The Gift of Emotions

In this episode, Sarita Allen discusses the importance of consistency in content creation while navigating the challenges of emotional expression. She emphasizes that emotions are a gift from God and explores how they are reflected in biblical teachings. The conversation explores the importance of emotional intelligence, the need to acknowledge grief, and the benefits of expressing emotions healthily. Sarita encourages listeners to embrace their feelings and seek God's guidance in managing them, ultimately finding joy in the process.

Takeaways

• Emotions are a gift from God and should be acknowledged.
• Jesus demonstrated a full range of emotions in the Bible.
• Responding to situations is more beneficial than reacting.
• Self-control is essential for managing emotions effectively.
• Grief should be expressed and shared with others.
• Lamentations teaches us the value of expressing sorrow.
• We live under the grace of God, not performance-based forgiveness.
• God hears our cries and provides comfort 
• Our emotions serve a purpose and can lead to joy.

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Episode Transcript

Introduction (00:03):
Welcome to a place of peace, hope, and divine
encouragement. This is Joy inEvery Step with your host,
beloved preacher, retiredteacher, and faithful through

(00:31):
the valleys or dancing on themountaintops, Sarita's voice
will guide you back to hispromises step by step. So open
your heart, settle your spirit,and take the next step in faith
with joy in every step.

Sarita Bernadette (00:49):
Hi I'm Sarita Bernadette and welcome back to
another episode of Joy in EveryStep. I'm glad you're here. We
are living through somechallenging times. It's okay to
say that beloved it is what itis. God is aware of what's going
on and I guarantee you none ofthis has taken him by surprise.

(01:14):
He's not offended when weacknowledge the things we
struggle with in our lives. Atthe same time, we know that God
has promised to always be withus, right? He promised to be
with us and the Word of God goesfurther in Jeremiah 2nine 11 For

(01:35):
surely I know the plans I havefor you, says the Lord. Plans
for your welfare and not forharm to give you a future with
hope. So he's not just presenthe has a plan for each of us
which includes hope and afuture.

(01:57):
Then in Romans eight twentyeight it says, And we know that
in all things God works for thegood of those who love him, who
have been called according tohis purpose. So the Lord
promises to work it all out forour good according to his

(02:17):
purpose. Knowing that he is withus and that he's working things
out gives us confidence orGodfidence remember that word?
Gives us Godfidence as we meetlife's challenges. It doesn't
mean that we float through thislife oblivious to the events of

(02:39):
this world either.
We read in Genesis that Godcreated the world and humans in
his image and in that moment hedeclared that it was all good.
God gave us the capacity tofeel. Our emotions are a gift

(02:59):
from God. As a matter of fact,God's holy emotions are on
display throughout His Word. I'mgoing to list just a few
examples for you.
Compassion Exodus 3three 19 andhe said I will make all my
goodness pass before you andwill proclaim before you the

(03:23):
name the Lord and I will begracious to whom I will be
gracious and will show mercy onwhom I will show mercy. That's
compassion. Then we see anger inDeuteronomy six
fourteen-fifteen. Do not followother gods, any of the gods of

(03:45):
the peoples who are all aroundyou, because the Lord your God
who is present with you is ajealous God. The anger of the
Lord your God would be kindledagainst you and he would destroy
you from the face of the earth.
Sounds like anger to me. Thengrief. Ephesians four thirty And

(04:08):
do not grieve the Holy Spirit ofGod with which you were marked
with a seal for the day ofredemption. God is capable of
feeling grief. Then love, love.
Jeremiah 30 one:three The Lordappeared to him from far away. I

(04:29):
have loved you with aneverlasting love. Therefore I
have continued my faithfulnessto you. We thank him for his
love then Zephaniah threeseventeen joy joy it says the
Lord your God is in your midst awarrior who gives victory He

(04:51):
will rejoice over you withgladness. He will renew you in
his love.
He will exalt over you with loudsinging. I love that one.
Hebrews one and three reminds usthat Jesus is the reflection of
God's glory and the exactimprint of God's very being.

