Faith over Fear 8-Week Challenge: Day 15

Week Three:

The Enemy Wants You to Fear Your Feelings:

Emotions can hit us from every angel, level or perspective of life. Emotions are the natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. There are times we feel justified for being emotional (such as the death of a family member, divorce, or loss of a job) and then there are times when our emotions are triggered by things seemingly so small, but which strike a nerve in our hearts. When some feel intense emotions about something that seems trivial, it’s easy to start feeling guilty, which then in turn makes me feel even worse. It’s a vicious cycle that has the enemy’s fingerprints all over it, and we need to be aware of it. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” 1 Peter 5:8(NKJV). The enemy uses many tactics to try to limit our effectiveness. Oftentimes, he will use our own thoughts and emotions against us in an attempt to render us useless. Guilt, which can be debilitating, is a very large weapon in his arsenal. Guilt starts a slippery slope which is followed by shame, withdrawal, inaction, and ultimately pushing God away. When you can come to realize that expressing our emotions can actually be beneficial for us both psychologically and spiritually. The area of emotions is one where the enemy wants to turn something potentially positive into something very negative. If we are aware of this, we can reap the benefits of our emotions instead of allowing them to bring us down. Here are three ways I believe expressing our emotions can be helpful in our lives.

Emotions Can Bring Us Closer to God:

Many believe feeling guilty for being emotional, it’s because for some reason you may feel like expressing your emotions is bad and means you are vulnerable or weak. In reality, the Bible says that God is close to the broken-hearted. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” Psalm 34:18 (NKJV). If having a broken heart were a sin, then why would God be extra close to us during that time? On the contrary, our deep emotions have a strong power to draw us closer to Him and His purpose for your future. It’s no wonder Satan attacks us in this area to try to draw us away from God instead, and deeper down the path of darkness. Satan knows the power of intimacy that is found when we truly surrender our hurts and fears to God and let him comfort and strengthen us, and Satan will do anything he can to stop that. Many of my most intimate moments with God have been during periods of heartbreak (break-ups, betrayals by a friend, fights with a family member, etc.). A majority of the book of Psalms is David expressing that same reality! David went through many tough times and he poured his heart out to God each time. “My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me ” Psalm 55:4-5 ( NKJV). David didn’t hold back in expressing his intense emotions and he grew closer to God because of it, even on the days he felt helplness and hopeless. The Scripture described him as a man after God’s own heart. “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee” 1 Samuel 13:14 (NKJV). Christianity is not about emotions or feeling close to God, its about having divine and true relationship with Him. The Christian faith is not grounded in these subjective feelings; rather, it’s grounded in the Word of God and who Jesus Christ is. Some Christians rely too heavily on their experiences and feelings, instead of relying on the Scriptures and what God says. It’s certainly unfortunate, but it’s something that everyone can be cautious of from now on.

Emotions Help Us Experience God’s Grace:

Those who call Jesus their Lord will recognize His voice and He will always protect them. This does not mean their life will be without calamity, but it does mean they will have a shepherd who is always their to care for their soul. God created our emotions so he’s not scared or mad when they manifest. Instead, He is there to hold and comfort us when we experience our intense unemotional overload which in turn helps us experience a level of his wonderful grace. Any added guilt over being emotional is from the enemy, because God (being full of grace and mercy) doesn’t make us feel guilty. Getting closer to God requires action on our part. In this passage, we learn that we must die to our flesh in order to live for God. We cannot serve more than one master, and we must choose wisely. It’s not any easy thing to do, but if we truly want to be close to Jesus, picking up our cross is a necessity. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” Romans 8:1(NKJV). Instead of condemnation, God offers us immeasurable comfort, like no human could ever give. On top of that, he showers even more grace to those around us by helping us to offer comfort to others when show them the source of the comfort we’ve received. Because God’s grace is so amazing, he ensures that his blessings extend to more than just ourselves. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4(NKJV).

Emotions Give Us An Outlet:

Perhaps the most impactful example in the Bible about intense emotions comes from Jesus. We know Jesus was sinless and yet he expressed some very intense emotions in the Garden of Gethsemane. “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me” Matthew 26:37-38 (NKJV). Jesus had to go through quite a few horrific experiences in order to redeem mankind from its sin, and while we know Jesus was God’s son, it’s easy to forget his human side and what it must have been like to go through all of that. So, whenever you have to face an impending tough situation, like preparing for a new venture to an invasive surgery, the anticipation of the event beforehand seems to be the worst part. Agonizing over the both the unknown and the known and anticipating the pain is mentally exhausting. If you try to hold it all together and not express the emotions you feel, eventually you will explode and act out in an unhealthy way, but If you express your emotions in a healthy context before they may become too much, it allows me to face the situation without as much baggage. Expressing our emotions allows us to purge those feelings somewhat and gives us an outlet for them so we have the strength to keep walking and face whatever storm we are in or headed into. Jesus needed to express his intense emotions before he walked through the crucifixion process. His emotions gave him an outlet and that allowed him to tap into God’s strength that would carry him through the most horrific experience. When we allow ourselves a healthy outlet for expressing our emotions, we are able to do so without sinning. For it is not the expression of our emotions that is sin, but rather the unhealthy actions as a result that tear us and those around us down.“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil” Ephesians 4:26 (NKJV). The most important thing we can do when facing our emotions is to ultimately trust God with whatever we are going through and whatever is causing our emotions. God understands our emotions, but he also wants to help us move past them into a place of healing. Let’s follow David’s example, who after pouring out his emotional heart to God, vowed to continue to trust him. “But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee” Psalm 55:23b (NKJV).