Don’t be Controlled by Your Emotions

Today's Battle Drill Devotional: Don't be Controlled by Your Emotions

You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. (1 Peter 4:2).

Read 1 Peter 4:1-11. Have you ever had a meltdown? When you’ve felt so angry or frustrated or upset and you’ve just blown up or broken down in tears? I know I have. But Peter says that Christ’s followers should get their emotions – their “desires” or how they feel – under God’s control by living lives that are controlled by what God wants, rather than what we feel.

How can we do that? The best way is to ask God to help us take a breath and step back to reflect on why we feel the way we do.  What’s the real reason why we feel angry, frustrated or upset? Often, it’s not the thing right in front of us, the straw that broke the camel’s back, if you like. It might be something that happened in the past that our current situation has triggered. It might be deep-seated fear about something, or worry, perhaps that we’re not up to scratch or that people will think badly of us.

We can think through whether the way we feel is true or not. Sometimes, we can feel as if everyone or everything is against us or that things will never get better. But on reflection, this is never true. Is the way we feel helpful or hurtful? Often, our anger, frustration and upset hurts us as much or sometimes more than it does others. Taking a deep breath and allowing the moment to pass is better for us in the long run.

When we pause and examine with God why we feel the way we do, we better manage our own emotions and find ourselves in the will of God.

THINK IT OVER

Think about the following:

Think of a recent situation where you were angry or frustrated with someone or a situation. How might pausing and reflecting on those feelings have helped?