Good morning stable ones!

I want to exhort you today to RULE OVER YOUR EMOTIONS instead of being led by your feelings.  Romans 8:14 says,

  • “Be led by the Spirit…”, NOT your feelings.

God made us as triune beings – We are a spirit, have a soul (this is our mind, will, and emotions) and live in a physical body.

Throughout life, we obviously are going to FEEL things – we all have emotions.  Emotions in themselves are neither good or bad ~ They can be helpful or they can be harmful ~ it all depends on how we handle them.

We know that one of the main areas that Satan works is in the area of our minds.

See, our emotions are directly linked with our thinking.  So, the enemy is going to do his best to use our emotions against us.  He knows if he can deceive us by just living by our FEELINGS, then he’ll be able to keep us in defeat.

So many people are falling right into this trap.  They just let their emotions run their lives.

If they get up in the morning in a bad mood, feeling lousy, then they follow that FEELING and go around all day depressed.  They go to work and then somebody aggrevates them – they FEEL like telling them off and they just follow that FEELING.  They go to the store and if they FEEL like buying something, even though they can’t afford it, they buy it, just letting their emotions take over.

But family, we can’t just follow our FEELINGS around and expect to have victory in our lives.  We’ve got to understand, we can’t depend on our FEELINGS.  FEELINGS will lead us astray ~ FEELINGS are constantly changing.

You can FEEL up one moment and down the next.  Nobody can guarantee you HOW you’re going to FEEL.  So, we’ve got to make a decision:  Are we going to follow our FEELINGS and go around negative and sour, or are we going to CHOOSE to RULE OVER OUR EMOTIONS and CHOOSE to be happy in spite of how we FEEL?

See, our emotions will lead us every which way.  The Scripture says that when we follow our emotions, it’s like we’re being tossed to and fro, like the waves of the sea, and are unstable in all our ways (Ephesians 4:14; James 1:6-8).

The truth is:  We’re never going to get away from having negative FEELINGS and emotions, so we’re going to have to learn how to control them and not let them control us!

I’ll be honest with you – it’s much easier to do whatever we FEEL ~ it’s much easier to throw a tantrum when we don’t get our way than it is to stay calm and cool.  See, the easiest thing to do is to just let your flesh have its way, but when we live those kinds of lazy, undisciplined lives, it’s going to keep us in mediocrity.  The Bible says in Proverbs 16:32 (NLT),

  • It is better to have self-control than it is to rule a city.

Self-control is just what it sounds like – You’ve got to control YOURSELF!  In other words, when you feel your emotions flaring up and you want to tell somebody off, you’ve got to exercise self-control and keep your mouth closed!

Self-control means you are exercising restraint.  The Bible says in Romans 8:8,

  • Those who live the life of the flesh cannot please God.  

The Amplified version tells us what it means to live the life of the flesh:  it says,

  • Those who cater to the appetites and impulses of the carnal nature cannot please God.  

This means that you just give your flesh whatever it wants.  So many people are living just like that ~ Just catering to their flesh.  They just do anything they FEEL like doing.  The Scripture says, “When we live that kind of shallow life, it’s not pleasing to God.  And when we don’t please God, we’re not going to receive His blessings.”

Spiritual maturity doesn’t have anything to do with how long you’ve been a Christian ~ it has everything to do with what kind of fruit you’re displaying in your life.  Are you RULING OVER YOUR EMOTIONS?  Are you walking in love?  Are you treating people with respect?  Are you doing the right thing when the wrong thing is happening to you?  Or, are you just living by your FEELINGS ~ Always catering to your flesh?  

If we’re going to grow up, we’ve got to learn to do the right thing, especially when we don’t FEEL like it.  

The Bible says in Romans 8:13,

  • The flesh wants to be a dictator in our lives.  

Your flesh wants to RULE OVER YOUR LIVES.  So, you must choose instead to RULE OVER YOUR EMOTIONS and not let them rule over you!  Choose what kind of day you’re going to have.  Choose to be happy and joyful in spite of how you FEEL.  Say, “Father, I thank You that You always cause me to triumph.  I know this is the day that You have made:  I’m going to rejoice and be glad in it.  I’m excited about what You have is store for me.”

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31,

  • I die daily to my flesh.

He said, “Every day, I crucify my flesh.  Every day, I rule over my EMOTIONS.”  This is what it takes to become mature.  In 1 Corinthians 3:3, there’s a test that we can take to see if we are spiritual or un-spiritual ~ This is from the Amplified version and it says,

  • You are unspiritual, having the nature of the flesh, when you are under the control of ordinary impulses.  

In other words, as long as we’re just living by our feelings; as long as we’re just letting our EMOTIONS run our lives, then we’re immature and we will not inherit what God has in store for us!

No matter how mature we get, we’re never going to get to the point where we don’t have these ordinary, emotional impulses ~ The whole key is to NOT give into them!  I exhort you to follow after wisdom and NOT follow after your FEELINGS!

Let’s make a decision that from this day forward, we’re going to do better.  We’re going to RULE OVER OUR EMOTIONS.  We’re going to keep our flesh under ~ we’re NOT going to live by our feelings.  If we’ll do that, God will promote us; He’ll take us to new levels of victory, and that’s where we’ll experience the fullness of what God has in store for us.  

Ruling over my emotions,

Lisa Gordon

Assistant Pastor 

Jesus City Church