EMOTIONS FOLLOW THOUGHTS

I am understanding more and more the power of thought to change everything.

If we put this simple thing into practice – hold our thoughts captive and put our mind on things above, then much of the battles and energies and negative emotions we experience would completely disappear or no longer affect us in any negative way.

Let me explain.

I recently had the honor of hearing a testimony of a man from China. He was brutally treated because of his Christian faith and forced to work in a labor camp. His job was to work in the raw sewage. This was a death sentence to most and the smell was so overwhelming it was enough to make a person mad. But this man found a secret. If he began to put his mind on Jesus and worshipping Him, the horrible nasty cesspool turned into the most magnificent place on earth. He would commune with God in such rapturous joy as he sang “I come to the garden alone…” in the presence of our dear Savior.

His thoughts, lifted to God in love, are what turned the disgusting cesspool into his own private paradise of joy.

I have heard of a similar story in the concentration camps in the holocaust era. In the midst of unimaginable pain and suffering, there was a man who couldn’t help but to sing and rejoice in the Lord. The people wondered how it was possible he could have joy in such a place as this. But he had also found the secret to joy- putting His heart and mind on loving God.

In my own life, I have seen this principle take place. I once dedicated an entire month to drawing close to God in a cabin in the woods. My days were filled with the Word of God, prayer, communing with God, thinking about Him, and more. I felt such sweet communion with God when I would put my mind on Him. I would be fishing in the lake and suddenly feel the Lord telling me to run to the hill because I was about to miss the sunset and He wanted to show me it. I would sit on the hill with the Lord and just be so overwhelmed by the beauty and wonder of a God who could make such things for our sakes. What a kind and loving God. What a wonderful God!

I have learned that perfect peace and joy are found in this one thing: putting your heart and affections on the Lord.

The scripture tells us that “He keeps him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him”

So what is the key to peace? A mind fixed on Jesus. It is as simple as that.

I have also learned a very important principle from Charles Finney’s book that I would like to relay here about the power of emotions and the mind.

I want you to take a moment to think of a cute and adorable puppy running around on the ground happily. Close your eyes and think about this for about a minute or so.

What do you feel?

You probably felt joy.

Now I want you to think of the puppy getting hurt and attacked by a wild dog and crying out in pain.

Now, what do you feel?

You probably felt sad when you thought of the puppy being hurt.

Now take a minute to close your eyes and think of someone you love- your mom or dad, maybe your child or your grandpa.

What do you feel?

You probably felt love and warm feelings of affection flood your heart.

Now take a moment to close your eyes and think of something scary like hell and all the horrors there for lost sinners. Think of all the souls screaming in hell even at this very moment.

What do you feel?

You probably feel sorrow for the state of the lost souls there.

 

I hope you can see clearly that your emotions are following whatever you put your mind on.

If you think of the wrath of God, you will feel the fear of God flood your heart. If you think about the great mercies and kindness and love of God, you will feel tender feelings of love towards God fill your heart.

Remember this: FEELINGS FOLLOW THOUGHTS, always.

Feelings cannot be directly controlled but they CAN be indirectly controlled. For example, I cannot say “okay, now feel sad” and think that I will suddenly feel sad. But I CAN begin to THINK about sad things and I WILL eventually feel sad. It is just a law of nature. Like 2 + 2 will always equal 4. In the same way, thoughts will always lead to emotion.

Feelings always follow thoughts. You can ALWAYS trace feelings back to thoughts. And thoughts are completely controllable.

Just like you have full control of moving your arm up and down, you also have full control of what you think about. In the same way that you can control your arm, you can control what your mind dwells on and thinks about. That is why God holds us accountable for our thought life. Because we are in control of it.

I just want to clarify that sometimes a thought quickly pops into our head outside of our control but whether or not we think and dwell on that thought is totally in our control. I heard this analogy, “we can’t stop a bird from flying over our heads but we can stop it from building a nest in our hair.” In the same way, we can’t help it if a thought flies into our head but we CAN help it if we dwell on that thought.

