Yielding your Emotions to God

by Darryl Manning 12/30/01

TEXT:

Matt. 18: ¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

²Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, ³and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

 There are many distinguishing factors that separate children from adults but one that really stands out is how we adults control our emotions. Think of a child and you immediately think of emotions. A child does not hide their sadness or their joy.

 As we grow out of childhood we begin to realize our emotions get us into trouble. We, especially men, are taught to hide our emotions. However, hiding our emotions does not rid us of our emotions. Sometimes, especially with anger, this brings about an explosion that can be very damaging to ourselves and others.

 In the Star Trek series there is a character named Data. He is an android and has no capacity for emotions. He operates on sheer logic. Many people think this would be a wonderful existence and even try to become immune to their emotions.

 We must remember that God created us in His own image. He gave us emotions and when creation was finished He said, “It is good.” So our emotions are a good thing and we just need to learn how to yield our emotions to God in such a way that they bring blessing to us and to those around us.

 In our text, Jesus indicates we must become as little children to enter the kingdom of God. This means that we must discard all our pre-Christ understanding of everything and let God teach us the truths of His Kingdom. He wants to teach us in every area of our life and today He wants to teach us about emotions.

 We know that Jesus lived in a state where He “did what He saw the Father doing.” Part of Jesus’ submission to God was to operate in the emotions of His Father. Those emotions moved Jesus to act with power and accomplish the tasks His Father wished accomplished. We will look here at only a very few of the scriptures that show these things.

 §         Matt. 9: ³⁶But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion

= plangkh-nid'-zom-ahee  - have the bowels yearn, that is, (figuratively) feel sympathy, to pity:—have (be moved with) compassion.)

 for them, because they were ^£weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. ³⁷Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ³⁸Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

§         Matt 14: ¹⁴And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.

§         Mark 1: ⁴⁰Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.”

⁴¹Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” ⁴²As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

 In the above scriptures, and there are many others where Jesus was moved or motivated by compassion. In these cases, we find the compassionate heart of God at work. When the compassion operated, people were healed, raised from the dead, delivered from demons, fed, and taught truths of God.

 §         Mark 3: ¹And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ²So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. ³And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” ⁴Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵And when He had looked around at them with anger,

(“ñãÞ  or-gay' desire,  violent passion (ire, or [justifiable] abhorrence); by implication punishment:—anger, indignation, vengeance, wrath.) being grieved (óõëëõðÝù  sool-loop-eh'-o - to afflict jointly, that is, (passively) sorrow at (on account of) some one:—be grieved.)

 by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored ^£as whole as the other

§         John 11: ³²Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”³³Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned

 (embrimaomai em-brim-ah'-om-ahee  (to snort with anger); to have indignation on, that is, (transitively) to blame, (intransitively) to sigh with chagrin, (specifically) to sternly enjoin:—straitly charge, groan, murmur against.) in the spirit and was troubled. (ôáñÜóóù tarassoô tar-as'-so - to stir or agitate (roil water):—trouble.

 ³⁴And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus wept.

 (äáêñýù dakruoô dak-roo'-o - to shed tears:—weep.)

 ³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

³⁷And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

 In the above scriptures we find Jesus operating out of anger. In the first passage He was angry at the religious idolatry that enslaved his people and kept them from the good things of God. In the second passage, Jesus was angry at the unbelief of his followers. They had seen Him perform many miracles of healing and some dead people raised but because Lazarus had been dead four days and buried, they had no faith.

 In this passage we also see Jesus weeping. Perhaps the weeping was a part of his anger but I have always felt his weeping was because the sisters had to endure the loss of their brother for even a few days.

 In our next passage, we see Jesus being motivated by the emotion of joy. Joy is also an emotion and in this passage it motivates Jesus to jump for joy.

§         Luke 10: ¹⁷Then the ^£seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

¹⁸And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. ²⁰Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but ^£rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

²¹In that hour Jesus rejoiced

(agalliaoô ag-al-lee-ah'-o  properly to jump for joy, that is, exult:—be (exceeding) glad, with exceeding joy, rejoice (greatly). )

 in the Spirit and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.

 If we want to pattern our lives after Jesus, we must loose our inhibitions that keep us from displaying the joy that God has brought us through our salvation. Many Psalms encourage shouting, dancing, and other ways of displaying joy in our God. Again, children have no problem displaying their joy and neither should we.

 Our next scripture speaks of ministering the gifts God has given us as good stewards of God. It specifically mentions speaking for God. This would include all the prophetic and word gifts.

§         1 Pet. 4: ¹⁰As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. ¹¹If anyone speaks, let him speak as the

 oracles (ëüãéïí log'-ee-on  - an utterance (of God):—oracle.)

 of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,

 A vital part of communication is the emotion in which it is delivered. I have learned as a preacher that God wants me to yield my emotions to Him when I am delivering His word. He wants me to not only speak the words He gives but speak with the emotions that He feels. He wants me to deliver His word just as He would if He were giving it directly. I am not always successful in doing this but when it happens, the message is extremely powerful and brings results.

 I have also found that the Holy Spirit brings the emotions of God up in me at times when I am ministering to people in prayer. About three years ago a man came to our service in a wheel chair. He had recently tried to kill himself by driving into a bridge abutment though I did not know that at the time. During the ministry time near the end of the service I felt drawn to pray for the man. As I neared the man, a great compassion welled up within me and tears filled my eyes as I prayed. He later testified that my tears gave him hope and faith to believe in my ministry and become a member of our church.

 On another occasion, one of my ministerial associates was in an automobile accident and received a heavy blow to his head. At the emergency room he was not in his right mind and would not accept treatment. Upon his insistence, his wife drove him home. When I arrived at the home, great compassion filled my heart as I prayed for the man. He was healed.

 We have seen how Jesus was “moved” or motivated by emotion to bring healing, teaching, etc. to those around him. We Christians and ministers need to yield our emotions to God in such a way that He can direct and motivate us to do His will.

 The next time you see someone who is sick or in need and feel great compassion toward them, realize it might be God’s way of directing you to pray a prayer of power that will bring deliverance to that person.

 The next time great joy fills your heart as you think of God’s goodness, do not be afraid to become a child again and display your joy to the world.