TRANSFORMED "Dealing With How You Feel - Emotional Health" (selected scripture)

Transcription

1 TRANSFORMED "Dealing With How You Feel - Emotional Health" (selected scripture) Introduction - For the past few weeks we've been considering how God wants to transform our lives/health in several key areas: Spiritual health - Drawing close to and staying close to God Physical health - How stress is devastating to our health. Mental health - Feeding, freeing & focusing our mind properly. TODAY...Emotional health - How to deal with how you feel. Mark 12:29-30(NLT) - "The most important commandment is this:...you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength." Can't you just feel the emotion, passion and urgency in these words of Jesus? I want you to love me passionately with all your being--heart, soul, mind and strength! Without a doubt, God wants a deeply emotional relationship with you...his creation. BASIC FACTS ABOUT EMOTIONS: GOD HAS EMOTIONS. God has emotions just like we do. God feels joy, grief, and pain just like we do. The Bible tells us that the reason we have emotions is because we are fashioned in Father God's image. MY ABILITY TO FEEL IS A GIFT FROM GOD. Our emotions are a gift from God even when we may not feel so. Emotions are a great asset...they are the one thing that make us human. It's our emotional ability that allows us to love and create and to be faithful and loyal and kind and generous...and so much more. AVOID THESE TWO EMOTION EXTREMES...

2 EMOTIONALISM - All that matters is how I feel. Extreme emotionalism means everything I do in life is based on my emotions. They control my life, they dominate my life and they run my life. STOICISM - My feelings aren't important at all. To a stoic that only thing that matters is your intellect and your will. HERE'S A FUN FACT: Emotional people often marry stoics and stoics often marry emotional people. In many marriages you have one spouse is a stuffer and the other is a gusher. Stuffers think you really shouldn't be sharing your emotions...and gushers think if you're not sharing your emotions you're not being authentic. God gave us THE BOOK OF PSALMS to understand our emotions. Is it not true that the psalms express pretty much every emotion known to man...good emotions...bad emotions...happy emotions...sad emotions...positive emotions... negative emotions. YES--there are psalms of praise and thanksgiving but there are also psalms filled with anger and complaining and even psalms where the writer argues with NOW...With the facts I just mentioned as a foundation, let's build on that by answering the question: WHY must I learn to deal with how I feel? WHY MUST I LEARN TO MANAGE MY EMOTIONS? BECAUSE...my feelings are often unreliable. IOW...If we aren't careful--even when we are careful--our feelings can lead us in the wrong direction. [ie...how many times have you thought--i know this is the right thing to do--i can just feel it in my gut? AND YOU DO IT--and that thing does not work like you thought at all! We've all done that haven't we? Our gut is often unreliable!] Proverbs 14:12(NIV) - "There is a way that SEEMS right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." BECAUSE...I don't want to be manipulated.

3 BOTTOM LINE...If you don't learn to manage/control your emotions those emotions will manage/control/manipulate you! [ie...advertisers and sales people know that if they can stir up your emotions and get you hooked emotionally many times you will buy their product. The music, images and colors in a commercial or an advertisement are usually designed to elicit an emotional response. It's where we get the term...impulse buying!] Proverbs 25:28(NASB) - "Like an open city with no defenses is the man with no check on his feelings"...(nlt)..."a person without self control is as defenseless as a city with broken down walls." I Peter 5:8(NIV) - "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to BECAUSE...I want to please God. HERE'S THE DEAL...God cannot be God in my life if my emotions are God in my life--god cannot rule my life if my emotions rule my life! Romans 8:6-8(TEV) - "To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace...those who obey their human nature cannot please God." BECAUSE...I want to succeed in life. I READ THIS WEEK..."The number one predictor of success or failure in life is managing our emotions. EQ is more important than IQ. Emotional quotient is far more important in determining success in life than Intelligence quotient." Proverbs 5:23(CEV) - "(People) get lost (in life) and die because of their foolishness and lack of self-control." I Peter 4:2(TEV) - "From now on you must live the rest of your earthly lives controlled by God's will and not by human desires." WHAT ARE HUMANS DESIRES? It's the way you feel...it's your affections...it's your emotions. TAKEAWAYS...for today SO...If God's word tells me that I am to be controlled by God's Spirit and God's will--how do I manage an unwanted feeling or emotion? TO MANAGE AN UNWANTED FEELING...

