Skip to contentWhat Does The Bible Say About Controlling Our Emotions
Do you want to know what the Bible says about controlling your emotions? Emotions are good, but when left up to itself, can get us into some bad situations.
Emotions VS Feelings
What are emotions and what are feelings? To me, they seem to go hand in hand.
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.
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List Of Emotions
We’ve all encountered situations where we were emotional. Feeling emotions is not a bad thing because there are many different types of emotions that we can have. In my research, some say there are more than 30 emotions, but I found what is believed to be the basic core emotions.
Joy, sadness, trust, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation.
Now I’m not getting into a study about emotions because we humans are so complex, I don’t know if we could ever really know the full extent of our emotions. But one thing I do know is that we should never allow our feelings and emotions to rule us.
Controlling Your Emotions
There can be major consequences when we live our lives based on how we feel. Have you ever asked a child why did you do that, and they say because I felt like it? Well, we can't go around doing whatever we feel like especially as believers.
What about when someone loses their temper and their excuse is “well that’s just how I am, I’m an emotional person so I react emotionally.” When you think of it, is that really a good excuse? That means that we could get out of any situation, even legal ones by using that excuse.
A husband or a wife cheat on their spouse because they had feelings for someone else. Feelings can be controlled, and they can be deceiving, that’s why as believers we cannot live our lives based on how we feel.
I don’t always feel like waking up early in the morning and praying or reading my Bible. Sometimes I have to force myself to get out of my bed because I know the consequence of not spending time with God will result in not having a close intimate relationship with God.
I’m not saying that you need to wake up early, but that is the time that I have set aside in my day to spend with the Lord.
Have you felt alone like God wasn’t there or like He wasn’t listening to your prayers? I have…well, that feeling is deceiving. The Bible says that He will never leave us or forsake us, it also says that if we pray according to His will then He hears us.
And that’s why we cannot rely on our feelings or emotions, they can never override the Word of God.
Emotions In The Bible
Numbers 14:1-4
14 Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. 2 Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained.
3 “Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” 4 Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!”
Now they were caught up in their emotions. Did they forget all that God had done for them? They were going by their feelings, not facts about God. They knew all that God had brought them through.
Based on everything that God had done for them did they have any reason to think that He would now leave them to die instead of providing what they need? Do you see how your emotions can cause you to think irationally?
If they had just taken a moment to calm down and not react, if they had taken a moment to remember what God had told them, their response would have been a lot different.
Now, this is a very important point. When something happens and we immediately want to react based on how we feel or our emotions, stop and remember what the Bible says. What did God tell us in his Word? That is what we are to stand on.
Let's say that you are believing God to save an unsaved loved one, and it seems like you are making a little headway, then all of a sudden there is a situation that seems to bring you 10 steps back.
What is going to be your reaction? Get all emotional and start saying things you shouldn’t? Like this person is never going to get saved, I’m just wasting my time praying for them.
Or do you stand on God’s Word and say as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Obviously, the second reaction should be the one that we have but there are times when it takes a minute before we get there.
Trust me I’ve been there. There have been many times when I allowed my emotions to get the best of me and reacted in a way that I shouldn’t have. So, what do I do, go to the Lord and ask for His forgiveness and His help to fix the situation. The amazing thing about our Heavenly Father is even though we messed up He will still help us.
But wouldn’t it be better to skip the entire overreaction and go to God and His word right away for the answer? That has been my goal lately, it's not always easy, but as you put it into practice and put it at the forefront of your mind it gets better.
That’s why I decided to write this article, I thought to myself if this is something that I am now finally learning to deal with maybe my experience can help someone else.
How To Control Your Emotions Spiritually
You know what I realized, was that I couldn’t do it on my own, I needed to use the help that Jesus sent to me and that is the Holy Spirit.
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentlenesses, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Isn’t that what it's really about? Having self-control. Let me tell you what the definition of self-control is. It's the ability to control yourself, specifically your emotions and desires(feelings) or the expression of them in your behavior, especially in difficult situations.
And this is a fruit is produced in us by the Holy Spirit. We can't get it by trying to do it in our strength we need to depend on Him every day, all day.
I know that was my problem, I was trying to do it with my strength. I remember having a conversation with my mom when I was dealing with a particular situation. I said to her, every day I wake up and say “ok, I’m not going to allow it to get to me I’m not going to allow my emotions to take over,” and every day I would lose.
Honestly, it wasn’t until I told the Lord, that I could no longer do it on my own and I needed His help then things started to get better. It didn’t happen right away, it took some time and prayer. But soon that very situation started to get better once I stopped reacting in the wrong way, actually once I stopped reacting at all.
We have to remember in the midst of all this we have an enemy that is out to destroy us. It seems when he sees a weak spot, he continues to hit it over and over again to try to break us down. And every time we react how he wants us to, first it has a negative effect on our relationships or our own mental and physical health, and it gives him ammunition and he won’t stop.
But once we give it to God and He begins to help us and change us into who we should be the devil backs down because he is no longer satisfied by the reaction he is getting. he will continue for a while to see, but then he leaves that situation and moves onto something else. That’s just what I have seen and learned in my own life experiences.
Please don’t think that I have this perfected, of course not, there are other areas that I am still working on, but in this particular situation I was able to get the victory over it, all glory to God.
I pray that you were encouraged by what I have learned when dealing with my feelings and my emotions. And as I encourage you, I also encourage myself.
I hope that you found this helpful and that you can see that we are all striving for perfection, but most importantly never give up. God sees your heart, call on Him, He will always answer you.
If there are any topics that you would like me to write about, 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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