Here is a true statement: Your emotions always reveal your faith. They reveal the voracity of your core beliefs. Think about that for a minute…
Think about the emotion you tend to struggle with most often- fear, worry, anger, sorrow, depression-
Now ask yourself what this emotion tells you what you believe about:
- God
- You
- Your place in this world
- His plan for your life
- What is really important
If you struggle with anger, what your anger tells you about God is maybe you believe God does not do things your way, and He should because you know better.
What anger says about you, is that you believe you could do it better than God does. What it says about your place in this world is that the rest of us should do it your way because your way is better. What anger says about your understanding of God’s plan for your life is you have got a better plan. Your anger says that you are most important to you, and that you ought to be most important to everyone else too!
Your emotions reveal your heart, which is the storehouse of your faith and all that your faith is comprised of.
Here is some really good news: you can control your emotional makeup. This is done by changing your thoughts, beliefs, desires, mind, and actions to those that mirror biblical ones.
Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
I focus so heavily on renewing the mind because that is where true and lasting change takes place! The word of God is the only tool we have to affect this kind of change. The Word and the Spirit in concert applied to the heart of a person, applied to their thoughts, beliefs and desires of the heart will help a person get those emotions in submission to the Holy Spirit.
This is not something you can jerk yourself out of; it is a change that only God can do. You must reorient your worldview to what the Bible teaches about you and your heart. In addition, the Bible helps you to understand on an intimate level
- What God say about Himself Ps. 16:11; Matt. 5:8; Acts 2:29
- What God says about you Eph. 1:3-8
- What God says about your place in His world John 6:27
- What God says about your deepest desires Ps. 42:1-6
This is why the only place you can learn about you and how you were made and what you are designed to be is in the Bible. It is our only source of authority!