(05:14):
John one and eighteen tells usthat the Son has made the Father
known. In John fourteen:nineJesus said, Whoever has seen me
has seen the Father.
And then Paul wrote inColossians one fifteen, He is
the image of the invisible God.So just like the Father Jesus

(05:36):
demonstrated a full range ofemotion. The emotions of Jesus
were always perfect. They wereperfect in harmony and in
balance. I believe he was ourexample of what it should look
like when emotions areexpressed.
Here are some of the emotions ofJesus shown in the Bible. I

(05:59):
won't read all of the verses soplease just take a look at them
on your own time. We see joywhen he pleased his father
that's in Luke ten twenty one.We see exhaustion in John four
and six when he sat down at thatwell and met that now famous

(06:21):
woman he was tired. The apostlesJohn and Luke both recorded
anger and disgust shown by Jesuswhen he entered the temple in
Jerusalem and drove out themerchants and the money
changers.
We read about his sorrow in Johneleven thirty five. Beloved, the

(06:42):
scripture says he wept. Jesusshowed compassion and empathy in
Matthew nine thirty six and Marksix thirty four as he went about
healing the sick and teachingthe crowds gathered to hear him.
We also read about hisfrustration in Matthew seventeen
seventeen when the faith of thedisciples wasn't enough to heal

(07:06):
a boy having seizures. We seethe agony and anguish of Jesus
in Luke twenty two and fortyfour as he prayed on the Mount
Of Olives in anticipation of thecrucifixion.
And of course we see himdemonstrate forgiveness in the
Lord's Prayer found in Matthewsix twelve where he teaches to

(07:31):
ask for forgiveness of our sinsas we forgive those who have
sinned against us. And in hisprayer from the cross he says,
Father forgive them for theyknow not what they do. That's in
Luke twenty-three 34. So if theemotions of God the Father and

(07:53):
his son Jesus were shown to usin the word of God, we can
expect to experience the same.At this particular time there
are things going on that pull onour attention and if we're being
honest our emotions are on highalert right now.

(08:14):
We can find ourselves reactingto things instead of responding.
We have to be careful becausethere is a difference. Listen,
indulge me for just a moment.The Latin root of react is back,
to do, perform which meansyou're taking action back at

(08:39):
something or someone. Incontrast, the Latin root of
respond is back answer whichmeans you're answering back to
something or someone usually inwords.
Reacting tends to be quick andoften engages our negative

(09:02):
emotions. Think about it. Itleaves out our ability to
consider the matter fully. Thattakes time. When we pause and
take the time to respond we canengage in deliberate thinking
and thoughtful, thoughtfuldecision making.
This helps us to controlemotions and helps us to control

(09:26):
our our behavioral responses tothe situations that we face.
Responding rather than reactingleads to more sensible and
reasonable outcomes. Yes, thereis scriptural support for this
and you can find it in James onenineteen-twenty. It reads, You

(09:50):
must understand this my belovedbrothers and sisters. Let
everyone be quick to listen,slow to speak, slow to anger for
human anger does not produceGod's righteousness.
There it is. Galatians fivetwenty three lists self control

(10:11):
as a fruit of the spiritenabling believers to manage
their emotions by the power ofGod. Self control. Spiritual
self control is mastering ourdesires, our emotions, and our
actions by relying on God'spower rather than depending on

(10:33):
our own human strength. We needthe Lord's guidance as we seek
to manage our emotions, beloved.
You'll notice if you go back andyou read those scriptural
accounts listed earlier, theemotions displayed were
appropriate for the situationand they were under control.

(10:57):
They were under control. We seemany additional verses in the
Word of God about managingemotions. Ephesians four verses
26 through 27 it says, Be angrybut do not sin. Do not let the
sun go down on your anger and donot make room for the devil.

(11:20):
Wow! Proverbs fifteen andeighteen Those who are hot
tempered stir up strife butthose who are slow to anger calm
contention. Philippiansfour:six-seven Do not be anxious
about anything, but ineverything by prayer and

(11:41):
supplication with thanksgivinglet your requests be made known
to God and the peace of Godwhich surpasses all
understanding will guard yourhearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus. Colossians three fifteenand let the peace of Christ rule
in your hearts to which indeedyou were called in one body and

(12:04):
be thankful, it says. Bethankful.
The Word would not give us thatkind of guidance if it wasn't
valuable. The counsel providedhelps us with something called
emotional intelligence or EI.Perhaps you've heard this term

(12:24):
or you've seen it or read aboutit or maybe even studied it a
bit. I believe it's another oneof those instances where science
meets the Bible. God designed itall.
God makes it clear that he hasgiven us the capacity to both
understand and manage ouremotions and empathize with

(12:49):
others. We are to reflect hisimage, beloved, as we fulfill
his command to love our neighboras we love ourselves. Yes,
friends, God gave us theseemotions and they do indeed
serve a purpose. So let's zeroin on one in particular today.

