February 13, 2024 • 10 mins
Allowing ourselves to be dictated by the emotions we experience can be tempting, but we must now allow that to happen. Our emotions must never dictate our decisions.
Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.
Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:24):
Good evening. I hope that you'vehad a very blessed day. Thanks for
taking the time out of your dayto listen to another episode of Forgiven Ministries
Exalting truth no matter the cost.As people, we can be very emotional
at times. What do I meanby that? What I mean is that
we can get angry very quickly ifwe're not careful, we can get very
(00:48):
sad quickly. If we're not careful, we can get very worried. If
we're not careful. When God createdus, he put emotions within us.
There is the right time to beangry. There is a right time to
be sad. There is a righttime to be concerned. But if we
(01:10):
let those emotions get out of hand, if we're not careful, we will
succumb to the temptation of allowing ouremotions to dictate the course of life that
we take. I want to readto you a little devotional from the Life
Bible, and this is an appthat I have on my phone. It's
(01:33):
a very good app. Now here'swhat it says about emotions. Emotions are
a good gift from God. Thereare evidence that we are made in God's
image. For the Bible shows Goddisplaying the whole range of emotions, from
sadness to anger to joy. Butlike any gift from God, we can
(01:53):
misuse it. Then, instead ofa blessing, emotions become a curse.
Emotions come from the heart where thereis a desperate battle going on between our
old, sinful nature and our newnature in Christ. Our heart gets caught
up in a tug of war overour emotions. Our new nature in Christ
(02:17):
directs our emotions to reflect the characterof God, helping us love people in
healthy ways. Our sinful nature,however, tries to derail our emotions into
behavior that harms us in others,emotions gone bad tempt us to chase the
(02:37):
pleasures of sin. For example,the same emotion love can be a powerful
force for good when it cares forsomeone in need, but it can be
a powerful force for evil if allowedto turn into lust or jealous rage.
Understanding and directing our emotions wisely isa constant battle. The issue isn't the
(02:59):
power or intensity of the emotion,but what it leads us to do.
I think that's a really good devotional. I like how it ends. It
says. The issue isn't the poweror intensity of the emotion, but rather
what it leads us to do.If you woke up today and you felt
(03:21):
very very very angry about something,maybe someone did something to you or said
something to you that is just reallyupset you, and you called that person
on the phone, or you metwith them in person today and you cussed
them out, you smacked them inthe face, you have committed a sin
today. But if you woke upvery very very very mad today and someone
(03:46):
was very mean to you, andyou have a right for being mad,
but yet you choose to pray aboutit. You choose to not do what
your whole sinful nature wants you todo. That's the right decision to make.
You choose to pray about you chooseto think about it, you choose
to get over it. What youchoose to do with your emotions matters.
(04:15):
Proverbs chapter four, verse twenty threesays, above all else, guard your
heart, for it affects everything thatyou do. What I must do,
And I'm not perfect at this,and neither are you. But one thing
we must continue to strive to dois to guard our hearts. Now,
(04:36):
how do we do that? Thethings that we watch on TV, the
things that we listen to on theradio. The people we surround ourselves with.
Those choices matter because the things thatwe watch, the things that we
hear, the people we surround ourselveswith influence the way that we think they
(04:59):
influence. It's the direction of ourlives. The Apostle Paul, in his
letter to the Corinthians, says,bad company corrupts good morals, And boy,
isn't that true. You hang outwith foolish people, what's more than
likely gonna happen, You're gonna becomea full Proverbs chapter four, verse twenty
three. King Solomon, through theinspiration the Holy Spirit, says to us,
(05:20):
above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything that you
do. One Peter, chapter fivesays, Satan prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking someone to devour.Take that personal, because Satan hates your
guts and he wants to see youmake decisions based off your emotions at the
(05:43):
end of the day, whether you'remad, whether you're sad, whether you're
just flat out angry, whether you'reflat out joyful, before you make a
decision, whether that decision means toget even with somebody, to call somebody,
to let let them know exactly howyou feel. Think about your choices,
(06:06):
think about your words. It isso easy for us to get caught
up in our emotions and to getcaught up and how we feel at a
specific time. And it's so easyto allow our emotions to dictate the words
that we say and the choices thatwe make. The Bible says we're to
(06:28):
guard our heart, for it affectseverything that we do. So think before
you make a decision. A longtime ago, I had a struggle with
allowing my emotions to dictate my faith. And what I mean by that is
(06:48):
that when I didn't feel like Godwas close to me, when I didn't
feel that spiritual high, when Ididn't feel like I was doing the right
thing all the time, boy,I was devastated. My faith was so
weak. But the problem was,well, essentially, the problem was me.
