. I have learned to ask God to help me control the frustration, which helps me to also control the anger. I am working on just taking a minute to settle down, think about what’s happening, and to allow the Holy Spirit to help me overcome my emotional response to a problem.
I don’t think I’m alone in that one example. Your emotional button that is pushed by the devil may be different. It might be jealousy or greed or fear or sexual lust. It could be doubt or pride or self-righteousness or condemnation of people who don’t think or live like you do.
The emotion that drives you could be anything. However, we need to get a good handle on the reality that Jesus can help us to control our emotions. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to train our emotional responses to conform to the teachings of Jesus, just like we train our physical bodies to conform to His teachings and example of how to live.
What emotion do you want Jesus to help you control today?