[Devotional] IN HIS PRESENCE: Watch your emotions

By Oke Chinye

Read: Galatians 5:16-26

Meditation verse:

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city (Proverbs 16:32).

An emotion is an instinctive or intuitive feeling, distinguished from reasoning and knowledge. It is a sentiment which is not necessarily based on fact. The dictionary puts out the opposite of emotions as ‘intellect’. Emotions are transient, fleeting, and contagious. They are therefore not a true representation of your reality. The fact that you feel afraid does not necessarily mean that there are very dreadful events in your life. Similarly, your current feelings of hopelessness do not in any way translate to a hopeless life or future.

It is not so much the activating event that affects our emotions and actions. It is our belief about the event that causes us stress. Your thoughts about your life’s circumstances affect how you feel, and this affects how you react which by extension determines the outcomes you get in life. Consider this; two ladies lose their jobs at the same time. The first one thinks excitedly to herself “well this gives me an opportunity to set up that business I have always wanted”. The second hunches her shoulders and thinks to herself “I am a total failure and loser; this is the end of the road for me”. Which one of them is more likely to succeed in her future endeavor?

It is dangerous to judge your circumstances based on how you feel about an event. Proverbs 19:11 says “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression. Ecclesiastes 7:10 says “Do not say, why were the former days better than these? For you do not inquire (think) wisely concerning this. The bible says “A man’s steps are of the Lord; how then can a man understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24). “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). So, watch your emotions and stop short-changing yourself!

IN HIS PRESENCE is written by Pst (Mrs) Oke Chinye, Founder of The Rock Teaching Ministry (TRTM).

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