Emotions

Note: Get your Bible to follow along. While some scriptures are written out, the longer ones are only listed by location. ;)

Emotions, we all have them.  We all have felt anger, happiness, love, joy, sorrow, and more at one time or another.  YHVH gave us emotions as a gift, however if we are not careful our emotions can get us into trouble or hurt others around us.  In this study, I will cover the following emotions: anger, depression, embarrassment, fear, hope, jealousy, stress and love; and ways to crucify the flesh, thus dying to our self and living for Mashyach. We are going to cover many scriptures so let’s get started.

 

We can see from the very beginning that our emotions can lead us to sin against YHVH and our brethren.

 

“…She gave birth to a second son.. Able… Yahuah[YHVH] accepted Abel and his    offering, but He did not accept Cain and his offering. This made Cain very angry and dejected.” (Genesis 4:2-6)

 

Here we see two different emotions. Cain felt rejected by YHVH. So there is the first implied emotion of jealousy which led to his anger toward Abel. Let’s see how this led to sin as Cain felt anger towards YHVH too.

 

“you will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refused to    respond correctly, then watch you! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy him, and you must subdue it.” (Gen. 4:7)

 

YHVH tells Cain that he must respond to his anger in the right way or it will cause him to sin. Eventually it does cause him to sin as he murders Abel out of anger and jealousy.  We should not allow ourselves to be led by our emotions.

 

“Zeal without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may             go to the wrong way.”  (Proverbs 19:2)

 

Let us define what it means to have “zeal”. When one has an enthusiastic devotion to a cause, no matter what the cause is good or bad. When you have zeal to do something, you have to have a prior knowledge of what the outcome will be. Good and YHVHly or Bad and unYHVHly? “Think before you act” comes to mind. This tells us that our emotions are not the best guides and should not control our actions. Some emotions can themselves be sinful.

 

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as     all types of malicious behavior.” (Ephesians 4:31)

 

We are supposed to rid ourselves of these emotions because they are hateful and Mashyach says that whoever hates another has committed murder in his heart. All of these emotions lead to hatred. We should also carefully guard our emotions.

 

“Above all else guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.”

Proverbs 4:23

 

So what do you think this passage means? This is what I get from it. Keep your heart “in check” so you don’t do something foolish. Our emotions come from our hearts and project outwards. This scripture doesn’t necessarily mean that we should not let anyone close and love or care for them. I believe it means that we should try not to let our hearts become easily angered, biter, etc… Emotions lead to actions. This is why we need to be so very careful. Anger can lead to harsh words and heartache.  Even love can get us into trouble if we do not control our actions. Most of us want to express our love to the one we love. This, if you are not married, can lead to a sin. There are different types of love, however the love that is to be shared between man and wife needs to be carefully guarded. Some of our emotions can lead to sinful thoughts or actions. They can also lead us to make foolish promises that me may later regret. We see this in:

Judges 11:30-39

Jephthat wanted so badly to have victory that he foolishly vowed to sacrifice the first thing to greet him at his victorious return home. He makes a foolish promise to the Lord that he cannot back out of. This results in him having to sacrifice his only child, his daughter. He is utterly heartbroken, yet he goes through with his promise to the Lord. This tells us that we should really think things out and consider ALL possibilities before acting out of emotion to make promises, whether they be to other people or to the Father.

Emotions can also crush us. Whether it is our emotional display that crushes another or allowing out own emotions to crush us.

 

“A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.”

Proverbs 15:13

 

Most all of us have felt heartache of one form or another. Whether it is the passing of a loved one or our pet, or it is having our heart broken by another through harsh words. Not only does it literally make our hearts ache, but it also makes us feel very low and worthless. Everyone is able to see it, especially if you are not good at hiding a sorrowful heart. It seems as though no one can bring us out of this state of depression, Yet there is light at the end of this tunnel. YHVH can heal us because He heals the broken hearted.

 

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit”

Psalms 34:18

 

YHVH cares for us and feels our hurt as well. He rescues us from it by the hope and faith we put in Him. Yahusha even felt emotion so He knows exactly how we feel.

 

“Then Yahusha Wept”

John 11:35

 

Three words that hold more power and meaning than most. Mashyach was MOVED by EMOTION. In this case, He was moved by compassion towards Mary of Bethany as she wept at His feet over her brother’s death.

 

John 2:15-17

In this scripture we see Mashyach display righteous anger. He is angry that the people have made His Father’s house into a market place. It is an interesting thing to visualize as you read.  Some of us have gotten so angry we just want to break or destroy something. However, that type of anger is rarely righteous anger. The type of anger that most of us feel is a dangerous emotion. There is a difference between Righteous anger and fleshly anger.

 

Luke 22:42-44

From reading this, we can assume that Mashyach is feeling some sort of fear here. He is pleading with the Father to take the cup of suffering away from Him. In this moment, we are seeing flesh arise. Yet, Mashyach triumphs over the flesh by seeking the Father’s will over His own. Then we see a completely different set of emotions. It says He prayed fervently and was in agony of spirit.  Fervently means it is compassionately, zealously, and enthusiastically. In other words, He prayed with great warmth and intensity of spirit. I doubt many of us have prayed so intensely that our sweat is blood. Not saying that none have, but is a rare thing to occur. I have considered my own prayer in some ways to be fervent but it has never matched the intensity that is described here.

 

“Yahusha said, Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”

Luke 23:34

 

He is both sorrowful and compassionate here. Obviously, Mashyach was saddened by the hardness of their hearts and their behavior. Yet, He asks the Father to forgive them anyways because they are unaware that their actions are wrong. They did not know Him, or that they were indeed killing YHVH in the Flesh.

 

Upon review of the previous passages, we see Yahusha’ emotions throughout His ministry. Just as the Lord Yahusha used His emotions in His teachings, our emotions are part of our worship to The Lord. They are part of our testimonies of salvation and finding Mashyach.

 

Ezra 3:1-13

The Israelites show a vast array of emotions. When we are worshiping, giving praise, or sharing testimony and The Word; we can feel fear, love, joy, sorrow, compassion, etc… These are normal. I find myself rather emotional anytime I am praying or giving praise to the Father. When I share my testimony, I am overcome with emotion because the Lord is so merciful to us.

 

This concludes part 1 of this study. We will continue to study different types of emotions and how they can affect our walks with the Lord Mashyach. Will we be ruled by our fleshly emotions? Or will we stand strong in the Lord and crucify the flesh and live in the Spirit using our emotions in a righteous way?

 

We will cover the following emotions:

Anger

Depression

Embarrassment

Fear

Jealousy

Stress (yes this can be an emotion as it is something you feel)

Love

 

Please feel free to join in on this study. If there is an emotion that you would like to discuss and share what the Word says about it then please do! Love you All!!!

YHVH’s Speed.

 

The Yahusha's Love,

Sister Aviela Levia

Romans_1:16


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