What does the Bible really say about emotion? Are emotions something that is negative or positive? Does God want me to be happy? How can I control my emotions? What connection is there between feelings and fears?
Emotions can be our best friend or our worst enemy. In this teaching, I will give you some truths about feelings and emotions that can help you to manage them in a correct and good way, and how you can feel the way that God wants you to feel.
It's actually very little teaching in Christian churches about how you can control your emotions. It can be a lot about the Bible, about salvation, about why we must pray, why holiness is important, how to have a victorious Christian life, and so forth, but not so much about emotions.
There may be times when you pray, but you are still depressed. There may be times when you go to church, but you still feel rejection. You may feel strange among other people and Christians because you have negative emotions. But what I want with this teaching is to show you that the emotions are there and they are given to you by God. You can either lie or ignore them, or you can learn to do something with them. When we understand why God has given us emotions and we can use them properly, we can apply them in a good way.
If I can learn how to handle my emotions, I can also deal with life and what comes my way.
It is one thing that is certain about emotion: We all have them. But unfortunately there are times when the emotions have us. It is when the emotions have us that they become a problem.
Definition of emotions
What are emotions? They are feelings on the inside, which is caused by pain or pleasure, and they will try to move you in a certain direction.
If you have negative feelings, they well try to move you away from God's purpose and destiny for your life. If your feelings of depression, fear, timidity, resentment and so on, control you, they will try to move you away from the will of God.
The feelings of fear, for example, move you to be passive when God asked you to go. Or move you to make a choice you should not have made.
The devil wants to use your emotions to move you away from God's will for your life. He wants to tempt you through your feelings so you are moved away from God and his purpose for you.
So it is important that you are not under emotions that can move you away from God's will, but let the will of God and His Word control your emotions!
God also wants to use your emotions to move you towards him. The emotion He uses is love, peace and joy. He also wants to show his love to you, because then you will seek him and start to believe and trust him.
In the beginning of this teaching, I just want to say that: It is not a sin to have negative feelings and emotions, but it is what the negative feelings and emotions can lead you to, that can become a sin. Jesus also had negative emotions, but he was not ruled by them. I will talk more about this towards the end of this teaching.
God has created us with feelings
We are created by God to master life, not that life should control us.
You can read in Genesis that God gave Adam and Eva the right to rule over the earth and their own lives. We are created in God's image. We were meant to be a reflection of him; a reflection of his power, his love and his authority, and so on. That's why God created us.
But you can not be this if your emotions are in control of your life.
There is a reason why God has given us emotions, but they were not intended as something that should have power over us, but we should be in control over them.
God has created us to show compassion and love, but sin, the devil and the curse that Adams brought into this world have in many ways destroyed for these emotions, so negative feelings will harm us and others around us.
God gave Adam and Eva emotions so they could show them to each other and to God, but sin came and something happened. They were disobedient to God because of an emotional response to something that appealed to them. It was attractive, so good, and emotionally it led them to disobey God. These feelings moved them away from God's will and destiny. They were deceived by their feelings, seduced away from God's intentions for them.
If your feelings are not moving you towards God, they will move away from Him.
Remember that God's will for you is good!
3Jn 1:2
2. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers. (Amp.)
Where your mind goes, there goes your life. Your emotions are in your soul. So if you soul is not well, your life will not be. So it is important that you know what's happening in your soul, or in other words; your emotions.
It is also important that you know the truth about who God is, and what plan He has for you, and it is important to find out: What is God's way to make my soul well and prospers so that I can feel good?
God has given you power, love and self-control
For many it is a major challenge to control their emotions, but remember that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of self-control, it means you can control them. God's power lives inside of you. In 2 Tim 1:7 it says that he has given you the sprit of power, love and self-control. You can have authority over your feelings!
2Ti 1:7
7. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control.
Do not believe the devil's lies that says: You will never overcome this, you will always be under this feelings, this is the way you are. God has given you a power on the inside, which can overcome all the negative things that comes your way.
Having control over your emotions is not to say that you can not have feelings. For you have that! But I am talking about being able to handle feelings in a right way, so that you are in control of your emotions, not the emotions controlling you.
Men and women, and emotions.
Both men and women have the same emotions. Women are more aware of their emotions, but men have just as many emotions as a woman. But men have a tendency to not handle them right.
A man will say I am hurt when he actually is only angry, but a woman will say that she is hurt when she is hurt. A woman gives more expression of her feelings; men have a tendency to more easy hide his feelings and carry them along. Although women show their feelings more, the men have the same feelings but they can easily hide them and carry them. When a woman has many feelings, they will talk about them, while men want to keep them inside themselves. This is perhaps one of the reasons why women live longer than men?
Men and women express different emotions, but both have them.
What religion has done with emotions.
Many have the image that to be a good Christian is related to surrender, relinquish and give up everything including joy, and everything that feels good is bad or a sin.
