THE HEART AND EMOTIONS
1. The heart of man is by nature corrupt and evil. GEN 6:5; 8:21; ECC 9:3.
2. It is deceivable, deceitful and desperately wicked. ISA 44:20; JER 17:9.
3. It is a fool that trusts his heart over against wisdom. PRO 28:26.
4. heart - As the seat of feeling, understanding, and thought. = MIND, in the widest
sense, including the function of feeling, volition, and intellect. The seat of one's
inmost thoughts and secret feelings; one's inmost being; the depths of the soul; the
soul, the spirit.
5. Thoughts and intents come from our hearts. HEB 4:12; 2CO 9:7.
6. The heart is the seat of emotions, such as fear, desire, joy and sorrow.
DEU 28:67; PSA 37:4; ISA 65:14.
A. emotion - Psychology. A mental ‘feeling’ or ‘affection’ (e.g. of pleasure or pain, desire or aversion, surprise, hope or fear, etc.), as distinguished from cognitive (of or pertaining to the action or process of knowing) or volitional (pertaining or relating to the action of willing) states of consciousness.
B. Emotions can respond to thoughts.
C. When intents are realized or not realized, our emotions respond
accordingly.
D. But emotions can also initiate thoughts and intents. Hence, the need to
control our emotions.
(1) Given that the heart is the seat of emotions, we do well to guide our
heart rather than letting it guide us. PRO 23:19; 4:23.
(2) The world says, "Follow your heart." God says "Lead your heart."
(3) The heart that is guided by rational thought will be stable and at
peace.
(4) Thoughts that are guided by the feeling of the heart are liable to be
unstable and corrupted.
E. Emotions may be good or bad depending on how they are directed.
GAL 4:16-18.
(1) The Greek word translated "zealously affect(ed)" is "zeloo" (SRN #2206) and means to have warmth of feeling for or against.
(2) There were false teachers in Galatia that were manipulating the emotions of the Galatians toward them and away from the truth.
(3) Love may be bad if it is fixed on the wrong thing.
1JO 2:15; REV 22:15.
(4) There is joy that is evil. ACT 7:41; HEB 11:25.
(5) The fear of God is good but the fear of man is not. ISA 8:12-13.
(6) Hatred of one's brother is evil but hatred of evil is good.
1JO 2:11; PSA 97:10.
F. Uncontrolled emotion leaves one vulnerable to attack. PRO 25:28.
G. Uncontrolled emotion is inordinate affection and should be mortified.
COL 3:5-6.
H. Dominating emotions subvert rational faith. LUK 24:36-41.
(1) Fear can overwhelm and eliminate faith. MAR 4:35-40.
(2) Experience teaches us how difficult it is to focus the mind when
under the pressure of emotion.
(3) We should therefore expect Satan to attack us by stirring emotions to
to interfere with faith since Satan is to be resisted stedfast in the faith.
1PE 5:8-9; EPH 6:16.
(4) The saint who gives himself over to being ruled by the emotion of the
heart makes himself the puppet of Satan.
(5) Consider the emotion of joy or pleasure.
a. The joy that is a fruit of the Spirit comes through believing the
word of God. GAL 5:22; ACT 13:48, 52; ROM 15:13.
b. The word of God is the believer's joy.
PSA 119:111; JER 15:16.
c. Mind that this is not joy alone or joy for joy's sake. It is joy that is inseparably connected with the word of God. 1TH 1:6.
d. True joy is according to what God's word tells us of Jesus Christ, His love for us and our position in Him.
ROM 5:11; PHIL 3:1-3.
e. This joy is our strength. NEH 8:10.
f. The joy of fickle emotion springing from an unruled heart is
Satan's substitute that will weaken and nullify our faith. We will
confuse carnal love of joy or pleasure with the love of God to the abandonment of the love of God which is a PERILOUS condition! 2TI 3:1-4.
I. Consider how that music powerfully influences emotions.
(1) Music can drown out the consideration of God's works and leave the soul in ignorance. ISA 5:12-13.
(2) Many have made a religion out of music instead of truth.
(3) Satan's church is VERY musical! REV 18:21-22.
(4) The music of God's church is the handmaid of truth, not the displacer of it. COL 3:16; 1CO 14:15.
(5) Beware of music in any form that torts emotions to corrupt faith and good manners. 1CO 15:33.
J. Christ should be dwelling in our hearts by faith, not feeling! EPH 3:17.
(1) We know Christ dwells in our hearts by what we believe, not what we
feel.
(2) Just because one feels he is in fellowship with Christ does not mean
necessarily that he actually is in fellowship with Him.
(3) People can be deceived into thinking they are having true spiritual
experiences because of the emotions they experience in connection
with them.
(4) What people are often seeking in a more intimate relationship with
God is an emotional experience.
(5) Nowhere does Scripture speak of feeling God's presence.
a. ACT 17:27 speaks of feeling after God.
b. This is describing someone seeking God in order to find Him,
NOT someone who has already found Him and is enjoying His
presence through faith in His word!
c. One can actually be in God's presence and not know it.
GEN 28:16.
d. Conversely, one can think or "feel" God is with him when such
is not the case at all. JDG 16:20.
(6) We do not know that Christ is dwelling in us by what we feel, but
rather by what God has said in His written word!
a. When Scripture tells us how Christ dwells in us and that He
dwells in us, then we may respond with valid emotions of joy
and peace.
b. It is when we believe what Scripture tells us that we experience
those valid emotions in response to its testimony.
ROM 15:13; 1PE 1:8.
c. This is the difference between finding Christ through good feelings and finding good feelings through Christ.
d. We should seek the "joy of faith" (PHIL 1:25) not the faith of joy.
K. Considering that the course of our life is impacted and determined by our
thoughts, intents and emotions, it is apparent why Solomon says that out of
the heart are the "issues of life" (PRO 4:23).
(1) When our heart is properly guided, Christ is dwelling therein and the issues of our life will be determined by Him.
(2) When our heart is leading us, we are its slave, not Christ's servants.
(3) Our heart's direction is according to our treasure. LUK 12:34.