Emotions and The Bible. Luke 9:54-55 I am no stranger to pain and suffering. In 1999 I was pronounced dead of a massive heart attack. According to the hospital records I had no, pulse,no lung function, no brain activity for the period of 8 minutes. After being shocked 3 times by paddles the doctors gave up. When the doctors gave up, thats when God took over. The attending doctor for one reason or another decided to shock me one more time, I believe it was the Holy Spirit directing Him. On the fourth shock, I was alive. In the next three days I suffered three more heart attacks but by the grace of God I survived. God talked to me every day of the ministry He wanted me to complete. He showed me subjects that were being ignored in His word and set me on my feet to address all the controversial subjects, others would not address. I preach,write sermons, lessons and commentary, on these subjects, knowing that others will become offended. But if thru these messages I am abel to get people to search the Bible for answers, my ministry is successful. I just deliver the word and keep my emotions in check, I offer no opinion but only Scripture. The scripture is full of verses, where Jesus rebuked His Deciples for using their emotions, for example; Luke 9:54-55 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. Emotions had taken over with a familiar spirit not of God but of the flesh. Are there times in our lives that we also wanted to call down fire from Heaven to destroy the unrighteous, un-godly elements in our lives? Lets read a little more;
Matthew 17:4-5, Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. Poor old Peter, He was always getting into trouble with Jesus and now with God. God rebuked Peter because, Peter had allowed His emotions to take control of the flesh and spirit. Peter saw an oppertunity to build a kingdom on earth that was contrary to the Will of Jesus and the Father. Peter had forgotten that Jesus had stated that His Kingdom was not of this earth. Lets read again;
Luke 10:17- 20;And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. {Emotions}
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. [Here we see a bold statement from Jesus explaining that even He saw things in His existence that they would not see, showing that He maintained a check on emotions.]
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.Here we see a key word that Jesus used to rebuke His deciples because of their lack of control over their emotions, that word is;”Notwithstanding” Meaning, All the same; nevertheless, In spite of, In whatever manner or way,To whatever degree or extent. Jesus was trying to get the point across ,that even thou He had all power to do as he willed, He still maintained control over that Power and control over His emotions. Now you may wonder why I say this. Lets look at it another way, If Jesus didn’t keep control over His emotions, there would have been no one left in the grave, no one would have ever been sick or age, and many more myricals would have been performed, He would have set up His Kingdom then ,as Satan tried to do. But He always maintained that He came to fulfill the will of His Father. Proof? Read; Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Being in this body of flesh, we are at odds with the Spirit.Our flesh is constantly at battle with the Spirit. Emotions are present with us but as Christians we must keep a subtle balance between emotions and what we know is the will of God. Even Jesus cried over the loss of a loved one, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Lets take a moment and look at these next few verses. John 11:35-44 Jesus wept.
Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? {emotions showing thru from the people}
Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.{Martha was exhibiting emotions, even thou Jesus had taught Her.}
Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.[ Here we see again How Jesus kepted His emotions in line, so that the Father in Heaven would receive the Glory.]
And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Jesus knowing that Lazarus was going to die, did not interferer, He allowed the Body of Lazarus to die and decay, so that God would would be Glorified. He did not allow His emotions to sway His Mission. We as Christians cannot act on emotional stress or bias. We must maintain control of our emotions and act only on the will of God. Many have stated that in times of stress they don’t know what the will of God is. In these cases it is best to stop and remove yourselves from the situation and begin praying in the Spirit with fasting and prayer, untill you know what the will of the Father is. Remember confusion is not of God, it is a spirit from satan and must be removed quickly. Matthew 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. Matthew 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. Is it easy to maintain controll of our emotions? No, its hard in times of stress, for we are still in the flesh. But we must always remember that Jesus is our guide and example in times of emotional stress and angziety. When sistuations come up in our lives that we cannot handel, we must turn them over to God. ars