I shall talk more about give up things for God in the last section of this teaching, for God asks us to do that too, but that does not mean that we only will get the reward and the joy in heaven one day.
I must say that in the first 20 years of my life I was actually not sure of whether God wanted me to be happy or not, that I should feel happiness. There was some talk about suffering for God, and give up things for God. I thought it was very spiritual to not be happy. For instant I thought to cry was very spiritual. I assumed that diseases and depression was a part of suffering as a Christian, and that the condemnation and guilt was something that a Christian should have. But I was wrong!
John says:
Joh 10:10
The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (Amp.)
When Jesus talked about the thief here, he is actually referring to religion or the very religious leaders at His time, the Pharisees. He says that religion is something that comes to steal, kill and destroy. The devil loves to make people very religious, for it takes away the life. Jesus came not to give us a religion, but he came to give us life and life in abundance.
There are often two extremes in religious circles when it comes to feelings. One side is where all things by their Christian life and their relationship with God, is governed by their feelings. On the other side people mistakenly believe that if they show any emotion, it is a sin. None of these sides have understood emotions correctly, and both sides will steal the joy and life. These are the two extreme sides, but you can find many different degree of it too.
Does God want us to show emotions in the church?
In the 80’s and 90’s, we had some of charismatic revivals, with a lot of sound and emotion. Many said that it had too much emotion in it, especially when it came to worship. Religion will often have you to either feel sad and serious or eliminate feelings.
Many religious, as I have mentioned, whether they call themselves Christians or Buddhists, looks at emotions as something bad or wrong. I remember I asked our staff in Thailand, as most have been raised in Buddhist homes (they are now Christians) about emotion and if it is something positive or negative. Most of them said that emotions were something negative.
Some will also try and separate God and your everyday life. They think that when we are not talking about God, we can have good feelings and have fun. But when we talk about God, we must all be serious, and have a sad and serious face.
I remember one time I was in a Catholic church. There were some friends of mine who got married there. When family and friends of the bride and bridegroom came and sat in the church, they talked in a normal voice, but because there was some good acoustics, it became a bit loud. The priest came and said: "This is God's house so you must not talk so loud." I believe in respecting God, but for God it doesn’t really matter wherever we talk loud or not. I think he likes that we are talking together, especially in church!
I have also been to churches where everyone just whispered to each other before the service starts, as if we were to disturb God when we talk normally. I believe God love sounds and emotions, just read the Psalms!
Psa 81:2-4
2. Start the music and beat the tambourines; play pleasant music on the harps and the lyres.
3. Blow the trumpet for the festival, when the moon is new and when the moon is full.
4. This is the law in Israel, an order from the God of Jacob.
(GNB)
They did not beat silently on the drums, or silently blow the trumpet. It was very loud and joyfull, and this was still in The Old Testament and under the law.
The religious people, of Jesus’ time, required that people should not make sound and be happy and enjoy themselves either. The Pharisees tried to stop the disciple of Jesus, and they asked Jesus to rebuke them when they were happy.
Luk 19:37-40
37. By this time he was coming near the place where the road went down the Mount of Olives. Then the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God for all the miracles they had seen.
38. They shouted joyfully, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven."
39. Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell your disciples to be quiet."
40. Jesus replied, "I can guarantee that if they are quiet, the stones will cry out." (GW)
The devil will not want you to remember what Jesus has done for you. He will not allow you to rejoice in the life he has given you!
Psalm also says:
Psa 103:1-3
1. [A Psalm] of David. BLESS (AFFECTIONATELY, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!
2. Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits--
3. Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,
(AMP)
It's amazing what religion has done with us sometimes. God has created us with emotions, and he would like us to feel good! This is not what religion tries to tell you. It tells you that what feels good is wrong. "You encourage us to sin now Tore." You might say? But I do not! I'm not talking about following our feelings, and that we can go by what feels good in the moment. I do really not say so! But God want us to feel good. He would like us to have feelings of joy, peace, hope, love and so on. Joy and peace are feelings, and God want us to have them, for he has created us with them.
Are you perhaps one of those faith theologian who says that if you are not glad and happy you are not a good Christian, and you have a lot of unbelief. But I am not! Jesus was both depressed and in deep anxiety in the Gethsemane garden, and if it was a sin to have these emotions Jesus would have been sinning. I will talk more about later. It is a fact that in this world you'll encounter problems and things that will try to make you depressed, Jesus said to his disciples.
Jn 16:33
33 These things I have spoken unto you that ye shall have peace in me. In the world you have anxiety. But cheer up! I have overcome the world.
So he says we will have anxiety and troubles, it means that problems will come our way. But in this context Jesus also speaks of his joy and peace.
So what is Jesus saying here? He says that we can have His joy and peace even if we have problems.
Troubles or problems are caused by our own sins, the sins of others or that we simply live in a fallen world. There are also something you need to see; that is that you never will succeed in living a hundred percent perfect life. You will fall into sin, and the consequences of it are negative things that may come your way. But the good news is that we have a person who has gone in between us and God, so that when we have committed a sin, we can be forgiven and find peace and hope again.
