There are only 2 basic emotions: Love and Fear
All other emotions are branches that reach out from them. Happiness, joy, pride, graciousness, generosity, gentleness, self control and the like, come from a basic feeling of Love. Love for God, love for one another, and love for one's self.
On the other side, anger, guilt, jealousy, animosity, revenge, self deprecation, accusation, abuse, and similar are the products of fear.
Fear is a survival mechanism that God gave us to keep us alive. It spurs us into a defensive mode and creates a landslide of physical and emotional changes designed to protect us. Fear in and of itself is not a bad thing. How we handle it, however, can be a problem.
The inability to recognize our fear, and acting out, creates the broken relationships we see all around us. Broken relationships with people we love, people we work with, and Jesus himself.
Jesus went through the scariest time any of us will ever face. Was He fearful? Without a doubt. Did he understand what the fear was? Absolutely. Did He act on his fear? No. He took His "punishment" like a man.
Today, take your negative emotions and really look at them. Ask yourself "What am I really afraid of?" Be honest with your answers and pray this prayer:
Lord, I am fearful. My experiences and situations are creating strong negative emotions that are bleeding on to others and my actions are damaging my relationships. It is time for me to take responsibility for my fear and rely on You for my safety and security. Help me, today, God, overcome my fear, so that I may become closer to you. Help me to let go of what I can not control. AMEN
1 John 4:18
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