Beware of Emotions from Man

Beware of Emotions from Man must be preceded with sharing my belief that God created man and saw that it was good. I firmly believe that in man’s created emotions, there is goodness. I also believe that man’s emotions can also be lured by wickedness into being something other than intended.. we should beware. As mentioned in Beware of Philosophy from Man, we either have information coming into these temples via the body’s senses (rational knowledge) or we have information flowing into these temples by the Holy Spirit (revelational knowledge). I think emotions are similar whereas there are rational emotions (selfishness) versus revelational (spiritual)

From what I can see, the emotions are not any different. They are rooted in the flesh or they are of God. When we know the Word of God walk with God, know God’s character, and so on.. the information hitting our minds can easily be discerned (whether they are of God or not). If we don’t know who God says He is via His Word, then imho there is no possible way to know if something is of God or not (a rational mind cannot discern spiritual things, these things must be revealed to our born again spirit). But I have found emotions to be a bit more difficult because the emotions feel the same, regardless if they from God or not. Beware.. your adversary the devil prowls around seeking whom he may devour..

Ok, I had to get that out of the way because sometimes when discussing this topic, people have been led to believe that I think emotions are a bad thing. I don’t think they are.. God created us in His image and saw that it was good.. But, when emotions are not derived from His image, then yes, that’s a bad thing. :) At any rate, with that said.. here is Beware of Emotions from Man –

From what I can perceive, it seems every emotion (or any situation in life) has 2 sides to it. God’s reality and man’s reality. We then choose the reality to dwell with – Either the one we experience with the ego/pride or the one we experience via a born again spirit.

I believe that every emotion has a good side to it and a bad side to it. I’ll use anger as my example. I have watched myself get angry towards a circumstance because of unfulfilled expectations. I.e. a person did or didn’t do something as I would expect them to. Is that anger really justified? Or is it a selfish anger? To expect someone to speak or act as I think they should isn’t realistic. Or, watching my neighbor yell at their 3 year old crying child in anger, “What is wrong with you? Get out of the car! Shut the car door! Are you stupid!?”

These are selfish emotions. The self didn’t like something and instead of dealing w/ the internal challenge, we just blame something externally for the emotion (the blame game). It’s the whole world’s fault for situations, even though it is our selfish being that’s at fault. Instead of just humbling ourselves and saying, “My selfish ways put me here. Lord, forgive me. Help me Lord”, a selfish being would much rather say, “It’s that person that is doing this thing. I’m a good person!”

On the flip side (spiritual), I have seen a righteous anger stir up within me. When a child is abused, I get angry. When I see the house of God polluted with wickedness, I get angry. When a friend of mine is attacked by the enemy, I get angry. As you can see, this anger is a result of the love of others and the love of God versus the love of self. I am angry with the wicked every day.

So, when I get angry, upset, frustrated, etc., I must beware and do a gut check. Am I being selfish or is this a justified anger, from the spirit, targeted towards wickedness?

A teacher once put it well for me. They discussed how our bodies are like a train. The engine car that drives the train can have emotions as our source of fuel (emotions, rational knowledge, the senses, the flesh, ego, pride, selfishness, etc).. Or, the Holy Spirit can be our source of energy driving the train. When the Holy Spirit is our source, emotions that are created in God’s image will be the result. They end up in the caboose.

Here is the kicker, using the examples above of anger.. Regardless if it’s a selfish anger or not, the feeling is the same. We need to beware of the emotions and check them at the door. Here is a great summary of this post –

“Happiness depends on the circumstances. Joy does not.” – Oswald Chambers

Happiness and joy… they are very similar. One is selfish and based on ‘things’ and circumstances. The other is a direct result from God. From my experience, they both feel the same. Beware of the emotions from man.. I personally believe that many of Satan’s fiery arrows target our emotions. When selfish and/or ego protecting emotions are triggered, the brain flows chemicals into the bloodstream.. the heart rate goes up.. adrenaline flows.. and we end up being totally blinded to our state. It’s everyone else’s fault at this point. No self accountability is possible. In my experience, the only way out at this point is to take a deep breath and set the mind on things above. Look up, ask God for help, and use the weapons of our warfare.

I pray this helps someone out there. God bless you and yours..

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