Do we determine our own emotional state?

Many of us tend to believe that it’s the people around us, or our circumstances that have the greatest impact on our emotions.

But I wonder if we’ve ever considered how much the thoughts we think influence the feelings we feel?

That while we may believe other people dictate our happiness, we’ve actually chosen to agree with a thought that aligns itself in a negative way with those people or circumstances.

And it’s actually the thought that determines how we feel.

I’ve been finding out the painful way how true this is. And I think I’m allergic to emotional pain. I hate it, hate it, hate it.

Lately, my tank has hit a low and I’ve been running on spiritual fumes. Living on those fumes instead of daily drinking from His cup tends to twist our perceptions of people and life.

But I launched a negativity fast last week (don’t ask how well it’s going—–especially after last weekend’s basketball tournament. I really am a nice person and don’t normally yell at men running up and down a court wearing black and white shirts.).

I started reading a devotional designed to show us how to speak and declare life into our lives, and I began to feel differently.

Because I started thinking differently. What we fix our minds on, we move toward. Thinking influences feelings, which determines behavior.

A thought comes and we either agree or disagree with it, and then our feelings follow the agreement.

For example, if I have a thought that says, “I’m never going to be happy,” and I agree with that thought, then my feelings are going to become sad and depressed.

But if I decide that I want to agree with what God says about me, I’ll start declaring, “I am who God says I am. I am an overcomer. I think great thoughts because I have the mind of Christ. I live with hope and peace. My hope is in God—-not my circumstance—-and He has great plans for my life.”

When we become aware of what we are agreeing with, then we can begin to change how we feel.

The other day, I was pouring out my heart to Mat and he said, “You’re agreeing with a spirit of regret.”

I’m not going to pretty it up here. It’s dog gone hard to stop feeling negative emotion when it’s filling every cell of your body and crying out for relief, just because you realize you are believing a lie from the enemy.

But regardless of how we feel, we still have the ability and power to nail the thoughts and spirits that are fueling those feelings to the cross. And break agreements with them. And repent for aligning ourselves with them.

That’s the power of the cross and the beginning of our journey to a life as an overcomer full of joy (Rom. 8:37).

So even though my heart was complaining and digging in its heals with thoughts of, “But this is how you feel,” I nailed regret to the cross and broke agreements with it. I asked God to remove it far from me, and I asked Holy Spirit what He wanted to give me in its place. As I quieted my thoughts and listened, I heard, Joy and Peace.

I placed a hand on my heart and asked God to seal joy and peace in there.

Watching our thoughts and what we are agreeing with is a powerful step toward freedom (2 Cor. 10:5)

Prayer

Father, I give you permission to illuminate the thoughts that I’m agreeing with. Both positive and negative. Help me become aware of how my thoughts, and my agreement with those thoughts, determine my emotional state. Whether happy or sad. Joyful or depressed. Continue to remind me that You have given me the authority and power to take back the ground the enemy has stolen from me. I declare You as Lord over my thought life. I’m giving the enemy his eviction notice, and from here on out, I’m dedicating my mind to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Photo via Pixabay

Praise by Ricardo Camacho via Flickr