(07:13):
It wasn't my faith. It wasn'tbecause God wasn't with me. God
has been with me the entire time. The problem was that I was basing
God's promises on how I felt.God's promise to stick with us throughout this
life into eternity remains concrete, itremains firm regardless of how we feel throughout
(07:39):
the day. You may not feelforgiven today, but you are forgiven,
not because I tell you that,but because the scriptures tell you that.
You may feel like you're going tobe condemned for your sins one day,
even though you're a Christian. Butthe fact is is that you're not,
because there's no condemnation for you,because you're in Christ Jesus, you have
been forgiven. All of your sinswere taken away and nailed to the cross.
(08:05):
God doesn't look at you as someonewho has to pay for their sins.
He looks at you as someone whois forgiven. He looks at you
as someone who has problems in thisworld, but yet he loves you anyways.
Guarding our hearts is so important whenit comes to our emotions. It
(08:28):
is also important to remember that Jesuswept. Jesus wept, he cried.
God experiences emotions, but God handlesthem the way that he should, and
we would be wise to follow Jesus'sexample and how he controlled his emotions even
though him, out of anyone inthis world, I would say, had
(08:50):
a right to get angry at thepeople who are mistreating him. We have
to be like Jesus. In thisworld, we have to let our lights
and we have to control our emotions. Or I could say it another way,
because you may not be able toreally control your emotions. But when
you feel sad, when you feelmad, when you feel joyful, we
(09:13):
must control the direction we allow ourselvesto go. We must control our decisions
because at the end of the day, we will be held accountable for our
decisions that we make. I hopethis is encouraging to you. I know
it's only about ten minutes long.But today, above all else, guard
your heart when it pertains to youremotions, when it pertains to the choices
(09:37):
that you make in life, andwhen you find yourself struggling, and if
you find yourself even falling, ifyou find yourself sending, stop repent,
turn away from it, get up, rely on God's grace and try harder.
Not because you want to be saved, but because as your saved,
(10:01):
because you're grateful for everything that Jesushas done for you. Above all else,
guard your heart and follow Jesus untilnext time. God bless
Good evening. I hope that you'vehad a very blessed day. Thanks for
taking the time out of your dayto listen to another episode of Forgiven Ministries
Exalting truth no matter the cost.As people, we can be very emotional
at times. What do I meanby that? What I mean is that
we can get angry very quickly ifwe're not careful, we can get very
(00:48):
sad quickly. If we're not careful, we can get very worried. If
we're not careful. When God createdus, he put emotions within us.
There is the right time to beangry. There is a right time to
be sad. There is a righttime to be concerned. But if we
(01:10):
let those emotions get out of hand, if we're not careful, we will
succumb to the temptation of allowing ouremotions to dictate the course of life that
we take. I want to readto you a little devotional from the Life
Bible, and this is an appthat I have on my phone. It's
(01:33):
a very good app. Now here'swhat it says about emotions. Emotions are
a good gift from God. Thereare evidence that we are made in God's
image. For the Bible shows Goddisplaying the whole range of emotions, from
sadness to anger to joy. Butlike any gift from God, we can
(01:53):
misuse it. Then, instead ofa blessing, emotions become a curse.
Emotions come from the heart where thereis a desperate battle going on between our
old, sinful nature and our newnature in Christ. Our heart gets caught
up in a tug of war overour emotions. Our new nature in Christ
(02:17):
directs our emotions to reflect the characterof God, helping us love people in
healthy ways. Our sinful nature,however, tries to derail our emotions into
behavior that harms us in others,emotions gone bad tempt us to chase the
(02:37):
pleasures of sin. For example,the same emotion love can be a powerful
force for good when it cares forsomeone in need, but it can be
a powerful force for evil if allowedto turn into lust or jealous rage.
Understanding and directing our emotions wisely isa constant battle. The issue isn't the
(02:59):
power or intensity of the emotion,but what it leads us to do.
