He is fully a Person – a Divine person with a perfect will – emotions and intellect.
Energy doesn’t have emotions, and a mere power cannot be grieved or insulted – but when we do not yield to His guiding voice, we can hurt or even quench the Holy Spirit.
Emotions can oscillate and are no criteria on which to rest our security in Christ.
Feelings and emotions are God-given, but they are not the source of salvation truth. Believers should never allow feelings and emotions to dictate scriptural doctrine.
They may from time to time have a sense of attainment and success, with much resultant gladness, but with the fluctuating emotions of the soul, things seem to collapse and go all wrong.
The spurious, spiritual mysticism of pseudo-religiosity crept in with God’s truth and as a result, some lived by emotions and a false spirituality instead of Scripture.
I must seek to have my emotions; desires; thoughts and reason aligned to Him.
And even my emotions are God-given spices to enhance my life, and others, but the pains, wounds, and disappointments of life, so often distort rational thought, and we flood our conversations and bury our actions in false imaginings that we consider as truth.
That secret abode that houses all the deepest desires of your longing heart, with its affections and emotions; its passion and plans – that private place that buries all the deepest lacerations that life can throw at it; its failures and disappointments – its wounds and its pains – blameless. (i.e.
Trial and Difficulties
Thanksgiving is not always a sentiment accompanying a life of trial and difficulties. Praise and worship is not the first behaviour displayed in times of desperate need. Grateful thanks are hardly an emotion we adopt when we are in deep pain or trouble.
He was given attributes and characteristics that reflected his Creator God – a mind to think – a will to choose and a range of beautiful emotions to feel.
Free Gift
This was not to be the norm for the entire human race for every man was endowed with a mind to think, a will to choose, and a range of God-given emotions to feel.
The Love of God
The love of God was love in deed and in truth. It did not materialise from an inward emotion. It was not based on selfish need. The love of God was expressed in a way that we can never doubt:- The Father loved us so much – that He gave His Own Son.
When circumstances seem impossible, when all signs of grace in you seem at their lowest ebb, when temptation is fiercest, when love and joy and hope seem well nigh extinguished in your heart, then rest, without feeling and without emotion, in the Father's faithfulness; abide in the fact that He loves you infinitely, and even now is working in you faithfully; and honor Him, and put the enemy to flight by taking to yourself the words of Job: Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' I have prayed for thee' (says the One who ever lives to make intercession for us) that thy faith fail not.' -D.T.
When the ecstasies and the emotions and all the more superficial elements in our salvation are brought under the stress of terrific opposition; when in addition to that the enemy lays on his accusations, then the foundations are discovered, and many, many breakdown.
All are of the soul.... Spiritual death marks that realm, and while there may be intense emotions which make for resolves, high thoughts and desires, there is no genuine change in the nature of those concerned, and repeated doses of this must be taken to maintain any measure of soul-self-satisfaction which makes them feel good.
The result is that in the work of God all the world over you have people serving the Lord in the energy of the flesh, in the reasoning of the flesh, in the emotions of the flesh.
Do you see what a havoc the enemy can make in that which is called the church, because people with best intentions and purest motives have come to serve the Lord with all their own intelligence, their own strength, and their own emotion?
Right at the very center of the being, deeper than thought or reason, deeper than emotion or feeling, deeper than all that which comprises the more outward man which, under given circumstances, may prove weak and incapable of standing up to the situation.
Christ’s Humanity
But Christ was also fully Man – and as such he had a human nature – yet without sin. He was a man with a mind and emotions and He had a human body, a soul and spirit. As Man He grew weary and could legitimately say, I thirst – give me to drink… and as Man He could rightfully say to the High Priest at His trial – you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Oscillating Faith
And faith in God fluctuates between good and bad circumstances. And trust in God ping-pongs as emotions rise and then tumble. And life has no stability because we have not fixed God’s Word in our heart.
Ping-Pong Emotions
Throughout Scripture “God” is Elohim..
the Strong One – the Powerful God ping-pongs, as emotions rise and then tumble.
He may be full of religious knowledge, emotions or feelings, and activities, but if the Bible thunders more than speaks on any matter, it is this: that such can be the most mistaken and deceived.
It seems that in the case of the Galatians it was again the natural man, but this time in the realm of natural emotions.
Because they lived on their emotions, on their feelings, and these were changeable.
We respond to an appeal, come under the power of a great emotion, and then slack off.
So it is that the love of Christ should hold or grip us, conquering our natural emotions by the mighty power of the Spirit.
The answer is, You ran in the strength of your own emotions, you ran as your enthusiastic response to God's call because it affected your feelings for the time.
work that is often couched in the terms of ‘Vocation’; ‘Calling’; ‘Evangelism’… service that is often dependent on senses; intellect; emotions – the external appeal – labour designed to satiates the tickled ear, the straying eye, the emotional high.