1John 2:1-2
1. My dear children, I'm writing this to you so that you will not sin. Yet, if anyone does sin, we have Jesus Christ, who has God's full approval. He speaks on our behalf when we come into the presence of the Father.
2. He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The good news that the Christian message brings is; freedom from judgment, guilt and shame. It is sad and tragic that religion has distorted it, and it is actually many of these feelings that many people is struggling with after they have become Christians.
Religion often brings feelings of condemnation, guilt, shame, and a picture of an angry God, a God who comes to punish you, and this again cause people to rebel or want to eliminate God.
This world has distorted this thing with feelings, either through religion or by trying to eliminate God. Those who want to eliminate God are trying to find peace and joy by following their emotions and desires, but it will never happen. It is when we choose the truth that the real joy and peace will come.
Many have a picture of a judging God
I live outside Norway and the western world, and it can be an advantage sometimes, for I can easily see how Norway and the western world have changed in recent years. One of the things I've seen is that more and more people rebel against God, and they try to eliminate him and that the Bible is the whole truth. I have seen a large increase of fear and depression, especially among young people.
Many believe that to get Norway and Europe to repent, we must preach the law to them so that they feel judged and condemned, and then they will turn to God. We sometimes say or express: If you do not repent, God will punish you, or you will perish if you do not repent of your sin.
I do not think the law or threat of punishment is the right thing to get people to repent, most of the time. You may have been raised up by: When we feel bad, you will get better and do what is right, but to a large degree, this is not the way Jesus did it.
The law can be of help to people who are very self-righteous and think that they never make any mistakes and that they deserve to get to heaven because of their good works, as the Pharisees did. And you can see that Jesus sometimes confronted the Pharisees with the law.
But the way Jesus used to get sinners to repent was not condemnation, but it was love and forgiveness. He caused them to feel loved and forgiven not condemned! "Can this really be so?" "And do you have scriptures on this?" You may ask? And I have.
The most obvious story is about the woman that was caught in the act of adultery. Let us read what it says here in the Gospel of John, after the Pharisees, who wanted her stoned her, had gone away (Feel free to read the full story if you are not familiar with it. John 8:1-11):
Joh 8:10-11
10. He straightened up and said to her, "Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?"
11. "No one, sir," she answered. "Well, then," Jesus said, "I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again."
(GNB)
What did Jesus use as a motivating factor so that this woman should not be sinning again? Was it the condemnation? Did He say: "You should really feel shame and condemned for what you have done now! And if you really show this, I may forgive you in some days? "No! Jesus did not; he forgave here and showed love to here! He got her to feel loved and valuable.
And then he added: Go and sin no more. So Jesus (and neither I) did not say that it is ok to sin.
God did not use the feelings of condemnation, guilt and shame as a method to get them to repent, but forgiveness and love.
Other stories I can think of from the life of Jesus, were he uses the same motivation is:
The tax collector Zacchaeus who had stolen money from others by taking too high taxes.
See Luke 19:1-10.
The Samaritan woman who had had five men and she was now living with a man that was not her husband.
See John 4:5-29.
The prostituted woman (probably, it's only saying she was a sinner) who washed Jesus' feet.
See Luke 7:36-50
See also Tit 2:11-12 and Rom 2:4
Because we have seen so many bad things happen in Norway and Europe when it comes to moral, fear etc. or with the world economy, there are many Christians who think: "It is God who punishes us for our rebellion, and that is why it has come upon us." If you think and say this you will share a wrong picture of God, for this is not the truth and not the solution to the problem.
This helped those in the Old Testament to some degree to not sin, but we have entered a new and better times (covenant), as the Hebrews writer tries to explain to us. The fact that you have turned your back on God means that God cannot help you, and you will go away from his protection when you are in rebellion.
You will provide an open door for the enemy with your sin. God does not attempt to punish you, but you are reaping what you have sown. God can never support you in your rebellion; it would be to support the devil. Sin brings with it consequences, and one of the greatest fruits is; fear, but it is not God's punishment! Jesus took the punishment for your sin for 2000 years ago.
In James it says the following:
Jas 4:7
Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (MKJV)
If you do not want to follow God's instructions, the devil will not flee from you, you give him the right to come with his lies and fears. But when you submit to God, and know that he is good, the devil needs to flee and he can not harm you!
I will also mention that Jesus came not to judge you! But to set you free from judgement.
Joh 3:17-18
17. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.
18. He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation--he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ's name.](AMP)
Because of Adam and Eva’s sin; it is a built-inn judgment which is at effect when we do not want to believe and trust in God, and sin (the reason why we sin is because we do not trust Him). There will always be an effect when you sin, and this effect is the built-inn judgment. But the good news is that Jesus came to set you free from the judgment, and when you believe in him, the curse of sin is lifted off. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but God's gift, that is Jesus, is eternal life. We can easily see this when it comes to salvation, but it's not just about that! It applies to every sin you do as well. As you see I encourage you not to sin, for it will lead to negative things in your life. And the negative things are called: Curses.
