Vol. H-0001 No. H-0005 November 1996

EMOTIONS: FRIEND OR FOE

​Emotions: What Are They?

Have you ever given thought to your emotions? Most of the time we are busy being in the middle of our emotions without giving any thought to them at all. Yet our emotions play a vital role in our physical, mental and spiritual health. They can get us hyped-up when we are at a football game or when we are at church  Our emotions are played upon by every media tool known to mankind. They are used to make us do what we would not otherwise do. They are used to keep us from doing what we would otherwise do. Our emotions are used EVERY day to cause us to some kind of action or attitude.

What causes our emotions to become a tool on the battlefield upon which life is played? To answer that we must first look at the role our emotions play within us that cause us to be "played". Emotions are a God-given part of our human makeup. We have anger, fear, sadness, joy, excitement, etc. God, however, did NOT give us emotions in order that we turn our lives totally over to our emotions and thereby live within our emotions.

Mankind is made up of the body (our flesh and bones), the spirit (the dwelling place of our Lord's Holy Spirit when we accept Him as our Savior) and our soul (our mind, our will and our emotions). God intends for His children to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. God's avenue for communication with His children is His Spirit within our spirit. He does not intend that we live, move and breathe according to our emotions. When we do that, we make decisions based upon what mood we happen to be in at the time. If things are UP, then we are prone to make UP decisions. But if we are DOWN, we are prone to make DOWN decisions.

Our moods never make for good decisions! Decisions based upon anything other than God's communicating to us through His Spirit to our spirit are decisions based upon a source other than the Holy Spirit. Have you ever been in a situation where someone you expected to hear from was late in contacting you? Did you stir and stew until you worked yourself up to a worried or angry frenzy? Have you ever wanted something for a loved-one so much that you could feel your stomach crawling around from anxiety? These examples are indicative of actions and attitudes based upon EMOTIONS!

So What's The Point?

The point is: we are living in the wrong part of us! Our spirit is our true life. Our emotions are a part of our personhood but should not be the RULING part! Have you ever been in a situation that when you looked back upon it, you wish you had not moved or spoken so hastily? The emotions were moving but the spirit was not given opportunity to work! If we will but allow God's Spirit to work, we will see that He wants us to make decisions based upon HIS WILL not OUR EMOTIONS!

Only by His working of His Holy Spirit within us and about us, can we ever hope to be decreased of ourselves and increased of HIM! We must die to self. We must turn over every part of our "self" to Him and ask Him to educate us according to His Will and Purpose...not to the will and purpose we have deemed us to be. Only His Will can please our Father. We cannot please Him when we act from our emotions or to the wills of others who USE our emotions to get what they want! Some have said that we should cheer God just like we cheer teams at a sports event. If you want to cheer God, that is fine. Just be sure you are cheering God in the Spirit of God...not in the spirit of football!

God's Power Is Now

If you're waiting for God's Power to rain down wait no longer!

His Power is here NOW!

In the beginning of what we know as "time", God's Power was seen. Before the beginning of what we know as "time", God's Power was. When God's Son was crucified, resurrected and ascended, He gave His Power to His believers. The day of His Power has always been. The only difference is our recognition of it. The problem is not His giving or withholding His Power, the problem is with our giving or withholding Him, because He has already given us the same power. Our task, if you want to call it that, is to learn how to move in that Power and how to use that Power, not as a weapon, but as an Enabler to do, say, think and feel, whatever He desires us to do, say, think and feel. As we move deeper into Him--seeing, experiencing, living, knowing, perceiving, recognizing and understanding to a greater depth--HIS depth, we automatically have more of Him, i.e. HIS POWER. His Power is there all the time! Our recognition just increased! The change is US, not HIS POWER!

From The Bridegroom

How many times have you felt God's Holy Spirit stirring within you to bring you to a certain place or action? How many times have you allowed Him to have His Way? Most of us have felt this stirring within us at some point in our walk with our Lord. Sadly, most of us have also refused to allow the Holy Spirit to have His Way within us. Why, in our self-proclaimed love for our Lord, do we refuse the Bridegroom to bring His bride closer to Himself? There are many reasons that could be considered but we will mention only a few. If we trusted our Lord, we would not hesitate to listen and follow the leading of His Spirit. First, we have a lack of trust in and for our Lord: we do not trust the Bridegroom to take proper and adequate care of His bride. When honest with ourselves before God, we find the next reason to be simply a matter of control: we want everything our own way. Seriously consider this: look at each circumstance daily and you will find that the "problem" that exists within you and within others is that we each want our own way! We get upset because someone cut in front of us in traffic. We become irate at some situation we are in because we did not have our own way.

Our Bridegroom is saying to us,

I want My Way with you.

God's Chosen People

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.  For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, 'May peace be within you.' For the sake of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good." Psalm 122:6-9

"For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning." Isaiah 62:1

Where is your heart toward the Jewish people? Take time to ask the Holy Spirit to give His answer to that question. His revelation is never wrong, ever illuminating His Truth. If you seek Truth, He will be sure you find that Truth. He will graciously reveal His Truth to you regarding His Chosen People. Don't settle for someone else's opinion of what God's Word says. Seek Him and He will give you His Word!

Look At Current Events

There are so many current events pointing to the Biblically prophesied times in which we live that it is a gigantic task trying to narrow down to only two or three things. When we look at the news from Israel, we can certainly see the Hand of God moving and fulfilling the prophecies He gave through His prophets centuries ago. Interesting are the news coverages concerning Israel. In an Oct. 23, 1996 article in the USA Today the article entitled "Chirac backs independent Palestinian state", it is cited from Ramallah (Ram'allah), West Bank. There is no country of "West Bank". The article also stated Chirac had earlier finished a visit to Israel. ISRAEL is the country in which Gaza, Ram'allah and Hebron are found!

Interesting the ways in which we are lied to isn't it? Even more interesting is the premise that because of our own prejudices and ignorance we are willing to accept the lies! When we look at the news in our own country, we find just as much evil and unrest as anywhere else on this planet!

"Shame means being intolerant of behavior illegal or destructive to the social contract. We are cheerfully intolerant of cigarette smoking or wearing fur coats. On the other hand, on issues of morality, of sex, reproduction, family and honor, we are considerably less judgmental.

Hypocrisy is alive and well in this country. Like the old maxim that says we get what we deserve, this truism is reflected in our children, our marriages--and our national leaders. The United States is learning from experience what the Christian learned from the pages of scripture. Romans 6:23 tells us, 'The wages of sin is death.' We are witnessing the death of our culture, our international reputation, our internal security, and in far too many cases, even the death of our children." (The Final Battle, Hal Lindsey, Western Front, Ltd., 1995)

The constant flow of "non-information" from Russia is as big a query as it's always been. It is just being handled differently than during the "cold war". With nationalists and socialists regaining strength with the Russian voters, the future of a variation of the cold war is upon the horizon. Could it be that the "new Russia" is more a threat than ever before? We think so!

​Ignorance is a powerful sedating factor.

America, you are receiving a wake-up call!

There is no time for sleeping through the future!

We must make an impact for the standards of Almighty God. We must not be found in our slumber of sin. We must take God's Christ to the world and all that that mission entails.

Passivity equals capitulation!