It has to be something more than emotion, and more than glorious doctrine; yes, more than a truth to which we give some assent.... If it is true that we are one with a risen, enthroned Lord, it ought to have tremendous repercussions.
During the six days of creation, we discover in Genesis chapter one that God made man in His own image and likeness, with a mind to think, emotions to feel, and a will to make choices.
Nebuchadnezzar's fluctuating emotions demonstrate the folly of a double-minded man and the importance of knowing the truth, standing firm in the faith, and honouring the Lord in all we are.
Those who wait on the Lord are those who have the assurance and inner confidence that the promises He has made to His people, and the things for which we hope, are a matter of fact and a present reality that cannot be contradicted by senses, emotions, reason, or fear.
When He walked by the way He was hungry and tired, and our Great High Priest was not exempt from the human emotions of hope and fear, of joy and pain, of anger and grief, nor was He free from suffering and sorrow, but lived a life of humble obedience to the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let us not be drunk with wine or controlled by any other substance or emotion that discredits our Heavenly Father, but let us go on being filled, day by day, with the Holy Spirit of God so that we may manifest the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in our lives, today and throughout the rest of our time on earth.
No doubt there was an element of both emotions, but they had work to do: And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them and said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky?
Satan's prime objective is to turn the human race against the One Who made them in His own image; with a mind to think, emotions to express feelings, and a free-will to choose between the evil and the good.
Too many believers today are seeking to gratify their carnal lusts and excite their flesh, their feelings, and their emotions with sights and signs, miracles, wonders, and worldly 'hip' and 'hype' at the expense of true, spiritual satisfaction, which alone comes from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting Him as Saviour and Lord.
May we 'keep short accounts' when dealing with anger and be ready to address issues immediately so that we honour the Lord in thought, word, deed, motive, and emotions.
Whatever value we place on bodily senses or emotional awareness to stimulate and inform us, God's greater commendation and divine approbation is given to the one who is not influenced by physical senses, human emotions or life's circumstances, but who simply trusts His Word.
Although God knows that trust may be triggered by our senses, emotions, and daily living, He also knows those things can as easily be shattered into a thousand tiny fragments and sifted like wheat by Satan, if faith is not securely anchored to Christ as fact.
And yet like his Creator, man was given the ability to communicate through speech, the power to reason with his mind, the free will to make wise choices, the capacity to work, and the privilege to express his inner feeling through a variety of God-given emotions.
This is one who will grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the man or woman who chooses to take God at His Word and live their Christian life trusting all He says, no matter how much their emotions, feelings, or circumstances seem to scream the opposite, is the man or woman that will be taught by the Spirit of God and come to a deeper understanding, as He gently guides them into all truth.
He promised that He would garrison our heart, our mind, our emotions, and our innermost thoughts, as we focus our prayers and praises on Him with thanksgiving!
Love must be defined by its context, and when we are talking of divine love - it is a love that cannot be produced by man, nor whipped up by human emotions.
Love is not the outworking of our human emotions, although emotion may accompany biblical love.
There is an urgency in the message that Paul delivered to the unbelieving pagans in the Gentile city of Athens, for some followed after the hedonistic philosophies which pursued pleasure rather than knowledge, while others were stoics pantheists who considered that wisdom lay in the total restraint of human emotions.
Today there is an explosion of cults and unbiblical denominations, where the Person and Work of Christ is diminished and Scripture is revised, twisted, distorted and watered down, and where the biblical truth is replaced with stories that stroke the emotions, music that stirs fleshly passion, and services that pander to man's prideful lusts.
The circumstances of the day, the emotions of the heart, the imagination of the mind, and a lack of faith, caused these followers of Christ to have a selective memory of His Word.
We are predisposed to allow emotions and imaginations to rule our heart rather than standing on the truth of God's unchangeable and inerrant WORD.
While this entire section begins with suffering and pain, it touches on many emotions as David remembers the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendents.
David believed that the Lord his God (Who examines the inner thoughts of the heart and the deep emotions of men), would not forget His people but would lift up His hand against those that do evil.
David knew: The One Who examines the thoughts of men's mind and the emotions of a man's heart is a good and righteous God, and David called out to the Lord to vindicate him, to judge the people who were his attackers, and to examine the motives of his own heart.
The One who examines the thoughts and emotions is indeed a righteous God, and He will one day establish the righteous and judge the wicked.
It suggests an inner calm that is not adversely affected by the fluctuating emotions of other people and identifies one who demonstrates an understanding and peaceable spirit, when maligned or misunderstood.