But what I want to say is that Jesus came to help you to not sin, not to judge you when you have done a sin.
I encourage you to not be under sin, or be its slave (See Rom 6). Jesus also says that he who does sin is the slave of sin (John 8:32), and sin is not a good master to serve.
You do not get victory over sin by trying to pull your self together. You do not achieve this by trying to do good deeds and try to make up for what you have done, but you need to decide and believe what Jesus did for you, that he has set you free from sin, and the curse. You do this by believing that God is love you and he will show you what the best is for you. Remember that faith is not a feeling, but a decision. The thing that often makes our faith shake is that we feel nothing, or we have negative feelings, and we believe more in what they tell us than what the truth says, and we easily drop our decisions we have taken to believe and rely on God.
Does God dislike you (or hate you)?
The Devil wants you to have an image of God who comes to punish you, for if you believe and feel that God hates you, you will start to rebel against him. This was what Israel believed and felt about God when he led them out of Egypt; they had a wrong image of God because they had been many years in captivity.
Deu 1:26-27
26. But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to go.
27. You complained in your tents and said, "The LORD hates us! That's why he brought us out of Egypt. He wanted to hand us over to the Amorites so that they could destroy us! (GW)
Why were the Jews stubborn and rebelled against God? They thought God hated them.
At some point Israel had gotten this idea that God hated them.
I think this is the reason why so many want to reject God in Norway and Europe today. They feel that if there is a God he is not particularly happy with them and hate them. The sad ting is that we Christians often have made such a picture of God.
If you feel that God does not love you or hate you, why would you believe that He has something good for you? If someone hates you, will you not feel afraid and believe that this person will not do you any good?
Some think that God hates me because I had a child before or outside of marriage, or because I took abortion, or because I looked at pornography on the net. Or he hates me or dislikes me because I have not prayed or read the Bible in the past week or weeks, and I thought God disliked me because I have not given the tithe, and did not testify about God at the school or at my work when I got the opportunity.
It is very important to do something with these thoughts! Tear them down, for as long as you do not see and have a revelation of God’s love, you will easily rebel against God, or you are afraid of Him and lose all your confidence to come to Him and believe Him.
1John 3:21
21. And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God,
1John 4:18-19
18. There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection].
19. We love Him, because He first loved us. (AMP)
What is the foundation for our confidence to believe and feel that God has forgiven me? It is His love. You must start to think: I am forgiven, because Jesus loves me!
So what is the first thing the devil will attack to make you feel condemned? He will try to make you feel and believe that God does not love you anymore and is against you, because of something you did or did not do.
The only cure against the feeling of that God hates you, is to know that God loves you in spite of what you have done or will do, and that you are righteous (put in the right position). Not because of you and your good or bad deeds, but because of what Jesus has done for you. Jesus did it right for us, he took our mistakes and did it right. Therefore we are justified. Even if you are not worthy of this love of God, Jesus is and that is enough.
Truth and emotions.
If you are what we call the Bible believer Christian, (believe what that the Bible tells us is true), you often know what it says, but because you do not always feel that what it says is true, you do not really believe what the truth is saying. Even if you are a Christian, you are almost certainly been affected by this emotional ruled world we are living in. This world tells us that you should not believe something is true before you feel or see it. But that is a lie, and certainly not faith.
The feeling of fear
Fear is a spirit (2Tim 1:7) who will try to produce negative feelings in you, and by these feelings he will try to move you to do and believe things that are not logical or against the truth.
A person has the fear of forgetting to lock the door before he leaves home. He goes out the door, checks that he has locked it, and goes hundred meters, and have go back again to check it. He goes to the car, but again he feels that he has not locked the door, so again he goes back. He can finally start to drive the car, but on the way to his job he is again uncertain about if he really locked the door, and must go back to check it again.
What is the problem to this person? Is it that he is forgetful, absentminded and always forgets to lock the door? No it is not. He knows he has locked it, he knows it as a fact, but his problem is that he does not feel that he had locked it, and he must go back to check again.
This was an example, but I know that today there are many who have a similar phobia. It might be: fear of heights, fear of confined space, fear of being with other people, fear of flying and so on. It can also be fear for not being accepted and that can lead to eating disorders, fear of rejection, fears of people, fears of disease, etc.
Although some of these fears may have some truth in them, they are often much, much bigger than what is logical. Take fear of flying for example. It is a truth that plane crashes now and then, but it is highly unlikely that you will be in one. It is more likely that you will be killed in a car accident on the way to the airport than die in a plane crash.
What is the cause of this phobias and fears? We can feel it is so, therefore; we believe it. Although we may know what the truth is, the feelings and emotions we have are more real to us than what is true.
