Colossians 3 says to, “put on a heart of compassion, to forgive, to love, to let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to be thankful, to sing with gratitude in your hearts to God.... It is clear to me, that our new life in Jesus is to bring new and wonderful emotions. I say THANK GOD! Because I don't always like how I feel! Something is to change drastically for the better about our emotional life, as new creations in Christ, and I am all for it. Ephesians 5 says being filled with the Spirit results in singing, joy in our hearts, thanksgiving, submitting to others with gladness. The presence and filling of the Holy Spirit IMPACTS our emotions. To me that is good news!

Galatians 5 says the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace. As we have a relationship with the Holy Spirit these wonderfully positive emotions begin to well up with us, and as we walk in the Spirit they become predominant in our lives. Christ died for our sins, but we can also say Christ died for our emotions. He died for our emotions and sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts to redeem our emotions in this life and to someday bring us into perfect emotions forever. Again I say THANK GOD!

I am not denying that we have emotions! I am not denying that we have painful emotions. But... God has something better for us than hostility, rage, sinful anger, bitter, resentful feelings, fear, anxiety, nervousness, pessimism and other such emotions! And God's plan is that emotions, such as anger, or sadness, which are not necessarily sinful, are not to control us or hold us prisoner!

God fully knows and understands the struggle we have with our emotions: There are depressed people in the Bible – just listen to Psalm 42 “Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become disturbed within me?” or Psalm 88, “You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; darkness is my only friend”. Elijah was so depressed he asked God to take his life. There are angry people in the Bible - Jonah said, “I am angry enough to die”. There are people who are filled with fear in the Bible - like when Elijah ran from Jezebel. There is incredible sadness in the Bible – when David's own son Absalom, conspired against him, he fled from Jerusalem, and walked up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, his head was covered and his feet were bare”. The Bible acknowledges the reality of our struggles, and there is a time for grief, for tears for sadness, YET God, in the Bible, is always calling us to hope, to gratitude, to peace, to joy and calling us to put away fear, and despair.

Our emotions are as close to us as the air we breathe. They come along in a continuous stream that cannot be shut off. We feel something most all the time. We feel love, joy, happiness, contentment, or guilt, anger, frustration, fear, grief, disappointment and hurt. Some emotions are very pleasant, some are very painful.

Emotions come to us with great intensity, at times. They are powerful. We all feel life deeply! I feel life deeply and you feel life deeply. People all around you feel life as deeply as you do: that check out person at the grocery store, the other people here at Real Life Church, all experience emotions as forcefully as you. It is an emotional experience to be a human being. We feels highs and lows, joys and sorrows.

We have emotions because we were created in the image of God. We have emotions because God has emotions. We were created to feel. God's emotions are revealed all throughout the Bible. Jesus felt compassion and anger; he was acquainted with sorrows. Luke tells us Jesus was full of joy through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can grieve over us. He experiences pain when we say hurtful, unkind things to others. James 4:5 says, he jealously desires your loyalty to him. Romans 8 says he prays for us with groans that words cannot express. (IE He prays with intense yearning for you.) God the Father has pity, and compassion. He rejoices over his people.

In order to understand your emotions, and to learn to have and enjoy godly emotions, you must first know that something has gone desperately wrong with your emotions.... Your emotions have been affected by the fall..., they have become corrupted, damaged.

Adam and Eve were created by God into a perfect Garden of Eden. There was no sin and no sinful feelings, there were no painful, miserable emotions. But sin ruined this perfect, good, and happy world. Every part of our lives has been damaged by sin, including your mind, will and emotions. So everyone of us are subject to fallen emotions and subject to displaying ungodly emotions. This is a cause of great inner turmoil, misery AND a cause of great pain in your own heart and in your relationships.

When you come to Christ to save you, he begins a process of healing you, fixing you, from the effects of the fall. We call it sanctification. It is a process. That process not ONLY involves the putting to death of sinful actions, such as cursing, or looking at pornography, or getting drunk, but ALSO involves putting to death, raging, out of control moods, and emotions, and the sinful display of those emotions. Sanctification involves the transformation of our emotions into the positive, good, enjoyable emotions that God has for us. That does not mean we are never sad, or disappointed, but the dominant emotions of the new life are love, joy, peace and hope. Or as Paul said, sorrowful but always rejoicing.

This may surprise you but your salvation involves your feelings and emotions! Really! One of the ways we see this is in the commands we are given: Rejoice in the Lord. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you. Be anxious for nothing. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. Rejoice always. Sing to the Lord. Do not let your hearts be troubled. We are NOT commanded TO fear, but to NOT be afraid. Not commanded to despair, but to hope. Not commanded to worry or to be in inner turmoil, but to have peace. The Bible continually exhorts us to self control, to put off certain emotions, to put on certain emotions, to take certain thoughts captive, to think and even to feel differently than we did when we were lost, unsaved people.