(13:14):
One that I've personally dealtwith in the past few months and
I'm aware that there are othersout there who are experiencing
the same thing and that emotionis grief.
Grief. Last week I flipped myBible open and it landed in the
book of Lamentations. Now againindulge me for a bit here. A

(13:40):
lament is an expression ofgrief, sorrow, pain, or
confusion. If you grew up inchurch you might have been hard
pressed to always show up with asmile on your face.
When asked how you were, you'dsay, Oh, I'm blessed. I'm highly
favored of the Lord. Or you'dsay, All is well. I'm good. As

(14:04):
believers, we're taught thatlamenting, expressing sorrow,
pain, or confusion, is notreally looked upon favorably by
God because it's seen as a lackof faith.
But there I was looking at thisbook in the Word of God. It's a
whole book. Why would it beincluded if it didn't have

(14:29):
something to teach us, right?For those of us whose lives are
relatively easy perhaps lamentmay seem foreign or even
unnecessary but for the rest ofus, the rest of us we go through
hardships, we experience loss,we see injustices taking place,

(14:52):
and it affects us. We find ourhearts saddened at times.
Lamentations is a book thatdescribes the devastation of
Jerusalem after its people havebeen conquered by the
Babylonians. The community wassorrowful and suffering.
Lamentations captures theirdesperate appeal to God in the

(15:15):
face of desolation. So back tomy encounter. I landed on the
personal application section atthe beginning of the book of
Lamentations and my eyes went tothat first line there because I
have study bible I like to studyfrom and there it was.
Here it is. It says, The bestway to survive grief is to

(15:41):
express it. It needs to beshared with others and with God.
There is therapeutic value inworking through each aspect of
sorrow. Beloved, I'm telling youGod is familiar with our pain
and sorrow.
He says he's close to thebrokenhearted. As I read further

(16:03):
into the chapter, this verse inthe second chapter resonated
with me. It's Lamentations twoeighteen. It says, The hearts of
the people cry out to the Lord,you walls of daughter Zion, let
your tears flow like a river dayand night give yourself no
relief your eyes no rest thisverse invites us to pour our

(16:29):
hearts out to God It teaches usthat it's okay to cry out to God
for comfort, for mercy, and forrestoration. The end of the
verse needs some context and Iwant to add that here.
I want to make this clear to youall. The book of Lamentations is
in the Old Testament. The peopleof God at that time were still

(16:50):
under the law, meaning they werein a position of guilt and they
had to do certain things to earnthe favor of God. Therefore you
see in the verse it says, Letyour tears flow like a river day
and night and give yourself norelief, your eyes no rest.
Beloved, we are living undergrace, God's unmerited favor.

(17:14):
There's nothing we can do toearn it. It's freely given. So
we do not have to cry out in thesame way those under the law
did. Our forgiveness is notperformance based. We're
justified through our faith inJesus Christ.
Jesus told us in Matthew eleventwenty eight, Come to me, all

(17:38):
you who are weary and arecarrying heavy burdens, and I
will give you rest. So we cantake our worries, our concerns,
and yes, even our grief to Him.We allow Him to guide us
through. That's how we findrelief. It's okay to lament or
to cry out to the Lord but wedon't get to stay there.

(18:03):
We can't get stuck. In Psalmeighteen:six King David wrote,
In my distress I called upon theLord to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard myvoice and my cry to him reached
his ears. I sought the Lord andhe heard and he answered. He

(18:27):
writes in Psalm 30 four:four, Isought the Lord and he answered
me.
He delivered me from all myfears. Again I sought the Lord
and He heard and He answered. Sothere again in the Word of God
we're reminded to be honest withthe Lord about what we're
experiencing and we can beassured that he will answer and

(18:52):
he will deliver. In Psalm 121verses one to two the writer
expresses I lift up my eyes tothe hills from where will my
help come from My help comesfrom the Lord who made heaven
and earth. I love that verse ofscripture.
The Lord is telling us to stayfocused on him. He is our help.

(19:14):
Psalm 13nine 13 For it was youwho formed my inward parts you
knit me together in my mother'swomb. My Lord, there is joy,
beloved, joy in knowing ouremotions are God given. They're
both beneficial and they'rebeautiful.

(19:37):
God understands them and Hehelps us to manage them. You've
been listening to Joy in EveryStep. I'm Sarita Bernadette and
I'm grateful you chose to spendsome time here with me. You can
find Joy in Every Step whereveryou listen to your podcasts and
give us a follow there. Do checkout the website at

(19:59):
joyineverystep.org.