"Calming and Quieting the Emotions: Learning to Discern Good from Evil"
SERIES TEXT – Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
We’re continuing with the Merismos Series. We discovered that the Greek word “Merismos” is where we get the English words “dividing asunder” in Hebrews 4:12. Merismos means to take apart or separate into allotments or shares to clarify the purpose and functions of the individual parts. The Word of God is alive and life giving and performs a “merismos” on our soul and spirit. It takes our heart apart. The Word of God is a two-edge sword that is the only thing that can separate the soul from the spirit. My spirit is saved instantly as soon as I receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. My soul is saved progressively as I go through the process of saving my soul. The saving of the soul consists of training and controlling my thinking, calming and quieting my emotions and weaning my will of being unwilling and disobedient. It starts with allowing the two-edged sword of the word of God to make an excision (cut unbelief out) as it makes an incision (cuts faith in) by the process called the renewing of the mind. I have to exchange the way I think for the way God thinks. I have to invest time in God’s word so I can implant and engraft His word within my spirit and within my mind.
James 1:21 say it is the implanted, embedded, engrafted word that is able to save the soul. The progressive changing and maturing of my mind, emotions, and will starts with learning what God thinks to think what God thinks. The next step is calming and quieting my emotions so I respond to the Word instead of reacting to the world.
Hebrews 5:14
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14 says in order to control my emotions to tell the difference between good and evil is must exercise or train my senses.
5 basic external senses – seeing, hearing, taste, touch, and smell.
I’m reminded of the Chef Boyardee commercial where the little boy asks "Why must everything that is so good for me taste so bad?" The dilemma with being led by emotions is that some things that are good for us don’t feel good and some things that are bad for us do. We have to learn to get our emotions. Some of us cry too much. Some of us are mad too often and too long. Some of us have fallen in love too many times with too many people. We have to calm and quiet our emotions.
The adversary wants us to void of wisdom and void of good judgment. He want to put us in sensory overload for emotional override. The song writer of old said "If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right". It’s sensory overload for emotional override. I’ve got to get my emotions saved. “I know what the Bible says, but…It can’t be bad because it feels so good.” “It can’t be wrong because it feels so right.” “It doesn’t feel wrong because I’ve been doing it for so long.”
1 Timothy 4:1-3
1Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
The present pope when he was a cardinal said that the pope and cardinals are wiser than the council of the Holy Bible and have the right to contradict scripture. If you tell a lie long enough, you’ll believe it. How is even a preacher deceived by the devil to go against what he knows is in the B-I-B-L-E? It’s sensory overload for emotional override.
Genesis 3
1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
The devil first attacks the mind, “Do you know what God says about it? (Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?)” Then he asks “What do you think (Ye shall not surely die.)”
Then he attacks the emotions, “How do you feel about it?” It’s good for the eyes and good to make one wise. If your emotions are out control (Psuche Soufflé) you will make sense out of why you are right and God is wrong. It’s sensory overload for emotional override!
1 John 2:16 (King James Version)
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
How do you train your senses to discern good and evil? Perfect practice makes perfect. You train the way you fight. You train your senses to avoid sin when you can’t avoid temptation is by avoiding sin when you can temptation.
1. The lust of the flesh - Keep my distance from things I should not touch.
I keep my distance from things I should not touch, so I train myself not to touch things that might feel good to me even though they are bad for me. (The lust of the flesh – It’s how you train your emotions to discern the difference between what is right and what is right now! The lust of the flesh causes us to get too close for comfort to things we should not touch. It’s too close and you are too comfortable!
2. The lust of the eyes - Close my eyes to things I should not see
I close my eyes to things I should not see, so I train myself to control what I look at. (The lust of the eyes – Longing for what does not belong to me)
3. The pride of life - Cover my ears to things I should not hear.
I cover my ears to things I should not hear, so I train myself to filter what I listen to. (The pride of life – Listening to what exalts my will above the will of God). Don’t let the devil tell you “You deserve it.” or “You’re too strong to get addicted.” Don’t let the devil appeal to you sense of "I’m all that" to cause you to fall into sin.
If you can calm and quiet your soul by getting your emotions under control, you’ll be able to discern the difference between right and wrong, God and Satan, the voice of the Shepherd and the voice of a stranger, Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now. If I exercise my senses, I’ll be able to discern good from evil.