4 NAME IT. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? -----> It means I've got to identify it and be specific by pinpointing exactly what that unwanted feeling is. WHY? You can't manage/deal with a vague feeling! [ie...most of us are not as in touch with our emotions as we think we are. If I were to ask you what emotions you felt this past week how many of you could give me an answer in 30 seconds? If you can't name it you can't change it!] To become a more emotionally strong man or woman...ask yourself these two questions: WHAT AM I REALLY FEELING? [To answer this question you've got to look beneath the surface. You may be feeling down, discouraged or depressed and think..that must be my problem. But what you need to do is ask: What's making me FEEL discouraged/depressed? You look a little deeper and you discover that...i was criticized at work and I didn't like it!] WHAT TRIGGERED MY FEELING? If I were to ask you what emotion gives you the most trouble in your life could you name it? I can guarantee you that Satan knows what it is! And there are triggers he likes to place before you that cause that emotion to get the best of you...sight - smell - hear - touch - taste...can all trigger unwanted emotions. HERE'S THE DEAL: You can't tame what you can't name! CHALLENGE IT. Are things really as bad as I feel they are? Probably not! Are things really as good as I feel they are? Probably not! ie...king David often asked God in the psalms he wrote to challenge his emotions. Psalm 139:23-24(NLT) - "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You..." Psalm 26:2(NLT) - "Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and affections (emotions)."

5 It may be helpful for you to find a close friend to challenge you and hold you accountable for your feelings. ie...job had a friend like that--his name was Eliphaz...Job 15:12(NIV) - "(Eliphaz asked Job)...Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash?" QUESTION - "Do you have anybody in your life who can ask you a hard question and you won't get mad at them?" TAME IT. Philippians 2:5(NIV) - "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." When you have a mood or an emotion that is not serving you well you've got two options: You can change it or you can channel it. CHANGE IT - Dismiss any attitude/emotion that doesn't make me more like Jesus...fear-- pride--envy--bitterness-anger. CHANNEL IT - Use the emotion for good. Take the negative emotion (pain or hurt) and find a way to use it in a positive way. Don't ever waste a hurt! If you've lost someone to death, use your grief for the good of others and yourself [ie...my brother Jim] Your greatest ministry often comes out of your deepest pain! Some of you may be thinking...pastor Tim, that change it and channel it stuff sounds good and fine--but what do you do with an emotion that seems to have control of you? WELL...You'll never tame it by willpower! Zechariah 4:6(NCV) - "You will not succeed by your own strength or power. But by my Spirit says the Lord almighty." HOW DO YOU LET THE HOLY SPIRIT CHANGE AN EMOTION THAT'S HURTING YOU AND THE OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE? TWO SUGGESTIONS: EVERYDAY...Surrender your life to the control of God's Spirit.

6 Galatians 5:22-23(NLT) - "When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and selfcontrol." Self-control comes from God control! The more I let God control my mind and emotions...the more self-control I will have. EVERYDAY...Ask God to help you manage your mouth. Proverbs 13:3(LB) - "Self-control means controlling the tongue!" HOW DO YOU TAME YOUR TONGUE? Make God's Word your word! [ie...put the words of the Bible into your mind everyday! Memorize it - Underline it - Highlight it - Journal about it - Meditate on it.] Psalm 119:11(NIV) - "I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 19:14(NIV) - "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart (emotions) be pleasing in your sight O Lord." CLOSING PRAYER...(Salvation ABC's - Lordship)