I think that's a really good devotional. I like how it ends. It
says. The issue isn't the poweror intensity of the emotion, but rather
what it leads us to do.If you woke up today and you felt
(03:21):
very very very angry about something,maybe someone did something to you or said
something to you that is just reallyupset you, and you called that person
on the phone, or you metwith them in person today and you cussed
them out, you smacked them inthe face, you have committed a sin
today. But if you woke upvery very very very mad today and someone
(03:46):
was very mean to you, andyou have a right for being mad,
but yet you choose to pray aboutit. You choose to not do what
your whole sinful nature wants you todo. That's the right decision to make.
You choose to pray about you chooseto think about it, you choose
to get over it. What youchoose to do with your emotions matters.
(04:15):
Proverbs chapter four, verse twenty threesays, above all else, guard your
heart, for it affects everything thatyou do. What I must do,
And I'm not perfect at this,and neither are you. But one thing
we must continue to strive to dois to guard our hearts. Now,
(04:36):
how do we do that? Thethings that we watch on TV, the
things that we listen to on theradio. The people we surround ourselves with.
Those choices matter because the things thatwe watch, the things that we
hear, the people we surround ourselveswith influence the way that we think they
(04:59):
influence. It's the direction of ourlives. The Apostle Paul, in his
letter to the Corinthians, says,bad company corrupts good morals, And boy,
isn't that true. You hang outwith foolish people, what's more than
likely gonna happen, You're gonna becomea full Proverbs chapter four, verse twenty
three. King Solomon, through theinspiration the Holy Spirit, says to us,
(05:20):
above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything that you
do. One Peter, chapter fivesays, Satan prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking someone to devour.Take that personal, because Satan hates your
guts and he wants to see youmake decisions based off your emotions at the
(05:43):
end of the day, whether you'remad, whether you're sad, whether you're
just flat out angry, whether you'reflat out joyful, before you make a
decision, whether that decision means toget even with somebody, to call somebody,
to let let them know exactly howyou feel. Think about your choices,
(06:06):
think about your words. It isso easy for us to get caught
up in our emotions and to getcaught up and how we feel at a
specific time. And it's so easyto allow our emotions to dictate the words
that we say and the choices thatwe make. The Bible says we're to
(06:28):
guard our heart, for it affectseverything that we do. So think before
you make a decision. A longtime ago, I had a struggle with
allowing my emotions to dictate my faith. And what I mean by that is
(06:48):
that when I didn't feel like Godwas close to me, when I didn't
feel that spiritual high, when Ididn't feel like I was doing the right
thing all the time, boy,I was devastated. My faith was so
weak. But the problem was,well, essentially, the problem was me.
(07:13):
It wasn't my faith. It wasn'tbecause God wasn't with me. God
has been with me the entire time. The problem was that I was basing
God's promises on how I felt.God's promise to stick with us throughout this
life into eternity remains concrete, itremains firm regardless of how we feel throughout
(07:39):
the day. You may not feelforgiven today, but you are forgiven,
not because I tell you that,but because the scriptures tell you that.
You may feel like you're going tobe condemned for your sins one day,
even though you're a Christian. Butthe fact is is that you're not,
because there's no condemnation for you,because you're in Christ Jesus, you have
been forgiven. All of your sinswere taken away and nailed to the cross.
(08:05):
God doesn't look at you as someonewho has to pay for their sins.
He looks at you as someone whois forgiven. He looks at you
as someone who has problems in thisworld, but yet he loves you anyways.
Guarding our hearts is so important whenit comes to our emotions. It
(08:28):
is also important to remember that Jesuswept. Jesus wept, he cried.
God experiences emotions, but God handlesthem the way that he should, and
we would be wise to follow Jesus'sexample and how he controlled his emotions even
though him, out of anyone inthis world, I would say, had
(08:50):
a right to get angry at thepeople who are mistreating him. We have
to be like Jesus. In thisworld, we have to let our lights
and we have to control our emotions. Or I could say it another way,
because you may not be able toreally control your emotions. But when
you feel sad, when you feelmad, when you feel joyful, we
(09:13):
must control the direction we allow ourselvesto go. We must control our decisions
because at the end of the day, we will be held accountable for our
decisions that we make. I hopethis is encouraging to you. I know
it's only about ten minutes long.But today, above all else, guard
your heart when it pertains to youremotions, when it pertains to the choices
(09:37):
that you make in life, andwhen you find yourself struggling, and if
you find yourself even falling, ifyou find yourself sending, stop repent,
turn away from it, get up, rely on God's grace and try harder.
Not because you want to be saved, but because as your saved,
(10:01):
because you're grateful for everything that Jesushas done for you. Above all else,
guard your heart and follow Jesus untilnext time. God bless
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