Emotions

Emotions are very powerful for motivating and convicting people. Spirit filled Jesus displayed several emotions handled in a manner honoring the Father. Jesus showed great sadness over how His people treated His messengers, symbolized by Jerusalem; in anger, He overturned the tables of money changers at Passover; He wept because of Lazarus' death; He was greatly distressed before being arrested and crucified. An encouragement for us is that all this happened while indwelled by the same Holy Spirit that indwells us. It is unlikely any of us will ever experience something like crucifixion, but the Holy Spirit was constantly there. No matter how stressful or emotional our struggles become, the Holy Spirit will not leave us, He will attempt to strengthen us as much as we will allow. We must make the choice; only we can open up ourselves to Him and His guidance or push Him away. "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." 1Jn. 3:24. (NIV)