In some cases, there are also the people that are so ensnared by their emotions that they do not even know what is true any more.
I have seen an increase of fear and phobias, and in many strange and forms and ways in the last few years, and I think it has much to do with that we live in a society that more and more allow themselves to be ruled by their emotions. If you are not a Christian and believe in the Bible, it is also much harder to distinguish what is true and not.
Do not let fear control your life and move you out of the good plan God has for you! Find out what the truth says, and fighting against the fear with the truth!
A fear (you can call this next one phobia also) that many Christians have is that God is not pleased with them and condemn them when they have done something wrong. I want to say some more about this now.
The feeling of condemnation
Condemnation is a form of fear, it is a fear of rejection, and also feeling that the spirit of fear diligently uses against Christians. Condemnation comes when we know we have done something wrong.
As a Christian you have heard the truth about that God is good, he is love and is full of grace, but because your feelings do not tell it, you have trouble believing it. For when we do a sin, we feel that God is not happy with us anymore, that he will reject us and dislike us, even hate us. This is what we feel, but is this true? No.
We also feel that we must suffer for a while when we have done a sin, that we really need to feel condemnation and shame for what we have done, at least for a week or so. And when we do like this, God may forgive us, or give us a second chance. Again, we might know that it is not so, but that is what we can feel.
I remember I was in a meeting once, and it was a girl who said: "When I've made a sin, I will get myself to feel bad for a few days as a punishment, so that I really could show that I regret." It could perhaps sounds a bit spiritual, but it is completely wrong! Why should you suffer for something that Jesus suffered for on the cross? He has taken your sin and your guilt and shame; you do not need feel condemned any longer! Even if it was for five minutes ago you did a sin!
What was God's motivation so that we should not sin again? Was it condemnation? Was it guilt and shame? As we saw earlier, in the story about the woman who was caught in adultery, (Feel free to read John 8:1-11 again) Jesus is giving forgiveness and love, not blame and shame.
The reason that we feel condemnation or shame is often our experience. Maybe you've had a mother or father who has done so when you did something wrong against them. And they have tried to use shame, guilt, punishment and condemnation to scare you away from doing wrong thing again. But this is not God's tactics. Let me just show you two more scriptures:
Tit 2:11-12
11. For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward (appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind.
12. It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world,
Rom 2:4
4. Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?
What is training us to repentance? Is it condemnation, shame and guilt?
Here it clearly says that it is God's mercy and His goodness and kindness that will lead us to repentance.
Why do we have shame, guilt and condemnation? Is it God who sends them? Is it a normal Christian life to have these feelings? No it is not!
But this is what the devil wants you to feel. One of his names is the accuser, and he wants to accuse you and give you thoughts about condemnation and shame.
Emotions start with our thoughts, and when we think of one thing we will begin to feel it, and our emotions can confirm what we think, therefore, we believe that what our emotion tells us is the truth.
What does the truth tell us when we have done something wrong?
It tells us that there is always forgiveness when we ask for it, and you can receive it now.
1Joh 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, so he forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
You don’t have to go and carry the shame and guilt for the sins you have done anymore, for Jesus has already carried for it for you (He became a curse for us). (Remember that when you have not repented, these feelings, and others, as fear, are still able to control you)
Gal 3:13 Christ paid the price to free us from the curse that God's laws bring by becoming cursed instead of us. Scripture says, "Everyone who is hung on a tree is cursed."
1Pe 2:24 Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you.
God is love (the love), and he will never reject you!
Joh 6:37
All whom My Father gives (entrusts) to Me will come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out [I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me]. (AMP)
1Cor. 13:4-8 (excerpts)
Love is patient, is kind. Is not selfish, is not bitter, it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it. Is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything. Love never fails.
Holiness and feelings
Many believe that holiness is also a feeling. If I've managed to read the Bible every day for one week or a year, fast often, not do any major sins, then I feel more holy. But what is it that makes you holy? Is it your good works or feelings? It is how many times you have read the Bible?
The truth is that you are made holy, even if you do not feel so. You got your holiness not because of your good deeds, and you also are not maintaining it by your good works, but because of grace. So you do not lose your holiness or righteousness when you do a sin. You get your righteousness by faith not by your works. And faith is not a feeling but a choice, as I have already mentioned.
The feeling of powerlessness
Have you ever felt that this situation can I never overcome, I will never come out of this situation or it will never change for me, or I have this weakness that I can never manage to overcome? These are feelings of powerlessness and despair, which also the spirit of fear is behind. Is this emotion that God wants you to have? No! These feelings are actually the root of most of your negative emotion and fears. The fear that you will never succeed, and the feeling of failure, for example, has its root in that you feel it is hopeless to try, you've tried so many times that you feel totally powerless.
