9 Emotions of the Soul As we have noted many times, emotion cannot think, apply doctrine, or function in a crisis. This is because emotion has no doctrinal content. Emotion is not sinful in its right place as a responder to thought, but it is sinful when it becomes the aggressor. Therefore, there are two categories of emotion: normal and abnormal. In normal emotion, the emotions respond to the authority and thinking of the soul. In abnormal emotion, the emotion controls the soul and blocks out all rational thinking. Abnormal emotion produces fear, worry, anxiety, anger, and hatred, resulting in violence. Fear cannot think when under pressure and a believer living in fear cannot apply Bible doctrine to handle life’s problems. So, when emotion takes over, doctrinal thought is cut off. If abnormal emotion takes over your soul for a long enough period of time, doctrinal thought will be erased. Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit. The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the emotions, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” (JER 17:5-10) God will test your emotions. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ says, “And all the churches will know that I am He who investigates the emotions and the hearts [right lobes]” (REV 2:23). This is why we all need to solve our problems with thought and courage, not with our feelings. Courage is thinking doctrine, and functioning under pressure as if there were no abnormal circumstances. Courage is claiming promises in adversity; using the ten problem-solving devices; and functioning under the privacy of your royal priesthood to think, and to apply Bible doctrine with your own intellect. However, fear destroys this process with the result that you become a loser believer. Reaching the first stage of spiritual adulthood, spiritual self-esteem, begins the grace function of self-confidence, thinking in terms of metabolized doctrine in your own right lobe. The Church-age believer cannot think doctrine, apply doctrine, or solve problems through fear, or by seeking the counsel of another. Every believer has been designed by God to be spiritually self sustained; able to conquer fear and problems with doctrine circulating in his own soul. The spiritual adult believer eliminates emotion as a criterion for Christianity. Knowing that that how you feel is not important, whereas what you think at any moment is of supreme importance. |
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