And whatever thought we dwell on WILL BRING EMOTIONS. Because emotions follow thoughts.

So realizing this should cause us to see that if we want to never feel fear or anxiety again, all we have to do is learn to take every thought captive and put our mind on things above. Sounds easy doesn’t it? That’s because it is easy. All you have to do is notice whatever you are feeling and realize,

“I am only feeling this emotion because  I have been thinking thoughts that trigger this emotion. So in order to stop feeling this emotion, I just need to think thoughts that are true and lovely and pure”

I had a friend recently who felt cut off from God. She felt so sad. I told her this principle about how she is controlling her emotions by her thoughts and she CANNOT trust emotion because emotion is just the natural byproduct of whatever you are thinking about. Emotion is not reality.

So I told her how much God loved her, that she wasn’t cut off from God and that God had wonderful plans for her. These were all things that were true and lovely. I told her don’t trust emotions, emotions are like clouds that have no substance. They are just the smoke from whatever fire we are burning in our thoughts. Emotions flip and flop every which way, we can never trust emotion. When she realized this, she started to think about how she was loved by God and the FEELINGS FOLLOWED. She no longer felt cut off from God.

The fruit of her live proved she was not cut off from God. She desired God so much and she walked in holiness. She was just letting her emotions deceive her. But once she realized and meditated on the truth, she was able to be free and walk in joy.

Emotions follow thoughts like smoke follows fire.

Don’t look at the smoke and feel all discouraged, just put out the fire and the smoke will stop automatically.

Stop the bad thoughts and the bad feelings will stop too.

 

Many people get into trouble by trusting emotion and thinking that emotion is God speaking to them. But emotions are never reliable! Emotions ALWAYS follow thoughts. So YOU are actually the one causing your emotions because YOU are the one controlling your thoughts. It’s not God’s fault that you feel the way you do. It is your choice.

Some people say “I am so excited for the day when God delivers me from this anxiety and fear.” This is wrong thinking.  God has ALREADY delivered you by telling you to trust Him. The moment you choose to truly set your mind on trusting Him, you will have peace. YOU are the one who needs to do it. God already gave you the instructions and told you what to do and gave you the power to do it so he expects you to put it into practice. The moment you do is the same moment you will feel peace. It’s as easy as that.

Many people don’t realize this simple principle so they become lost and overwhelmed by emotions that soon overtake them and drive them to run away from God or people.

For example, someone says “Well, I feel like God doesn’t love me.”

People should realize that feeling is ever-changing and not built in truth at all. Just take a moment to think about God’s great love and how he sent Jesus to be tortured and killed for lost sinners. Keep thinking of this and you WILL feel God’s love for you.

What if someone says, “I’m so sad, I feel like my mom doesn’t love me.” The answer is don’t put your mind on your mom’s lack of love for you, she is a fallible human being. If you think of that of course you will be sad. But if you choose to instead put your mind on God’s massive love for you, you will feel JOY and not sadness! You will realize that God’s love is more than enough, we don’t need love from anyone else. God’s love fills every void.

Stop giving your emotions any power over you. They are just natural products of your thought life.

How does someone have peace in a storm? Because they THINK about how FAITHFUL and good God is and how He is trustworthy and, no matter what happens to their body, they are in God’s hands.

How does someone have fear in the storm? Because they THINK about how scary the storm looks and how big the lightning is and how they might die and feel pain etc.

Feelings follow thoughts. It is as simple as that.

So start practicing controlling your thought life and your anxiety, fear, sorrow, etc. will all go away.

You must CHOOSE to put your mind on things above.

If you have the emotions of anxiety, it is because you have been neglectful in bringing your thoughts captive and thinking only the truth. So right now get on your knees and sincerely ask God for forgiveness, and then ask Him to help you put your mind on whatever is true and good and of good report. Start thinking about these things and then watch how you will walk in perfect peace.

May God bless you!

-Mikayla