For some time ago, I experienced one thing that I have tried again and again. I do not know how many times I've tried, but not succeeded. And it might have been one of the greatest things I've wanted to happen in my life. I was again confronted with the old feelings of powerlessness. The thoughts and feelings of that I never will succeed in this, attacked me. Everything felt like it always has done. But it was a thing that happened, and that was very different than previous experiences; I managed to hold fast to what the truth says about me and my future. God gave me a word that really held me up in a very difficult time, and I also want to share it with you, for it can help you too:
Eph 3:20
20. Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams] --
I like very well where it says: superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams.
We have a grate God, and he can do incredible, infinitely more than we can hope for or dream about!
Every day, and many times a day, I spoke this scripture out loud for myself, and I felt how the feeling of powerlessness disappeared and peace, hope and joy filled my heart again. And when the feeling of powerlessness was trying to come back, I confessed and spoke it out loud even more. When I look back, I saw that I had the same feelings I had had previously, but my handling of these feelings when they came, was different than before. Previously, I became depressed and thought: This will never happen to me, and I often went into a form of indifference, passivity, and self-pity. While now I took up the fight, and confessed that nothing is impossible for God! I also did not follow what my feelings said, and felt sorry for my self. I know that God has a good plan for me, and that plan is that far beyond what I can dream about and hope for! I have also decided to rely on him in this, for God is a good God, and I know that his promises will happen. For God can not lie.
If our feelings of despair and powerlessness can control our lives, we will not be able to see the dreams and hopes God has for us. They want to steal our dreams, like they before have stolen many of mine. These feelings will the spirit of fear try to use against you, so that God's good intentions, plans and the destiny for your life are not going to happen. You must, like me, decide to take up the fight against these feelings, and choose to believe what the truth says, the Bible, and not what your emotions say.
I did not see the breakthrough and what I wanted in my situation, but I've decided to not be under for the feelings of despair and powerlessness, which so often leads to self-pity. Do the same as me, and together we shall see that the prayers, dreams, hopes and wishes that we have will become true one day, they will be fulfilled in such a way that we will just be totally amazed when we see what God has done. This is my testimony so far also, for when I look back at the past 20 years of my life, I must also say that God has done more than anything, yes, far beyond what I had hoped, dreamed and asked for. And I am very excited about what God has for me further in the future!
What feelings can lead to when we let them control us.
If it feels good for you.
The world we live in today is largely governed by what they feel. You may have heard this expression: If it feels good to you. This is a wisdom guided by emotions, not God's wisdom. And this statement is really a devilishly lie, and could not be further away from the truth. I think you are quite aware that there are many things you can feel to do that are not good for you! You may feel to rob a bank, but that does not mean it is the right ting to do. You may feel to look at pornography on the Internet or going out to sleep with someone, but that does not mean it will be good for your marriage, or when you find one to share your life with. Even if you feel inclined to eat a kilogram of chocolate because you are depressed, it does not mean it will be good for you. I think you get the idea.
Because many do not have God's Word, witch is the truth, to build their life on, will for example, a married couple wake up one morning and feel that they do not love each other any more, and they will be moved by their emotions to be separated, because they did not feel love anymore. If you read the Bible, you will find out that love is more than just a feeling.
As a Christian it is very important that you are not led by your emotions. If you do so, you can easily get into a curse that Jesus has already set you free from.
If a person is emotionally dominated, they will find themselves back in the same situation again and again.
We may also in our Christian life be dependent on feelings, becoming emotionally dominated. Things may feel good in meetings and during worship, and you can make many emotional decisions, which can be good. But when you meet everyday day life, you don’t keep what you have promised. You can easily follow what you feel in the moment, and not follow what you promised God. If you are an emotionally dominated person, you can easily be lead away from God's intentions, purpose and destiny for your life.
Emotions, reason for sin
Emotions are the cause of sin in our lives. If you have fallen in adultery, it was because your feelings led you there.
There were also feelings that made that Adam and Eva take a wrong decision. They followed what felt well for the eye and for the moment, and it led them and us out of God's perfect will for humanity.
If sin had felt bad when we did it we would not have done it, but because it feels good we do it. In other words; we let the emotions dominate and control us.
Emotions and our health
Our feelings can lead to a lot of bad tings in our physical body as well, when they control us. The fact that we are not willing to forgive, for example, will cause you to feel anger, resentment, frustration and even depression. And when you have these emotions, they can lead to diseases in your body, even cancer.
Emotions have a lot to do with our health. Our negative emotions, which often come from fear, may release chemicals that make us depressed, and when we have a chemical imbalance in our body, it can make your immune system weak.
Ask a doctor if not a prolonged fear and depression can have an impact on your immune system.
The Bible has actually known about this already, actually for some thousand years. See these scriptures from Proverbs.
Pro 17:22
22. A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.
I can not explain this as a doctor, but the immune system is made in our bones. The red blood cells are made inside the bone calcification, and they are an important part of our immune system.
Pro 14:30
30. A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones.(AMP)
Envy, jealousy, anger and negative emotions as un-forgiveness will move you away from God's will when it comes to your health and psyche, they will, among other things, do something with your immune system so that you will be sick.
