Maneuvers - No. 6
How to Navigate
Your Emotions
Our emotions are a gift from God. But they don’t always seem like it, do they?
Sometimes our emotions are so intense, and so negative, that we feel like they could crush us. In those moments, our emotions can feel more like a curse than a blessing.
But, in a sense, that’s part of what it means to be human. We feel, and we can feel deeply. In the beginning, God made mankind to feel beautiful things. Joy. Happiness. Exhilaration. Wonder. Inspiration. Delight. Love.
Then sin came. And it marred God’s beautiful creation. And it marred our emotions, too. Now we feel anger. Pain. Hatred. Insecurity. Jealousy. Arrogance. Sadness. Loss.
These, too, are part of being human.
But they don’t have to overcome us. Yes, those emotions are normal, friend, but they don’t have the ultimate say over our lives.
There’s another way.
Would you like to know what it is? Jesus is reaching out his hand today, to you, to us, to each person who will listen.
He has another way, a better way—a way to respond to our emotions that leads to healing and to life and to peace.
We invite you to come. Come and let’s listen to what Jesus has to say…
01.
The Message
“To be human is to feel emotion. To let sadness blanket you in its heaviness. To let anger sweep over you, ravaging your thoughts. Happiness skips in, a refreshment and a balm. And excitement adds spice to the routine of a day. Fear can come in many forms, difficult to trace at first. And all these feelings and many more, make up the complexity of you. They reveal the emotions of the Father. They reveal the emotions of me.
“Emotions can be a guide for how you go through your days. But they are not the main thing to trust. They should not be worshipped, idolized. How you feel is not necessarily what is true. For instance, whether you feel good or bad about something—or about yourself—or are in a good mood on one day or a bad mood on another, can take you on a path of action that might not be the best choice. Let me be the one to ultimately trust, and guide you, instead.
“I know the power of emotion. Oh, it is good to feel. How could I not be sad at the suffering of people? At the suffering caused by death? At the suffering caused by lack of faith? The world ravages hearts with noise and chaos and calamity. One thing after another. One layer of pain upon another. There is much abuse—physical, mental, emotional. And there is much want: lack of hope, lack of peace, lack of joy. How can one not feel sorrow then?
“And then, when there is much to celebrate, to feel grateful for—when hearts are lifted and joy fills the room, your response to emotion takes a completely different turn. How you respond to your emotions, whether sad or happy, peaceful or angry, should be filtered through me, should be given to me. How can you know how to respond, in truth and wisdom, without abiding in me? The emotions you feel are gifts from me. But for any gift I give, let me show you what to do with it. I can help you decipher the deeper meaning of your emotions before you act on them. I can help you know what action is good for you in response to that emotion you feel.
“When you are sad, ask me why. When you are angry, ask me why. When you are fearful, ask me why. When you are happy, ask me why. Practice separating your emotions from yourself, surrendering them to me, so they don’t become what controls you, manipulates you. At the tomb of Lazarus, much anger and sadness rose in me and I wept. Death brings with it loss and fear and pain. And that saddened me and angered me. But our emotions do not have to overwhelm. We feel and we respond in truth and hope by trusting God with them—our Father who feels all things and knows all things and feels anger and sadness and joy just like you.
“Surrender to me your emotions. Notice how I felt things—for it is good to feel—and yet trusted my Father to guide me in knowing how to respond. In this way, you will not be overwhelmed. And you will not be acting from self-righteousness or foolishness. You will be abiding in God’s love for you. All emotions must be filtered through God to be gifts to your heart.”
02.
Listen
Did you catch the compassion in Jesus’ tone as you read this week’s message? The kindness and the wisdom? We hope so. His arms are so quick to catch us when we’re overwhelmed with our emotions. How are you responding to his words today? Did something he said specifically stand out to you? And if so, what did it mean to you? We encourage you to journal your answers and thoughts about this.
03.
Think
“We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
1. Notice how Jesus describes the pain he felt at Lazarus’ tomb. How have you experienced loss in your own life? And how does Jesus’ experience with grief help you trust him with your own pain?
2. What painful or confusing emotions are recurring in your life lately? Let’s be as specific as we can as we answer this question. Now, let’s find Scriptures that speak directly to those emotions. What do those Scriptures reveal about God’s heart for us?
04.
Trust
Is there anything our spiritual enemy would like more than to undermine our faith? One of the biggest ways he does that is by messing with our emotions. He’ll tell us disturbing lies to upset us, he’ll attack areas of our lives to tempt us or overwhelm us, and he’ll even blame God in the process.
This is exactly what he did with Job.
God was so pleased with Job. His heart was so delighted in him. Job was a good man, a humble man. He loved God… and Satan hated that.
With God’s permission, Satan attacked Job with the express goal of getting him to doubt God’s love for him and to turn away from his faith.
You may know the story already. Satan killed Job’s children, his livestock (his main source of income), and his servants. He even made Job so physically sick that he was in constant pain. The only thing God wouldn’t allow Satan to do was kill him.
When we read the book of Job, we see a man so broken being painfully honest about his emotions. Job’s friends thought he was sinning with all his honesty. But did God rebuke Job for expressing how he felt? No… Instead, he rebuked Job’s friends for unfairly judging him.
Sometimes we can feel afraid to be honest with God about what we feel, can’t we? We think our emotions are too ugly, too shameful, too negative, too confusing. How could God accept us if he knew exactly how awful we feel?
But, friend, he already knows. He sees the depths of our hearts and he loves us just as passionately. There is no emotion we could ever feel that would diminish God’s love for us in the slightest.
And just to prove it, Jesus, God himself, came to earth as a man and felt the same things we do. Sometimes we allow those emotions to trick us into sinning, but Jesus never did. He was able to take those emotions to the Father every time. And he’s happy to teach us how to do the same thing.
Let’s scroll up and read that passage again in Hebrews 4:15-16. Let the words sink in.
Jesus knows our emotions. The good and the bad. The joy and the sorrow. And he’s here for every one of them. He longs for us to invite him into those emotional moments. To savor every single one. To teach us how to respond to them in a way that honors him. To teach us to feel our emotions without letting them be our idol.
Will we let him teach us? Today, let’s find a quiet spot to be alone. If Holy Spirit leads us to kneel or lie face-down or to raise our hands, let’s follow his lead. Let’s allow our bodies to assume a position of surrender and fellowship however Holy Spirit leads.
With our hearts open now, let’s pray…
05.
Pray
Jesus, your words are so tender and kind. When I hear them or read them, I realize how foolish it is to try to hide my emotions from you. I can’t hide from you. And I don’t want to. I feel safe with you.
I’m here, with you, being who I am, feeling what I feel… and I invite you into the middle of it. I want to feel these emotions with you. I want to hear what you think about what I feel and what I’m going through. Your opinion and your thoughts matter so much to me, more than anything else.
There are times when I want to shut off all my emotions because of the pain. Help me not to numb myself to my emotions, because in those moments, I numb myself to you, too. Help me decipher what I feel and take it straight to you.
Thank you, Jesus, for being so kind to me. For loving me so deeply and unconditionally, even when I feel like my emotions are so ugly. You look at me and you see beauty, grace, righteousness. Thank you. You are my whole world.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Waving the banner with you,