One of the biggest lies that Christians believe is that God doesn't expect you to change your emotions, or that you are not responsible for your emotions. So people say things like, “I just woke up on the wrong side of bed” or “It's just going to be one of those days” or “I'm just in a bad mood today so watch out!” We do have emotional reactions to circumstances and things people say and do to us. But God is bringing us into NEW RESPONSES. As we live as new people, as we think as new people, even those emotional reactions to people and circumstances are being transformed!

A few years ago you may have seethed with anger at someone who slandered you at work. Now you pray for them because you want to show them the love of God and because you are secure in who you are and where God has you, and you know God will defend you and take care of you!

The Bible is clear that not all moods and emotions are right, or spiritually healthy. James 1:20 “Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires”. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God did not give us a spirit of fear”. Or “perfect love casts out fear”. Anger in itself is not always sinful but it so quickly turns sinful that we are commanded to put away anger. You can't just do what you feel, and you can't just indulge your feelings without serious damage to yourself and others.

There is a saying that goes like this: Sin will take you farther than you want to go, and keep you there longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. The same is true of emotions. Emotions will take you farther than you want to go, keep you there longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. Amen?

Sin has done it's damage, you must come for healing. Do you want that? Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS”.

HOW to enjoy godly emotions:

One: Put to death all attitudes, moods and emotions that are associated with the sinful flesh of our old nature. Romans 6 tells us to “ Consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus”. We are to live every moment of our lives counting that we are dead, unresponsive to sinful passions, and totally responsive to God!

I was struck by the title of a message, “Mortifying Ungodly Emotions” by Brian Borgman. The title captured my attention because I think he is on to something that is SO needed in dealing with our emotions. Mortifying means to put to death. Many people are not aware, that putting to death certain, tendencies, and habits and YES EVEN MOODS, is part of living the life filled with the Spirit. There are many times my emotions want to wallow in despair, or in frustration, or self pity, or hurt feelings, or ...yet I know I should not go to those places – they lead to wretchedness and death!

It is interesting that in Colossians 3 BEFORE it says to sing with gratitude in your hearts to God, it says to put to death whatever belongs to your earthy nature, including emotions like anger. There has to be a willingness to put to death the inner negative moods, and passions, that destroy inner peace and joy, and therefore keep us from singing with gratitude to the Lord.

We we see the same in Galatians 5:22,23 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”. These fruits are emotions or the expression of godly emotions. What is NOT in this list is as revealing as what is! There is not hostility, anger, strife, jealousy, dissensions, envying.... Because those emotions are NOT the fruit of the Holy Spirit! He replaces a set of emotions that belong to the flesh or the sinful nature, that are in opposition to the godly emotions the Spirit is working into you.

Paul goes right on to say, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with it's passions and desires”. These “passions” are defined as “Emotions, intense feelings, strong inward, aroused emotions, overmastering feelings'. If you want live in love, joy, peace, patience and kindness...you must learn to put to death hate, despair, fear and anxiety, anger, rage, all of which are emotions and all of which are the exact counterpart of love joy peace, patience, and so on.

We put them to death by renouncing them, repudiating them, considering ourselves unresponsive to them, and secondly by enjoying and living IN fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16 “But I say live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. As you walk in fellowship with the Spirit and begin to live in righteousness, peace and joy, you will not be living in rage and despair, or burdened down with care, upset and afraid. There will just not be room for that.

Two: Take your moods and emotions to God, work through them, in the presence of your Heavenly Father and his word. Allow God to direct your heart and feelings and perspectives. It is God who comforts the depressed. It is God who calms our fears and bids our sorrows cease. He is the God of peace, the source of joy, love, hope, rest!

When I am fearful or frustrated, or in despair, I go to God for help because I KNOW that am believing or thinking something that is messing up my emotions and I know that God will restore my soul. Often my emotional problems mean that I have started to take control of my own life and future instead of leaving it in God's hands. So the solution is going to God and actively placing my whole trust in him for my whole life, my business, the church, my children, any and all concerns. THAT restores my heart to rest and to joy.