Pro 18:14
14. The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble, but a weak and broken spirit who can raise up or bear? (AMP)
Pro 15:30
30. The light in the eyes [of him whose heart is joyful] rejoices the hearts of others, and good news nourishes the bones. (AMP)
Here is says that joy and good news will nourish the bones, in other words: This will make your immune system strong.
My road to healing
I want to give you a testimony from my own life when it comes to health. For God has helped me to be free from the very difficult food allergy.
Summer of 2001 I started to get sick. I sometimes had some asthma-like symptoms, plus some stomach pain, irritable bowel syndrome, and often a lot of headaches, concentration difficulties, etc. I went to the doctor, and he gave me some asthma medicine, but I only got worse. Then they discovered that I had fungus in my throat, and I got fungus medicine for it. But after the fungus cure were over it did not cure me, but after a while it became only worse again. I was sent to many different doctors and they gave me many different medications, but all I tried made me worse.
I was ultimately very depressed and fearsome, for in spite of many attempts the doctors did not find anything wrong with me. In the end the doctors did not really believe in me when I said I was sick, but I was really sick. After about six months I came across someone who had had a similar sickness, and they said that it was perhaps something called Candida-allergy, a type of yeast infections. And this Candida made me have a lot of food allergies.
When I came back to Norway, I went to an alternative clinic in Oslo, who said they could help me to be well. I went to many expensive appointments, and was put on a two-month strict diet where I should not eat, among other things: sugar, flour, yeast, mushrooms, bread, dairy products, some fruit etc. And I had to take some alternative medicines. I did this for over three months, but was not better. After six months I came across an article on the Internet about amalgam fillings, and they said that the mercury in the fillings might leek and that could cause more-Candida allergy. I had quite a few amalgam fillings, so I thought that this must be the problem. The alternative clinic did not believe so much in it, so I found a new alternative doctor who did. And I started on a painful and expensive process to remove all the amalgam in my teeth. It took over a year and cost me around 20-30 000 kroner (3-5 000 USD). Because nothing really got any better I was often depressed and frustrated.
When I was finished with this, I had to go through some expensive cures that would purify my body of mercury and other things. And after that I started again on a two-month strict diet and cure to be well. But after three months I was still as bad as before. I began to eat less and less variety of food, and I reacted allergic to more and more. I began to be quite frustrated, and when I came to the alternative doctor, he could not give me any answer on why I was worse. But he said he had received a new alternative medicine that had helped others with my disease.
I tried this medicine, but after two days I was so bad that I had to stop. I got a very big breathing problem, plus headache, dizziness, etc. The worst was that I had problems to breathe in (which is the opposite of asthma). As the days passed and I was not better, I started to panic. I called the doctor, but he could not help me, and he did not know what to do. I could not go to a regular doctor, for they had also given up on me, and their medicine did not help me either.
Then I came across another alternative doctor, who was even more alternative than the previous one. His office was clearly decorated with Eastern religion and philosophy. But I was so desperate that I tried anything to get healed. He had, for sure, some new cures for me, and I had a faint hope again. They helped a bit at first, but then it was worse again, and after a few months and several hundred dollars later, this doctor shakes his head, and did not know what he should do with me either.
Now I was really depressed and fearsome, all I had tried with doctors were unsuccessful. I felt that my faith in God had been weakened too, for where was He in all this? I had called out to Him in my frustration, but it felt like he had not heard me. There were also some who said to me that perhaps God would like me be to be sick, for maybe he had a hidden meaning by it. This helped absolutely not, and this did not make me to seek God more, or feel better. But I did not give up on God, and deep in my heart I knew that God was good and that he had not left me.
For the most I was only awake in bed, to stand up and walk made it difficult for me to breathe. Nights were often the worst; I could wake up in the middle of the night because I could not breathe, and I gasp for breath. Sometimes I was in half sleep, and I felt I could not breathe properly, but I did not managed to turn around and wake up properly either. This was really a nightmare. Many times I just wanted to stop breathing and go to heaven.
I came across some Christian books on healing and began to read some of them, and they helped me a bit and I got some new hope. I tried to get to several healing meetings. There was a hazel to get there, and it was very disappointing each time, for I felt that nothing had happened.
I knew God had called me to Thailand, so I thought: Maybe God will check my obedience, and that he will heal me when I go to Thailand. It was not the only reason that I wanted to go. I could not stand the thought of just laying in a bed in Norway the rest of my life and do nothing, and I knew that God had called me out there.
