Thoughts and Emotions

“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on You,
because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3)

The Lord brought this verse to mind in the midst of anxiety about our nation, my future, and the restless world around me. May my mind be stayed on Christ, that I would be kept in perfect peace. What a glorious promise, what a joyous truth!

What am I to do with the thoughts that arise throughout the day after speaking with someone, reading the news, or witnessing an event? These thoughts arouse emotions within me: emotions of fear, anger, frustration, joy, peace, hope, love, depression. For those of us whose minds feel like they are racing, this can seem like an endless cycle.

Nevertheless, what does God command us to do?

Take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5).

We have a choice. Let me say that again. We have a choice!

When I served overseas on a small Team, conflict arose between myself and my Team members over the appropriate use of government funds. We were advising a foreign military during a multinational training exercise and I felt that meals provided free of charge at an international governmental facility should be annotated as such, thus decreasing the amount of per diem that each of us would receive from the U.S. government. Because I had different convictions, my Team members were upset; one complained of hunger because he was not able to eat at the dining facility. I was clear with him that I did not rejoice that he felt hungry, but the reality was that he had a choice.

He could save the per diem by not eating a free meal or he could annotate that meal on his record and receive less per diem. Regardless, his choice led to him feeling hungry.

The point is that it is our thought life that controls our emotions. Now, this does not negate the fact that our emotions are real feelings. If a friend of ours is being attacked, we may feel angry or scared. Is it wrong to feel this way? No, not at all. At that point, we have a decision to make that could potentially involve an action that we take to perhaps defend that person, whether with words or deeds.

But, moving back to emotions, they don’t simply arise out of nowhere. You may have a random thought or an event may trigger your mind; it could even trigger a past experience that you had, whether one of shame, fear, joy, or peace.

Your feelings are real.

They are real and they are present with you in that moment.

You are someone whose feelings are worth understanding…because you are made in the image of God.

As believers, we should learn to listen much better than we do (James 1:19).

Jesus listened. He listened to Mary…he listened to the woman who bled for 12 years…he listened to the thief on the cross…he listened to Peter pouring out his heart over a morning fire after he had risen from the dead.

Your feelings are real and you are worth listening to.

Tony Evans says that while feelings are real, it is important to check below the surface.

In other words, there may be cracks in the foundation of our lives.

Thus…,and we cannot afford to miss this…your real feelings may not be based on right thinking.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7, NKJV)

Someone criticizes you for doing something. How you respond reveals your maturity and where your identity is. Lord, help me to take every thought captive to You.

Our Lord says, “Be of good cheer”, not “Feel of good cheer”. We have a choice, regardless of how we feel. We have a choice.

I do not invalidate or discredit the fact that deeper work is needed for those who have been through severe physical or emotional trauma. I believe that it is vital to find safe, mature people with whom you can be vulnerable in order to begin the healing process. This has been true not only in my life, but in the lives of many others.

So…what does it mean to take every thought captive?

It means that these thoughts must be brought into obedience, into submission to Christ. These thoughts are not be lifted up above Christ. We are to look to Christ, who is high and lifted up, and bring these thoughts into submission to Him. We are to declare the truth of God’s thoughts toward us in the moments where we feel so alone, so dejected. He Himself is ‘lowly in heart’ (Matthew 11:29). Thomas Goodwin wrote a book (!) declaring that even though Christ is lifted up and sits at the right hand of the throne of God, He yet cares for us! He knows our frame, our weak disposition!

Look to Christ…when your thoughts accuse you…Look to Christ…when your thoughts drive you to despair…Look to Christ…when your thoughts drive you to anger and hatred…Look to Christ…

Hudson Taylor said, “Not a striving to have faith…but a looking off to the Faithful One” (Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret)

And again, “To know that ‘shall’ means ‘shall’, that ‘never’ means ‘never’, and that ‘thirst’ means ‘any unsatisfied need’ may be one of the greatest revelations God ever made to our souls…Twenty times a day, perhaps, as I felt the heart-thirst coming back, I cried to him, ‘Lord, you promised! You promised me that I should never thirst’. And whether I called by day or night, how quickly he came and satisfied my sorrowing heart!” (Ibid).

What a glorious promise!

Eternity is written on your heart. Jesus invites you to direct your attention on eternity by looking unto Him.

Will you choose to behold Him?