Not long after being violently assaulted in New York City by someone I intended to help and being miraculously protected from serious injury by God, I contacted my specialist doctor to make sure I was physically okay. He refused to see me and sent me elsewhere where I had a terrible experience. I ended up seeing my original specialist doctor.
When he walked into the exam room, he flew into a rage and coldly, angrily, judgmentally, condemningly essentially accused me of causing the assault and scolded me harshly for the life I live for Christ. He didn’t stop with one or two sentences. He went on and on, and it only grew worse. I quietly left.
I have been a deeply emotional and passionate person my whole life, and I learned early in life to live according to my emotions. How I felt determined how I acted. You can only imagine after being assaulted and then being mistreated by a doctor who should have helped me not hurt me how I flew into a bitter rage and went on an all-out rampage to seek vengeance and scream and yell and cry and get the doctor back for what he had done to me.
One of the greatest lessons I have learned concerning emotions as a Jesus follower which I am learning to put into practice day by day is this.
We SHOULD NOT BOW DOWN TO OUR EMOTIONS. We SHOULD NOT LET OUR EMOTIONS RULE AND REIGN. We SHOULD NOT IMPULSIVELY TAKE ACTIONS BASED ON OUR EMOTIONS. We SHOULD NOT LET OUR EMOTIONS DETERMINE WHAT WE SAY AND DO.
Instead, we should BOW DOWN TO GOD ALMIGHTY, PURGE OURSELVES OF ANY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS THAT ARE NOT PLEASING TO GOD, FORGIVE OTHERS, ASK GOD AND OTHERS FOR FORGIVENESS, PRAY, WAIT ON GOD, LOOK TO GOD AND THE BIBLE, WAIT TO HEAR FROM GOD BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT IN LINE WITH THE BIBLE, OBEY GOD, and SPEAK AND ACT BASED ON GOD’S WILL AND WAYS IN GOD’S TIME FOR GOD’S GLORY.
God led me to write the doctor that I love him with the love of Jesus, that I forgave him, that I had prayed for him, and to tell him about the Lord Jesus Christ. I did acknowledge what happened. But I did so with love, grace, and mercy.
I also asked the doctor not to charge me for the visit. He charged me anyway. Back came the emotions. Back came the temptation to act impulsively on my feelings. But I humbled myself before God, sought Him, and knew I needed to act in obedience to Him and not bow down to my emotions.
I give God ALL THE GLORY for what I did right in this situation, and I credit God with the self-control He gave me, and I thank God He is teaching me how to live according to the filling and leading of His Holy Spirit rather than to the filling and leading of my emotions.
I encourage you with all my heart to learn as I am to not live according to your emotions but to believe in and live according to and follow and live for the Lord Jesus Christ, hallelujah, AMEN!
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Romans 8:5-14 NKJV
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV
p.s. I am a work in progress. I fall short daily. The key is I have learned to repent when I need to repent and to trust God that He will continue to transform me as I yield to Him day by day and strive to live my life in humble and loving obedience to Him! Amen!
Friend, please, please, please yield your heart and your life humbly and wholly to the Lord God almighty now and forevermore! Oh, yes!