Take ACTION to Deal with Emotions

Written by Richard E. Dodge

Your hands start to sweat. You feel a rush of warmth in your neck and face. A tear forms in your eye, and a sudden rush of feelings surge through your body. What’s going on?

Emotions! God created you with emotions, so God does expect you to use them . . . but use them in a positive, controlled, and mature way.

MasterLife 2: Disciple's Personality - Member Book

Too often we respond emotionally out of control because we have not learned how to deal with emotions. Undoubtedly there are occasions in which we are placed in situations of unusually high stress or difficult circumstances, and some people just can’t handle the emotional stress. But in most cases, God also gives us the ability to deal with emotions properly and constructively in ways that ultimately glorify Him.

Even Jesus displayed emotions. Consider His emotions in these passages: Mark 3:5; John 11:35; John 13:34; John 17:13

Unlike most of us, however, Jesus was able to control His actions while experiencing these emotions. So just as Jesus was fully human and could control how He responded emotionally, He expects us to do likewise. Consider an ACTION approach to emotional mastery, based on suggestions from MasterLife 2: The Disciple's Personality, by Avery Willis.

"A" represents acknowledge an emotion. Recognize the kinds of emotions you feel and learn how to identify those that require more control or special responses to these emotions.

"C" is for consider why you have the emotion. What has caused your emotional motor to generate these feelings? Do you feel this way in other kinds of circumstances? Do you feel out of control?

"T" stands for thanking God that He will help you master that emotion. Some assumptions apply here. First, God knows how you feel because He gave you the ability to feel that emotion. Also, He is always present to help you cope with the situation. Finally, His Son modeled that we can learn to control our response to emotions. Remember that it’s not the emotion that’s potentially a problem; it’s our response to that emotion.

"I" represents identifying the biblical response to the emotion and the circumstance. Make a list of Scripture passages that relate to such emotions as anger, envy, jealousy, grief, loss, and so forth. Then recall these passages when you feel these emotions.

"O" stands for obeying the Holy Spirit. Again, your response to emotion is the key. The Holy Spirit can empower us to handle any emotional experience we might face. Remember the occasion in the garden when Jesus prayed that God might take the experience of the cross off His shoulders? Jesus “nevertheless” faced the cross. Emotion did not stop Jesus from doing what He needed to do.

"N" is for nurturing the appropriate fruit of the spirit. Read Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control” (Holman CSB™). We can focus on actions and efforts that help us develop each of these parts of the fruit of the Spirit.

Let’s be real here for a moment: There simply are occasions when we’re going to feel angry, insulted, hurt, and a multitude of other emotional responses. The key is to take ACTION. And the heart of taking ACTION is the Holy Spirit.