Transition Series – Don’t trust Your Emotions
I personally don’t trust my emotions, period. You can be in love with someone one day and not the next. You can hate your job one day and not the next. Did you know you really can feel differently depending on the barometric pressure? You might feel down today because of the weather! Or, maybe it’s the moon! There are so many things that can affect emotions. I learned a long time ago they are not given to me to guide me. Ever. They are given to me so I can enjoy life, be human, have feelings. They are given, so I can relate to others where they are. Because of emotions, I can be compassionate and understand others’ pain. Feelings are never, ever. given to lead me.
I will never make important life-decisions when I am emotional. I wait until I get my emotions under control, whether that takes hours or days or weeks. If my wife or a family member or a staff member is pressing me to make a decision on an emotional issue or at an emotional time, I won’t do it. I let them know I don’t trust myself to make a decision yet, because I know my emotions are too engaged. This makes it hard for me to discern what the Spirit is saying or if the decision is emotion-driven. So, I have learned to wait and just process with the Lord.
“They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31; ESV)
Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:
- Read the news today. Do you feel angry, fearful, or otherwise emotional? Ask the Lord to teach you to find Him in the craziness of the national climate.
- Intercede into that issue that made you emotional. Was it that Israel is being relentlessly bombed? Are you overwhelmed with LGBTQ issues in the schools? How about the never-ending suspicions related to the Mueller Report? Are you passionate about ending abortion, or at least defunding Planned Parenthood?
- What is the thing that raises your emotional temperature? Say, “God cares more about this issue than I do. He has answers I don’t have. He can teach me how to pray regarding it and I will wait on Him to show me how. I will listen for scripture, the sword of the Lord, the Word of God.”
- Is there something the Lord is leading you to do, as well? If there is peace in your heart, write that letter or email. Go and speak to that person that can make a difference. But, not until your emotions are totally at rest in Him.
A prayer you can pray:
Father, there are times I don’t want to hear the national news. I can easily be addicted to the emotional turmoil it causes me when I watch or read the news. So many things are out of alignment with Your Word. I honestly cannot believe our society has embraced such anti-Christian sentiment. We have walked so far from You. It all just stirs me up so much! I find myself reacting in prayer, instead of settling down and asking You to show me how to pray. You care so much about the people involved. You want to divide between action and person. You want to divide between thought and intent of the heart. You want to bring things into order more than I do. What good are my hot-headed comments on Facebook and Twitter going to matter? It’s my Spirit-led, passionate, intercession that will make a difference. It’s my carefully formed, Spirit-directed words written in a timely letter to the right person that will make a difference. It’s a well-prayed over vote. It’s a loving action that can turn things around in my community. Lord, help the Body of Christ get our emotions in check and show the world what true authority looks like. Make us Christ-confident and so peaceful that it shakes the enemies of the Gospel to their core. They are going to have to give up, turn back, and stop, because we are becoming calmly bold and relentless. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Today’s decree:
Let the people of God show their trust in God over national issues, by getting their emotions under control!