Emotions can greatly enhance the quality of our lives. One of the ways God showed us His undeserved favor was to give us feelings, but they can ruin us if we let them take over. As born-again Christians, we have authority on multiple levels, including on the emotional level. Because of the finished works of Jesus Christ, we’ve been empowered to take charge over our emotions.

There’s an enemy loose in the world who is determined to steal, kill, and destroy what God blessed us with. This enemy will use our emotions against us every chance he gets. Negative emotions like depression, anxiety, fear, and anger are designed to hurt us, and they come from the devil. However, he has already lost the battle; Jesus gave us authority over serpents and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us.

Satan’s plan is to cause our feelings to spin out of control, and he uses everyday situations to do that. It can be tempting to lose our temper when others get on our nerves, but a wrathful person simply stirs up strife. We do not need to accept fear, anxiety, or worry when trouble comes along. We can instead choose to respond with godly emotions; even when the fig tree won’t blossom, the olive crop fails, and the fields yield no meat, we can still rejoice.

A person with no self-control is like a city with broken down walls. Exercising authority over our emotions keeps us in our place of victory when we’re under attack. We do that with the help of the Holy Spirit, who gives us love, joy, peace, and self-control. Understanding the role our emotions play in a successful life is a sign of true wisdom.    

Prayer:

Lord, the authority You gave us over our feelings empowers us to maintain emotional control in any situation. Letting Your Spirit guide us in this area helps us maintain the victory You won for us. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Scriptures:

John 10:10

Luke 10:19

Proverbs 15:18

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Proverbs 25:28, NLT

Galatians 5:22, 23, NKJV

For more on how godly emotions move us toward success in life, click on the link to find the three-message series, Exercising Godly Emotions, in our eStore.