Feelings

Feelings

Am I a victim of my feelings?  Is there hope?

I think there are 2 common attitudes about feelings:
1. We should do or say the right thing in spite of our feelings.  This means we should ignore our feelings - but even if we ignore them, one way or another they still come out.  Feelings in essence are controlling our lives even if we ignore them.
2. Feelings are everything.  If it feels good - do it.  If it feels right, it must be God's will.

Neither one of these attitudes sounds very healthy to me.  What does sound healthy, would be to become the boss of your feelings.  In other words, accept and acknowledge them and work on changing them if they need to be changed.  The Bible says we can do this by prayer and petition. (Phil. 4: 6)  The peace of God will protect your heart and emotions if you request that God do that.

Feelings are created by our thoughts.  I think it was Mary Kay Ash who coined the saying, "If you think you can, you will.  If you think you can't, you won't."  Disciplining your mind to dwell on the positive rather than the negative will make all the difference in your feelings about a thing.  I can change my feelings, therefore, by changing my thoughts.

We are in a war, according to 2 Corinthians 10:3.  The battlefield is in our mind.  We need to be disciplined enough in our thoughts to be able to bring them to God.  If my thoughts are disciplined, my feelings will be disciplined.

Enjoy this pictorial series of inspiration!!