Skip to contentManaging Your Emotions | What Does The Bible Say
Do you want to know how to manage your emotions? I’ll be showing you a few things that I’ve been doing that have helped me to control my emotions so that my emotions don’t control me.
I’m going to give you a few practical tips on managing your emotions. Now I’m not a psychologist, so the tips that I’m giving to you are based on my own experiences…with a focus on self-control.
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What Are Emotions And Feelings
According to the Webster dictionary, emotions are a conscious mental reaction experienced as strong feelings usually directed toward something.
Feelings are an emotional state or reaction.
I decided to put focus on self-control because the points that I’m going to give you all require self-control. But as believers, we have a helper and that is the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Self-control is one of the fruit of the Spirit, now would God require that we exhibit these fruits if it wasn’t possible? Of course not, and it's possible with the help of the Holy Spirit and you putting forth your effort.
What Does The Bible Say About Self-Control
Let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about self-control, then I will give you the tips that I have for you.
Proverbs 25:28
A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.
2 Timothy 1:7
God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
2 Peter 1:5-7
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize.
26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
1 Peter 4:7
The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayer
Managing Your Emotions Bible Study
I’ve learned that self-control is a big part of managing your emotions. You can learn how to deal with emotions Biblically.
2 Peter 1:3 NLT says 3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
We can see that the Bible has a lot to say about self-control. I advise if you are lacking in this area to do a topical Bible study on all the verses that you can find about self-control. You can also do a topical Bible study on emotions.
According to my NLT life application study Bible, self-control is Restraint exercised over your impulses, emotions, or desires.
So based on that definition we can see that self-control is all you. No one can do it for you it’s a decision that you have to make to restrain yourself and have emotional control.
How Do You Manage Your Emotions
Ok so let’s get into a few practical ways that can help you to manage your emotions and show you that you can control your emotions.
Walk Away
I’m starting with a big one…walk away. If you are ever in a situation that is causing your emotions to heighten you need to remove yourself from the situation. Now I know that sounds logical…right? But it is one of the hardest things to do.
Walking away when you have so much to say takes self-control. Walking away when you’re getting caught up in your emotions takes self-control. Walking away when you don’t want to takes self-control. That’s one of the best ways to control your emotions in the moment.
You know yourself; you can feel when your emotions are on the brink of getting out of control. So, before you reach that point walk away.
I can tell you from experience that you can’t have a productive argument or resolve anything when things are heated. The best thing to do is to have that conversation when you have calmed down.
I’ve had to do this with my kids as well. Now walking away doesn’t make you weak and it doesn’t mean that what the other person is saying is right.
It simply means that you have made a conscious decision not to allow yourself to get caught up in the argument especially when we all know that the outcome is not going to be good.
You’re probably going to say something that you will regret, then apologizing after doesn’t take away the emotional pain that the other person has suffered because of what you said.
You can revisit the conversation once everything has calmed down. Most of the time…now I’m not saying 100% of the time, but most of the time you will have a better conversation once you have calmed down and had time to think about it.
Pick Your Battles
Pick your battles…that’s what my mother has told me many times. Not everything is worth the argument.
I’ve had to use this advice mostly with my children. It’s easy to get on your child’s case for everything that they do, but not everything is worth the fight.
We can let things go. Just take a deep breath and let it go. My favorite thing to do in these situations is to say under my breath…”Jesus help me” as I walk away. It might sound funny, but it helps.
Meditate On The Bible
Now this one I’ve had to do many times and it ties into the 1st and 2nd tips. Meditate on the Bible. It is so calming to just pick up your Bible find a verse and just meditate on it.
It doesn’t have to have anything to do with the situation that you were facing, I just open it find a verse and just meditate on it.
You know that moment when you walk away, or decide that this was a battle that you weren’t going to take on? Meditating on the Bible is a perfect way to calm you down.
If you don’t want to just open the Bible to a random verse, have a few verses written down in your Bible that you can go to at that moment.
I can say that this helps every time. It takes a minute, but as you continue to read and meditate on it you will feel a change in your emotions.
Acknowledge Your Emotions
Your emotions are real and sometimes they could be justified, and they are valid. Your feelings are your feelings and there must be a reason that you feel this way.
However, acting negatively based on your feelings is where the problem lies. Learning how to communicate your feelings and emotions calmly is the best way to get your point across.
Screaming, yelling, and acting out of control will take away from the valid points that you have they will be buried under your emotional behavior.
That’s one of the benefits of controlling your emotions, people will take you seriously, and not push aside what you are saying because you are acting irrationally.
Reflection
This is something that I find very important. Reflecting on how you reacted to a situation once everything has calmed down and seeing how you could have reacted in a better way is key.
This normally happens for me at bedtime, when everything is quiet, and I think about my day and the things that happened throughout my day.
We are not perfect, but like the Bible says we are striving for perfection, so we should always be looking for ways that we can improve ourselves.
Ok so these last 2 points are personal for me, but they might help you as well.
Make Sure That You Are Eating And Resting
I laugh as I think about this but if I’m hungry or tired…or better yet, hungry and tired my reactions seem to be less controlled. I feel annoyed and miserable, I don’t want anyone to bother me, my family knows this all too well.
So, what I’ve been trying to do is make sure that I eat when I should especially in the morning because I found that it would contribute to how I reacted to certain situations during the day.
I would say to myself, why did I answer that way or why do I feel so annoyed, then I realized that it was because I was hungry.
For me I realized my triggers, lack of sleep and hunger perhaps you too have some triggers and if you do, do what you need to prevent those triggers from affecting your day.
I hope that these tips for managing your emotions will help you, they weren’t groundbreaking tips but they are practical and can be implemented right away.
You may not get the hang of it right away, but don’t give up just keep trying. Remember what Philippians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
Call on the Lord to help you, He always does His part, it’s just up to you to do yours.
How do you manage your emotions? Let me know in the comments, I love hearing from you.
If you came across this article and you’re not a believer or you were a believer and you strayed away from God and you want to make Jesus, the Lord of your life say this prayer:
Jesus come into my heart. I turn my back on sin and I repent, and I trust in you. I confess that Jesus Christ is my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me. I accept by faith the free gift of salvation in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, then you are saved, congratulations and welcome to the family of God. I will give you the advice that my pastor gave to me, you need to pray which is talking to God, that is how you build your relationship with Him.
He loves you and cares about everything that concerns you. Read your Bible every day. Go to church, find a Bible-believing church and tell someone that you are saved.
Ephesians 1:17-19
I pray that the Lord would give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
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