This pattern for emotional healing is demonstrated over and over for us in the Psalms: David took his moods and feelings to the Lord, and in his presence, through prayer and confessing joy producing truth about God and his goodness and faithfulness, he moved from despair to hope, great anxiety to great peace, from depression to joy. He did not always feel good when he went to God! Psalm 130 “Out of the depths I have cried to you, O Lord”. Psalm 3 “O Lord, how many are my foes! Psalm 56 “WHEN I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Psalm 61 “ I call to you as my heart grows faint”. But in those Psalms he ends up declaring the unfailing love of the Lord, he declares that God is his shield and refuge, he ends up singing to God, praising God, thanking God.

In Phillippians 4 it says “Be anxious about nothing, pray about everything.. And the peace of God will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. We come to God with anxiety, with worry – and we come out with peace. Your circumstances didn't change during that time of prayer, but when you are done meeting with God, something has happened to your soul and to your mind, now you have peace. You were looking at your problem, putting your faith in your problem, now in prayer you detach yourself from your fears and worry and you stand looking up to God and you have peace.

Third: Your emotions must have an encounter with truth! Bring your emotions to God's Truth, or to God's version of reality. Your emotions are largely impacted what you truly think and believe at any given moment. Emotions flow out of your imagination or perspective, how you look at things, and what you think to be true about God. If you think that the blood of Jesus can only cover small, unintentional sins, then you are believing a lie and your emotions will be affected by that. If you believe that it is impossible for God to love you or to delight in you, that UNTRUTH will affect your ability to live in joy and contentment.

God's TRUTH is the basis for emotional well being! God's truth brings hope, peace, joy. Fear comes from imagining fearful outcomes. Depression comes from imagining depressing outcomes and perspectives. Joy comes from “focusing on joy producing truths”.

Martin Luther experienced repeated bouts of depression throughout his life and he saw so much help from the Word of God in adjusting his moods and feelings, he said this: “I constantly find that when I am without the Word, Christ (it seems) is gone, yes and so is joy and the Spirit. But as soon as I look at a Psalm or a passage of scripture, it so shines and burns into my heart that I gain a different spirit and mind. Moreover I know that everybody may daily experience this in his own life.” “Hear God's Word often; do not go to bed, do not get up without having spoken a beautiful passage, two, three or four of them to your heart”.

God's TRUTH is TO STRIKE YOUR EMOTIONS, or to minister to your emotions. 1 John 1:2-4. John said, “We proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us (Jesus). We proclaim what we have seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us and with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make your joy complete!”

Four: Absolute trust in God. It is one thing to know what the Bible says it is another thing to hold on to that and trust that, in the midst of the drama of life. Trust in God and his truth is what allows truth to change your negative, or sinful emotions.

In Psalm 27 David said, “I would have despaired UNLESS I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”. It is one thing to say God is good, it is another to believe that in such a way that it lifts you from despair. There is actual trust here: I believe that “I” will see the goodness of God, right here, in my life! Hope believes everything is going to turn out all right. And that comes from trusting what God has said, from trusting God himself. Trust, confidence, abandonment ,faith, surrender, is the answer to most of our emotional problems. Throw yourself completely upon God! Jump into his arms!

A Christian author named Greg Janz wrote, “Anxieties scream that the worst that could happen will.....Instead of filling your mind with the content of your concerns, fill it with the promises and passionate love of your heavenly Father. YOU HAVE BEEN PLACING YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN YOUR OWN FEARS. WHEN THEY SPEAK, YOU LISTEN INTENTLY... WHEN YOU TRUST IN YOUR FEARS, YOU DOUBT GOD. What do you trust in?

It is really a matter of whom we will believe, God - or our emotions and fears. Put your faith, in God's picture of reality to be true. You are beloved, adopted, chosen, dead to sin, alive to God and cared for so completely you can cast all your cares on him!

Five: Focus on being here for others. Isaiah 58:10 “If you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desires of the afflicted, then YOUR light will rise in the darkness and your gloom will become like midday.” Going to God, getting truth into your thinking, putting absolute trust in God. Getting the focus off of you and onto how you can be an instrument of the love of Christ. These are the main keys to the healing of our fallen and damaged emotions.

We all still struggle with our fallen, broken emotions to some degree and will in this life. But do not be discouraged. Remember this! The outcome of your salvation will be the complete healing of your emotions! There will be no fear, or sorrow, or unhappiness, in heaven. No tears! As Isaiah put it, “sorrow and sighing will flee”.

Lindell Cooley song:

There will be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There will be no dark valley when Jesus comes to gather his children home. No more sorrow when Jesus comes. No more sorrow when Jesus comes but a happy tomorrow when Jesus comes to gather his children home. No more weeping when Jesus comes. No more weeping when Jesus comes but a happy, happy meeting when Jesus comes to gather his children home. There will be songs of praises when Jesus comes. There will be songs of praises when Jesus comes to gather his children home.