The other night before bed, I spent about two minutes watching the four reels that popped up on my Facebook feed. I don’t remember what they were about, but I remember how I FELT after I watched them. I was—dissatisfied with my life; sad that I wasn’t more beautiful; and I wondered if I was doing anything with my life that really mattered to anyone else. Those feelings could have spiraled into unhealthy emotions…but as part of this devotional series, I have been practicing the art of using God’s Word to cultivate better emotional responses to my feelings. The positive emotional results from this exercise have created a desire in me to allow LESS of this culture’s false images of who I should be into my mind and replace it with MORE of the truth about WHO God says I am. God’s Word promises us that we are created in HIS image—for a GLORIOUS purpose. Meanwhile, our enemies’ desire is to destroy us with perpetual dissatisfaction.
Learning how to process our emotions according to the TRUTH of God’s Word provides treasure beyond comprehension.
When our perception of self is rooted in God’s Word, it allows us to express the wide range of healthy emotions He created us to experience.
God’s Word channels our feelings into healthy emotions!
God’s Word must be the LOUDEST VOICE in our head and our love-relationship with Him must be our STRONGEST ANCHOR. My friend, God has given us HIS belt of truth to show us who we are in Christ. I can’t tell you what a relief it was for me to finally figure out that I don’t have to look like Cindy Crawford or sing like Celine Dion! The more I allow God’s Word to shine the light upon me and the harder I work to get rid of the sources of darkness in my life, the more I get to know the marvelous person He made me to be. Knowing myself like God knows me gives me satisfaction and confidence beyond measure! Then, an amazing thing happens! Within this God-knowledge of myself—the actions of others fail to invoke unhealthy emotions! Why? Well, because I know who I am in Christ and no one can change this. The Bible says:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Knowing WHO WE ARE in Christ frees us to experience the goodness of the healthy emotions God created in us.
God’s Word and His presence are our rock. We must study it and know it—in order to know who we are. When you are born again, you can discover from God’s Word WHO you are in Christ. Here’s a short list. We:
- Are accepted and worthy, Psalms 139
- Are never alone, Romans 8:38–39
- Are the object of God’s faithfulness, 2 Thessalonians 3:3
- Have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16
- Have hope, Psalms, 62:5
- Are seen as perfect by God, Hebrews 10:14
- Lack nothing, Philippians 4:19
- Are free from fear, Psalms 34:4
- Have strength, Psalms, 28:7
- Have victory, Romans 8:37
- Have the wisdom of God, Proverbs 2:6–7
- Are free from the bondage of sin, 2 Corinthians 3:17
- Are perfectly loved, Ephesians 2:4–5
- Are protected by God, Psalms 18:2
- Are an adopted child of God, Galatians 4:6–7
- Are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 3:16
- Have been declared, righteous by God, 2 Corinthians 5:21
- Have direct access to God, Hebrews 4:16
- Have been created for good works, Ephesians 2:10
- Have authority over Satan, 1 John 4:4
- Are the light of the world, Matthew 5:14
- Have an eternal inheritance, Romans 8:16–17
- Have eternal security of salvation, 1 John 5:11–13
But, remember, our enemies are always seeking to trick us, so despite the plethora of scriptures giving us complete reassurance of our value, we must ACTIVELY and PASSIONATELY be seeking GOD every day! We must be hiding the truth of His Word in our heart. Jesus died and rose again so we could have the POWER to live in truth. Our freedom from the slavery of unhealthy emotions BEGINS when we accept God’s gift of salvation.
After we are born again, and begin to realize how special we are, we must grow in our relationship with God in order to cultivate healthy emotions which conform to His Word.
Can you imagine a 20-year-old college student who still drinks from a bottle, soils his pants, and throws tantrums when he doesn’t get his way? He has not reconciled his life to the truth that he should not be acting this way. As born-again believers, we are commanded to grow spiritually. A sure sign of spiritual maturity is in having trained our emotions to be in line with the truth of God’s Word. We must KNOW the TRUTH and LIVE in the presence of God. Jesus said:
I am the light of the world. He who FOLLOWS Me shall NOT walk in darkness, but have the LIGHT of LIFE.
If you ABIDE in My WORD, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall KNOW the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you FREE.
Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever COMMITS sin is a SLAVE of SIN. Therefore if the SON makes you FREE, you shall be free indeed.
John 8:12, 31-32, 34, 36 NKJV
So far, we have learned that If we want to have healthy emotions, we must: 1. Know who GOD is and make HIM the center of our life; and 2. Know who WE are in Christ. Tomorrow we will cover the third point and that is: How LIVING in God’s divine PURPOSE nurtures healthy emotions.
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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