Emotions in our Christian Life

The Christian and His Emotions Session 1

Missionary Families of Christ

Our Present Culture� is Preoccupied� with Emotions.

Feelings are a very intimate part of one's personality.

• Angry, so not attend meeting.
• Unhappy, so not celebrate event of objective significance.
• Afraid, so not move on in personal relationships.

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Wrong Approaches

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Emotions are our enemies.

Anger, anxiety, guilt, grief, fear, etc., are destructive�and so must be avoided.

a. Various Tactics:

• Repression (suppression) - unconsciously (deliberately) ignoring or denying a feeling that annoys us.
• Engaging in behavior that expresses the exact opposite feeling.
• Directing an undesirable emotion against someone or something
• Exercise of stern discipline. Willpower approach.

b. None of the above truly work. At best, they can only bring

temporary relief. Eventually, they result in depression, frustration,

etc.

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Emotions are our masters.

1. Various Approaches:
1. Driftwood approach
2. Focus-on-feelings approach.

b. Something is wrong with the notion that emotions

should run our lives. Our emotions do not

always guide us well.

c. Dangers: selfishness and wrongdoing.

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Right Approach

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Emotions are God-given�and are good.

They are designed for our benefit. �Each emotion has a purpose.

a) Emotions work by agitating us.��b) Jesus showed whole range of emotions.��c) Basically good. Valuable assets for daily life.

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Distinguish between� a reaction to a given� situation and a response� to that situation.

a.) An emotional reaction refers to the inner movements

we experience when a feeling stirs in us.

b) Emotions are primarily reactions. Reactions do not

necessarily have to rule our decisions.

c.) We can handle the situation according to our reaction

or decide this is not the right response and handle it

in a different way.

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Emotions should be our servants.

They should support us in righteous living.

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Establishing headship�over emotions

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Do the right and loving

thing in every situation

1. Pattern our lives on God's standards. �Follow this objective standard, no matter how we feel. How would Christ respond here? �
2. Our emotions will follow and come into line.* e.g. Irritated with wife because already late for a meeting. But choose to just worship during meeting. Irritation will disappear.

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Exercise our authority as� a son or daughter of God

to bring order into our emotional life.

1. Put to death within us what works against the Lord.

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Develop a strong,�committed relationships

as the context for personal Christians living.

1. Attention away from how we feel to how we behave towards others.��• Structure of positive and supportive

relationships.

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Yield more fully to the� Holy Spirit and expect Him

to transform us and our feelings.

1. Emotions are gifts from God.
2. Changes come relatively unnoticed,�the consequence of our relationship with Christ rather than result of deliberate�steps we take.

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If you discover a�normal problem,

then learn the right steps to take and do them.

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If your problem�is serious,

get help from our leaders.

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It is important�to take the�right approach.

Do not panic!

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Accept the problems peacefully

and with faith that God can and will help.

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We must want�to change.

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Believe that with�the Lord's power,

we can change!

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The most important means of change is

That our relationships with our�brothers and sisters.

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Emotions in our Christian Life

The Christian and His Emotions Session 1

Missionary Families of Christ