Pushing Past Your Emotions

I’ve learned from experience that feelings are fickle. One day they can be up, one day they can be down, and other days I can’t find them at all!

Now, God gave us feelings, and they are not wrong in themselves—they are an important part of enjoying life. So, we don’t need to deny that we have them, but we do need to prevent them from controlling us.

Watchman Nee, the famous twentieth-century Bible teacher, once said that emotions are the believers’ number one enemy. Why are they so dangerous? Because they can cause people to make decisions according to how they feel instead of what God’s Word says.

The Apostle Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 3:3 (AMPC). Talking about new Christians, he says, For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]....

What is the “flesh”? The flesh is our desires—what we want, think and feel. Paul goes on to say in Romans 8:8 (AMPC) that ...those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God or be acceptable to Him.

Wow! The Bible is saying that our emotions—what we feel like doing—can so often hinder us from doing what God wants us to do.

The Lord wants to help us grow and mature past the place in life where we are controlled by our emotions. Because as long as we’re controlled by how we feel, we’ll constantly miss out on His good plan for our lives.

You may think, Joyce, I’m just an emotional person—I really can’t help it. Well, it’s true that some people are more emotional than others. However, with God’s help, all of us can learn how to manage our emotions and make wise choices. We can get to the point where we obey God and do what His Word says to do—regardless of our feelings.

Let me give you an example. Many of you know my story—as a young girl I was sexually abused by my father for years. My mother eventually found out but never confronted him because she was afraid. Needless to say, the abuse and pain I experienced as a child deeply affected me, and it took years for the Lord to help me receive emotional healing and truly forgive my parents.

Years later, as my parents were advancing in age, they lived several hours away and reached a point where they needed someone to help take care of them. Well, one morning as I was praying, the Lord spoke to my heart that He wanted us to bring my parents back to St. Louis, buy them a house, and take care of them until they died.

I shared it with Dave, secretly hoping he would resist the idea. But he said, “If you think this is what God is leading you to do, then we better obey Him.”

We didn’t have a lot of money in the bank, and it was going to take most of it to do what God was asking. The more I prayed, the more the Lord made it clear that He wanted us to “take good care of them” and treat them as if they had been the best parents in the world.

I thought, How could God ask me to do this? Didn’t He care that they hurt me terribly and were never there for me when I needed them? Didn’t God know or care how I felt?

Regardless, I pushed past my emotions and did what God asked me to do. We moved my parents back to St. Louis (eight minutes away from us), bought them a car and furniture, and met their every need. My father showed some appreciation, but he still remained the same mean and cranky man he always was.

However, on Thanksgiving morning, three years after we moved them back to St. Louis, my mother called to say my father had been crying all week and asked if we could come over. Dave and I went, and that day my father asked me to forgive him for what he did to me as a child. He cried and cried and also asked Dave to forgive him.

We assured him that we forgave him and asked him if he wanted to ask God to forgive him and begin a relationship with Jesus Christ. He said yes, and we all prayed right there on the spot. Ten days later, I had the great honor of baptizing my father at church.

I can truly say that for the next 4 years, prior to his death at age 86, I saw a true change in my father. I know without a doubt that he’s in heaven. My mother has also since passed, and I had the joy of knowing her last years were also peaceful. She had asked my forgiveness years prior for all that she did and didn’t do.

Now, you have to understand, when the Lord asked me to help my parents, I didn’t want to do it—I didn’t feel like doing it! But this is where maturity comes in. I had a choice to obey God and do what I knew was right...or follow after my feelings and do what I felt like.

In my heart, I came to a place where I said, “God, You know I don’t want to do it, and it even feels unfair that You asked me to do it, but I want to do Your will. I’ll do it for you.”

I want you to take a moment and think. Are your feelings preventing you from obeying something God has asked you to do? In the moment, getting “your way” may seem like it’s the most important thing—it may seem like you’ll be giving up too much to go along with God’s plan. However, please remember that when you obey God, He always rewards you beyond anything you can imagine!

It simply amazes me how much our emotions can fight us when it comes to doing the right thing. For instance, some people spend their entire life starting things but never finishing things. The excitement wears off and they lose their motivation.

Have you ever committed to consuming less sugar...but end up eating the chocolate cake because you’ve had a long day and it feels good? Or maybe you’ve committed to studying God’s Word for a half hour each day but can’t seem to turn off the TV when the time comes.

Our feelings can prevent us from disciplining ourselves, however it’s discipline that will bring us to the places in life we want to go!

It helps to remember that anytime we choose to discipline ourselves or do what’s right, it’s going to make us a little “sore” at first. However, if we’ll just stick with it, things will get easier and we’ll eventually enjoy the good results.

Years ago, when I was first learning some of these principles, I had days when I felt like I couldn’t leave my room without flying off the handle or letting my emotions run wild. But the more time I spent in God’s Word—the more I just hung out with God and asked Him to change me—the greater stability I enjoyed in my thoughts, feelings, and every other part of my life.

Always remember: You may not always be able to control how you feel, but with God’s help, you can control what you do.

I encourage you to pray and ask the Lord for strength in this area. Ask for His help to choose His will over what you think or feel in the moment. Because God is the anchor of your soul, and He’s the One Who can help you make good decisions today that you’ll be happy with for years to come.