So November 2003 I went out to Thailand. But I did not become better. I lay in bed for most of the time, and after a month I thought that if I fast, and then only eat rice for a week or two and try a medicine I had taken with me, then I'll be well. I tried this, but when I started eating meat again, I reacted strongly to this and had great difficulty breathing again. Now my diet consisted of some green vegetables and rice. My weight was down to around 110 lb (50 kilo), and three years before I weighed almost 198 pounds (90 kilo). If I had not been depressed before, I was really depressed now. I felt no one could help me, not even God. I've experienced a lot of rejection in my life, and now I felt rejected by God. I had done everything I could think of, tried all the doctors, used up all the money I had and even given myself to God, but nothing had helped. I said to God: Take my life, I will not live anymore. This was what I felt, but deep down inside of me there was something that would not give up, I've always been one who would not give up, and I knew that God had not abandoned me either, even though I sometimes could feel like that. It was one person who prayed for me, and I became a little better. I went home to Norway after five months in Thailand, and in the fall of 2004 I went to a prayer center in the United States to seek God for my healing.
Breakthrough!
I got my breakthrough on this prayer centre, but not in the way that I thought.
I remember I woke up one morning and I was very bad. I had breathing problems, headaches, stomach pain, etc. and I said to God: "God! You need to speak to me today! "I was desperate for something that could give me encouragement and hope. I had signed up for a service where someone should pray and prophesy over me, and I hoped that something would happen that day.
When the first person prophesied over me, he said: "You have a big heart for Israel and the Jewish people." This was not what I wanted to here, because that was certainly wrong place and people. I felt how my hope that God would speak to me this day was crushed. Disappointed I thought, "God will not speak to me today."
When I came out, I sat me down and complained to God and said: "Israel! Why could you not rather say something like: "I see that you go and have gone through a very tough time, but today I will set you free? Your healing will come very soon "And given me Isaiah 53 or something like that.
Then I felt God say to me: "Do you remember what I showed you two days ago?" I had been at a seminar where a girl had received a word for some of us who were sick there, and I felt that what she said had been to me. What God gave her was the story of Naaman in 2 King 5. Naaman was the leader of the army for the Syrian, and he was a leper. Naaman heard about the Prophet Elisa, and come to his house. Naaman had great expectations and plans about how the Prophet should heal him. But when they come to the house of Elisa, the prophet did not even go out and meet this leader of the army to his enemy, but he sends out his server with a message that he would wash him selves seven times in the river Jordan. Naaman is insulted and says:
2King 5:11-14
11. But Naaman was angry and went away and said, Behold, I thought he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and heal the leper.
12. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
He had fortunately a servant that was a little wiser and persuaded him.
13. And his servants came near and said to him, My father, if the prophet had bid you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, Wash and be clean?
14. Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, as the man of God had said, and his flesh was restored like that of a little child, and he was clean.
I knew that I had acted similar to Naaman. I had dictated God on how he would do it. I had also been offended at God because he had not done it my way. I also saw that both of these things were something I had a tendency to do. I then asked God for forgiveness for trying to dictate Him and be offended at Him.
When I went home to where I lived, I came past a book store that belongs to the prayer centre. I thought that I could always pop in there to see if they had some interesting books.
I found a couple of books, and one of them seemed very interesting. I sat down in the garden, where I lived, and began to read this book. The author of the book had really gone through a lot. She experienced, among other things, allergies that the doctors did not find a cure for. She was allergic to everything. Even the things in the environment as odor of perfume, carpets, paint, etc. At worst, she lived in the car. She had tried everything but nothing helped her. The disease was declared by doctors as chronic and incurable. I could relate to what she said, but this was ten times worse then me. She struggled nearly 20 years before she found the truth and was healed.
I also found out later that this woman actually was a member of the prayer center I was at. So later I met with her and had an encouraging conversation.
God gave me the answer on how to be healed by reading this book. I knew that my feelings were the cause of the disease, and especially the fear of rejection was the main cause.
The feelings I had struggled with over the years: As depression, despair, timidity, self-pity, and not least the fear of rejection, had the devil used over the years to make me sick, and to try to get me away from the plan God had for my life. It was not God who had tested me, or send it my way! If I had at an earlier stage known what I know today, I would have never been sick. But because I did not know some truths in the Word of God, I became sick.
Although I have been a Christian my whole life, I had not been trained to trust in God in all areas of my life (mainly salvation only, and sometimes I was not even sure about that). I had, among other things, never heard teaching like I give you now, about feelings. I was easily led by my feelings and I thought they were more real then what God said in His word. My great desire with this teaching is also to help you, so you never have to go through what I have gone through, and if you are going trough similar things now, I hope this teaching can encourage you to be free.
The road to freedom has not been easy, for I had to overcome the fear of rejection. And I met these things pretty quickly after I came home from the United States, and it has been a big fight, but I can say today that I am free from it, and allergies is almost gone. I have seen why God did not heal me at once. If He had done so, I believe that I would soon have lost the healing again, for I had to overcome the fear of rejection and those bad emotions first. Because I faced my fears and work trough it, I am also now able to stand against the disease, and diseases. And I have a testimony that can help many people.
Often God does not take us out of a difficult situation right away, but he takes us through it.
