Emotions

Women are usually led by their emotions while men run on logic.  (Again, there are always exceptions to this rule.)  That’s why we frequently hear a husband say his wife is crazy, and a woman say that her husband is an idiot. We emote from different ends of the spectrum.  

The emotional dialogue of women (which is part of our normal communication) often sounds like complete absurdity to men because the male brain doesn’t journey as deep into the complexity of emotions as a female brain does. Therefore, our words can sound like senseless babble (craziness) to men because of their limited capability to digest them with their logical minds. Who wants to listen to babble?   And so, we often find a great communication gap between men and women in marriage relationships.

The good news is that we can each learn to adjust our communication differences.  We need to, as women, first understand the importance of controlling our emotions.

As humans, we are made up of our physical body, our spirit, and our soul.  Our bodies are the temporary, fleshly home to our spirit and soul. Our spirit is the part of us that allows the Holy Spirit in to lead us through life – or not.  Our soul is made up of our mind, our emotions, and our will (or self).

 

We can experience great conflict in our soul if we don’t allow our spirit to be led by the Holy Spirit.  Our emotions, in particular, can easily overpower our decisions, our thoughts, and most importantly, our spiritual well-being.  If not controlled, our emotions can interfere with the plan that God has for our life.

I’m always amazed how my untethered emotions can quickly take over and ruin my day for me.  Satan knows the thorn in my flesh and will take every opportunity to jab it in a little deeper whenever he can.  It’s usually the same issues that can emotionally cripple me for a day or two if I’m not spiritually on top of my life.  The devil gets me when I’m not prepared - when I don’t have my spiritual armor on.

Paul talks about the thorn in his flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7. “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.”

There are many different ideas among theologians about the origin of Paul’s thorn.  I believe we all have a thorn in our side – something we continue to struggle with that God has not taken from us.  We may never be free of it so we remain humble, according to Paul’s words. 

I clearly know my thorns but occasionally get overwhelmed with them on emotional days.  It can be a major struggle to keep our emotions from distracting us from God’s plan.  Satan knows this and will continue to torment us at every opportunity we allow him to.

Granted, there are days where hormones make it even more difficult to overrule the emotions, but our spirit is stronger than our soul.  We have to consciously strive to defeat the enemy, especially on those days we want to wallow in our own self- pity.  If we don’t, we can easily fall into depression, which will quickly paralyze our ability to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

That’s why it is important to stay in touch with God and to know His word - the greatest weapon we have in defeating the plans of the devil.

Here are a few verses to look at when your emotions have taken over.

“Why are you downcast O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?  Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” – Ps 42:5

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.” – Psalm 62:5-8

“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.” – Psalm 94:19

Whenever your soul is downcast, be sure to turn your eyes upwards to God.