God often heals the physical wounds and earthly diseases that trouble our mortal bodies, and play heavily on our minds and emotions, but oft-times He whispers into our hearts, My grace is sufficient, for My strength is made perfect in your weakness... in your sickness, in your hardship - in your loss, and your pain.
Those in the emperor's service knew very well that any display of emotion or pain, anger or sadness, should be kept hidden before the king and his court.
Nehemiah knew that men had been executed for exhibiting such emotions in the presence of a king, and he became: Overwhelmed with fear. However, Nehemiah explained that his sadness of heart was on hearing that the city where his ancestors were buried lay in ruins and its gates destroyed by fire.
This internal battle for supremacy of our soul is between these two opposing agents which are warring against our emotions, our choices, our mentality, our conscience.
Being the last letter Paul would write, it is not surprising that this second letter to Timothy, his 'child in the faith' is intensely personal and charged with emotion.
Saul painted a picture of a proud man who allowed his fleshly emotions to rule his life and permitted hatred to fester within his heart, while David demonstrated a man whose heart was right before the Lord, trusted Him in the most difficult circumstances, and allowed God to avenge his enemies.
We are surrounded by the ebb and flow of human emotions, where love can grow cold, relationships can become tired, and ardour can subside as circumstances march on.
Fear is a dangerous emotion that entangles man in deep dark problems, and fear is also a favourite tool that is used by the enemy.who seeks to bring saved men down into the 'Slough of Despond' and entrap them in the 'Pit of Despair' which can cause a believer to doubt the veracity of God's Word and the truth of Scripture.
Sadly, many have chosen to use their mind, will, and emotion to disbelieve the clear evidences of His internal witness and external testimony: Those who believe are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the only begotten son of God.
Indeed, it is not only the heart that is stained with sin but the mind, the conscience, the emotions, the will, and the inner being of all human-kind. Anyone with the audacity to claim that they have cleansed their heart and made themselves pure from sin, is greatly deceived.
Human love is influenced by emotions, whereas divine love is a matter of the will - a will that is guided by the indwelling Spirit of God and a heart that is content to say, 'Thy will not mine be done in my life'.
Man was the only part of God's creation that was made in His image and likeness, for he was endued with a mind to think, emotions to enjoy, and a freewill with which to make choices.
Firstly: All bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. It is only after these negative emotions have been dealt with, at the foot of the Cross, that we can continue with Paul's next exhortation: Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you.
Together with Christ's rejection at Nazareth and the shock of Herod's bloody murder of John the Baptist, the rigorous schedule had taken its toll on both the bodies and emotions of this little group.
But sadly, many Christians are diverted away from this path of faith to living by sight, by signs, by senses and emotions, by imagination, by feelings, by worldly philosophies, or extra-biblical revelations, especially when they see life's stormy seas and the mountains of difficult circumstances rising up to block their path.
When the enemy seeks to instil worry in our heart or to whip up our frantic emotions - it is the Shield-of-Faith that is our protection - for God's Word is sure and we must stand firm on His truth, however fragile life's circumstances may have become.
The man who trusts in the Lord is simply believing Him in all things; believing His Word, trusting His promises, and not allowing himself to be shaken by circumstance, sight, emotions, or feelings.
Ambitions and emotions, temptations and trials, hope and fear, inner thoughts and expectations, together with spiritual strengths and weaknesses, can all be reflected in the face and mirrored in the expression of the eyes.
The love of Christ that was demonstrated in the life of Paul is not a love that can be fired up through the emotions, achieved through training, or developed by strictly following man-made rules.
It is good to fly to him in prayer to confess any foolish sin or when we find our emotions and feeling are causing fear to rise in our hearts and doubts to fill our minds.
There is an intensity and urgency in this earnest pleading to guard your heart about all else, and in Scripture, the heart is the seat of the thoughts, the will, the conscience, and the emotions.
We have been endowed with reason and choices, with emotions and a will, which is bound up in our hearts - and we have been given them by God to glorify Him and to enrich our lives.
But they should never be given free rein to rule our lives and dictate our decisions for unguarded feelings can fluctuate, unguarded emotions can twist and turn on a whim, unguarded thoughts can toss to and fro like the waves of the sea, and an unguarded will can lead you away from the path of peace.
Having created man in His own image and likeness on the sixth day, with a intellect, emotions, a moral nature, the ability to communicate, and a free-will to make wise choices: God blessed them, and gave His first set of instruction to Adam and Eve, commanding them to be fruitful and multiply, and spread out across the globe, filling the earth with their offspring.
And having formed and fashioned the man that He had made, God breathed His own breath of life in to Adam's lifeless form, and Adam became a living being, made in the image and likeness of God with a mind to think, emotions to feel, and a will to make freewill choices.